- 1868-07-00 —
Principal Bahá'ís in Baghdád were arrested by the Turkish authorities and exiled to Mosul and other places. [BBR265; BKG247; CH129–30; RB2:333]
- RB2:333 indicates this took place towards the end of Bahá'u'lláh's stay in Adrianople.
- About 70 people were exiled. [GPB178; RB2:334] Estimate given by Hájí Mirzá Haydar-;Alí is 80. (DOH12]
- See BKG184 for an illustration of Mosul.
- See BKG183 for a description of the city.
- See RB2:334 for the hardships suffered by the exiles.
- They remained in Mosul for some 20 years until Bahá'u'lláh advised the community to disband (1885-1886). Their hardship was lessened by generous contributions from the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs. A charity fund was established, the first fund of that kind in any Bahá'í community. [RB2:334–6]
- 1912-04-19 —
Talk at Earl Hall,
Columbia University, New York. [PUP29; Mahmúd's Diary p47-48]
- 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited The Bowery Mission accompanied by Edward Getsinger and Juliet Thompson as noted in her unpublished Diary. They arrived with two heavy bags of quarters to distribute to the poor and spoke with hundreds of impoverished men. [OPOP165-168, PUP32]
- He invited Mary William, a rare female journalist who wrote under the name of "Kate Carew". Her signature style was one of scepticism.
- 1912-12-24 —
`Abdu'l-Bahá received many expensive Christmas gifts; He turned them all away by returning them and asking the donors to sell them and give the money to the poor.
-
That evening He visited the Salvation Army Shelter in Westminster. That night there were 1,000 men present. After His talk He departed but not before leaving twenty gold sovereigns and many handfuls of silver with Col Spencer for a similar dinner to be held on New Year's Eve. [ABTM282-283]
- 1914-11-01 —
Turkey entered the war on the side of the Central Powers.
- Palestine was blockaded and Haifa was bombarded. [GPB304]
- `Abdu'l-Bahá sent the Bahá'ís to the Druze village of Abú-Sinán for asylum. [AB411; DH124; GPB304, BWNS1297]
- For `Abdu'l-Bahá in wartime see CH188–228.
- `Abdu'l-Bahá had grown and stored corn in the years leading up to the war and was now able to feed not only local people but the British army. [AB415, 418; CH210; GPB304, 306]
- Properties in the villages of Asfíyá and Dálíyá near Haifa were purchased by `Abdu'l-Bahá, and, at the request of Bahá'u'lláh, bestowed upon Díyá'u'lláh and Bahí'u'lláh. Land was also acquired in the villages of Samirih, Nughayb and 'Adasíyyih situated near the Jordan river. 'Adasíyyah was the village occupied by Bahá'ís of Zoroastrian heritage that produced corn for the Master's household. The village of Nughayb is where the relatives of the Holy Family lived. [CH209-210]
- See the book "Adasiyyih: The Story of 'Abdu’l-Baha's Model Farming Community" by Paul Hanley (2024).
- See also 'Adasiyyah: A Study in Agriculture and Rural Development by Iraj Poostchi. This village was purchased by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 1901. He paid 400 Turkish gold lira for 920 hectares and then gifted 1/24th of the total area to the family from whom He had made the purchase.
- Under the guidance of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi this village became a model of agriculture and Bahá'í life. The Bahá'ís lost ownership after 1962 when Jordan implemented land reforms.
- 'Adasiyyah is mentioned in the film Exemplar (17:40-18:50).
- See as well `Abdu'l-Baha in Abu-Sinan: September 1914
by Ahang Rabbani.
- See Senn McGlinn's Abdu'l-Baha's British knighthood for more background.
- 1915-05-00 — The Bahá'ís of Haifa and `Akká returned to their homes from the village of Abú-Sinán. [DH147]
- 1917-00-00 —
A Children's Savings Company, which later was registered as Šerkat-e Now-nahālān, (literally `saplings) was founded in Qazvīn. The Nownahalan Company was founded as a thrift club for Bahá'í children in Iran. [BI13]
- See BI13 for its non-profit and charitable activities.
- On 23 November 1919 ʿAbdu'l-Bahá wrote a prayer in which He sought God's blessing for its success and durability. He also donated two gold coins of five rubles each to its capital. The company had about 9,000 shareholders with approximately 120 million rials (about $1,700,000) in assets in 1967, half a century after its establishment. [BAHAISM v. The Bahai Community in Iran by V. Rafati]
- 1920-04-27 —
`Abdu'l-Bahá was invested with the insignia of the Knighthood of the British Empire as Sir Abbas Effendi in a ceremony in Haifa. [AB443; BBRXXX, 343-5; CH214; DH149; GPB306; The Glorious Journey by Craig Weaver and Helen Bond p19]
- For the document recommending `Abdu'l-Bahá for knighthood, see BBR344.
- The knighthood was in recognition of `Abdu'l-Bahá's humanitarian work during the war for famine relief. [AB443]
- He accepted the honour as a gift from a `just king'. [AB443]
- He did not use the title. [AB443]
- For Lady Blomfield's account see AB443-4 and CH214-15.
- See SoW vol 13 No 11 p298.
- See Senn McGlinn's Abdu'l-Baha's British knighthood.
- 1941-04-08 —
The passing of Urbain Joseph Ledoux (b. August 13, 1874 in Ste Hélène de Bagot, Quebec). He was buried in Saint Joseph's Cemetery
Biddeford, Maine.
- He is believed to be the third French-Canadian to become a Bahá'í outside of Canada. [OCBB94]
- He gave an address to the National Convention at the Hotel McAlpine on the 28th of April, 1919 entitled The Oneness of the World of Humanity. [SoW Vol 10 May 17, 1919 No 4 p58] "This talk 'sounded so French-Canadian' that later francophone believers could still be moved to tears in reading its text." [OCBB94]
- He received widespread publicity for his opening of bread lines in New York (The Stepping Stone) in 1919, and for "auctions" of the jobless to employers in New York and Boston during the Depression of 1921. He was received by President Warren Harding shortly after arriving in Washington, D.C. in September 1921.
Ledoux spent a little over three months in Washington, D.C. 1921-22 campaigning for a public works program funded by a tax on companies that made excessive war profits during World War I. His tactics included setting up a hotel housing the unemployed on Pennsylvania Avenue, an auction of the jobless, speaking before the unemployment conference, calling for the arrest of international arms conference delegates. He walked around the city carrying a white umbrella, a lighted lantern and a Bible or a copy of the Sermon on the Mount saying he was like Diogenes searching for an honest man.
- Urbain Ledoux is shown in Boston in 1921 auctioning off an unemployed man. He conducted these auctions in New York and Boston in order to garner publicity for the plight of the unemployed and to find work for the jobless. He called himself "Mr. Zero" because he said he didn't want any publicity for himself.
- "Mr. Zero" returned to Washington in 1932 with the Bonus Expeditionary Force, leading an unauthorized march on the White House July 16, 1932 that resulted in his arrest along with two others. The march frightened President Herbert Hoover who set in motion the eviction of the bonus marchers from the city — a move that backfired on Hoover and helped to cement his reputation as someone uncaring about the plight of the nation's unemployed. Photos. [Wikipedia]
- Find a grave.
- His obituary in the New York Times April 10th 1941.
- He is reported to have "rescued" 85 year-old Sarah Farmer in Portsmouth where she was being held in a sanatorium against her will. [Boston Post 4 August 1916]
- See a story from Ephemeral New York.
- There is a short description of Urbain LeDoux in He Loved and Served: The Story of Curtis Kelsey p 33-34.
- 2016-05-23 —
The first World Humanitarian Summit was held in Istanbul, Turkey. The summit, organized by the United Nations, called on government leaders as well as those from business, aid agencies, civil society and faith-based organizations to consult on the question of disaster relief.
- A statement released by the Bahá'í International Community for the occasion, titled "Rising Together: Building the Capacity to Recover from Within" is available at their website.
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