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  • The Equality of Men and Women

    When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá talked about the problems and challenges humanity must deal with during His travels in Europe and the United States and Canada from 1910 to 1913, He brought up the equality of men and women—a question that, where it has been unaddressed, is causing a crisis in society (and families) and consequently a threat to the social structure.

  • Traditions Differ From Truth

    Knowledge of the truth is the goal of religions. Its progressive revelation in pro- portions corresponding to human spiritual capacity should not be a cause for discord and strife between people.

  • Movement and Life

    In December 1911, ‘Abdu’l- Bahá returned from His tour in London and Paris to spend the winter months in the city of Alexandria and prepare for His journey to America and Canada the following year. The flow of visitors to His residence continued all through the months of the winter…

  • The Springtime of the Soul Returns

    ‘A bdu’l-Bahá’s stay in Paris for the months of October and November 1911 afforded His hearers the pleasure of daily talks in which He discussed various topics related to the principles of Bahá’u’lláh. At the beginning of His visit, on 15 October, He gave a talk about the regularity of the renewal of the divine […]

  • Universal Love

    ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, while on visit to the city of Paris in 1911, more than once addressed the subject of the soul in His public talks. He pointed out in particular its spiritual nature and its essential effect on material life, with emphasis too on its role in establishing a unity of mankind for whose realization in this enlightened age all past religions participated in preparing the way.

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‘Abbás Al-‘Aqqad’s Visit to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (continued)

“I took the opportunity to hand Him my recent book that had recently come out. Its first page carried this statement about humanity: ‘The whole earth belong[s] to all the people. The barriers between nations will be obliterated and the earth will become one country for mankind. The economic movement that has reduced distances between people on the basis of common interest will certainly unite the national interests [in a manner] to involve them all in those economic processes that are interconnected. This in turn will bring wars to an end and make peace reign.’

‘The social process has, for a long time, pushed human beings into a circle similar to the ring of a whirlpool the parameters of which continue to widen, including in every stage more people than the previous stage; the tribe was composed of families, and it in turn led to the creation of the nation. Nations have created the community [regional organizations], which step foreshadows the next development that will take us to the goal which preoccupied the great reformers: the gathering of all the nations on earth under the flag of one community, the community of mankind.’

“I pointed out this sentence. He read it attentively, then repeatedly said, ‘God willing. God willing. Well said. Well said.’

“As if He felt my inclination in those days for economic interpretation, He said: ‘But the world now is submerged in materialism and there can be no peace except by spiritual means. The world like a bird needs two wings to fly: a wing of material means and the other of spiritual means. Now it has only one wing and is in need of the second. It is divided and will not reach perfection unless it twins the material needs and the spiritual necessities. If it continues on its present course, it will face—God protect us—a terrible catastrophe which will shake it for a period of time until it opens its eyes to the straight path, but after unbearable horrors.

“This talk took place two years before the world war. Therefore, ‘Abbás Effendi was warning His listeners of the great disaster repeatedly whenever the occasion was afforded. We have no doubt that His followers considered such statements as true prophesies.

“I do not know how this talk took us to the story of Zabbá and other similar stories. ‘Abbás Effendi was well acquainted with these aspects of Arab and Persian history. All I remember is that we were talking about the differences separating East and West since ancient times, and this led us to these historical stories (to entertain His visitors who increased by the minute) instead of deeper subjects.

“One of the people present interrupted this light talk by raising a question related to the differences between Islam and Christianity. He was not very pleased with the insertion of this subject. However, as far as I remember He explained that Christ is for the Christians the spirit of God, and also for the Muslims. Christ prophesied the religions coming after Him. Both revelations are the same in their worship of God, and their essence is one and the same. Differences between them are only ostensible and should not abolish all that these two religions agree upon.

“We asked permission to leave as the number of visitors swelled, with the hope of returning again soon, but shortly afterwards we were obliged to travel urgently and could not go back.” 3

The major catastrophe alluded to in this article, as well as the twinning of the material and spiritual needs of mankind are of such importance that we are left with no choice but to develop these two topics in the light of elucidations made by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in other talks and letters.4

 

Notes

1. Shakíb Arsalan, Hádir Al-‘Alám Al-Islámi (The World of Islam at Present), (Cairo, 1351 A.H.), Volume II, Chapter 3, p. 358.
2. Read The Centenary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Arrival in Egypt.
3. ‘Abbás Mahmúd Al-‘Aqqad, “Sá’at m’a ‘Abdu’l-Bahá” (An Hour with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá), in Al-Hilál, Jan. 1930, pp. 273-74.
4. The readers will find these subjects on this website in the section of The Bahá’í Faith under the titles:

Twinning Material Civilization and Divine Civilization
The Impact of Spiritual Power


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