The majority of the kings who received Bahá’u’lláh’s message had, with the support of the religious institutions, condoned this injustice that reached such severity as to lead Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd to reinforce the incarceration of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and to take steps to send Him to the desolate desert of Fezzan in Libya in order to cut all His relations with the populated world, while here is

‘Abdu’l-Bahá on His way to Europe to explain the principles and teachings revealed by Bahá- ‘u’lláh on that continent some forty years before, and while now Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd is himself a prisoner in Salonica after falling from his throne and being deposed from the Cali- phate. This great change was extraordinary in itself, but its true meaning becomes clearer in light of the other intense shakings that took place in the world during the same period, upsetting its order. It thus be- hooves us to review some of the historic circumstances of that sudden derangement, however incomplete and difficult such ex- planation and analysis may be in the limited context of these pages.

The fact is that the Europe ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was going to was very different from the Europe He had left four decades earlier. Europe at that time was composed of monarchies headed by kings exercising their absolute powers as an inherited right given to them by Heaven. They exercised this divine right as if the population were slaves who were obligated to obey and submit to whatever was dictated to them. The religious institutions and the clergy were their faithful supporters. The established social order was consequently a mixture of civil laws promulgated by the kings, decrees issued by churches, and religious traditions.

Opinions may vary concerning the mystery behind this great reversal that unusual, unfamiliar and unharmonious powers combined to bring about. These powers appeared or came to existence suddenly, and produced their effects with great speed—like storms—without planning or coordination. This is a view their appearance on the surface supports. But the documents that Bahá’u’lláh sent abroad before the sweep of these events indicate in a definite manner that these forces obeyed a higher will and that an invisible hand directed them in a precise way in accordance with a divine plan. Bahá’u’lláh’s unveiling of these great events that changed Europe—in written Tablets and in unequivocal detail, and His publishing of these Writings far and wide amongst His followers years before they happened is irrefutable evidence of His confidence and certainty that they would happen, and this is a proof that “Neither doth he speak of his own will. It is no other than a revelation, which hath been revealed to him. One mighty in power, endued with understanding, taught it him.” 2

In 1868, as the proclamation of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh was assuming world scope, He dispatched messages to the kings, religious leaders, deputies, leaders of thought and others conveying to them, besides the principles of His new religion, an outlay of a global new order suited to the needs of the present stage of development reached by humanity. He emphasized in definitive terms deep changes expected to occur in their countries. He warned those who debarred the people from the truth, and admonished them, prophesying the upheaval that would destroy the thrones of some of the kings of Europe because of their injustice and indifference to the divine message and their effort to put out the divine light that was shining upon the new world.

Other warnings and condemnations were mentioned in His Most Holy Book revealed in ‘Akká in 1872. In it is this exhortation and warning to the kings: “Wash from your hearts all earthly defilements, and hasten to enter the Kingdom of your Lord, the Creator of earth and heaven, Who caused the world to tremble and all its peoples to wail, except them that have renounced all things and clung to that which the Hidden Tablet hath ordained.” 3

Likewise in the Most Holy Book are these words addressed to the inhabitants of Constantinople: “O people of Constantinople! Lo, from your midst We hear the baleful hooting of the owl. Hath the drunkenness of passion laid hold upon you, or is it that ye are sunk in heedlessness?…” And these, apostrophizing the City of Constantinople: “O Spot that art situate on the shores of the two seas! The throne of tyranny hath, verily, been established upon thee, and the flame of hatred hath been kindled within thy bosom… Hath thine outward splendour made thee vainglorious? By Him Who is the Lord of mankind! It shall soon perish, and thy daughters and thy widows and all the kindreds that dwell within thee shall lament.” 4

To Germany: “O banks of the Rhine! We have seen you covered with gore, inasmuch as the swords of retribution were drawn against you; and you shall have another turn. And We hear the lamentations of Berlin, though she be today in conspicuous glory.” 5 To the divines, this warning: “Beware lest ye shut out the people by yet another veil. Pluck asunder the chains of vain imaginings, in the name of the Lord of all men, and be not of the deceitful.” 6 And again: “This is the Cause that hath made all your superstitions and idols to tremble.”7 The Most Holy Book made a general announcement: “The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind’s ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System—the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.” 8

In 1872, more than a century before its realization, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in a similar manner foretold the downfall of the monarchy in Persia at a time when it was at the zenith of its power. Moreover, it warned the Persians of a terrible period of “agitation” before tranquillity would return to their homeland: “Let nothing grieve thee, O Land of Tá….Erelong will the state of affairs within thee be changed, and the reins of power fall into the hands of the people. Verily, thy Lord is the All-Knowing. His authority embraceth all things. Rest thou assured in the gracious favour of thy Lord. The eye of His loving-kindness shall everlastingly be directed towards thee. The day is approaching when thy agitation will have been transmuted into peace and quiet calm. Thus hath it been decreed in the wondrous Book.” 9

The messages of Bahá’u’lláh to the kings and rulers also contained more explicit and specific warnings. In the Tablet to Queen Victoria, He described the measures needed to redress the world conditions: “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…Each time that Most Mighty Instrument hath come, and that Light shone forth from the Ancient Dayspring, He was withheld by ignorant physicians…Consider these days in which He Who is the Ancient Beauty hath come in the Most Great Name, that He may quicken the world and unite its peoples. They, however, rose up against Him with sharpened swords, and committed that which caused the Faithful Spirit to lament… Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your peoples find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend.”10

He warned Wilhelm I after his victory over the King of the French: “Do thou remember the one whose power transcended thy power (Napoleon III) and whose station excelled thy station. Where is he? …He it was who cast the Tablet of God behind him, when We made known unto him what the hosts of tyranny had caused Us to suffer. Wherefore, disgrace assailed him from all sides, and he went down to dust in great loss.”11

He condemned Napoleon III: “For what thou hast done, thy kingdom shall be thrown into confusion, and thine empire shall pass from thine hands, as a punishment for that which thou hast wrought. Then wilt thou know how thou hast plainly erred. Commotions shall seize all the people in that land, unless thou arisest to help this Cause, and followest Him who is the Spirit of God (Jesus Christ) in this, the Straight Path…We see abasement hastening after thee, whilst thou art of the heedless.”12

To ‘Alí Páshá, Bahá’u’lláh’s directed this condemnation concerning Adrianople: “Hast thou imagined thyself capable of extinguishing the fire which God hath kindled in the heart of creation? Nay, by Him Who is the Eternal Truth, couldst thou but know it. Rather, on account of what thy hands have wrought, it blazed higher and burned more fiercely. Erelong will it encompass the earth and all that dwell therein… The day is approaching when the Land of Mystery and what is beside it shall be changed, and shall pass out of the hands of the King, and commotions shall appear, and the voice of lamentation shall be raised, and the evidences of mischief shall be revealed on all sides, and confusion shall spread by reason of that which hath befallen these captives at the hands of the hosts of oppression. The course of things shall be altered, and conditions shall wax so grievous, that the very sands on the desolate hills will moan, and the trees on the mountain will weep, and blood will flow out of all things. Then wilt thou behold the people in sore distress.”13

The message continues: “The Oppressor put to death the Beloved of the worlds to quench the light of God amongst the people and to debar them from the wellspring of life eternal in the days of thy Lord, the Gracious, the Most Bountiful.… This Youth hath come to quicken the world and unite all its peoples. The day is approaching when that which God hath purposed will have prevailed and thou shalt behold the earth transformed into the all-glorious paradise. Thus hath it been inscribed by the Pen of Revelation upon this weighty Tablet.”14

During the forty years or so that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spent as a prisoner, these kings fell one after the other in confirmation of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophesy, and were replaced by new institutions, which are still evolving and being perfected, wittingly or unwittingly, in the direction pointed out in the model laid down in the teachings proclaimed by Him. Thus, people became the source of power, and their elected representatives exercise it on their behalf, subject to respecting the terms of their constitutions. Even the monarchies that have survived this turmoil became constitutional monarchies with a more or less symbolic role.

The past pomp and glory of the religious institutions have also faded away as a result of their failure to affect any significant renewal in their philosophical and doctrinal thinking that matches the scientific progress spreading throughout the modern world. They have remained ineffectual in facing the challenges of agnosticism or atheism, and the status of the clergy has deteriorated after their failure to address the spread of the ideas of the leftist movements that have raised doubts about the truths of religion. Nor have they been able to convincingly illustrate the fallacy of the skeptic’s arguments. Consequently, many of the people of that continent have abandoned religion and placed their loyalty in science, which they are confident is a substitute capable of realizing man’s happiness and able to build a better life on earth.

In face of such challenges to the religions of the world, the journey of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Europe to further explain the religious principles sent down for this time was an urgent task which He held to all His life and for which He mustered all His remaining strength as soon as the chains of captivity were removed and He could travel. What hope He was carrying to the multitudes searching for a safe way out of the dangers surrounding them and in quest of a sincere leader to end the world crisis brought about by the shortsightedness of their leaders and their indifference to the real interests of mankind!

Seen in this perspective, the travels of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the West, under the circumstances summarized above, were more than a personal victory over despair and defeat, sufferings of exile and confinement, the betrayal of kings and the deceit of religious leaders. Their real purport was that they bore evidence of the crisis being faced by the religions of the past. Yet this setback of religious institutions is but the sign of an inescapable close of an old world, whose religious ideas have fulfilled their purposes, and the opening note of a new world, where the material will not compete with the spiritual, where the principle of the search for truth will be the pivot of the arts and sciences and their application, and whose social order will be founded on love, justice and harmony under the shadow of a unity of indissoluble bonds amongst all humankind.

1. Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh (Bahá’í Publishing Trust: Wilmette, Illinois, 1955), p. 203.
2. The Qur’án 53:3-5.
3. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Bahá’í World Centre, 1992), par. 79.
4. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, par. 89.
5. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, par. 90. Kaiser Wilhelm I “appeared stunned” when, within two years of this statement, he himself witnessed the battlefield of Spicheren strewn with bodies—9,000 lost their lives in that single battle during the war between his country and France between 1870 and 1871 (Geoffrey Wawro, The Franco-Prussian War: the German conquest of France in 1870-1871 (Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 119; Friedrich Freudenthal, Von Stade bis Gravelotte (Bremen, 1898), p. 106). Shoghi Effendi refers to the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany when it was defeated in World War I as “provoking ‘the lamentations’ of Berlin “which half a century before, had been ominously prophesied” (God Passes By, p. 226).
6. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, par. 165.
7. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, par. 167.
8. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, par. 181.
9. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, pars. 91, 93.
10. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts: Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh (Bahá’í World Centre, 2002), par. H176.
11. The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh, (The Baha’i World Centre,1978), p. 39. The same loss came upon William’s dynasty.
12. The Proclamation, pp. 20-21. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, pars. H138. Within a short time, at a moment when he wielded unprecedented power, Napoleon was defeated and sent into exile.
13. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, pars. SR4, SR5. Sultán ‘Abdu’l-Azíz died in 1876 at the age of 46 a few days after he was deposed by his ministers. In the war between Russia and Turkey in 1877-1878, large numbers of the Turkish people lost their lives in the battles to capture Adrianople.
14. The Summons, pars. SR7, SR8.