BAHIYYIH KHANUM
(World Centre, 1982)
FILENAME: BK.FN
FILEDATE: 08-06-94
v
He is the Eternal! This is My testimony for her who
hath heard My voice and drawn nigh unto Me. Verily,
she is a leaf that hath sprung from this preexistent Root.
She hath revealed herself in My name and tasted of the
sweet savours of My holy, My wondrous pleasure. At
one time We gave her to drink from My honeyed
Mouth, at another caused her to partake of My mighty,
My luminous Kawthar. Upon her rest the glory of My
name and the fragrance of My shining robe.
(Bahá'u'lláh's original Arabic of the above is inscribed
around the circular dome of the Greatest Holy Leaf's monument
on Mount Carmel. See illustration between pages 92 and
93.)
+P1
I
From the Writings of
BAHÁ'U'LLÁH
+P2
+P3
I
From the Writings of
BAHÁ'U'LLÁH
1. Let these exalted words be thy love-song on
the tree of Bahá, O thou most holy and resplendent
Leaf: `God, besides Whom is none other God, the
Lord of this world and the next!' Verily, We have
elevated thee to the rank of one of the most
distinguished among thy sex, and granted thee, in
My court, a station such as none other woman hath
surpassed. Thus have We preferred thee and raised
thee above the rest, as a sign of grace from Him Who
is the Lord of the throne on high and earth below.
We have created thine eyes to behold the light of My
countenance, thine ears to hearken unto the melody
of My words, thy body to pay homage before My
throne. Do thou render thanks unto God, thy Lord,
the Lord of all the world.
How high is the testimony of the Sadratu'l-Muntahá
for its leaf; how exalted the witness of the Tree
of Life unto its fruit! Through My remembrance of
her a fragrance laden with the perfume of musk hath
been diffused; well is it with him that hath inhaled it
and exclaimed: `All praise be to Thee, O God, my
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Lord the most glorious!' How sweet thy presence
before Me; how sweet to gaze upon thy face, to
bestow upon thee My loving-kindness, to favour
thee with My tender care, to make mention of thee
in this, My Tablet--a Tablet which I have ordained
as a token of My hidden and manifest grace unto
thee.
2. O My Leaf! Hearken thou unto My Voice:
Verily there is none other God but Me, the
Almighty, the All-Wise. I can well inhale from thee
the fragrance of My love and the sweet-smelling
savour wafting from the raiment of My Name, the
Most Holy, the Most Luminous. Be astir upon
God's Tree in conformity with thy pleasure and
unloose thy tongue in praise of thy Lord amidst all
mankind. Let not the things of the world grieve
thee. Cling fast unto this divine Lote-Tree from
which God hath graciously caused thee to spring
forth. I swear by My life! It behoveth the lover to be
closely joined to the loved one, and here indeed is the
Best-Beloved of the world.
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II
From the Writings of
`ABDU'L-BAHÁ
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II
From the Writings of
`ABDU'L-BAHÁ
1. O my well-beloved, deeply spiritual sister!
Day and night thou livest in my memory. Whenever
I remember thee my heart swelleth with sadness and
my regret groweth more intense. Grieve not, for I
am thy true, thy unfailing comforter. Let neither
despondency nor despair becloud the serenity of thy
life or restrain thy freedom. These days shall pass
away. We will, please God, in the Abhá Kingdom
and beneath the sheltering shadow of the Blessed
Beauty, forget all these our earthly cares and will
find each one of these base calumnies amply compensated
by His expressions of praise and favour.
From the beginning of time sorrow and anxiety,
regret and tribulation, have always been the lot of
every loyal servant of God. Ponder this in thine
heart and consider how very true it is. Wherefore,
set thine heart on the tender mercies of the Ancient
Beauty and be thou filled with abiding joy and
intense gladness....
2. O thou my affectionate sister! In the daytime
and in the night-season my thoughts ever turn
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to thee. Not for one moment do I cease to remember
thee. My sorrow and regret concern not myself;
they centre around thee. Whenever I recall thine
afflictions, tears that I cannot repress rain down
from mine eyes....
3. Dear and deeply spiritual sister! At morn and
eventide, with the utmost ardour and humility, I
supplicate at the Divine Threshold, and offer this,
my prayer:
`Grant, O Thou my God, the Compassionate,
that that pure and blessed Leaf may be comforted
by Thy sweet savours of holiness and sustained by
the reviving breeze of Thy loving care and mercy.
Reinforce her spirit with the signs of Thy Kingdom,
and gladden her soul with the testimonies of
Thy everlasting dominion. Comfort, O my God,
her sorrowful heart with the remembrance of Thy
face, initiate her into Thy hidden mysteries, and
inspire her with the revealed splendours of Thy
heavenly light. Manifold are her sorrows, and
infinitely grievous her distress. Bestow continually
upon her the favour of Thy sustaining
grace and, with every fleeting breath, grant her
the blessing of Thy bounty. Her hopes and
expectations are centred in Thee; open Thou to
her face the portals of Thy tender mercies and lead
her into the ways of Thy wondrous benevolence.
+P9
Thou art the Generous, the All-Loving, the
Sustainer, the All-Bountiful....'
4. Dear sister, beloved of my heart and soul!
The news of thy safe arrival and pleasant stay in the
land of Egypt has reached me and filled my heart
with exceeding gladness. I am thankful to
Bahá'u'lláh for the good health thou dost enjoy
and for the happiness He hath imparted to the hearts
of the loved ones in that land. Shouldst thou wish to
know of the condition of this servant of the
Threshold of the Abhá Beauty, praise be to Him
for having enabled me to inhale the fragrance of His
tender mercy and partake of the delights of His
loving-kindness and blessings. I am being continually
reinforced by the energizing rays of His
grace, and feel upheld by the uninterrupted aid of the
victorious hosts of His Kingdom. My physical
health is also improving. God be praised that from
every quarter I receive the glad-tidings of the
growing ascendancy of the Cause of God, and can
witness evidences of the increasing influence of its
spread....
5. O thou my loving, my deeply spiritual
sister! I trust that by the grace and loving-kindness
of the one true God thou art, and wilt be, kept safe
and secure beneath the sheltering shadow of the
Blessed Beauty. Night and day thy countenance
+P10
appeareth before mine eyes, and in my mind are
engraved the traits of thy character....
6. To my honoured and distinguished sister do
thou convey the expression of my heartfelt, my
intense longing. Day and night she liveth in my
remembrance. I dare make no mention of the
feelings which separation from her has aroused in
mine heart; for whatever I should attempt to
express in writing will assuredly be effaced by the
tears which such sentiments must bring to mine
eyes....
7. O Díyá!+F1 It is incumbent upon thee,
throughout the journey, to be a close, a constant
and cheerful companion to my honoured and distinguished
sister. Unceasingly, with the utmost
vigour and devotion, exert thyself, by day and
night, to gladden her blessed heart; for all her days
she was denied a moment of tranquillity. She was
astir and restless every hour of her life. Moth-like
she circled in adoration round the undying flame of
the Divine Candle, her spirit ablaze and her heart
consumed by the fire of His love....
8. O thou my affectionate sister!
God be praised, according to what we hear the
+F1 Daughter of `Abdu'l-Bahá.
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climate in that land hath proved not unfavourable. It
is to be hoped that out of the grace of the Blessed
Beauty thy illness will be completely cured and thou
wilt return in the best of health, so that once again I
may gaze upon that wondrous face of thine.
Write thou a full account of thy condition by
every post, for I am most anxious for news of thee.
Let me know if thou shouldst desire anyone from
here to come to thee, that I may send the person
along--even Munírih--so that thou wilt not be
homesick.
That thou shouldst spend a few days of peace and
rest, is my dearest wish.
We here, God be thanked, are all enjoying the best
of health. I have been better lately, and sleeping well
at night. Rest assured.
9. O my dear sister!
Praise be to God, within the sheltering grace of
the Blessed Beauty, here in the lands of the West a
breeze hath blown from over the rose-gardens of
His bestowals, and the hearts of many people have
been drawn as by a magnet to the Abhá Realm.
Whatever hath come to pass is from the confirmations
of the Beloved; for otherwise, what merit had
we, or what capacity? We are as a helpless babe, but
fed at the breast of heavenly grace. We are no more
than weak plants, but we flourish in the spring rain
of His bestowals.
+P12
Wherefore, as a thank-offering for these bounties,
on a certain day don thy garb to visit the Shrine, the
ka'bih of our heart's desire, turn thyself toward Him
on my behalf, lay down thy head on that sacred
Threshold, and say:
O divine Providence!
O Thou forgiving Lord!
Sinner though I be, I have no refuge save Thyself.
All praise be Thine, that in my wanderings over
mountains and plains, my toils and troubles on
the seas, Thou hast answered still my cries for
help, and confirmed me, and favoured me, and
honoured me with service at Thy Threshold.
To a feeble ant, Thou hast given Solomon's
might. Thou hast made of a gnat a lion in the
thicket of Thy Mercy. Thou hast bestowed on a
drop the swelling waves of the sea, Thou hast
carried up a mote to the pinnacles of grace.
Whatever was achieved, was made possible
through Thee. Otherwise, what strength did the
fragile dust possess, what power did this feeble
being have?
O divine Providence! Do not seize us in our
sins, but give us refuge. Do not look upon our evil
ways, but grant forgiveness. Consider not our
just deserts, but open wide Thy door of grace.
Thou art the Mighty, the Powerful! Thou art
the Seer, the Knower!
10. O my well-beloved sister, O Most Exalted
Leaf!
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Thou didst leave for `Akká to remain but two days
or so and then return, but now thou hast been gone
from us for quite a while. We have stayed behind in
Haifa, all alone, and it is very difficult to get along.
We hear that thou art a little indisposed; the Haifa air
would have been better for thee. We had everything
ready in Haifa to receive thee, but in fact, this caused
thee some difficulty. There is no way but to endure
the toil and trouble of God's path. If thou dost not
bear these hardships, who would ever bear them?
In any case, no matter how things are, come thou
here today, because my heart is longing for thee.
11. O thou my sister, my dear sister!
Divine wisdom hath decreed this temporary
separation, but I long more and more to be with thee
again. Patience is called for, and long-suffering, and
trust in God, and the seeking of His favour. Since
thou art there, my mind is completely at rest.
In recent days, I have made a plan to visit Egypt, if
this be God's will. Do thou, on my behalf, lay thy
head on the sacred Threshold, and perfume brow and
hair in the dust of that Door, and ask that I may be
confirmed in my work; that I may, in return for His
endless bounties, win, if He will, a drop out of the
ocean of servitude.
12. My sister and beloved of my soul!
Here on the slopes of Mount Carmel, by the cave
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of Elijah, we are thinking of that Most Exalted Leaf,
and the beloved and handmaids of the Lord.
We pass our days in writing and our nights now in
communion with God, now in bed to overcome
failing health. And although, to outward seeming,
we are absent from you all, and far away, still our
thoughts are with you always.
I can never, never forget thee. However great the
distance that separates us, we still feel as though we
were seated under the same roof, in one and the same
gathering, for are we not all under the shadow of the
Tabernacle of God and beneath the canopy of His
infinite grace and mercy?
13. My sister, for a considerable period, that is,
from the day of Bahá'u'lláh's ascension, had
grown so thin and feeble, and was in such a
weakened condition from the anguish of her mourning,
that she was close to breakdown.
Although, so far as she was concerned, it was her
dearest wish to drain her cup and wing her way to
the realms where the Divine Essence shineth in
glory, still this servant could not bear to behold her
in that state. Then it occurred to me that, God be
thanked, I have such an unfailing comforter as
Jináb-i-Hájí,+F1 and it would be well to make him
my partner in distress. I therefore determined to
+F1 Hájí Mírzá Hasan-i-Khurásání (see H. M. Balyuzi, `Abdu'l-Bahá, pp. 86, 124).
+P15
send her to Egypt, to provide her with a change of
air.
Although this will certainly cause thee trouble and
inconvenience, still, I trust that out of God's bounty,
it will also bring thee much joy and good cheer.
14. O my spiritual sister!
Thou didst go away to Haifa, supposedly for only
three or four days. Now it becometh apparent that
the spiritual power of the Shrine hath brought thee
joy and radiance, and even as a magnet is holding
thee fast. Thou surely wouldst remember us as well.
Truly the spiritual quality of the holy place, its
fresh skies and delicate air, its crystal waters and
sweet plains and charming seascape, and the holy
breathings from the Kingdom all do mingle in that
Sacred Fold. Thou art right to linger there...
Kiss the light of the eyes of the company of
spiritual souls, Shoghi Effendi...
15. O my spiritual sister!
God be praised, through the Ancient Beauty's
grace and bounty, we have set foot safe and sound
upon this shore, and arrived in this town+F1...
These coasts were once the place where the
breezes of God's loving kindness blew, and here in
this sacred Vale the Son of Spirit+F2 raised up His call
+F1 Tiberias.
+F2 Jesus.
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of `Here am I, O Thou My Lord! Here am I!' That is
why we here perceive, from every direction, the
sweet breathings of holiness.
My meaning is, rest thou assured, this servant is
suffering neither from any trouble, nor hardship,
nor fatigue. I am looking after myself, and keeping
away from all mental preoccupations; all, that is,
except for one thought, which doth indeed disquiet
the mind--and that is, God forbid, that thou
shouldst sorrow.
I hope that out of the bestowals and bounties of
the Ancient Beauty, He will in His grace bring
comfort to every heart.
16. O my affectionate sister!
God be praised, through His grace and favour,
my health and well-being are now restored, but it is
very hard for me to bear thine absence.
We think of thee at all times, here on the slopes of
this sacred, holy and blessed Mount Carmel, and we
are being happy on thy behalf...
17. O my dear sister!
It is quite a while now, since thou hast left us, and
gone away to Nazareth and Haifa. This journey hath
lasted too long. The weather in `Akká is fine and
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moderate. If thou comest back, it will rejoice our
hearts....
18. O my cherished sister!
Thou art never absent from my thoughts.
I speak of thee and call thee to mind at all times. It
is my hope that out of God's favour and grace thou
dost keep safe and well, and dost visit the two Sacred
Thresholds on my behalf.
19. O my sister in the spirit, and the companion
of my heart!
God willing, the climate of Haifa hath proved
favourable. I hope that out of the bounties of the
Ancient Beauty thou wilt gain a measure of peace
and health.
I bring thee to mind both night and day. Just
recently I had hoped to come to Haifa to visit thee,
but various problems and the pressure of work have
left me no time; for I want to see the travellers off,
and every one of them presented a long list of names.
God be thanked, I have written to them all.
Kiss the fresh flower of the garden of sweetness,
Shoghi Effendi.
20. O thou Greatest and Most Merciful Holy
Leaf!
I arrived in New York in the best of health, and I
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have been at all times thinking of thee, and supplicating
fervently at the threshold of the Blessed
Beauty that He may guard thee in the stronghold of
His protection. We are in the utmost fellowship and
joy. I hope that thou wilt be sheltered under His
bountiful care.
Write to me at once about Rúhá Khánum's and
Shoghi Effendi's condition, informing me fully and
hiding nothing; this is the best way.
Convey my utmost longing to all.
21. I do not know in what words I could
describe my longing for my honoured sister. Whatever
it may write, my pen falls short.
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III
From the Writings of SHOGHI EFFENDI
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III
From the Writings of SHOGHI EFFENDI
1. This servant, after that grievous event and
great calamity, the ascension of His Holiness
`Abdu'l-Bahá to the Abhá Kingdom, has been so
stricken with grief and pain and so entangled in the
troubles created by the enemies of the Cause of God,
that I consider that my presence here, at such a time
and in such an atmosphere, is not in accordance with
the fulfilment of my important and sacred duties.
For this reason, unable to do otherwise, I have left
for a time the affairs of the Cause both at home and
abroad, under the supervision of the Holy Family
and the headship of the Greatest Holy Leaf until, by
the Grace of God, having gained health, strength,
self-confidence and spiritual energy, and having
taken into my hands, in accordance with my aim and
desire, entirely and regularly the work of service I
shall attain to my utmost spiritual hope and aspiration.
2. And in this fervent plea, my voice is once
more reinforced by the passionate, and perhaps, the
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last, entreaty, of the Greatest Holy Leaf, whose
spirit, now hovering on the edge of the Great
Beyond, longs to carry on its flight to the Abhá
Kingdom, and into the presence of a Divine, an
almighty Father, an assurance of the joyous consummation
of an enterprise,+F1 the progress of which
has so greatly brightened the closing days of her
earthly life.
3. GREATEST HOLY LEAF'S IMMORTAL SPIRIT
WINGED ITS FLIGHT GREAT BEYOND. COUNTLESS LOVERS
HER SAINTLY LIFE IN EAST AND WEST SEIZED WITH
PANGS OF ANGUISH, PLUNGED IN UNUTTERABLE
SORROW. HUMANITY SHALL ERELONG RECOGNIZE ITS
IRREPARABLE LOSS. OUR BELOVED FAITH, WELL-NIGH
CRUSHED BY DEVASTATING BLOW OF `ABDU'L-BAHÁ'S
UNEXPECTED ASCENSION, NOW LAMENTS PASSING LAST
REMNANT OF BAHÁ'U'LLÁH, ITS MOST EXALTED
MEMBER. HOLY FAMILY CRUELLY DIVESTED ITS MOST
PRECIOUS, MOST GREAT ADORNING. I, FOR MY PART,
BEWAIL SUDDEN REMOVAL MY SOLE EARTHLY SUSTAINER,
THE JOY AND SOLACE OF MY LIFE. HER SACRED
REMAINS WILL REPOSE VICINITY HOLY SHRINES. SO
GRIEVOUS A BEREAVEMENT NECESSITATES SUSPENSION
FOR NINE MONTHS THROUGHOUT BAHÁ'Í WORLD EVERY
MANNER RELIGIOUS FESTIVITY. INFORM LOCAL ASSEMBLIES
AND GROUPS HOLD BEFITTING MANNER MEMORIAL
GATHERINGS, EXTOL A LIFE SO LADEN SACRED EXPERIENCES,
SO RICH IMPERISHABLE MEMORIES... ADVISE
+F1 Construction of the House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois.
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HOLDING ADDITIONAL COMMEMORATION SERVICE OF
STRICTLY DEVOTIONAL CHARACTER AUDITORIUM
MASHRIQU'L-ADHKÁR.
4. GREATEST HOLY LEAF ASCENDED ABHÁ KINGDOM.
OUR GRIEF IMMENSE, OUR LOSS IRREPARABLE.
INFORM LOCAL ASSEMBLIES COMMEMORATE BEFITTINGLY
SACRED EXPERIENCES SO RICH, SO SUBLIME, SO
EVENTFUL A LIFE. MAGNITUDE OF OUR SORROW
DEMANDS COMPLETE SUSPENSION FOR NINE MONTHS
THROUGHOUT BAHÁ'Í WORLD EVERY FORM RELIGIOUS
FESTIVITY. HER MORTAL REMAINS LAID VICINITY HOLY
SHRINE.
5. O ye who burn in the flames of bereavement!
By the Day-star of the World, my bereaved and
longing heart is afire with a grief that is beyond my
description. The sudden, the grievous and calamitous
news that the Most Exalted, the pure, the holy,
the immaculate, the brightly shining Leaf, the
Remnant of Bahá, and His trust, the eternal fruit
and the one last remembrance of the Holy Tree
--may my life be offered for the wrongs she
suffered--has ascended, reached me like live coals
cast into a frail and afflicted heart. The foundations
of my serenity were shattered, and tears of desolation
came like a flood that carries all away.
Alas, that I was prevented from being with her at
the close of her earthly days, at that moment when
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she ascended to her Lord, her Master, and when her
delicate body was placed in the tomb. Not mine that
honour, that high privilege, for I was far away,
deprived, bereft, excluded.
O brothers and sisters in the spirit! In this solemn
hour, from one direction we can hear the sounds of
loud weeping, and cries of mourning and woe,
rising out of the throats of the people of Bahá
throughout this nether world, because of their
separation from that rich mine of faithfulness, that
Orb of the heaven of eternal glory--because of her
setting below the horizon of this holy Spot. But
from another direction can be heard the songs of
praise and holy exultation from the Company on
High and the undying dwellers in Paradise, and
from beyond them all God's Prophets, coming forth
to welcome that fair being, and to place her in the
retreats of glory, and to seat her at the right hand of
Him Who is the Centre of God's Mighty Covenant.
The community of Bahá, whether in the East of
the world or the West, are lamenting like orphans
left destitute; fevered, tormented, unquiet, they are
voicing their grief. Out of the depths of their
sorrowing hearts, there rises to the Abhá Horizon
this continual piercing cry: `Where art thou gone,
O torch of tender love? Where art thou gone, O
source of grace and mercy? Where art thou gone, O
symbol of bounty and generosity? Where art thou
gone, O day-spring of detachment in this world of
being? Where art thou gone, O trust left by Bahá
among His people, O remnant left by Him among
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His servants, O sweet scent of His garment, shed
across all created things!'
O ye who loved that luminous face! The oil
within that shining lamp was used up in this world
and its light was extinguished; and yet, in the
lamp-niche of the Kingdom, the fingers of the Lord
of the heavenly throne have kindled it so bright, and
it has cast such a splendour on the maids of
Heaven--dwelling in chambers of red rubies and
circling about her--that they all called from out their
souls and hearts, `O joy upon joy!' and with shouts
of, `Well done! Well done! Upon thee be God's
blessings, O Most Exalted Leaf!' did they welcome
that quintessence of love and purity within the
towering pavilions of eternity.
At that time, as bidden by the Lord, the Protector,
the Self-Subsisting, did the heavenly Crier raise up
his voice and cry out: `O Most Exalted Leaf! Thou
art she who did endure with patience in God's way
from thine earliest childhood and throughout all thy
life, and did bear in His pathway what none other
hath borne, save only God in His own Self, the
Supreme Ruler over all created things, and before
Him, His noble Herald, and after Him, His holy
Branch, the One, the Inaccessible, the Most High.
The people of the Concourse on High seek the
fragrance of thy presence, and the dwellers in the
retreats of eternity circle about thee. To this bear
witness the souls of the cherubim within the
tabernacles of majesty and might, and beyond them
the tongue of God the One True Lord, the Pure, the
+P26
Most Wondrous. Blessedness be thine and a goodly
abode; glad tidings to thee and a happy ending!'
To one who was reared by the hands of her loving
kindness, the burden of this direst of calamities is
well nigh unbearable; and yet praised be the God of
glory that her fragile frame has escaped from the
prison of continual ordeals and afflictions which,
with an astonishing forbearance, and for more than
eighty years, she accepted and endured. Now is she
free; delivered from her chains of care and sorrow;
safe from all the suffering and pain, released from
the ills of this nether world. She rolled up and
packed away the years of longing for her mighty
Father, and for Him, her loving and well-favoured
Brother, and departed to her abode in the midmost
heart of the Heavens.
This heavenly being, during all the turmoil of her
days, did not rest for a moment, nor ever did she
seek quiet and peace. From the beginning of her life,
from her very childhood, she tasted sorrow's cup;
she drank down the afflictions and calamities of the
earliest years of the great Cause of God. In the
tumult of the Year of Hín,+F1 as a result of the sacking
and plundering of her glorious Father's wealth and
holdings, she learned the bitterness of destitution
and want. Then she shared the imprisonment, the
grief, the banishment of the Abhá Beauty, and in
the storm which broke out in `Iráq--because of the
plotting and the treachery of the prime mover of
+F1 The numerical value of the letters composing `Hín' indicates 1268 A.H. or 1851-52 A.D.
+P27
mischief, the focal centre of hate--she bore, with
complete resignation and acquiescence, uncounted
ordeals. She forgot herself, did without her kin,
turned aside from possessions, struck off at one
blow the bonds of every worldly concern; and
then, like a lovelorn moth, she circled day and
night about the flame of the matchless Beauty of
her Lord.
In the heaven of severance, she shone like the
Morning Star, fair and bright, and through her
character and all her ways, she shed upon kin and
stranger, upon the learned, and the lowly, the
radiance of Bahá'u'lláh's surpassing perfection.
Because of the intense and deep-seated sorrows and
the manifold oppressive trials that assailed her
--never failing spring of grace that she was, essence
of loving-kindness--in the Land of Mystery+F1 her
lovely form was worn away to a breath, to a
shadow; and during the Most Great Convulsion,
which in the years of `Stress' made every heart to
quake, she stood as a soaring pillar, immovable and
fixed; and from the blasts of desolation that rose
and blew, that Leaf of the eternal Lote-Tree did not
wither.
Rather did she redouble her efforts, urging
herself on the more, to servitude and sacrifice. In
captivating hearts and winning over souls, in
destroying doubts and misgivings, she led the field.
With the waters of her countless mercies, she
brought thorny hearts to a blossoming of love from
+F1 Adrianople.
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the All-Glorious, and with the influence of her pure
loving-kindness, transformed the implacable, the
unyielding, into impassioned lovers of the celestial
Beauty's peerless Cause.
Yet another wound was inflicted on her injured
heart by the aggressions and violations of the
evil-doers within the prison-fortress,+F1 yet another
blow was struck at her afflicted being. And then her
anguish was increased by the passing of the Abhá
Beauty, and the cruelty of the disloyal added more
fuel to the fires of her mourning. In the midst of that
storm of violation, the countenance of that rare
treasure of the Lord shone all the brighter, and
throughout the Bahá'í community, her value and
high rank became clearly perceived. By the vehement
onslaught of the chief of violators against the
sacred beliefs of the followers of the Faith, she was
neither frightened nor in despair.
In the days of the Commission of Investigation,
she was a staunch and trusted supporter of the
peerless Branch of Bahá'u'lláh, and a companion
to Him beyond compare. At the time of His absence
in the western world, she was His competent
deputy, His representative and vicegerent, with
none to equal her. In a Tablet from the pen of the
Centre of the Covenant, addressed to His consort,
are these words referring to His brilliant sister: `To
my honoured and distinguished sister do thou
convey the expression of my heartfelt, my intense
longing. Day and night she liveth in my remembrance.
+F1 `Akká.
+P29
I dare make no mention of the feelings
which separation from her has aroused in my heart,
for whatever I should attempt to express in writing
will assuredly be effaced by the tears which such
sentiments must bring to my eyes.'
After the ascension of `Abdu'l-Bahá to the realm
of the All-Glorious, that Light of the Concourse on
High enfolded me, helpless as I was, in the embrace
of her love, and with incomparable pity and tenderness,
persuaded, guided, and urged me on to the
requirements of servitude. The very elements of this
frail being were leavened with her love, refreshed by
her companionship, sustained by her eternal spirit.
Never for a moment will her kindnesses, her
favours, pass from my memory, and as the months
and the years go by, the effects of them on this
mourning heart will never be diminished.
O Liege Lady of the people of Bahá!
Broken is our circle by thy going--
Broken our circle, broken too, our hearts.
That my tongue, my pen could thank thee were a
hopeless task, nor can any praise of mine befit thine
excellence. Not even a droplet of all thine endless
love can I aspire to fathom, nor can I adequately
praise and tell of even the most trifling out of all the
events of thy precious life. In the courts of the
Almighty, for this frail being thy sacred spirit
intercedeth, and in this darksome world, the sweet
memory of thee is the succourer and friend of this
lowly one. Thy comely face is etched for ever on the
+P30
tablet of my grieving soul, those smiles that
refreshed my life are forever and safely imprinted in
the innermost recesses of my stricken heart. Let me
not be forgotten by thee in the glorious precincts on
high; leave me not despairing, nor excluded from
the never-ceasing reinforcements that come from
the living Lord; and in this world and the Kingdom,
help me to reach what thou knowest to be my
dearest hope.
O faithful friends! It is right and fitting that out of
honour to her most high station, in the gatherings of
the followers of Bahá'u'lláh, whether of the East
or the West, all Bahá'í festivals and celebrations
should be completely suspended for a period of nine
months, and that in every city and village, memorial
meetings should be held, with all solemnity, spirituality,
lowliness and consecration--where, in the
choicest of language, may be described at length the
shining attributes of that most resplendent Leaf, that
archetype of the people of Bahá. If it be possible for
the individual believers to postpone their personal
celebrations for a period of one year, let them
unhesitatingly do so thus to express their sorrow at
this agonizing misfortune. Let them read this letter,
this supplication, in their memorial gatherings, that
perchance the Almighty will lighten my burden,
and dispel the clouds of my bereavement; that He
will answer my prayers, and fulfil my hopes, out of
His bounty, His power, His grace.
+P31
6. Brethern and fellow-mourners in the Faith
of Bahá'u'lláh!
A sorrow, reminiscent in its poignancy, of the
devastating grief caused by `Abdu'l-Bahá's sudden
removal from our midst, has stirred the Bahá'í
world to its foundations. The Greatest Holy Leaf,
the well-beloved and treasured Remnant of
Bahá'u'lláh entrusted to our frail and unworthy
hands by our departed Master, has passed to the
Great Beyond, leaving a legacy that time can never
dim.
The Community of the Most Great Name, in its
entirety and to its very core, feels the sting of this
cruel loss. Inevitable though this calamitous event
appeared to us all, however acute our apprehensions
of its steady approach, the consciousness of its final
consummation at this terrible hour leaves us, we
whose souls have been impregnated by the energizing
influence of her love, prostrated and disconsolate.
How can my lonely pen, so utterly inadequate to
glorify so exalted a station, so impotent to portray
the experiences of so sublime a life, so disqualified to
recount the blessings she showered upon me since
my earliest childhood--how can such a pen repay
the great debt of gratitude and love that I owe her
whom I regarded as my chief sustainer, my most
affectionate comforter, the joy and inspiration of my
life? My grief is too immense, my remorse too
profound, to be able to give full vent at this moment
to the feelings that surge within me.
+P32
Only future generations and pens abler than mine
can, and will, pay a worthy tribute to the towering
grandeur of her spiritual life, to the unique part she
played throughout the tumultuous stages of
Bahá'í history, to the expressions of unqualified
praise that have streamed from the pen of both
Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, the Centre of His
Covenant, though unrecorded, and in the main
unsuspected by the mass of her passionate admirers
in East and West, the share she has had in influencing
the course of some of the chief events in the annals of
the Faith, the sufferings she bore, the sacrifices she
made, the rare gifts of unfailing sympathy she so
strikingly displayed--these, and many others stand
so inextricably interwoven with the fabric of the
Cause itself that no future historian of the Faith of
Bahá'u'lláh can afford to ignore or minimize.
As far back as the concluding stages of the heroic
age of the Cause, which witnessed the imprisonment
of Bahá'u'lláh in the Síyáh-Chál of
Tihrán, the Greatest Holy Leaf, then still in her
infancy, was privileged to taste of the cup of woe
which the first believers of that Apostolic Age had
quaffed.
How well I remember her recall, at a time when
her faculties were still unimpaired, the gnawing
suspense that ate into the hearts of those who
watched by her side, at the threshold of her pillaged
house, expectant to hear at any moment the news of
Bahá'u'lláh's imminent execution! In those sinister
hours, she often recounted, her parents had so
+P33
suddenly lost their earthly possessions that within
the space of a single day from being the privileged
member of one of the wealthiest families of Tihrán
she had sunk to the state of a sufferer from unconcealed
poverty. Deprived of the means of subsistence
her illustrious mother, the famed Navváb,
was constrained to place in the palm of her daughter's
hand a handful of flour and to induce her to
accept it as a substitute for her daily bread.
And when at a later time this revered and precious
member of the Holy Family, then in her teens, came
to be entrusted by the guiding hand of her Father
with missions that no girl of her age could, or would
be willing to, perform, with what spontaneous joy
she seized her opportunity and acquitted herself of
the task with which she had been entrusted! The
delicacy and extreme gravity of such functions as
she, from time to time, was called upon to fulfil,
when the city of Baghdád was swept by the
hurricane which the heedlessness and perversity of
Mírzá Yahyá had unchained, as well as the tender
solicitude which, at so early an age, she evinced
during the period of Bahá'u'lláh's enforced retirement
to the mountains of Sulaymáníyyih, marked
her as one who was both capable of sharing the
burden, and willing to make the sacrifice, which her
high birth demanded.
How staunch was her faith, how calm her
demeanour, how forgiving her attitude, how severe
her trials, at a time when the forces of schism had
rent asunder the ties that united the little band of
+P34
exiles which had settled in Adrianople and whose
fortunes seemed then to have sunk to their lowest
ebb! It was in this period of extreme anxiety, when
the rigours of a winter of exceptional severity,
coupled with the privations entailed by unhealthy
housing accommodation and dire financial distress,
undermined once for all her health and sapped the
vitality which she had hitherto so thoroughly
enjoyed. The stress and storm of that period made
an abiding impression upon her mind, and she
retained till the time of her death on her beauteous
and angelic face evidences of its intense hardships.
Not until, however, she had been confined in the
company of Bahá'u'lláh within the walls of the
prison-city of `Akká did she display, in the plentitude
of her power and in the full abundance of her
love for Him, those gifts that single her out, next to
`Abdu'l-Bahá, among the members of the Holy
Family, as the brightest embodiment of that love
which is born of God and of that human sympathy
which few mortals are capable of evincing.
Banishing from her mind and heart every earthly
attachment, renouncing the very idea of matrimony,
she, standing resolutely by the side of a
Brother whom she was to aid and serve so well,
arose to dedicate her life to the service of her Father's
glorious Cause. Whether in the management of the
affairs of His Household in which she excelled, or in
the social relationships which she so assiduously
cultivated in order to shield both Bahá'u'lláh and
`Abdu'l-Bahá, whether in the unfailing attention
+P35
she paid to the everyday needs of her Father, or in
the traits of generosity, of affability and kindness,
which she manifested, the Greatest Holy Leaf had by
that time abundantly demonstrated her worthiness
to rank as one of the noblest figures intimately
associated with the life-long work of Bahá'u'lláh.
How grievous was the ingratitude, how blind the
fanaticism, how persistent the malignity of the
officials, their wives, and their subordinates, in
return for the manifold bounties which she, in close
association with her Brother, so profusely conferred
upon them! Her patience, her magnanimity, her
undiscriminating benevolence, far from disarming
the hostility of that perverse generation, served only
to inflame their rancour, to excite their jealousy, to
intensify their fears. The gloom that had settled
upon that little band of imprisoned believers, who
languished in the Fortress of `Akká contrasted with
the spirit of confident hope, of deep-rooted optimism
that beamed upon her serene countenance. No
calamity, however intense, could obscure the
brightness of her saintly face, and no agitation, no
matter how severe, could disturb the composure of
her gracious and dignified behaviour.
That her sensitive heart instantaneously reacted to
the slightest injury that befell the least significant of
creatures, whether friend or foe, no one who knew
her well could doubt. And yet such was the restraining
power of her will--a will which her spirit of
self-renunciation so often prompted her to suppress
--that a superficial observer might well be led
+P36
to question the intensity of her emotions or to
belittle the range of her sympathies. In the school of
adversity she, already endowed by Providence with
the virtues of meekness and fortitude, learned
through the example and exhortations of the Great
Sufferer, Who was her Father, the lesson she was
destined to teach the great mass of His followers for
so long after Him.
Armed with the powers with which an intimate
and long-standing companionship with
Bahá'u'lláh had already equipped her, and benefiting
by the magnificent example which the
steadily widening range of `Abdu'l-Bahá's activities
afforded her, she was prepared to face the storm
which the treacherous conduct of the Covenant-breakers
had aroused and to withstand its most
damaging onslaughts.
Great as had been her sufferings ever since her
infancy, the anguish of mind and heart which the
ascension of Bahá'u'lláh occasioned nerved her, as
never before, to a resolve which no upheaval could
bend and which her frail constitution belied. Amidst
the dust and heat of the commotion which that
faithless and rebellious company engendered she
found herself constrained to dissolve ties of family
relationship, to sever long-standing and intimate
friendships, to discard lesser loyalties for the sake of
her supreme allegiance to a Cause she had loved so
dearly and had served so well.
The disruption that ensued found her ranged by
the side of Him Whom her departed Father had
+P37
appointed as the Centre of His Covenant and the
authorized Expounder of His Word. Her venerated
mother, as well as her distinguished paternal uncle,
Aqáy-i-Kalím--the twin pillars who, all throughout
the various stages of Bahá'u'lláh's exile from
the Land of His Birth to the final place of His
confinement, had demonstrated, unlike most of the
members of His Family, the tenacity of their loyalty
--had already passed behind the Veil. Death, in the
most tragic circumstances, had also robbed her
of the Purest Branch, her only brother besides
`Abdu'l-Bahá, while still in the prime of youth. She
alone of the family of Bahá'u'lláh remained to
cheer the heart and reinforce the efforts of the Most
Great Branch, against Whom were solidly arrayed
the almost entire company of His faithless relatives.
In her arduous task she was seconded by the diligent
efforts of Munírih Khánum, the Holy Mother, and
those of her daughters whose age allowed them to
assist in the accomplishment of that stupendous
achievement with which the name of `Abdu'l-Bahá
will for ever remain associated.
With the passing of Bahá'u'lláh and the fierce
onslaught of the forces of disruption that followed in
its wake, the Greatest Holy Leaf, now in the hey-day
of her life, rose to the height of her great opportunity
and acquitted herself worthily of her task. It would
take me beyond the compass of the tribute I am
moved to pay to her memory were I to dwell upon the
incessant machinations to which Muhammad-`Alí,
the arch-breaker of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh,
+P38
and his despicable supporters basely resorted,
upon the agitation which their cleverly-directed
campaign of misrepresentation and calumny produced
in quarters directly connected with Sultán
`Abdu'l-Hamíd and his advisers, upon the trials and
investigations to which it gave rise, upon the
rigidity of the incarceration it reimposed, and upon
the perils it revived. Suffice it to say that but for her
sleepless vigilance, her tact, her courtesy, her
extreme patience and heroic fortitude, grave complications
might have ensued and the load of
`Abdu'l-Bahá's anxious care would have been considerably
increased.
And when the storm-cloud that had darkened the
horizon of the Holy Land had been finally dissipated
and the call raised by our beloved `Abdu'l-Bahá had
stirred to a new life certain cities of the American and
European continents, the Most Exalted Leaf became
the recipient of the unbounded affection and blessings
of One Who could best estimate her virtues
and appreciate her merits.
The decline of her precious life had by that time
set in, and the burden of advancing age was beginning
to becloud the radiance of her countenance.
Forgetful of her own self, disdaining rest and
comfort, and undeterred by the obstacles that still
stood in her path, she, acting as the honoured
hostess to a steadily increasing number of pilgrims
who thronged `Abdu'l-Bahá's residence from both
the East and the West, continued to display those
same attributes that had won her, in the preceding
+P39
phases of her career, so great a measure of admiration
and love.
And when, in pursuance of God's inscrutable
Wisdom, the ban on `Abdu'l-Bahá's confinement
was lifted and the Plan which He, in the darkest
hours of His confinement, had conceived materialized,
He with unhesitating confidence, invested His
trusted and honoured sister with the responsibility
of attending to the multitudinous details arising out
of His protracted absence from the Holy Land.
No sooner had `Abdu'l-Bahá stepped upon the
shores of the European and American continents
than our beloved Khánum found herself well-nigh
overwhelmed with thrilling messages, each
betokening the irresistible advance of the Cause in a
manner which, notwithstanding the vast range of
her experience, seemed to her almost incredible.
The years in which she basked in the sunshine of
`Abdu'l-Bahá's spiritual victories were, perhaps,
among the brightest and happiest of her life. Little
did she dream when, as a little girl, she was running
about, in the courtyard of her Father's house in
Tihrán, in the company of Him Whose destiny was
to be one day the chosen Centre of God's indestructible
Covenant, that such a Brother would be
capable of achieving, in realms so distant, and
among races so utterly remote, so great and memorable
a victory.
The enthusiasm and joy which swelled in her
breast as she greeted `Abdu'l-Bahá on His triumphant
return from the West, I will not venture to
+P40
describe. She was astounded at the vitality of which
He had, despite His unimaginable sufferings,
proved Himself capable. She was lost in admiration
at the magnitude of the forces which His utterances
had released. She was filled with thankfulness to
Bahá'u'lláh for having enabled her to witness the
evidences of such brilliant victory for His Cause no
less than for His Son.
The outbreak of the Great War gave her yet
another opportunity to reveal the true worth of her
character and to release the latent energies of her
heart. The residence of `Abdu'l-Bahá in Haifa was
besieged, all throughout that dreary conflict, by a
concourse of famished men, women and children
whom the maladministration, the cruelty and neglect
of the officials of the Ottoman Government had
driven to seek an alleviation to their woes. From the
hand of the Greatest Holy Leaf, and out of the
abundance of her heart, these hapless victims of a
contemptible tyranny, received day after day
unforgettable evidences of a love they had learned to
envy and admire. Her words of cheer and comfort,
the food, the money, the clothing she freely dispensed,
the remedies which, by a process of her
own, she herself prepared and diligently applied
--all these had their share in comforting the disconsolate,
in restoring sight to the blind, in sheltering
the orphan, in healing the sick, and in succouring the
homeless and the wanderer.
She had reached, amidst the darkness of the war
+P41
days the high water-mark of her spiritual attainments.
Few, if any, among the unnumbered
benefactors of society whose privilege has been to
allay, in various measures, the hardships and sufferings
entailed by that Fierce Conflict, gave as freely
and as disinterestedly as she did; few exercised that
undefinable influence upon the beneficiaries of their
gifts.
Age seemed to have accentuated the tenderness of
her loving heart, and to have widened still further
the range of her sympathies. The sight of appalling
suffering around her steeled her energies and
revealed such potentialities that her most intimate
associates had failed to suspect.
The ascension of `Abdu'l-Bahá, so tragic in its
suddenness, was to her a terrible blow from the
effects of which she never completely recovered. To
her He, Whom she called `Áqá', had been a refuge
in times of adversity. On Him she had been led to
place her sole reliance. In Him she had found ample
compensation for the bereavements she had suffered,
the desertions she had witnessed, the ingratitude
she had been shown by friends and kindred. No
one could ever dream that a woman of her age, so
frail in body, so sensitive of heart, so loaded with the
cares of almost eighty years of incessant tribulation,
could so long survive so shattering a blow. And yet,
history, no less than the annals of our immortal
Faith, shall record for her a share in the advancement
and consolidation of the world-wide Community
+P42
which the hand of `Abdu'l-Bahá had helped to
fashion, which no one among the remnants of His
Family can rival.
Which of the blessings am I to recount, which in
her unfailing solicitude she showered upon me, in
the most critical and agitated hours of my life? To
me, standing in so dire a need of the vitalizing grace
of God, she was the living symbol of many an
attribute I had learned to admire in `Abdu'l-Bahá.
She was to me a continual reminder of His inspiring
personality, of His calm resignation, of His munificence
and magnanimity. To me she was an incarnation
of His winsome graciousness, of His all-encompassing
tenderness and love.
It would take me too long to make even a brief
allusion to those incidents of her life, each of which
eloquently proclaims her as a daughter, worthy to
inherit that priceless heritage bequeathed to her by
Bahá'u'lláh. A purity of life that reflected itself in
even the minutest details of her daily occupations
and activities; a tenderness of heart that obliterated
every distinction of creed, class and colour; a
resignation and serenity that evoked to the mind the
calm and heroic fortitude of the Báb; a natural
fondness of flowers and children that was so characteristic
of Bahá'u'lláh; an unaffected simplicity of
manners; an extreme sociability which made her
accessible to all; a generosity, a love, at once
disinterested and undiscriminating, that reflected so
clearly the attributes of `Abdu'l-Bahá's character; a
sweetness of temper; a cheerfulness that no amount
+P43
of sorrow could becloud; a quiet and unassuming
disposition that served to enhance a thousandfold
the prestige of her exalted rank; a forgiving nature
that instantly disarmed the most unyielding enemy
--these rank among the outstanding attributes of a
saintly life which history will acknowledge as
having been endowed with a celestial potency that
few of the heroes of the past possessed.
No wonder that in Tablets, which stand as eternal
testimonies to the beauty of her character,
Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá have paid touching
tributes to those things that testify to her
exalted position among the members of their
Family, that proclaim her as an example to their
followers, and as an object worthy of the admiration
of all mankind.
I need only, at this juncture, quote the following
passage from a Tablet addressed by `Abdu'l-Bahá
to the Holy Mother, the tone of which reveals
unmistakably the character of those ties that bound
Him to so precious, so devoted a sister:
`To my honoured and distinguished sister do thou
convey the expression of my heartfelt, my intense longing.
Day and night she liveth in my remembrance. I dare make
no mention of the feelings which separation from her has
aroused in my heart, for whatever I should attempt to
express in writing will assuredly be effaced by the tears
which such sentiments must bring to my eyes.'
Dearly-beloved Greatest Holy Leaf! Through the
mist of tears that fill my eyes I can clearly see, as I pen
these lines, thy noble figure before me, and can
+P44
recognize the serenity of thy kindly face. I can still
gaze, though the shadows of the grave separate us,
into thy blue, love-deep eyes, and can feel in its calm
intensity, the immense love thou didst bear for the
Cause of thine Almighty Father, the attachment that
bound thee to the most lowly and insignificant
among its followers, the warm affection thou didst
cherish for me in thine heart. The memory of the
ineffable beauty of thy smile shall ever continue to
cheer and hearten me in the thorny path I am
destined to pursue. The remembrance of the touch
of thine hand shall spur me on to follow steadfastly
in thy way. The sweet magic of thy voice shall
remind me, when the hour of adversity is at its
darkest, to hold fast to the rope thou didst seize so
firmly all the days of thy life.
Bear thou this my message to `Abdu'l-Bahá,
thine exalted and divinely-appointed Brother: If the
Cause for which Bahá'u'lláh toiled and laboured,
for which Thou didst suffer years of agonizing
sorrow, for the sake of which streams of sacred
blood have flowed, should, in the days to come,
encounter storms more severe than those it has
already weathered, do Thou continue to overshadow,
with Thine all-encompassing care and
wisdom, Thy frail, Thy unworthy appointed child.
Intercede, O noble and well-favoured scion of a
heavenly Father, for me no less than for the toiling
masses of thy ardent lovers, who have sworn
undying allegiance to thy memory, whose souls
have been nourished by the energies of thy love,
+P45
whose conduct has been moulded by the inspiring
example of thy life, and whose imaginations are
fired by the imperishable evidences of thy lively
faith, thy unshakable constancy, thy invincible
heroism, thy great renunciation.
Whatever betide us, however distressing the
vicissitudes which the nascent Faith of God may
yet experience, we pledge ourselves, before the
mercy-seat of thy glorious Father, to hand on,
unimpaired and undivided, to generations yet
unborn, the glory of that tradition of which thou
hast been its most brilliant exemplar.
In the innermost recesses of our hearts, O thou
exalted Leaf of the Abhá Paradise, we have reared
for thee a shining mansion that the hand of time can
never undermine, a shrine which shall frame eternally
the matchless beauty of thy countenance, an
altar whereon the fire of thy consuming love shall
burn for ever.
7. ENTREAT SORROW STRICKEN AMERICAN BELIEVERS
NEVER ALLOW CONSCIOUSNESS THEIR AGONIZING
LOSS PARALYZE DETERMINATION PROSECUTE AN ENTERPRISE
ON WHICH ADORED OBJECT OUR MOURNING
CENTRED HER BRIGHTEST HOPES.
8. YOUR MESSAGE ALLEVIATED LOAD MY AGONIZING
SORROW. NOTHING LESS INFLEXIBLE RESOLVE
CARRY OUT HER DEAREST PARTING WISH HOLD FAST
CAUSE HER ALMIGHTY FATHER CAN LIFT ITS CRUSHING
BURDEN.
+P46
9. PRAY ASSURE AMERICAN BELIEVERS BEHALF HOLY
FAMILY MYSELF ABIDING APPRECIATION NUMEROUS
EVIDENCES THEIR VALUED SYMPATHY. OUR SORROW-LADEN
HEARTS MUCH RELIEVED FILLED WITH GRATITUDE.
OUT OF PANGS OF ANGUISH WHICH BEREAVED
AMERICA EXPERIENCED IN HER SUDDEN SEPARATION
FROM `ABDU'L-BAHÁ ADMINISTRATION GOD'S MIGHTY
FAITH WAS BORN. MIGHT NOT HER PRESENT GRIEF AT
LOSS BAHÁ'U'LLÁH'S PRECIOUS DAUGHTER RELEASE
SUCH FORCES AS WILL ENSURE SPEEDY COMPLETION
MASHRIQU'L-ADHKÁR THE ADMINISTRATION'S MIGHTY
BULWARK, SYMBOL OF ITS STRENGTH AND HARBINGER
ITS PROMISED GLORY.
10. Your valued message brought strength and
solace to my aching heart. I deeply appreciate the
sentiments of my invaluable fellow-workers, who
have by their eminent, their unforgettable and
unique services, contributed so powerfully in
brightening the closing days of her precious life. The
services each of you has rendered to our beloved
Cause brought much joy and hope to her in the
evening of her life, and are, therefore, highly
meritorious in the sight of the Almighty. May He
bless abundantly your work in the Divine Vineyard,
and enable you to render still greater services in the
days to come.
11. I deeply appreciate your sympathy. My loss
is tremendous and my sorrow so profound. I will
+P47
pray that you, who have felt the power of her spirit
at so advanced an age may be enabled to mirror forth
its splendour and reveal its beauty to the world. I
will continue to pray in your behalf. You are often in
my thoughts. Rest assured and persevere in your
devoted efforts.
12. I greatly value your sympathy in my cruel,
my irreparable loss. My only comfort is the assurance
of her devoted lovers to remain firm and
steadfast in the Cause and to strive to follow in her
footsteps. The example of her life is our solace, our
inspiration and strength. May the Beloved aid you
to follow in her way, and to perpetuate her glorious
memory.
13. Your sweet and touching message imparted
strength and solace to my heart. I value the sentiments
you express and am deeply grateful. My grief
is profound and my only comfort is the thought that
her many lovers, East and West, are straining every
nerve to promote those very ideals for which she
suffered and toiled all the days of her eventful and
sacred life. I will continue to pray for your welfare
and success from the depths of my heart. Rest
assured.
+P48
14. My great love for the Greatest Holy Leaf and
my attachment to each one of you prompt me to add
these few words in person and to express to you my
gratitude for the expression of your valued sympathy.
I greatly value your message, and will pray
that the Almighty may bless your efforts in the
service of a Cause for the sake of which our loved
Khánum sacrificed her precious life.
15. The many evidences of your increasing zeal
and activities in the service of our beloved Cause,
have to a great measure, relieved my sorrow-laden
heart. I will continue to pray for your unsparing
efforts, and wish you to persevere, whatever the
vicissitudes which this immortal Faith may encounter
in future. Rest assured, and never feel disconsolate...
The celebration of Bahá'í festive anniversaries,
I feel, should also be suspended during a period of
nine months.
16. Your highly impressive and touching message
brought much relief to my weary soul. I thank
you from the depths of my heart. I greatly value the
sentiments expressed on behalf of a local community,
the members of which have, by their services,
their devotion and loyalty, contributed, to so great
an extent, to the joy and satisfaction of the hearts of
both `Abdu'l-Bahá and the Greatest Holy Leaf. My
+P49
great attachment to each one of you, as well as my
immense love for our departed and beloved
Khánum, have prompted me to add these few
words in person. I will continue to pray for the
success of your efforts, as well as for your spiritual
advancement.
17. The passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf has
filled my heart with unutterable sorrow. My comfort
is the thought that the measure of success
achieved, under your wise and able leadership, by
the collective efforts of the American believers has
brightened considerably the last days of her precious
life. Would to God that the continued endeavours of
this little band of her devoted lovers who have
brought so great a joy to her blessed heart, may
bring further satisfaction to her soul, and realize, at
the appointed time, her dearest wish and fondest
hopes for the Cause in your land. To complete the
Temple, to clothe its naked dome, and terminate its
exterior elaborate ornamentation, is the best and
most effective way in which the American believers,
the recipients of her untold favours, can demonstrate
their fidelity to her memory and their gratitude
for the inestimable blessings she showered
upon them.
18. O well-loved friend,
The emotions that have possessed my grieving
+P50
heart are such that they cannot be put into words,
and tongue and pen are helpless to describe them.
The one consolation of this servant is the steadfastness
and the redoubled services of those dearly-loved
ones in Iran, and the good news of energetic
efforts being exerted by the friends in that land. This
is what dissipates the clouds of my grieving, and
dispels the darkness of my anguish, and quiets the
flames that consume my very being, and casts a ray
of joy across the darkened sky of my agonized and
stricken heart.
19. I wish to add a few words in person as a
token of my deepfelt appreciation of your loving
message of sympathy in the great loss the family of
`Abdu'l-Bahá and myself have sustained. My
prayer for each one of you is that the Almighty may
aid you to perpetuate her glorious memory, to walk
in her footsteps and to transmit to future generations
the tradition she has bequeathed to us all.
20. I am moved to add a few words with my
own pen, to what has been written on my behalf,
renewing my plea to you and through you, to each
member of your beloved community, to prosecute,
with undiminished vigour the enterprise which you
have so splendidly inaugurated. The Greatest Holy
Leaf, from her retreat of Glory, is watching over
you, is interceding for every one of you, and is
+P51
expecting you to play your part in the great task,
with which the prestige of her Father's glorious
Cause is so closely associated. You have, while she
lived amongst us, contributed to a remarkable
degree to the brightening of her earthly life. By your
persistent, your heroic endeavours you will, I am
sure, bring added joy to her soul, and will vindicate
afresh your undying loyalty to her memory.
21. The passing of the beloved Khánum has
plunged me in unspeakable sorrow. What a gap she
has left behind her! It is terrible to contemplate.
Your message, which I greatly value, lessened
considerably the burden of my grief as I am fully
conscious of the extent to which you have, in so
many different ways, contributed to her physical
well-being, and to the joy and satisfaction of her
soul. We are all indebted to you for the many
evidences of your loving and unfailing solicitude for
her welfare, and we can only pray at her grave that
her spirit may intercede for you before the throne of
her glorious Father, and aid you to accomplish still
greater things for a Cause, in the path of which she
toiled and suffered all the days of her precious life.
22. I greatly value the expression of your
loving sympathy and am greatly relieved by the
sentiments your message conveyed. I will pray that
you may be assisted, individually and collectively,
to follow her inspiring example, to bring happiness
+P52
to her soul, and to proclaim far and wide the purity
of her life, the immensity of her love, and the
supreme nobility of her character.
23. I wish to express to your distinguished
assembly my gratitude for the action they have
taken in reproducing in facsimile my humble tribute
to the Greatest Holy Leaf. The hundred copies you
sent me have been received and are splendid reproductions
of the original. The finest and most enduring
tribute which can be paid to her memory lies
within the grasp, and constitutes the supreme
opportunity, of the American believers. Her earthly
life, as it drew to a close, was much brightened by
the brilliant accomplishments of her devoted lovers
in the American continent. May her pure angelic
soul in the realms beyond derive added satisfaction
from the uninterrupted progress and the eventual
completion of an enterprise on which she had
centered the one remaining joy of her life.
24. O ye who share my anguish and are my
comforters in my distress and bereavement! In these
past few months, from the day of the passing of that
fairest fruit of the Undying Tree, of the setting of
that wondrous Star in the heavens of endless glory,
and of that bright Ray from the well spring of
pre-existent light, [`Abdu'l-Bahá], the Ancient
Beauty, the Most Great Name--may the spirits of
+P53
the Concourse on High be sacrificed for Him--has
witnessed what has come upon me, whom she had
surrounded at all times with her loving-kindness,
her unceasing favours, and what a wound this loss
has inflicted on my suffering heart. This parting
from her has left my whole being in turmoil,
burning with the fire of my love and longing for her.
When, in the morning and the evening, I call her
beloved face to mind, and let her smiles, that
nourished the spirit, pass again before my eyes, and I
think over all her bounty to me, all her unnumbered
kindnesses, and remember that astonishing meekness
she showed in her sufferings--then the flames
of yearning love are kindled yet again, and sighs
come out of my heart, and tears flow from my eyes,
so that all control is lost and I sink into a sea of
anguish without end.
Bearing witness to this, at this very moment, is
her own pure and radiant soul, her bright and sacred
spirit, that soars in the atmosphere of the invisible
realm, and gazes, from beyond the throne of the
Most High, upon me and upon those others on earth
who are enamoured of her well-beloved name.
O thou Scion of Bahá! I weep over thee in the
night season, as do the bereaved; and at break of day
I cry out unto thee with the tongue of my heart, my
limbs and members, and again and again I repeat thy
well-loved name, and I groan over the loss of thee,
over thy meekness and ordeals, and how thou didst
love me, over the sufferings thou didst bear, and the
terrible calamities, and the wretchedness and the
griefs, and the abasement, and the rejection--and all
+P54
this only and solely for the sake of thy Lord and
because of thy burning love for those, out of all of
creation, who shared in thine ardour.
Whensoever, in sleep, I call to mind and see thy
smiling face, whensoever, by day or night, I circumambulate
thine honoured tomb, then in the innermost
depths of my being are rekindled the fires of
yearning, and the cord of my patience is severed,
and again the tears come and all the world grows
dark before my eyes. And whensoever I remember
what blows were rained upon thee at the close of thy
days, the discomforts, trials and illnesses--and I
picture thy surroundings now, in the Sanctuary on
High, in the midmost heart of Heaven, beside the
pavilions of grandeur and might; and I behold thy
present glory, thy deliverance, the delights, the
bounties, the bestowals, the majesty and dominion
and power, the joy, thine exultation, and thy
triumph--then the burden of my grieving is lightened,
the cloud of sorrow is dispelled, the heat of my
torment abates. Then is my tongue loosed to praise
and thank thee, and thy Lord, Him Who did fashion
thee and did prefer thee to all other handmaidens,
and did give thee to drink from His sweet-scented
lips, Who withdrew the veil of concealment from
thy true being and made thee to be a true example for
all thy kin to follow, and caused thee to be the
fragrance of His garment for all of creation.
And at such times I strengthen my resolve to
follow in thy footsteps, and to continue onward in
the pathway of thy love; to take thee as my model,
+P55
and to acquire the qualities, and to make manifest
that which thou didst desire for the triumph of this
exalted and exacting, this most resplendent, sacred,
and wondrous Cause.
Then intercede thou for me before the throne of
the Almighty, O thou who, within the Company on
High, dost intercede for all of humankind. Deliver
me from the throes of my mourning, and confer
upon me and those who love thee in this nether
world what will remove our afflictions, and bring
assurance to our hearts, and quiet the winds of our
sorrows, and console our eyes, and fulfil our hopes
both in this world and the world to come--O thou
whom God hast singled out from amongst all the
countenances of the Abhá Paradise, and hast honoured
in both His earth and His Kingdom on high,
and of whom He has made mention in the Crimson
Book, in words which wafted the scent of musk and
scattered its fragrance over all the dwellers on earth!
O thou Greatest Holy Leaf! If I cry at every
moment out of a hundred mouths, and from each of
these mouths I speak with a hundred thousand
tongues, yet I could never describe nor celebrate thy
heavenly qualities, which are known to none save
only the Lord God; nor could I befittingly tell of
even the transient foam from out the ocean of thine
endless favour and grace.
Except for a very few, whose habitation is in the
highest retreats of holiness, and who circle, in the
furthermost Sanctuary, by day and by night about
the throne of God, and are fed at the hand of the
+P56
Abhá Beauty on purest milk--except for these, no
soul of this nether world has known or recognized
thine immaculate, thy most sacred essence, nor has
any befittingly perceived that ambergris fragrance
of thy noble qualities, which richly anoints thy
brow, and which issues from the divine wellspring
of mystic musk; nor has any caught its sweetness.
To this bear witness the Company on High, and
beyond them God Himself, the Supreme Lord of all
the heavens and the earths: that during all thy days,
from thine earliest years until the close of thy life,
thou didst personify the attributes of thy Father, the
Matchless, the Mighty. Thou wert the fruit of His
Tree, thou wert the lamp of His love, thou wert the
symbol of His serenity, and of His meekness, the
pathway of His guidance, the channel of His blessings,
the sweet scent of His robe, the refuge of His
loved ones and His handmaidens, the mantle of His
generosity and grace.
O thou Remnant of the divine light, O thou fruit
of the Cause of our All-Compelling Lord! From the
hour when thy days did set, on the horizon of this
Snow-White, this unique and Sacred Spot, our days
have turned to night, our joys to great consternation;
our eyes have grown blind with sorrow at thy
passing, for it has brought back that supreme
affliction yet again, that direst convulsion, the
departing of thy compassionate Brother, our Merciful
Master. And there is no refuge for us anywhere
except for the breathings of thy spirit, the spotless,
the excellently bright; no shelter for us anywhere,
+P57
but through thine intercession, that God may inspire
us with His own patience, and ordain for us in the
other life the reward of meeting thee again, of
attaining thy presence, of gazing on thy countenance,
and partaking of thy light.
O thou Maid of Bahá! The best and choicest of
praises, and the most excellent and most glorious of
salutations, rest upon thee, O thou solace of mine
eyes, and beloved of my soul! Thy grace to me was
plenteous, it can never be concealed; thy love for me
was great, it can never be forgotten. Blessed, a
thousand times blessed, is he who loves thee, and
partakes of thy splendours, and sings the praises of
thy qualities, and extols thy worth, and follows in
thy footsteps; who testifies to the wrongs thou didst
suffer, and visits thy resting-place, and circles
around thine exalted tomb, by day and by night.
Woe unto him, retribution be his, who disputes thy
rank and station, and denies thine excellence, and
turns himself aside from thy clear, thy luminous and
straight path.
O ye distracted lovers of that winsome countenance!
It is meet and fitting that in the gatherings of
the loved ones of God and the handmaids of the
Merciful in all the countries and lands of the East,
these shining words and clear tokens from the
Supreme Pen and His Interpreter's wonder-working
hand--verses which were revealed for
that priceless treasure of the Kingdom--should be
repeatedly recited, most movingly with devotion
and lowliness, and great attention and care, so as
+P58
to perpetuate her blessed memory, and extol her
station, and out of love also for her incomparable
beauty.
May the honoured members of the Central
Assembly of Iran circulate these Writings, immediately
and with great care, to the countries of the
East, through their Local Spiritual Assemblies; for
this task is a great bounty especially set apart for the
trustees of His devoted loved ones in that noble
homeland. May God reward them with excellent
rewards, in both this world of His, and in His
Kingdom.
25. Moved by an unalterable devotion to the
memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf, I feel prompted
to share with you, and through you with the
concourse of her steadfast lovers throughout the
West, these significant passages+F1 which I have
gleaned from various Tablets revealed in her honour
by Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá.
Impregnated with that love after which the soul of
a humanity in travail now hungers, these passages
disclose, to the extent that our finite minds can
comprehend, the nature of that mystic bond which,
on one hand, united her with the Spirit of her
almighty Father and, on the other, linked her so
closely with her glorious Brother, the perfect
Exemplar of that Spirit.
The memory of her who was a pattern of
+F1 Included in Sections I and II.
+P59
goodness, of a pure and holy life, who was the
embodiment of such heavenly virtues as only the
privileged inmates of the uppermost chambers in the
Abhá Paradise can fully appreciate, will long live
enshrined in these immortal words--a memory the
ennobling influence of which will remain an inspiration
and a solace amid the wreckage of a sadly
shaken world.
Conscious of the predominating share assumed,
in recent years, by the American believers in alleviating
the burden which that most exalted Leaf
bore so heroically in the evening of her life, I can do
no better than entrust into their hands these prized
testimonies of the Founder of our Faith and of the
Centre of His Covenant. I feel confident that their
elected representatives will take whatever measures
are required for their prompt and wide circulation
among their brethren throughout the West. They
will, thereby, be contributing still further to the
repayment of the great debt they owe her in the
prosecution of a mighty and divinely-appointed
task.
26. It was through the arrival of these pilgrims,+F1
and these alone, that the gloom which had
enveloped the disconsolate members of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
family was finally dispelled. Through the
agency of these successive visitors the Greatest Holy
Leaf, who alone with her Brother among the
+F1 From the West, after the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh.
+P60
members of her Father's household had to confront
the rebellion of almost the entire company of her
relatives and associates, found that consolation
which so powerfully sustained her till the very close
of her life.
27. With `Abdu'l-Bahá's ascension, and more
particularly with the passing of His well-beloved
and illustrious sister the Most Exalted Leaf--the last
survivor of a glorious and heroic age--there draws
to a close the first and most moving chapter of
Bahá'í history, marking the conclusion of the
Primitive, the Apostolic Age of the Faith of
Bahá'u'lláh.
28. The Fund associated with the beloved name
of the Greatest Holy Leaf has been launched. The
uninterrupted continuation to its very end of so
laudable an enterprise is now assured. The poignant
memories of one whose heart so greatly rejoiced at
the rearing of the superstructure of this sacred House
[the House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois] will so
energize the final exertions required to complete it as
to dissipate any doubt that may yet linger in any
mind as to the capacity of its builders to worthily
consummate their task.
29. BLESSED REMAINS PUREST BRANCH AND
MASTER'S MOTHER SAFELY TRANSFERRED HALLOWED
+P61
PRECINCTS SHRINES MOUNT CARMEL. LONG INFLICTED
HUMILIATION WIPED AWAY. MACHINATIONS COVENANT-BREAKERS
FRUSTRATE PLAN DEFEATED. CHERISHED
WISH GREATEST HOLY LEAF FULFILLED. SISTER
BROTHER MOTHER WIFE `ABDU'L-BAHÁ REUNITED ONE
SPOT DESIGNED CONSTITUTE FOCAL CENTRE BAHÁ'Í
ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS AT FAITH'S WORLD
CENTRE. SHARE JOYFUL NEWS ENTIRE BODY AMERICAN
BELIEVERS.
30. O loved ones of God, These two precious
and most exalted treasures,+F1 these two keepsakes of
the sacred Beauty of Abhá, have now been joined
to the third trust from Him, that is, to the daughter
of Bahá and His remnant, the token of the Master's
Remembrance.
Their resting-places are in one area, on an
elevation close by the Spot round which do circle the
Concourse on High, and facing the Qiblih of the
people of Bahá--`Akká, the resplendent city, and
the sanctified, the luminous, the Most Holy Shrine.
Within the shadow of these honoured tombs has
also been laid the remains of the consort+F2 of Him
round Whom all names revolve.
For joy, the Hill of God is stirred at so high an
honour, and for this most great bestowal the
mountain of the Lord is in rapture and ecstasy.
+F1 The remains of the Purest Branch and those of Navváb.
+F2 Munírih Khánum.
+P62
31. His+F1 nine-year-old son, later surnamed the
`Most Great Branch', destined to become the Centre
of His Covenant and authorized Interpreter of His
teachings, together with His seven-year-old sister,
known in later years by the same title+F2 as that of her
illustrious mother, and whose services until the ripe
old age of four score years and six, no less than her
exalted parentage, entitle her to the distinction of
ranking as the outstanding heroine of the Bahá'í
Dispensation, were ... included among the exiles
who were now bidding their last farewell to their
native country.
32. ...as a further testimony to the majestic
unfoldment and progressive consolidation of the
stupendous undertaking launched by Bahá'u'lláh
on that holy mountain, may be mentioned the
selection of a portion of the school property situated
in the precincts of the Shrine of the Báb as a
permanent resting-place for the Greatest Holy Leaf,
the `well-beloved' sister of `Abdu'l-Bahá, the `Leaf
that hath sprung' from the `Pre-existent Root', the
`fragrance' of Bahá'u'lláh's `shining robe', elevated
by Him to a `station such as none other woman hath
surpassed', and comparable in rank to those immortal
heroines such as Sarah, Ásíyih, the Virgin Mary,
Fátimih and Táhirih, each of whom has outshone
every member of her sex in previous Dispensations.
+F1 Bahá'u'lláh's.
+F2 The Most Exalted Leaf.
+P63
33. The raising of this Edifice+F1 will in turn
herald the construction, in the course of successive
epochs of the Formative Age of the Faith, of several
other structures...
These Edifices will, in the shape of a far-flung arc,
and following a harmonizing style of architecture,
surround the resting-places of the Greatest Holy
Leaf, ranking as foremost among the members of
her sex in the Bahá'í Dispensation, of her Brother,
offered up as a ransom by Bahá'u'lláh for the
quickening of the world and its unification, and of
their Mother, proclaimed by Him to be His chosen
`consort in all the worlds of God'.
+F1 The International Archives Building.
+P64
+P65
IV
Passages from letters
written on behalf of
SHOGHI EFFENDI
+P66
+P67
IV
Passages from letters
written on behalf of
SHOGHI EFFENDI
1. Your touching words in connection with the
sudden removal of the Greatest Holy Leaf from
their+F1 midst have greatly alleviated the burden of
sorrow that weighs so heavily upon their hearts and
have demonstrated that in their great and irreparable
loss the friends are faithfully sharing their sorrow
and grief.
The passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, so tragic in
its suddenness, has, indeed, divested the Holy
Family of its unique adornment and the Bahá'í
world at large of one of its noblest and most
precious members. She was to us all not only a true
friend but the real embodiment of those traits and
characteristics, of that genuine and profound love
that was born of God, and that we had learned to
admire in the Master...
In this great loss that the followers of the Faith
both in East and West have come to suffer our
Guardian's share is the greatest and perhaps the most
cruel. His sole comfort, in this great calamity, is to
+F1 Members of the Holy Family.
+P68
see the friends unitedly working for the spread of a
Cause for which our departed Khánum had given
up all her life, and for the triumph of which she
cherished the highest hopes. The expressions of
zealous enthusiasm and hope, of genuine self-abnegation
and love that the American believers and
especially our precious sister Mrs Agnes Parsons
demonstrated in their last Convention meeting have
greatly brightened the closing days of her life.+F1
Shoghi Effendi trusts that her memory will increasingly
serve to cheer and hearten the friends in their
ever-widening activities.
2. The passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, so
cruel in the feelings of unalterable grief that it has
evoked, is, indeed, a tremendous loss to us all and
particularly to our Guardian. Her presence among
us was such a source of inspiration and joy that we
cannot too deeply grieve the immensity of our loss.
She was a real mother to every one of us, a comforter
in our pains and anxieties, and a friend in our
moments of utter loneliness and despair. But alas!
+F1 Refers to the Annual Convention held in April 1932, at which
the delegates and friends responded in an impressive manner
to the need of the Fund associated with the name of the
Greatest Holy Leaf, initiated in order to complete the exterior
ornamentation of the House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois.
Mrs Parsons spontaneously removed a valuable pearl necklace
from her neck to assist in meeting the Fund's goal. See
Bahá'í News, No. 62, May 1932 for a report of that
Convention.
+P69
We failed to appreciate adequately what her
presence among us meant and it is only now, when
she has gone for ever, that we come to realize the
irreparable character of our loss.
And yet, however deep our consciousness of her
unexpected removal from our midst may be, we
cannot but feel certain that from her heavenly retreat
she is continually showering her blessings upon
everyone of us and is interceding on our behalf so
that we may recover our energies and unanimously
arise and dedicate our lives to the service of her
Father's glorious Cause.
Her memory will, assuredly, continue to inspire
us for many, many long years and will prove, when
the hour of adversity is at its darkest, to be our best
sustainer.
May her glorious spirit inspire us with faith and
hope, steel our energies and enable us to make every
sacrifice in the path lighted by her saintly and
eventful life.
3. The ascension of the Greatest Holy Leaf is,
indeed, an irreparable loss to us all and will continue
to be deeply felt for many, many long years. Her
presence among us was such a source of blessings
and inspiration! She was to every one of us not only a
friend but a real mother, through whose maternal
care and love we had learned to feel and experience
that consuming love which is born of God and
which alone can galvanize the souls of men.
+P70
Her departure from our midst, though cruel and
heart-rending in its immediate results cannot but
ultimately serve the very best interests of the Cause.
For this invincible Faith of God has, ever since its
inception in darkest Persia, grown and flourished
amidst all sorts of tribulations and sufferings and has
welcomed all these as providential forces destined to
ensure its unity, promote its interests and consolidate
its work.
Let us, therefore, not remain disconsolate and
hopeless and withstand in a heroic way the shock
occasioned by the passing of our beloved Khánum.
Her ascension is a challenge to us all, a challenge to
our faith, to our sincerity and to our love.
May her memory continue to strengthen and
deepen our spiritual insight and enable us to render
the Faith as many services as we can.
4. His grief is too immense and his loss too
heavy to be adequately expressed in words. But the
many letters of condolence he has already received,
and especially your message that indicated your
profound attachment to our departed Khánum,
greatly comforted his sorrow-stricken heart and
gave him the assurance that in this calamitous event
the friends are amply sharing his grief.
However irreparable and heart-rending our loss
may be, we cannot but thank God for having
released our beloved Holy Leaf from the oppression
and bondage of this world. For more than eighty
+P71
years this Exalted Leaf bore with a fortitude that
bewildered every one who had the privilege of
knowing her, sufferings and tribulations that few of
our present-day believers did experience. And yet,
what a joy and what a saintlike attitude she manifested
all through her life. Her angelic face was so
calm, so serene in the very midst of sufferings and
pains. Not that she lacked tenderness of heart and
sympathy. But she could overcome her feelings and
this because she had put all her trust in God.
And now that she has gone for ever we should
rejoice at the thought that she is still living in our
hearts and is animating our soul with a devotion, a
courage, and a hope of which we are in such a dire
need in these days of sufferings and hardships.
May the memory of her saintly life inspire you
with faith and hope, cheer and strengthen your heart
and make of you a servant worthy to promote and
consolidate the interests of the Faith!
5. The irreparable loss which the Faith has
suffered through the passing of the Greatest Holy
Leaf is too immense to be adequately expressed in
words, and we cannot fully realize its significance at
the present stage of the evolution of the Cause.
Future generations stand in a better position to
appreciate what her significance was during the
early days of the Revelation and especially after the
ascension of `Abdu'l-Bahá.
+P72
And now that she has gone for ever and is in
direct communion with God we should rejoice at
the thought that from the Realm Above she is
watching over us all and is sending us her blessings.
May the memory of her saintly life be our
comforter in our hours of sadness and despair, and
may we learn through her example how to live the
true life of the spirit, of self-abnegation and of
service.
6. In these days, when we are all mourning the
loss of our beloved Greatest Holy Leaf, Shoghi
Effendi's sole comfort is to see the friends as ever
devoted and active and striving day and night to
promote the teachings of the Cause.
However cruel our separation from Bahíyyih
Khánum may be, especially at a time when her
presence among us was such a source of inspiration
and strength, yet we feel confident that from her
Heavenly Retreat she is sending us her blessings
and is quickening our weary souls.
Concerning the suspension of festivities for a
period of nine months it should be made clear that
what is meant by this is that all gatherings, whether
outdoor or indoor, which are not of a strictly
devotional character should be abolished all
through the period of our mourning. However,
meetings and services that are wholly spiritual as
well as those that are necessary for the carrying on
+P73
of the administration should continue to be held as
usual.
7. Your message of condolence and sympathy,
dated July 22nd, 1932 which so fully conveyed your
profound grief at the loss occasioned by the unexpected
passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf was
received and read with great interest. The Guardian's
sorrow was much relieved and the burden of
his agonizing pain immensely alleviated. He sincerely
hopes that out of the pangs of this crushing
calamity the Faith will strengthen its foundations
and extend the sphere of its ever-widening influence.
Our loss is, indeed, immense and even irreparable.
But our joy should also be great, for the
Greatest Holy Leaf has at least been released from
the bondage of this world after more than eighty
years of continued suffering. It would take me too
long to relate in their fullness those incidents which
eloquently proclaim her as one of the greatest
sufferers the world has yet seen. And yet, with what
a fortitude she bore all these tribulations for she was
confident in the grace of God.
Though now gone for ever from our midst we
should be hopeful that from her Celestial Realm she
will send us her blessings and will extend to us her
help. Her memory will continue to cheer and
strengthen our souls, deepen our spiritual insight
and bring us to a strong determination to serve till
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the very last breath of our life a Cause for which our
departed Khánum gave up her entire existence and
for the future of which she cherished the brightest
hopes.
8. ...The news of the Memorial Service you
had held for the Greatest Holy Leaf gave him the
assurance that the friends are faithfully sharing his
grief and are demonstrating in a befitting manner
their profound devotion to one whose very life was
an example of faithfulness and sincerity, of self-abnegation
and love.
The ascension of the Greatest Holy Leaf is,
indeed, both a calamity and a blessing. It is an
overwhelming calamity since it has deprived us of
the presence in our very midst of the last Remnant of
that Heroic age of the Cause that gave birth to so
many noble and faithful souls. The mere presence of
our beloved Khánum among us was a source of
inspiration and blessing. And now that she has gone
we cannot too deeply deplore the immensity of our
loss.
But thanks to God for having released her, after so
many long years of agonizing pain, of the bondage
of this world and given her the priceless privilege of
being in direct communion with God.
May her everlasting spirit continue to guide our
efforts and enable us to serve a Cause, for which she
suffered so much, with all our might, our enthusiasm
and hope.
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9. The letter from that spiritual friend has
reached the beloved Guardian, and he is aware of
your bitter grieving over the calamitous news that a
most glorious fruit of the Holy Tree, the Most
Exalted Leaf, the Remnant of Bahá, has passed
away.
This disastrous event has had an effect on the
Guardian so terrible that no pen can describe it nor
paper bear the words; for that bright and surpassingly
fair presence, that quintessence of the perfections
and attributes of God, was his close companion,
and the consolation of his heart, so that his
separation from her whom the world wronged, and
the ascension of that loved one of the community of
love, was unspeakably hard for him to bear.
She was a divine trust, a treasure of the Kingdom,
and she spent all the days of her precious life as an
exile and a captive, and her every priceless hour was
passed under tests and afflictions and ordeals that she
endured at the hands of merciless foes. From early
childhood she had her share of the sufferings of
Bahá'u'lláh, subjected even as He was to hardships
and calamities, and she was as well the partner
in sorrows and tribulations of `Abdu'l-Bahá.
For her there was never a night of peaceful sleep,
for her no day when she found rest, and always, like
a moth, would her comely person circle about the
bright candle of the Faith. The words of her mouth
were ever to glorify the Abhá Beauty, her only
thought and her high purpose were to proclaim the
Cause of God and to protect His Law, while the
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dearest wish of her glowing heart was to waft far and
wide the sweet breathings of the Lord.
Her heavenly ways were a model for the people of
Bahá, and those who dwell in the pavilions of
devotion and the denizens of the Abhá Paradise
found in her celestial attributes their prototype and
their guide. Glory be to God, Who created her,
fashioned her, called her into being, sent her forth
and revealed her, whose like the eye of the world had
never seen.
The Guardian sends his message of consolation to
your honoured self and all the friends, and he says
that it is fitting that the righteous should hold fast to
the cord of resignation and acquiescence, and adorn
themselves with the ornaments of faithfulness and
servitude, and take for their example that priceless
treasure of the Kingdom.
10. The letter dated 5 August 1932, from that
spiritual friend has been received by the Guardian of
the Cause of God, may our lives be sacrificed for
him, and he has been informed of your receiving his
telegram regarding the ascension of that matchless
fruit of the Tree of Glory, the Most Exalted Leaf.
There is no question but that the burden of grief
on his sorrowing heart, because of this terrible
ordeal, this great calamity, is heavier than minds can
conceive, or words can tell. That gem of immortality,
that precious and exalted being, was the one
consolation, the one companion of the Guardian in
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his sorrow-filled life; and she, with her sweet
encouragement, her gentle words, her never-ceasing,
soothing care of him, her smiles that came like
fair winds from heavenly gardens, could always
gladden and refresh his spirit.
No one has understood the tender, spiritual and
celestial bond between the Guardian and her who
was the Remnant of Bahá, nor can any mind
conceive that plane of being, nor reckon its sublimity.
During her whole life span, that heavenly being
was subjected to ordeals and tribulations. She confronted
the attacks of the hostile, and she suffered
afflictions any one of which could well have shattered
a mountain of iron. And yet the sweet and
comely face of that spirit-like dove of holiness, was
wreathed till her very last hour in life-giving smiles,
nor did that patience and endurance, that greatness,
that majesty and dignity, ever desert her delicate and
fragile person.
She who was the trust left by Bahá'u'lláh had no
other aim nor goal but these: to proclaim the Cause
of God and exalt His Word; to praise and glorify the
Blessed Beauty's name; to bear `Abdu'l-Bahá in
mind and serve Him ever; to pity the sorely-troubled
and give them endless, loving care; to
cherish and comfort them, and bring them joy.
There is, then, good reason, that with the passing of
this peerless gem, this precious, matchless pearl, we
should rend our garments in mourning, and that our
eyes should stream with bitter tears.
+P78
The Guardian conveys his message of condolence,
and says that in this severest of afflictions, it
would befit the people of Bahá to hold fast to
resignation and acquiescence, and to rise up and
loyally serve the Faith, taking for their example that
priceless treasure of the Abhá Paradise.
11. What you had written concerning the
memorial gatherings of men and women believers
to mourn the Most Exalted Leaf, who was the
peerless fruit of the Holy Tree, and to commemorate
the ascension of her who was the most glorious
trust left on earth by the Lord--may the souls of
holy men and women be a sacrifice for her sacred
resting-place--has been received by the Guardian.
It cannot be imagined to what a degree this
terrible and calamitous event has saddened him,
and, more than words can tell, clouded the radiance
of his heart. For that holy being, that resplendent
person, with all her heart and soul and endless love,
had ever fostered and cherished him in the warm
embrace of her celestial tenderness. She was his
single, dear companion, she was his one and only
consolation in the world, and that is why he is so
burdened down with the passing of her high and
stately presence, and why the departure of that
comely spirit is so hard for him to bear.
She who was left in trust by Bahá'u'lláh was the
symbol of His infinite compassion, the day star in
the heaven of His bounty and grace. That sanctified
+P79
spirit revealed the loving-kindness of Him who was
the Beauty of the All-Glorious, and was the welling
spring of the favours and bestowals of Him Who was
the Lord, the Most High. She was the comforter of
anyone who grieved, the solace of any with a broken
heart. She, that Remnant of Bahá, was a loving
mother to the orphan, and for the hapless and bewildered
it was she who would find a way. Her holy life
lit up the world; her heavenly qualities and ways were
a standard for people all over the earth. Like a cloud of
grace, she showered down gifts, and her bestowals,
like the morning winds, refreshed the soul.
Stranger and friend alike were captured by her
loving-kindness, her spiritual nature, her unceasing
care for them and tender ways; enamoured of her
great indulgence toward them, and how she favoured
them and cherished them. The mind could only
marvel at that subtle and ethereal being, at the
majesty and greatness of her, and the heavenly
modesty, and the forbearance and long suffering.
Even in the thick of the worst ordeals, she would
smile like an opening rose, and no matter how dark
and calamitous the times, like a bright candle she
would shed her light.
The Guardian sends messages of heartfelt condolence
to all of you, and asks you to be submissive and
acquiescent and patient, and loyally to arise and
serve, and take for your model that precious treasure
of the Abhá Paradise.
You had asked the Guardian as to the nine months
of mourning, during which all Bahá'í festivities are
+P80
to be suspended. His answer is that this refers to nine
solar months. He says further that the blessed and
exalted Leaf ascended at one hour after midnight, on
the eve of Friday, July 15.
12. ...He is eagerly awaiting to see the friends
as ever burning with the desire to serve a Cause for
the sake of which our departed Holy Leaf gave up
her entire existence.
May her glorious spirit cheer your hearts, strengthen
your faith and inspire you with renewed
courage and hope.
13. His loss is too immense to be adequately
expressed in words. But his joy is also great. For
such calamitous events, though cruel in their
immediate effects, nevertheless, serve to stimulate
the friends and quicken their souls.
Ours, therefore, is the opportunity to arise and
serve the Cause and put all our trust in God. Surely,
He will guide our steps and will inspire us with the
necessary enthusiasm and strength.
May the immortal spirit of our departed
Khánum quicken our energies and give fresh lustre
to our endeavours for the greater extension of the
Cause.
+P81
14. The profound sorrow occasioned by the
sudden passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, as well as
the unnumbered messages of sympathy received
from friends and believers in East and West, all of
which the Guardian acknowledged in person, have
caused the unavoidable delay in giving his immediate
attention to various matters referred to in your
communications to him. He deeply regrets the
obstacles which stood in his way and which by their
very nature he found them impossible to surmount.
15. The Guardian of the Cause of God has
received your letter of 21 July 1932, telling of your
and the other friends' profound distress on receiving
word of this calamity, this dire ordeal, that is, the
ascension of the Most Exalted Leaf, that brightest
fruit of the Eternal Tree.
It is certain that this anguish, this harrowing
event, has reached into the very depths of his being,
and oppressed and darkened his radiant heart more
than words can ever tell. For the subtle and spiritual
attachment that the Guardian felt for her, and the
heavenly tenderness and affection between that
lovely fruit of the divine Lote-Tree and himself, was
a bond so strong as to defy description, nor can the
mind encompass that exalted state. That secret is
a secret well-concealed, a treasured mystery unplumbed,
and to a plane such as this, the minds of
the believers can never find their way. On this
account the Guardian's anguish at being parted from
+P82
that bright and comely denizen of Heaven is beyond
our conceiving.
She who was a sparkling light of God, she who
was so full of grace--that widespread ray of
Heaven's splendour, that sign of God's mercy--was
made to appear with all perfections, all goodly
attributes, all blessed ways; and never had the
world's eye gazed upon such a welling spring of
tender love, of pity and compassion, and never will
it behold again such a gem of loving-kindness, such
a fount of God's munificence.
How many a night did she whom the world
wronged spend as a prisoner, worn with care,
tormented, banished from her home. How many a
day did she live through as an exile and a captive!
There was no venom of affliction, at the hands of
this Faith's foes, that was not given her to drink, no
arrow of cruelty but struck her holy breast. Yet in
spite of the endless tribulations and disasters, she
who was a spirit of holiness and a songster of
Heaven, would even in the midst of dire ordeals, her
face aglow, bloom like a rose.
The Guardian sends messages of consolation to
you and all the friends in this bereavement, and he
says that in this calamitous time all must bow down
their heads and be acquiescent, arise in faithful
service to His Cause, and model themselves upon
that most exalted, sacred and resplendent presence.
16. The Guardian's anguish, because of this
tragic occurrence, is such that it can neither be
+P83
plumbed nor described in words. That sublime and
gloried Leaf, that precious jewel of the Kingdom,
was the one great solace of his life; she was his
glorious companion, and her disappearance, and the
separation from her, and her ascending into the
heavenly presence and court of her Lord was the
direst ordeal to be visited upon the people of Bahá.
Alas for any future time that might produce such a
calamity, when the world's eye might see its like.
That sacred treasure, that jewel of Heaven, was
the very sign and token of spiritual attributes and
qualities and perfections, the very model of high
honour and nobility and heavenly ways. The sufferings
she bore in the pathway of God were the
cruellest ones, the afflictions that assailed her were
the severest of all. Fortitude was the rich dress she
wore, serenity and tranquil strength were her splendid
robe, virtue and detachment, purity and
chastity, were all her jewels, and tenderness, care
and love for humankind, her beauty's bright
adornings.
The Guardian conveys his message of consolation
and comfort, enjoining submission and acquiescence
in this calamity, and the need for arising to
serve and to be steadfast, and to take for our model
that gem of the Abhá Paradise.
17. Indeed, the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Trust of
Bahá'u'lláh amongst us, was the emblem of His
boundless grace, a luminary shining in the heaven of
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tender mercy and gracious providence, the embodiment
of the manifold favours of the Abhá Beauty, a
repository of the bounty and loving-kindness so
characteristic of the Báb, the Exalted One. To
every disconsolate one she was an affectionate
comforter, to every heart-broken and grief-stricken
soul, a token of unfailing sympathy, of kindliness,
of cheer and comfort. Her blessed life was a source
of spiritual illumination for the whole world and her
noble traits and heavenly attributes served as a
shining example, an object of emulation for all
mankind. Like the showers of heavenly grace, her
generosity knew no bounds, and as the breeze of
celestial blessing and favour, she breathed a new life
into every soul. Both friends and strangers were
drawn by her sense of spirituality, her tenderness
and refinement, her unfailing solicitude, and were
attracted by the magic of her unbounded affection
and goodwill. That heavenly being displayed
throughout her life such evidence of glory and
dignity, such manifestations of majesty and greatness,
such a degree of patience and resignation as
bewildered the minds and souls. In the midst of trials
her radiant face bore the likeness of a sweet rose and
in moments of sore tribulation she was resplendent
as a brilliant candle.
18. The Guardian trusts that the explanation he
has given by wire regarding the suspension for a
period of nine months of Bahá'í religious festivity
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has been made clear. The Nineteen Day Feast being
of a quasi-administrative character should continue
to be held, but should be conducted with the utmost
simplicity and should be devoid of any features
associated with feasts and entertainment. The
celebration of Naw-Rúz, the anniversary of the
birth of Bahá'u'lláh and of the Báb should be
altogether cancelled as a token of our deep mourning
for so distinguished and precious a member of
Bahá'u'lláh's family. The period of nine months
should be reckoned from the 15th of July to the 15th
of April.
19. The loss of the Greatest Holy Leaf will be
bitterly felt by all those friends who had the pleasure
and privilege to meet her. She always kept such a
wonderful atmosphere of joy and hope around her
that was bound to influence those that were present
and help them to go out into the world with added
zeal and determination to consecrate all in the path of
God.
The only consolation of Shoghi Effendi is in the
knowledge that she has been delivered from earthly
worries and physical weakness and that she is now in
the presence of Bahá'u'lláh, her Father and Lord,
enjoying the infinite blessings of His eternal Kingdom.
20. Even though during these last years she was
weak and most of the time confined to her room, yet
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she was a source of constant joy and inspiration to
those that met her. The Guardian feels her loss
tremendously because the greatest part of his leisure
hours he used to spend in her company.
His only comfort is that she has been delivered
from the worries and weaknesses of a body that
could no more withhold her spirit and help her to
express all her desire in meeting the friends and
serving them.
At present, in the presence of her Father and Lord
we trust she is remembering us and asking for us His
divine grace and blessings.
21. The passing away of the Greatest Holy Leaf
was a loss every Bahá'í will feel deeply if only he
stops to think about it. She was such a precious soul
and so radiantly happy and hopeful even under most
adverse circumstances. Every believer that came in
contact with her left her presence with a more
determined spirit of service and self-sacrifice. Both
Shoghi Effendi and the rest of the Bahá'ís will
mourn her loss bitterly. Their only consolation can
be her own deliverance from a life of hardship and
difficulties, and her entrance into a realm which is
naught but eternal bliss and infinite divine grace.
22. Even though the Greatest Holy Leaf has left
us in body she is with us in spirit, inspiring us in our
work and beseeching for us God's loving mercy and
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fatherly care. She will never forget her loving
friends nor leave them in their woes.
Shoghi Effendi was very sad to hear of your
difficulties, especially as they have encompassed you
at an age when you cannot confront them but must
have comfort and peace. You should, however, take
courage and resign to the will of God when you see
what the Greatest Holy Leaf had to face during her
life. All you may suffer is nothing compared to what
she had to endure; and yet how joyous and hopeful
she used always to be!
This is the way of the world. The greatest among
us seems to be the one who has suffered most and
withstood best the battles of life.
23. Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter dated August 25th 1932 and
to extend his deep appreciation for your kind words
of sympathy. This loss is a thing that will be bitterly
felt by every Bahá'í throughout the world,
because she used to be a source of inspiration to
every one of them. The mere coming into her
presence and thinking of the trials and difficulties she
had to pass through in her life, was sufficient to
create in us new hope and arouse us to stronger
determination to promote the Cause she suffered
for.
24. You should be very happy to have had the
privilege of meeting her upon this physical plane of
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existence, for the world has seen only very few such
souls who have suffered so much for the sake of God
and yet kept their cheer and uttered words of hope
and encouragement to those who were around
them. What a source of inspiration she was to the
pilgrims who came from the four corners of the
world to seek spirituality and attain a new birth by
visiting the Holy Shrines. They should surely
remember those blessed moments they spent in her
room or in her presence elsewhere, and remembering
her suffering, take courage in confronting the
problems of their life. May God help us all to follow
her example and like her be a blessing to others.
25. Surely there is nothing that will console the
Guardian more than the happy news that the Cause
for which the Greatest Holy Leaf lived and suffered
is gradually spreading and embracing the whole of
the people of the world.
She is undoubtedly conscious of our activities,
following our work and impatiently awaiting the
result of our battles. Let her passing, therefore, be a
source of added sacrifice and more energetic striving
on the part of her devoted friends and lovers.
26. These nine months during which the Guardian
has asked the friends to discard feast days, are
meant to be months of mourning for the passing
away of the Greatest Holy Leaf. The friends should
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also use it as a period of redoubled energy in serving
the Cause in expression of our deep love for her as
well as for the Cause she so much suffered for.
27. Surely no matter what we say about her still
we have not done justice to the abounding love she
had and the services she rendered to Bahá'u'lláh
and the Master. Her life was full of events, full of
sacrifices in the path of God. Ever since her childhood
she had to endure hardships and share the exile
and persecution that Bahá'u'lláh had to suffer. In
her face one could easily read the history of the
Cause from its earliest days to the present moment.
Notwithstanding all this she never grumbled nor
lost her faith in the future. She kept cheerful and
tried to give cheer to others. She was a real source of
inspiration to every person that met her.
The only adequate way to show our love and
devotion to her is to arise and serve the Cause for
which she so earnestly laboured during all her
mortal life. Her deeds and sacrifices should act as
examples for us to follow.
28. Indeed it would have