FIFTY YEARS AGO an extraordinary figure came from the Holy Land to the shores of America. This year the Bahá'ís are commemorating this historic event. In 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, son of Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, came to set forth the universal principles of his father's teachings. From childhood he had shared exile and imprisonment with his father, a life that permitted him no formal education and no contact with Western thought. Nevertheless, in the cities of America, scholars, philosophers and scientists were astonished at his wisdom and eloquence. Platforms were opened to him in universities, synagogues, peace and philosophic societies. Men of all walks of life were uplifted by his vision of the future. Even the poor of Bowery Mission were touched by his love and understanding. To American leaders he gave warning of the dangers of the ensuing years — and told of the God-given remedy of which mankind could avail itself.

Outstanding men, such as ex-President Theodore Roosevelt and Andrew Carnegie, sought interviews with him, Alexander Graham Bell invited him to speak to a scientific society in his home. David Starr Jordan, president of Stanford University, said that the teachings he proclaimed would unite the world for he walked the "mystic way with practical feet."

A Great World Teacher Came from the East

7. Universal compulsory education.

8. Spiritual solution of the economic problem.

9. A universal language.

10. Universal peace guaranteed by a world government.

The beginning of this unique, modern revelation was felt first early in the last century in Persia, where a few devout members of the Shaykhis, a Moslem sect, believed that Mohammed's announcement in the Koran of a prophet succeeding him would actually come to pass in the year 1844.

Then, on May 22, 1844, a young merchant of Shiraz quietly revealed that he was the promised one foretold by Mohammed.

Starting as was this bold claim to the Moslem world, even more astonishing was the declarant's message that a much greater prophet would appear shortly after him whose teachings would not only fulfill the prophecies of Islam but of all religions and would within a very few generations drastically change the whole world of mankind.

The young merchant took the symbolic title of the Bab, meaning “The Gate,” and showed such vision and beauty of character that he soon had 187 devoted disciples known as “The Letters of the Living.”

Who the governor of Shiraz feared his influence so much he sent a company of soldiers on horseback to capture him and bring him back in chains. The story of this expedition is revealing.

Advancing cautiously along a country road, the captain of the troop met a smiling young man wearing a green sash, riding on horseback. When the gay horseman greeted him and offered to help him find his destination in this unfamiliar area, the captain, afraid to trust a stranger, replied, “No, thank you. We’re on a special mission by order of the governor.”

“But I can save you time and trouble,” said the young man, “for it is I the governor sent you to arrest.”

This rare exhibition of clairvoyance, selflessness, and friendly cooperation completely amazed the soldier, who had expected the Bab to try to run away. As he talked with him, he became so overwhelmed with the radiant warmth and quality of his intended prisoner that he got down and kissed the Bab's stirrup, at the same time beginning him to escape from the province

Beautiful temple located on the shores of Lake Michigan at Wilmette, Ill.

## Heroic Woman Is Early Baha'i Disciple

and go beyond reach of the governor's authority.

The Bab refused to run away. Assuming the captain that God would reward his kindness, he insisted on going to the governor with the soldiers, explaining to them that he himself had nothing to fear, as God was always with him. “No man can harm me until my work on earth is done,” he said gently. “And then I will be happy to die for God, Whom I love.”

The magistrates and high mullas did not all respond in the same way to the Bab's spiritual qualities, and during the next four or five years he was subjected to a relentless series of imprisonments, inquisitions, scourges, and indigencies culminating, as he had foreseen, in his death sentence in 1850. This was executed by a regiment of 750 Armenian soldiers who publicly shot him on July 9 in the old barrack square of Tabriz, together with a devoted youth who had begged for the honor of sharing his martyrdom.

The first volley of bullets missed both men completely while severing their ropes to set them free. A second regiment was called because the first refused to fire again after the “miracle.” Immediately after the shooting, a black whirlwind swept thru the city.

Only one of the Bab's disciples (or Letters of the Living) was a woman. Known for her beauty as a girl, she was later named Tahirih, “the Pure One,” by Baha'u'llah. So brilliant was her mind that it was said her father and brothers were often embarrassed to discuss anything important in her presence for fear they might expose their inferiority.

It was inevitable that such a woman would be condemned by the orthodox Moslem authorities. Tahirih herself foresaw her own martyrdom so precisely that she fasted in praise of God all the preceding day and dressed in a bridal gown of snow white silken cloth in time for the unannounced arrival of the executioner's men.

At night she was taken on horseback to a remote garden and brutally strangled with a large silken kerchief she herself had brought for the purpose.

Nothing was too ruthless in the attempt that was then made to exterminate completely the Babis and to stamp out the light of their faith. Still the light burned and faith continued.

In 1863, Baha'u'llah made His great announcement. The world stirring message of his new revelation was publicly released. By then He too had suffered imprisonment as a Babi, was tor-

tured, and nearly starved while in chains in a putrid dungeon for four months.

Meanwhile, a fanatical mob ran-sacked His beautiful home in Mazandaran, and His suddenly impervious family were left to hide with friends. Tormented with worry, they tried to think of a way to save His life. The extreme persecution made a particularly dramatic contrast, because Baha'u'llah's father had been a recent minister of state and His family one of high nobility and wealth, even though He had given away a large part of it to the poor.

The Baha'u'llah nearly perished in the dungeon and was one of the few survivors of that horrifying experience, throughout the ordeal. He tried to spare His family as much anguish as possible. His daughter, remembering His deliverance from the black pit a half century later, said-

> “We who saw the marks of what He had endured, where the chains had cut into the delicate skin, especially that of His neck, His wounded feet so long undented, evidence of the torture of the bastinado, how we wept with my dear mother... He, on his part, told only of the steadfast faith of the friends (fellow prisoners) who had gone forth to meet their death at the hands of their torturers with joy and glory.”

The glorious spiritual victory was so overwhelming that He hardly seemed to recall the shame and pain and scorn at all!

This exaltation may have been due also to the divine vision Baha'u'llah had while in the dungeon, for, paradoxically, it was in this very man-made hell that the first full realization came to Him that He, Himself, was to be the promised one referred to by the Bab.

> “We saw a new radiance seeming to enfold Him like a shining vesture,” said His daughter, “tho we had no idea yet as to its significance.”

Many pilgrims still sought His presence, even at great risk. More than 70 actually contrived to have themselves свincted as His followers so they could share imprisonment with Him in Akka, while others disguised themselves as merchants in some nearby town in order to be close to Him.

For one period of two years, following the exile to Baghdad, Baha'u'llah lived apart in a mountainous wilderness in the guise of a deriv, consisting on what little coarse bread and goat cheese He could find, living in fasts, praying on the windy slopes, eating often, ministering to the few simple folk who chanced His way — until His body and soul were tempered to the keenest pitch of purity and He felt the call to return for His major creative ministry to the world.

As His reputation and influence now grew more rapidly than ever, with Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians as well as Moslems flocking to Baghdad to hear His teachings, the orthodox mullas of Islam, fearing anew the doom of their authority, prevailed upon the Turkish government to banish Baha'u'llah still farther — first to Constantinople, then to Adrianople.

Finally, it was sent to the pestilential Turkish prison city of Akka in Palestine, where, they imagined, His influence must inevitably be lost thru forced isolation from the world and association only with the most sordid and hardened of criminals.

Little did they realize that they were actually causing Him literally to fulfill many biblical prophecies as well as the scriptural prophecies of other world religions that would later help to confirm their followers in His faith.

Baha'u'llah was serene through it all. Once a relative, jealous of the power that radiated from Him and the love of His devoted followers, poisoned Him, almost fatally. Locked up in mesmeric quarters, He wrote almost daily either with His own hand at a crude table in a tiny room under guard, where sometimes rats competed with the children for meagre crusts of bread, or more often pacing back and forth dictating into the night to one of His devoted followers who penned His words by candlelight.

In 1869 Baha'u'llah composed His famous second Tablet to Napoleon III, rebuking him for his contemptuous

attitude and for imagining he could gain anything by another war: “... Thy doings shall throw his kingdom into confusion, sovereignty shall pass from his hands. Hath the pomp made that vain glorious? It shall be a vain glory.” Nay, it shall pass away unless thou dost cling unto this strong cord. He beheld abasement hastening upon their heels and thou art yet of them that are heedless ...”

Napoleon, then at the zenith of his power, paid no heed to this “crank note” and truculently launched the Franco-Prussian war the following year. But instead of the easy triumph he expected, he was decisively overwhelmed, taken prisoner, and dragged in disgrace to Prussia. Two years later he ignominiously came to his end in England.

Similarly significant and prophetic were the tablets Baha'u'llah wrote from time to time to other heads of state, including the Sultan of Turkey (whose prisoner He was), the Shah of Persia, Queen Victoria, and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to whom he plainly pointed out the lesson of Napoleon, warning of the inevitable outcome of World War I, a quarter of a century later!

The only westerner to interview this extraordinary prisoner was the distinguished orientalist, Prof. Edward G. Browne, of the Cambridge university, who saw Him in Akka in 1890 when He was 73 years old. “The face of Him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it,” wrote Browne afterward. “Those piercing eyes seemed to read one’s very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow, while the deep lines on the forehead and face implied an age which the jet black hair and beard flowing down to indistinguishable luxuriance almost to the waist seemed to belie.”

“No need to ask in whose presence I stood as I I owed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!”

Abdul-I-Baha, whom His father, Baha'u'llah had long recognized as having great spiritual insight, was appointed by Him to serve as exemplar of His Teachings after His death. Thus the Baha'i cause continued into the 20th century to have a powerful guiding leadership in the person of one qualified and entrusted to live as a perfect example to the world.

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## SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF BAHÁ'U'LLÁH

Great indeed is this Day! The allusions made to it in all the sacred Scriptures as the Day of God attest its greatness. The soul of every prophet of God, of every Divine Messenger, hath thirsted for this wondrous Day. All the divers kindreds of the earth have, likewise, yearned to attain it. (1)

The time fore-ordained unto the peoples and kindreds of the earth is now come. The promises of God, as recorded in the holy Scriptures, have all been fulfilled. (2)

There can be no doubt whatever that the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source, and are the subjects of one God. The difference between the ordinances under which they abide should be attributed to the varying requirements and exigencies of the age in which they were revealed. (3)

Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements. (4)

That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one Common Faith. (5)

Selected from Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, translated by Shoghi Effendi: (1) 11; (2) 12-13; (3) 217; (4) 213; (5) 255.

# DAWN OF WORLD PEACE

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO in a garden near Baghdad a group of people gathered around the majestic figure of a man and heard Him declare that He was the Promised One of all religions. Their hearts were full beyond measure as they crowded near Him—of a joy hitherto unknown to them as they felt the radiance of His presence, the divine authority of His words—and of sorrow too, for they knew that He Who had already been exiled from His native land of Persia would soon be banished further, from their midst. The extent of that banishment, the cruelties yet to be heaped upon Him, and His final imprisonment in the Turkish penal colony of Akka, in the Holy Land, they could not foresee.

Nor could they comprehend the full import of that declaration, presaged to a whole world as it were, that an old order, an old civilization would soon be rolled up and a new one spread out in its stead. The long-awaited era of peace had dawned and a new race of men would be

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raised up throughout the entire planet to usher in a new world order, foretold by the prophet Daniel, and envisioned by Isaiah: "*Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.*"

He was known to them as Bahá'u'lláh (the Glory of God). In His homeland He had been Mirzá Husayn 'Ali, from an illustrious family in Tihrán, who had sacrificed wealth and worldly position in the path of the Báb. The youthful Báb had been publicly martyred some years earlier in Tabriz for teaching throughout Persia that a great World Teacher, the Promised One of all religions, would soon appear.

He was the One foretold by the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh told the people assembled in His midst. Moreover, He was the return of the Christ-Spirit, and the Lord of Hosts. His coming fulfilled the Messianic hopes in the scriptures of Hindu, Zoroastrian and Buddhist, as well as Moslem, Christian and Jew. He was that Messenger of God Who would teach all men to live in peace.

It was April of 1863 and for a few days life seemed to be suspended for those who were in the presence of Bahá'u'lláh in the Garden of Ridván (Paradise), as it was later known. Yet in a few decades His Message would flash like lightning to the West where the assembled delegates at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, in 1893, would hear of the teaching of this Prince of Peace through the report of a Christian missionary from Syria. Shortly before that event, the distinguished British orientalist of Cambridge University, Professor E. G. Browne, was to seek His presence in Akka and hear Him proclaim His mission: "*That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled . . . so shall it be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come . . .*"

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"No need to ask in whose presence I stood," Professor Browne recorded, "as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy . . ."

NOW, IN APRIL OF 1963, Bahá'is from over 250 countries, islands and dependencies will gather in London for five days to celebrate the centenary of Bahá'u'lláh's historic declaration in Baghdad. It is the greatest festival ever to be held by the followers of Bahá'u'lláh. From the East and the West, from all continents, from all religious and cultural backgrounds, they will assemble to bear witness to the establishment of the community that bears His name—the Bahá'í World Community.

There will be natives from Africa and the South Seas. There will be American businessmen, Indians from North and South America, Australian aborigines, Arabs and Jews. Rich and poor, scholarly and unlearned will meet and celebrate together in unity, for each has comprehended Bahá'u'lláh's teaching of the unity of God and His Prophets: truth progressively revealed by His successive Messengers through milleniums of time. They have found a new spiritual vitality in a life lived above barriers of race, creed and nationality, for Bahá'u'lláh has said: "*Let your vision be world-embracing rather than confined to yourself . . . The earth is one country and mankind its citizens.*" Everyone participating in this great Festival has heeded Bahá'u'lláh's admonition to open his mind and heart and seek independently for truth, knowing that the Day has come "*when the knowledge of God would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.*" Each one has contributed his time and his talents, according to his capacity, toward planting the banner of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh across the entire planet.

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THERE WILL BE SOME WHO GATHER IN LONDON, or in other cities and villages where this great Jubilee will be celebrated, who will personally remember 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Son of Bahá'u'lláh. All will recall the unique function He filled as the perfect exemplar of His Father's teachings and as the Center of His Covenant to preserve the unity of the Faith. Some were present when He laid the cornerstone of the Bahá'í House of Worship on the shores of Lake Michigan at Wilmette, Illinois. Others heard Him speak in churches, synagogues, universities and peace societies as He journeyed through Europe and across America. The great and the humble sought His presence and listened to Him expound on the universal principles of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. In America, scientist Luther Burbank declared: "Bahá'í is more truly the religion of peace than any other!"

In England, Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter introduced 'Abdu'l-Bahá at Oxford; and later, with a prescience which perhaps he himself could not fully evaluate, he wrote in his book, *Comparative Religions*: "... has Persia, in the midst of her miseries, given birth to a religion which will go round the world?"

Patiently, powerfully, 'Abdu'l-Bahá enunciated Bahá'u'lláh's principles of world order: the elimination of all forms of prejudice; the need for a world government based upon a federated structure; a world court whose decisions would be mandatory; an international police force as an arm of world government; the equality of men and women; an international auxiliary language to be taught everywhere; the essential harmony of science and religion. These principles and many others must be implemented voluntarily by the nations, if world conflagrations, increasingly catastrophic, were to be averted, 'Abdu'l-Bahá explained to the multitudes who listened. Sadly He knew that only a handful would begin the vast work of laying the spiritual pattern for peace. "Make a beginning," He said. "Surely you will succeed, for God is with you."

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Those who listened with lifted hearts, recognizing Bahá'u'lláh's teaching as the Word of God, could not know then where their Faith and their labors would take them.

It remained for Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, grandson of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, appointed by Him in His Will and Testament to be the Guardian of the Faith, to build the institutions throughout the world through which the spirit of the new Faith could flow. With his guidance, Bahá'ís have developed the administrative framework from a pattern revealed in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. Under his leadership, a series of plans were launched, culminating with a Ten-Year World Crusade initiated in April, 1953. Gathering momentum, the Faith has in this last decade established Bahá'í communities throughout the world, more than doubling the progress in all of the decades preceding it. The hundreds of racial and ethnic groups represented within its circle of fellowship, the literature translated into 296 languages and tribal tongues, the Houses of Worship erected in five continents, the fifty-six National Assemblies elected—these are some of the goals delineated by Shoghi Effendi in 1953. These are the victories to be celebrated by Bahá'ís at their great Jubilee in London, where they will gather at the grave of Shoghi Effendi who passed on in 1957 and is buried there. The crowning victory will be the election of the International House of Justice, the supreme administrative body of the Bahá'ís, to be elected in April by members of the fifty-six national assemblies.

ESSENTIALLY, THIS WORLD JUBILEE is the celebration of one hundred years of peace. This may seem strange, looking back at the secular history of the world. The past hundred years has been a turbulent period for both East and West; but it has marked the virtual end of slavery, and through it all the dignity and worth of every human soul is being upraised.

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Some years after leaving the garden of Ridván, Bahá'u'lláh, knowing that the minds of the masses of mankind were fettered by ecclesiastical authority and political despotism, wrote to the kings and religious leaders of the world outlining His healing message for mankind. He called upon such powerful rulers as Kaiser Wilhelm I, Napoleon III, the Czar of Russia, the Sultan of Turkey, the Shah of Persia, the Pope and other religious leaders, to establish a World Tribunal through which the peace of the world could be secured. He warned them of the sudden collapse of their dynasties if they ignored the divine summons, of the suffering in store for the nations. His warning was either ignored or belittled. Men and nations chose to take the slower, harder road to peace, not knowing that it was a divine summons and that the Word of the Prophet of God is not returned void. Since the letters to the kings, the nations have painfully worked their way toward the unity proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh: "The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established. This unity can never be achieved so long as the counsels which the Pen of the Most High hath revealed are suffered to pass unheeded."

To Bahá'is, this century has marked the first glimmer of the dawn of a new age. In His day, Moses could not expand the boundaries of human solidarity beyond a tribal concept of unity. Christ "came not to send peace, but a sword," for He clearly foresaw the generations of history stretched out ahead in a long, violent path. He brought a personal salvation and peace for each individual soul who must travel that road.

Today the principle of peace and of world order is no vague hope for the distant future. It is the law of a new age, revealed by the Prophet of God. To the Bahá'is gathering in London "the earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."

— By Eunice Braun

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