Passing of Abdu'l-Baha Sources

1922.04.--- - From Holy Family

Src : Star of West Vol 13 No 4 p88, 17 May 1922 - PDF13-86

Letter from Lady Blomfield:

Care of the Persian Colony, Haifa.

Rizwan, 1922

To the Editors of the STAR OF THE WEST:

Dear Editors: Bahaeyeh Khanum, the Greatest Holy Leaf, asks me to enclose this letter from the family of Abdul-Baha, for insertion, so that, through your columns, their heartfelt thanks, for the comforting sympathy shown to them in their terrible bereavement, may reach all the friends,

With sincerest Bahai greeting and appreciation of your devoted service,

In His Name,

Sitarih Blomfield.

From the family of Sir Abdul-Baha Abbas, K. B. S.:

Allaho 'Abha!

Our very dear friends in America, through the Editors of the STAR OF THE WEST:

We thank you most sincerely for your kind letters of sympathy, and we appreciate your loving Messages, which are as comforting balm to our wounded hearts.

It would be our wish to answer each letter individually, but the shock of our bereavement was so sudden, and the work to which we were compelled to attend, was so overwhelming, that time failed us. Now, we wish you to realize that your words of steadfast faith and love were our greatest solace throughout the days of our grief, for we felt that you would each and all faithfully and loyally strive to carry on the work for which the life of our Beloved Master was spent.

We are more than thankful to God that He has not left us without a leader, but that Shoghi Effendi is appointed to guide the administration of the Cause.

We hope that the friends of God, the beloved and the hand-maidens of the Merciful, will pray for us, that we may be enabled to help Shoghi Effendi in every way in our power to accomplish the Mission entrusted to him.

Sincerely your fellow-workers in the Service of Truth.

BABAEYEH KHANUM,

and the Family of Abdul-Baha.

(Haifa, Mount Carmel, Palestine. Feast of the Rizwan, 1922.)

1922.05.17 - Bahai Congress for Teaching

Src : Star of West Vol 13 No 4 p69 PDF13-67

The Bahai Congress for Teaching and the Fourteenth Annual Convention - By LoUIS O. GREGORY.

"When one reaches Haifa and meets Shoghi Effendi and sees the workings of his mind and heart, his wonderful spirit and grasp of things, it is truly marvelous. Our world boundaries must fade!

"Rouhi Effendi, brought up with Shoghi Effendi, says of him: 'Shoghi is wonderful. He retired at 3 a.m. and arose at six. Once he worked forty-eight hours without food or drink. His effort is to overcome differences between races and nations. There is the greatest responsibility on each one in laying out one's own actions. First of all must we straighten ourselves out. This is true of nations as well as individuals. Thus we can be effective in guiding others."

The speaker reported that Hyppolyte Dreyfus-Barney, who has passed a year and a half teaching in China, has expressed high praise of the Chinese civilization and good morals.

Mrs. Flonian Krug, of New York, was the last speaker: "This is a supreme moment, when the heart is so full of love that words cannot express. I was a guest at the home of Abdul-Baha at the hour of his ascension. He so veiled the knowledge of his passing that we did not know it until the very hour.

Abdul-Baha toward the end looked so very tired, but Rouhi said he was well. He sometimes walked in his own garden and gave to the Krugs his own room. There was a sweetness about him beyond expression. His power of love was overwhelming. To Mirza Hadi, the father of Shoghi Effendi, he gave instructions to have Shoghi Effendi return from a journey in time for the funeral. This afterward explained why Mirza Hadi, who felt the responsibility of keeping the secret, appeared so dejected. Delegations in their trappings of gold and blue were continually calling upon Abdul-Baha. He was teaching and joking with them. But one day he told the gardener at the holy Shrine of the Bab that he felt very tired. He bestowed great love upon the Greatest Holy Leaf and upon Khosro, who in childhood and youth has served the Cause of God in the holy household. At the time of the ascension the house was full of guests for the wedding of Khosro.

"At the time of the ascension, Dr. Krug, hastily summoned to the bedside, said; 'Pray! Our beloved Master has ascended!' Agonized women surrounded the body. The earthly temple was as beautiful as ever except that those luminous eyes were dark. He had ascended to the Realms of Light. Who, that ever loved him, would want him to return? The Greatest Holy Leaf did not think of her own grief, but comforted others. The shock was terrible. Yet through it all was the deep consciousness that there is no such thing as death. Now we must take up our responsibilities. We must be selfless channels so that his glorified spirit can use us.''

Mrs. Krug, in conclusion, gave a graphic and powerful description of the funeral of Abdu'l-Baha, the officials and dignitaries that took part in honoring him, the eloquent eulogies that were delivered by the representatives of various religions and the mass of weeping and moaning humanity, to the number
of ten thousand, who followed his body, borne aloft by loving hands to its resting place in the Sacred Shrine on Mount Carmel.

''All are bereft of the merciful melody and divine call!"

The chairman said: "All of us in spirit were among that throng of ten thousand."

Singing of the benediction closed the meeting.

...

''On one occasion during my recent stay in Palestine a tea was given by Shoghi Effendi in honor of the Governor of Palestine and other friends, including a few from the West. The company included Mohammedans, among whom were Mullahs, Jews from the East and West and several Christians. Outwardly alien, all were united in thought, spirit and action. Afterward there was another meeting with the governor, and therein was a cross section of all races and religions. This was due solely to the influence of the Bahai spirit which is back of the teachings to make them real. This spirit has already changed conditions among races, nations and individuals, making them dependent upon one another and mutually helpful."