THIRD PERIOD: THE MINISTRY OF 'ABDU'L-BAHa 18921921

Chapter XIV: The Covenant of Baha'u'llah

I have in the preceding chapters endeavored to trace the rise and progress of the Faith a.s.sociated with the Bab and Baha'u'llah during the first fifty years of its existence. If I have dwelt too long on the events connected with the life and mission of these twin Luminaries of the Baha'i Revelation, if I have at times indulged in too circ.u.mstantial a narrative of certain episodes related to their ministries, it is solely because these happenings proclaim the birth, and signalize the establishment, of an epoch which future historians will acclaim as the most heroic, the most tragic and the most momentous period in the Apostolic Age of the Baha'i Dispensation. Indeed the tale which the subsequent decades of the century under review unfold to our eyes is but the record of the manifold evidences of the resistless operation of those creative forces which the revolution of fifty years of almost uninterrupted Revelation had released.

A dynamic process, divinely propelled, possessed of undreamt-of potentialities, world-embracing in scope, world-transforming in its ultimate consequences, had been set in motion on that memorable night when the Bab communicated the purpose of His mission to Mulla ?usayn in an obscure corner of _Sh_iraz. It acquired a tremendous momentum with the first intimations of Baha'u'llah's dawning Revelation amidst the darkness of the Siyah-_Ch_al of ?ihran. It was further accelerated by the Declaration of His mission on the eve of His banishment from Ba_gh_dad. It moved to a climax with the proclamation of that same mission during the tempestuous years of His exile in Adrianople. Its full significance was disclosed when the Author of that Mission issued His historic summonses, appeals and warnings to the kings of the earth and the world's ecclesiastical leaders. It was finally consummated by the laws and ordinances which He formulated, by the principles which He enunciated and by the inst.i.tutions which He ordained during the concluding years of His ministry in the prison-city of Akka.

To direct and ca.n.a.lize these forces let loose by this Heaven-sent process, and to insure their harmonious and continuous operation after His ascension, an instrument divinely ordained, invested with indisputable authority, organically linked with the Author of the Revelation Himself, was clearly indispensable. That instrument Baha'u'llah had expressly provided through the inst.i.tution of the Covenant, an inst.i.tution which He had firmly established prior to His ascension. This same Covenant He had antic.i.p.ated in His Kitab-i-Aqdas, had alluded to it as He bade His last farewell to the members of His family, who had been summoned to His bed-side, in the days immediately preceding His ascension, and had incorporated it in a special doc.u.ment which He designated as "the Book of My Covenant," and which He entrusted, during His last illness, to His eldest son 'Abdu'l-Baha.

Written entirely in His own hand; unsealed, on the ninth day after His ascension in the presence of nine witnesses chosen from amongst His companions and members of His Family; read subsequently, on the afternoon of that same day, before a large company a.s.sembled in His Most Holy Tomb, including His sons, some of the Bab's kinsmen, pilgrims and resident believers, this unique and epoch-making Doc.u.ment, designated by Baha'u'llah as His "Most Great Tablet," and alluded to by Him as the "Crimson Book" in His "Epistle to the Son of the Wolf," can find no parallel in the Scriptures of any previous Dispensation, not excluding that of the Bab Himself. For nowhere in the books pertaining to any of the world's religious systems, not even among the writings of the Author of the Babi Revelation, do we find any single doc.u.ment establishing a Covenant endowed with an authority comparable to the Covenant which Baha'u'llah had Himself inst.i.tuted.

"So firm and mighty is this Covenant," He Who is its appointed Center has affirmed, "that from the beginning of time until the present day no religious Dispensation hath produced its like." "It is indubitably clear,"

He, furthermore, has stated, "that the pivot of the oneness of mankind is nothing else but the power of the Covenant." "Know thou," He has written, "that the 'Sure Handle' mentioned from the foundation of the world in the Books, the Tablets and the Scriptures of old is naught else but the Covenant and the Testament." And again: "The lamp of the Covenant is the light of the world, and the words traced by the Pen of the Most High a limitless ocean." "The Lord, the All-Glorified," He has moreover declared, "hath, beneath the shade of the Tree of Anisa (Tree of Life), made a new Covenant and established a great Testament... Hath such a Covenant been established in any previous Dispensation, age, period or century? Hath such a Testament, set down by the Pen of the Most High, ever been witnessed? No, by G.o.d!" And finally: "The power of the Covenant is as the heat of the sun which quickeneth and promoteth the development of all created things on earth. The light of the Covenant, in like manner, is the educator of the minds, the spirits, the hearts and souls of men." To this same Covenant He has in His writings referred as the "Conclusive Testimony," the "Universal Balance," the "Magnet of G.o.d's grace," the "Upraised Standard," the "Irrefutable Testament," "the all-mighty Covenant, the like of which the sacred Dispensations of the past have never witnessed" and "one of the distinctive features of this most mighty cycle."

Extolled by the writer of the Apocalypse as "the Ark of His (G.o.d) Testament"; a.s.sociated with the gathering beneath the "Tree of Anisa"

(Tree of Life) mentioned by Baha'u'llah in the Hidden Words; glorified by Him, in other pa.s.sages of His writings, as the "Ark of Salvation" and as "the Cord stretched betwixt the earth and the Abha Kingdom," this Covenant has been bequeathed to posterity in a Will and Testament which, together with the Kitab-i-Aqdas and several Tablets, in which the rank and station of 'Abdu'l-Baha are unequivocally disclosed, const.i.tute the chief b.u.t.tresses designed by the Lord of the Covenant Himself to shield and support, after His ascension, the appointed Center of His Faith and the Delineator of its future inst.i.tutions.

In this weighty and incomparable Doc.u.ment its Author discloses the character of that "excellent and priceless heritage" bequeathed by Him to His "heirs"; proclaims afresh the fundamental purpose of His Revelation; enjoins the "peoples of the world" to hold fast to that which will "elevate" their "station"; announces to them that "G.o.d hath forgiven what is past"; stresses the sublimity of man's station; discloses the primary aim of the Faith of G.o.d; directs the faithful to pray for the welfare of the kings of the earth, "the manifestations of the power, and the daysprings of the might and riches, of G.o.d"; invests them with the rulership of the earth; singles out as His special domain the hearts of men; forbids categorically strife and contention; commands His followers to aid those rulers who are "adorned with the ornament of equity and justice"; and directs, in particular, the A_gh_san (His sons) to ponder the "mighty force and the consummate power that lieth concealed in the world of being." He bids them, moreover, together with the Afnan (the Bab's kindred) and His own relatives, to "turn, one and all, unto the Most Great Branch ('Abdu'l-Baha)"; identifies Him with "the One Whom G.o.d hath purposed," "Who hath branched from this pre-existent Root," referred to in the Kitab-i-Aqdas; ordains the station of the "Greater Branch" (Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali) to be beneath that of the "Most Great Branch"

('Abdu'l-Baha); exhorts the believers to treat the A_gh_san with consideration and affection; counsels them to respect His family and relatives, as well as the kindred of the Bab; denies His sons "any right to the property of others"; enjoins on them, on His kindred and on that of the Bab to "fear G.o.d, to do that which is meet and seemly" and to follow the things that will "exalt" their station; warns all men not to allow "the means of order to be made the cause of confusion, and the instrument of union an occasion for discord"; and concludes with an exhortation calling upon the faithful to "serve all nations," and to strive for the "betterment of the world."

That such a unique and sublime station should have been conferred upon 'Abdu'l-Baha did not, and indeed could not, surprise those exiled companions who had for so long been privileged to observe His life and conduct, nor the pilgrims who had been brought, however fleetingly, into personal contact with Him, nor indeed the vast concourse of the faithful who, in distant lands, had grown to revere His name and to appreciate His labors, nor even the wide circle of His friends and acquaintances who, in the Holy Land and the adjoining countries, were already well familiar with the position He had occupied during the lifetime of His Father.

He it was Whose auspicious birth occurred on that never-to-be-forgotten night when the Bab laid bare the transcendental character of His Mission to His first disciple Mulla ?usayn. He it was Who, as a mere child, seated on the lap of Tahirih, had registered the thrilling significance of the stirring challenge which that indomitable heroine had addressed to her fellow-disciple, the erudite and far-famed Vahid. He it was Whose tender soul had been seared with the ineffaceable vision of a Father, haggard, dishevelled, freighted with chains, on the occasion of a visit, as a boy of nine, to the Siyah-_Ch_al of ?ihran. Against Him, in His early childhood, whilst His Father lay a prisoner in that dungeon, had been directed the malice of a mob of street urchins who pelted Him with stones, vilified Him and overwhelmed Him with ridicule. His had been the lot to share with His Father, soon after His release from imprisonment, the rigors and miseries of a cruel banishment from His native land, and the trials which culminated in His enforced withdrawal to the mountains of Kurdistan. He it was Who, in His inconsolable grief at His separation from an adored Father, had confided to Nabil, as attested by him in his narrative, that He felt Himself to have grown old though still but a child of tender years. His had been the unique distinction of recognizing, while still in His childhood, the full glory of His Father's as yet unrevealed station, a recognition which had impelled Him to throw Himself at His feet and to spontaneously implore the privilege of laying down His life for His sake. From His pen, while still in His adolescence in Ba_gh_dad, had issued that superb commentary on a well-known Mu?ammadan tradition, written at the suggestion of Baha'u'llah, in answer to a request made by 'Ali-_Sh_awkat Pa_sh_a, which was so illuminating as to excite the unbounded admiration of its recipient. It was His discussions and discourses with the learned doctors with whom He came in contact in Ba_gh_dad that first aroused that general admiration for Him and for His knowledge which was steadily to increase as the circle of His acquaintances was widened, at a later date, first in Adrianople and then in Akka. It was to Him that the highly accomplished _Kh_ur_sh_id Pa_sh_a, the governor of Adrianople, had been moved to pay a public and glowing tribute when, in the presence of a number of distinguished divines of that city, his youthful Guest had, briefly and amazingly, resolved the intricacies of a problem that had baffled the minds of the a.s.sembled company-an achievement that affected so deeply the Pa_sh_a that from that time onwards he could hardly reconcile himself to that Youth's absence from such gatherings.

On Him Baha'u'llah, as the scope and influence of His Mission extended, had been led to place an ever greater degree of reliance, by appointing Him, on numerous occasions, as His deputy, by enabling Him to plead His Cause before the public, by a.s.signing Him the task of transcribing His Tablets, by allowing Him to a.s.sume the responsibility of shielding Him from His enemies, and by investing Him with the function of watching over and promoting the interests of His fellow-exiles and companions. He it was Who had been commissioned to undertake, as soon as circ.u.mstances might permit, the delicate and all-important task of purchasing the site that was to serve as the permanent resting-place of the Bab, of insuring the safe transfer of His remains to the Holy Land, and of erecting for Him a befitting sepulcher on Mt. Carmel. He it was Who had been chiefly instrumental in providing the necessary means for Baha'u'llah's release from His nine-year confinement within the city walls of Akka, and in enabling Him to enjoy, in the evening of His life, a measure of that peace and security from which He had so long been debarred. It was through His unremitting efforts that the ill.u.s.trious Badi had been granted his memorable interviews with Baha'u'llah, that the hostility evinced by several governors of Akka towards the exiled community had been trans.m.u.ted into esteem and admiration, that the purchase of properties adjoining the Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan had been effected, and that the ablest and most valuable presentation of the early history of the Faith and of its tenets had been transmitted to posterity. It was through the extraordinarily warm reception accorded Him during His visit to Beirut, through His contact with Mi_dh_at Pa_sh_a, a former Grand Vizir of Turkey, through His friendship with Aziz Pa_sh_a, whom He had previously known in Adrianople, and who had subsequently been promoted to the rank of Vali, and through His constant a.s.sociation with officials, notables and leading ecclesiastics who, in increasing number had besought His presence, during the final years of His Father's ministry, that He had succeeded in raising the prestige of the Cause He had championed to a level it had never previously attained.

He alone had been accorded the privilege of being called "the Master," an honor from which His Father had strictly excluded all His other sons. Upon Him that loving and unerring Father had chosen to confer the unique t.i.tle of "Sirru'llah" (the Mystery of G.o.d), a designation so appropriate to One Who, though essentially human and holding a station radically and fundamentally different from that occupied by Baha'u'llah and His Forerunner, could still claim to be the perfect Exemplar of His Faith, to be endowed with super-human knowledge, and to be regarded as the stainless mirror reflecting His light. To Him, whilst in Adrianople, that same Father had, in the Suriy-i-_Gh_usn (Tablet of the Branch), referred as "this sacred and glorious Being, this Branch of Holiness," as "the Limb of the Law of G.o.d," as His "most great favor" unto men, as His "most perfect bounty" conferred upon them, as One through Whom "every mouldering bone is quickened," declaring that "whoso turneth towards Him hath turned towards G.o.d," and that "they who deprive themselves of the shadow of the Branch are lost in the wilderness of error." To Him He, whilst still in that city, had alluded (in a Tablet addressed to ?aji Mu?ammad Ibrahim-i-_Kh_alil) as the one amongst His sons "from Whose tongue G.o.d will cause the signs of His power to stream forth," and as the one Whom "G.o.d hath specially chosen for His Cause." On Him, at a later period, the Author of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, in a celebrated pa.s.sage, subsequently elucidated in the "Book of My Covenant," had bestowed the function of interpreting His Holy Writ, proclaiming Him, at the same time, to be the One "Whom G.o.d hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root." To Him in a Tablet, revealed during that same period and addressed to Mirza Mu?ammad Quliy-i-Sabzivari, He had referred as "the Gulf that hath branched out of this Ocean that hath encompa.s.sed all created things," and bidden His followers to turn their faces towards it. To Him, on the occasion of His visit to Beirut, His Father had, furthermore, in a communication which He dictated to His amanuensis, paid a glowing tribute, glorifying Him as the One "round Whom all names revolve," as "the Most Mighty Branch of G.o.d," and as "His ancient and immutable Mystery." He it was Who, in several Tablets which Baha'u'llah Himself had penned, had been personally addressed as "the Apple of Mine eye," and been referred to as "a shield unto all who are in heaven and on earth," as "a shelter for all mankind" and "a stronghold for whosoever hath believed in G.o.d." It was on His behalf that His Father, in a prayer revealed in His honor, had supplicated G.o.d to "render Him victorious," and to "ordain ... for Him, as well as for them that love Him," the things destined by the Almighty for His "Messengers" and the "Trustees" of His Revelation. And finally in yet another Tablet these weighty words had been recorded: "The glory of G.o.d rest upon Thee, and upon whosoever serveth Thee and circleth around Thee.

Woe, great woe, betide him that opposeth and injureth Thee. Well is it with him that sweareth fealty to Thee; the fire of h.e.l.l torment him who is Thy enemy."

And now to crown the inestimable honors, privileges and benefits showered upon Him, in ever increasing abundance, throughout the forty years of His Father's ministry in Ba_gh_dad, in Adrianople and in Akka, He had been elevated to the high office of Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, and been made the successor of the Manifestation of G.o.d Himself-a position that was to empower Him to impart an extraordinary impetus to the international expansion of His Father's Faith, to amplify its doctrine, to beat down every barrier that would obstruct its march, and to call into being, and delineate the features of, its Administrative Order, the Child of the Covenant, and the Harbinger of that World Order whose establishment must needs signalize the advent of the Golden Age of the Baha'i Dispensation.

Chapter XV: The Rebellion of Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali

The immediate effect of the ascension of Baha'u'llah had been, as already observed, to spread grief and bewilderment among his followers and companions, and to inspire its vigilant and redoubtable adversaries with fresh hope and renewed determination. At a time when a grievously traduced Faith had triumphantly emerged from the two severest crises it had ever known, one the work of enemies without, the other the work of enemies within, when its prestige had risen to a height unequalled in any period during its fifty-year existence, the unerring Hand which had shaped its destiny ever since its inception was suddenly removed, leaving a gap which friend and foe alike believed could never again be filled.

Yet, as the appointed Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant and the authorized Interpreter of His teaching had Himself later explained, the dissolution of the tabernacle wherein the soul of the Manifestation of G.o.d had chosen temporarily to abide signalized its release from the restrictions which an earthly life had, of necessity, imposed upon it. Its influence no longer circ.u.mscribed by any physical limitations, its radiance no longer beclouded by its human temple, that soul could henceforth energize the whole world to a degree unapproached at any stage in the course of its existence on this planet.

Baha'u'llah's stupendous task on this earthly plane had, moreover, at the time of His pa.s.sing, been brought to its final consummation. His mission, far from being in any way inconclusive, had, in every respect, been carried through to a full end. The Message with which He had been entrusted had been disclosed to the gaze of all mankind. The summons He had been commissioned to issue to its leaders and rulers had been fearlessly voiced. The fundamentals of the doctrine destined to recreate its life, heal its sicknesses and redeem it from bondage and degradation had been impregnably established. The tide of calamity that was to purge and fortify the sinews of His Faith had swept on with unstemmed fury. The blood which was to fertilize the soil out of which the inst.i.tutions of His World Order were destined to spring had been profusely shed. Above all the Covenant that was to perpetuate the influence of that Faith, insure its integrity, safeguard it from schism, and stimulate its world-wide expansion, had been fixed on an inviolable basis.

His Cause, precious beyond the dreams and hopes of men; enshrining within its sh.e.l.l that pearl of great price to which the world, since its foundation, had been looking forward; confronted with colossal tasks of unimaginable complexity and urgency, was beyond a peradventure in safe keeping. His own beloved Son, the apple of His eye, His vicegerent on earth, the Executive of His authority, the Pivot of His Covenant, the Shepherd of His flock, the Exemplar of His faith, the Image of His perfections, the Mystery of His Revelation, the Interpreter of His mind, the Architect of His World Order, the Ensign of His Most Great Peace, the Focal Point of His unerring guidance-in a word, the occupant of an office without peer or equal in the entire field of religious history-stood guard over it, alert, fearless and determined to enlarge its limits, blazon abroad its fame, champion its interests and consummate its purpose.

The stirring proclamation 'Abdu'l-Baha had penned, addressed to the rank and file of the followers of His Father, on the morrow of His ascension, as well as the prophecies He Himself had uttered in His Tablets, breathed a resolve and a confidence which the fruits garnered and the triumphs achieved in the course of a thirty-year ministry have abundantly justified.

The cloud of despondency that had momentarily settled on the disconsolate lovers of the Cause of Baha'u'llah was lifted. The continuity of that unerring guidance vouchsafed to it since its birth was now a.s.sured. The significance of the solemn affirmation that this is "the Day which shall not be followed by night" was now clearly apprehended. An orphan community had recognized in 'Abdu'l-Baha, in its hour of desperate need, its Solace, its Guide, its Mainstay and Champion. The Light that had glowed with such dazzling brightness in the heart of Asia, and had, in the lifetime of Baha'u'llah, spread to the Near East, and illuminated the fringes of both the European and African continents, was to travel, through the impelling influence of the newly proclaimed Covenant, and almost immediately after the death of its Author, as far West as the North American continent, and from thence diffuse itself to the countries of Europe, and subsequently shed its radiance over both the Far East and Australasia.

Before the Faith, however, could plant its banner in the midmost heart of the North American continent, and from thence establish its outposts over so vast a portion of the Western world, the newly born Covenant of Baha'u'llah had, as had been the case with the Faith that had given it birth, to be baptized with a fire which was to demonstrate its solidity and proclaim its indestructibility to an unbelieving world. A crisis, almost as severe as that which had a.s.sailed the Faith in its earliest infancy in Ba_gh_dad, was to shake that Covenant to its foundations at the very moment of its inception, and subject afresh the Cause of which it was the n.o.blest fruit to one of the most grievous ordeals experienced in the course of an entire century.

This crisis, misconceived as a schism, which political as well as ecclesiastical adversaries, no less than the fast dwindling remnant of the followers of Mirza Ya?ya hailed as a signal for the immediate disruption and final dissolution of the system established by Baha'u'llah, was precipitated at the very heart and center of His Faith, and was provoked by no one less than a member of His own family, a half-brother of 'Abdu'l-Baha, specifically named in the book of the Covenant, and holding a rank second to none except Him Who had been appointed as the Center of that Covenant. For no less than four years that emergency fiercely agitated the minds and hearts of a vast proportion of the faithful throughout the East, eclipsed, for a time, the Orb of the Covenant, created an irreparable breach within the ranks of Baha'u'llah's own kindred, sealed ultimately the fate of the great majority of the members of His family, and gravely damaged the prestige, though it never succeeded in causing a permanent cleavage in the structure, of the Faith itself. The true ground of this crisis was the burning, the uncontrollable, the soul-festering jealousy which the admitted preeminence of 'Abdu'l-Baha in rank, power, ability, knowledge and virtue, above all the other members of His Father's family, had aroused not only in Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali, the archbreaker of the Covenant, but in some of his closest relatives as well.

An envy as blind as that which had possessed the soul of Mirza Ya?ya, as deadly as that which the superior excellence of Joseph had kindled in the hearts of his brothers, as deep-seated as that which had blazed in the bosom of Cain and prompted him to slay his brother Abel, had, for several years, prior to Baha'u'llah's ascension, been smouldering in the recesses of Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali's heart and had been secretly inflamed by those unnumbered marks of distinction, of admiration and favor accorded to 'Abdu'l-Baha not only by Baha'u'llah Himself, His companions and His followers, but by the vast number of unbelievers who had come to recognize that innate greatness which 'Abdu'l-Baha had manifested from childhood.

Far from being allayed by the provisions of a Will which had elevated him to the second-highest position within the ranks of the faithful, the fire of unquenchable animosity that glowed in the breast of Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali burned even more fiercely as soon as he came to realize the full implications of that Doc.u.ment. All that 'Abdu'l-Baha could do, during a period of four distressful years, His incessant exhortations, His earnest pleadings, the favors and kindnesses He showered upon him, the admonitions and warnings He uttered, even His voluntary withdrawal in the hope of averting the threatening storm, proved to be of no avail. Gradually and with unyielding persistence, through lies, half-truths, calumnies and gross exaggerations, this "Prime Mover of sedition" succeeded in ranging on his side almost the entire family of Baha'u'llah, as well as a considerable number of those who had formed his immediate entourage.

Baha'u'llah's two surviving wives, His two sons, the vacillating Mirza ?iya'u'llah and the treacherous Mirza Badi'u'llah, with their sister and half-sister and their husbands, one of them the infamous Siyyid 'Ali, a kinsman of the Bab, the other the crafty Mirza Majdi'd-Din, together with his sister and half-brothers-the children of the n.o.ble, the faithful and now deceased aqay-i-Kalim-all united in a determined effort to subvert the foundations of the Covenant which the newly proclaimed Will had laid. Even Mirza aqa Jan, who for forty years had labored as Baha'u'llah's amanuensis, as well as Mu?ammad-Javad-i-Qasvini, who ever since the days of Adrianople, had been engaged in transcribing the innumerable Tablets revealed by the Supreme Pen, together with his entire family, threw in their lot with the Covenant-breakers, and allowed themselves to be ensnared by their machinations.

Forsaken, betrayed, a.s.saulted by almost the entire body of His relatives, now congregated in the Mansion and the neighboring houses cl.u.s.tering around the most Holy Tomb, 'Abdu'l-Baha, already bereft of both His mother and His sons, and without any support at all save that of an unmarried sister, His four unmarried daughters, His wife and His uncle (a half-brother of Baha'u'llah), was left alone to bear, in the face of a mult.i.tude of enemies arrayed against Him from within and from without, the full brunt of the terrific responsibilities which His exalted office had laid upon Him.

Closely-knit by one common wish and purpose; indefatigable in their efforts; a.s.sured of the backing of the powerful and perfidious Jamal-i-Burujirdi and his henchmen, ?aji ?usayn-i-Ka_sh_i, _Kh_alil-i-_Kh_u'i and Jalil-i-Tabrizi who had espoused their cause; linked by a vast system of correspondence with every center and individual they could reach; seconded in their labors by emissaries whom they dispatched to Persia, 'Iraq, India and Egypt; emboldened in their designs by the att.i.tude of officials whom they bribed or seduced, these repudiators of a divinely-established Covenant arose, as one man, to launch a campaign of abuse and vilification which compared in virulence with the infamous accusations which Mirza Ya?ya and Siyyid Mu?ammad had jointly levelled at Baha'u'llah. To friend and stranger, believer and unbeliever alike, to officials both high and low, openly and by insinuation, verbally as well as in writing, they represented 'Abdu'l-Baha as an ambitious, a self-willed, an unprincipled and pitiless usurper, Who had deliberately disregarded the testamentary instructions of His Father; Who had, in language intentionally veiled and ambiguous, a.s.sumed a rank co-equal with the Manifestation Himself; Who in His communications with the West was beginning to claim to be the return of Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, who had come "in the glory of the Father"; Who, in His letters to the Indian believers, was proclaiming Himself as the promised _Sh_ah Bahram, and arrogating to Himself the right to interpret the writing of His Father, to inaugurate a new Dispensation, and to share with Him the Most Great Infallibility, the exclusive prerogative of the holders of the prophetic office. They, furthermore, affirmed that He had, for His private ends, fomented discord, fostered enmity and brandished the weapon of excommunication; that He had perverted the purpose of a Testament which they alleged to be primarily concerned with the private interests of Baha'u'llah's family by acclaiming it as a Covenant of world importance, pre-existent, peerless and unique in the history of all religions; that He had deprived His brothers and sisters of their lawful allowance, and expended it on officials for His personal advancement; that He had declined all the repeated invitations made to Him to discuss the issues that had arisen and to compose the differences which prevailed; that He had actually corrupted the Holy Text, interpolated pa.s.sages written by Himself, and perverted the purpose and meaning of some of the weightiest Tablets revealed by the pen of His Father; and finally, that the standard of rebellion had, as a result of such conduct, been raised by the Oriental believers, that the community of the faithful had been rent asunder, was rapidly declining and was doomed to extinction.

And yet it was this same Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali who, regarding himself as the exponent of fidelity, the standard-bearer of the "Unitarians," the "Finger who points to his Master," the champion of the Holy Family, the spokesman of the A_gh_san, the upholder of the Holy Writ, had, in the lifetime of Baha'u'llah, so openly and shamelessly advanced in a written statement, signed and sealed by him, the very claim now falsely imputed by him to 'Abdu'l-Baha, that his Father had, with His own hand, chastised him. He it was who, when sent on a mission to India, had tampered with the text of the holy writings entrusted to his care for publication. He it was who had the impudence and temerity to tell 'Abdu'l-Baha to His face that just as Umar had succeeded in usurping the successorship of the Prophet Mu?ammad, he, too, felt himself able to do the same. He it was who, obsessed by the fear that he might not survive 'Abdu'l-Baha, had, the moment he had been a.s.sured by Him that all the honor he coveted would, in the course of time, be his, swiftly rejoined that he had no guarantee that he would outlive Him. He it was who, as testified by Mirza Badi'u'llah in his confession, written and published on the occasion of his repentance and his short-lived reconciliation with 'Abdu'l-Baha, had, while Baha'u'llah's body was still awaiting interment, carried off, by a ruse, the two satchels containing his Father's most precious doc.u.ments, entrusted by Him, prior to His ascension, to 'Abdu'l-Baha. He it was who, by an exceedingly adroit and simple forgery of a word recurring in some of the denunciatory pa.s.sages addressed by the Supreme Pen to Mirza Ya?ya, and by other devices such as mutilation and interpolation, had succeeded in making them directly applicable to a Brother Whom he hated with such consuming pa.s.sion. And lastly, it was this same Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali who, as attested by 'Abdu'l-Baha in His Will, had, with circ.u.mspection and guile, conspired to take His life, an intention indicated by the allusions made in a letter written by _Sh_u'a'u'llah (Son of Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali), the original of which was enclosed in that same Doc.u.ment by 'Abdu'l-Baha.

The Covenant of Baha'u'llah had, by acts such as these, and others too numerous to recount, been manifestly violated. Another blow, stunning in its first effects, had been administered to the Faith and had caused its structure momentarily to tremble. The storm foreshadowed by the writer of the Apocalypse had broken. The "lightnings," the "thunders," the "earthquake" which must needs accompany the revelation of the "Ark of His Testament," had all come to pa.s.s.

'Abdu'l-Baha's grief over so tragic a development, following so swiftly upon His Father's ascension, was such that, despite the triumphs witnessed in the course of His ministry, it left its traces upon Him till the end of His days. The intensity of the emotions which this somber episode aroused within Him were reminiscent of the effect produced upon Baha'u'llah by the dire happenings precipitated by the rebellion of Mirza Ya?ya. "I swear by the Ancient Beauty!," He wrote in one of His Tablets, "So great is My sorrow and regret that My pen is paralyzed between My fingers." "Thou seest Me," He, in a prayer recorded in His Will, thus laments, "submerged in an ocean of calamities that overwhelm the soul, of afflictions that oppress the heart... Sore trials have compa.s.sed Me round, and perils have from all sides beset Me. Thou seest Me immersed in a sea of unsurpa.s.sed tribulation, sunk into a fathomless abyss, afflicted by Mine enemies and consumed with the flame of hatred kindled by My kinsmen with whom Thou didst make Thy strong Covenant and Thy firm Testament..." And again in that same Will: "Lord! Thou seest all things weeping over Me, and My kindred rejoicing in My woes. By Thy glory, O my G.o.d! Even amongst Mine enemies some have lamented My troubles and My distress, and of the envious ones a number have shed tears because of My cares, My exile and My afflictions." "O Thou the Glory of Glories!," He, in one of His last Tablets, had cried out, "I have renounced the world and its people, and am heart-broken and sorely afflicted because of the unfaithful. In the cage of this world I flutter even as a frightened bird, and yearn every day to take My flight unto Thy Kingdom."

Baha'u'llah Himself had significantly revealed in one of His Tablets-a Tablet that sheds an illuminating light on the entire episode: "By G.o.d, O people! Mine eye weepeth, and the eye of 'Ali (the Bab) weepeth amongst the Concourse on high, and Mine heart crieth out, and the heart of Mu?ammad crieth out within the Most Glorious Tabernacle, and My soul shouteth and the souls of the Prophets shout before them that are endued with understanding... My sorrow is not for Myself, but for Him Who shall come after Me, in the shadow of My Cause, with manifest and undoubted sovereignty, inasmuch as they will not welcome His appearance, will repudiate His signs, will dispute His sovereignty, will contend with Him, and will betray His Cause..." "Can it be possible," He, in a no less significant Tablet, had observed, "that after the dawning of the day-star of Thy Testament above the horizon of Thy Most Great Tablet, the feet of any one shall slip in Thy Straight Path? Unto this We answered: 'O My most exalted Pen! It behoveth Thee to occupy Thyself with that whereunto Thou hast been bidden by G.o.d, the Exalted, the Great. Ask not of that which will consume Thine heart and the hearts of the denizens of Paradise, who have circled round My wondrous Cause. It behoveth Thee not to be acquainted with that which We have veiled from Thee. Thy Lord is, verily, the Concealer, the All-Knowing!'" More specifically Baha'u'llah had, referring to Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali in clear and unequivocal language, affirmed: "He, verily, is but one of My servants... Should he for a moment pa.s.s out from under the shadow of the Cause, he surely shall be brought to naught." Furthermore, in a no less emphatic language, He, again in connection with Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali had stated: "By G.o.d, the True One!

Were We, for a single instant, to withhold from him the outpourings of Our Cause, he would wither, and would fall upon the dust." 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself had, moreover, testified: "There is no doubt that in a thousand pa.s.sages in the sacred writings of Baha'u'llah the breakers of the Covenant have been execrated." Some of these pa.s.sages He Himself compiled, ere His departure from this world, and incorporated them in one of His last Tablets, as a warning and safeguard against those who, throughout His ministry, had manifested so implacable a hatred against Him, and had come so near to subverting the foundations of a Covenant on which not only His own authority but the integrity of the Faith itself depended.

Chapter XVI: The Rise and Establishment of the Faith in the West

Though the rebellion of Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali precipitated many sombre and distressing events, and though its dire consequences continued for several years to obscure the light of the Covenant, to endanger the life of its appointed Center, and to distract the thoughts and r.e.t.a.r.d the progress of the activities of its supporters in both the East and the West, yet the entire episode, viewed in its proper perspective, proved to be neither more nor less than one of those periodic crises which, since the inception of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, and throughout a whole century, have been instrumental in weeding out its harmful elements, in fortifying its foundations, in demonstrating its resilience, and in releasing a further measure of its latent powers.

Now that the provisions of a divinely appointed Covenant had been indubitably proclaimed; now that the purpose of the Covenant was clearly apprehended and its fundamentals had become immovably established in the hearts of the overwhelming majority of the adherents of the Faith; and now that the first a.s.saults launched by its would-be subverters had been successfully repulsed, the Cause for which that Covenant had been designed could forge ahead along the course traced for it by the finger of its Author. Shining exploits and unforgettable victories had already signalized the birth of that Cause and accompanied its rise in several countries of the Asiatic continent, and particularly in the homeland of its Founder. The mission of its newly-appointed Leader, the steward of its glory and the diffuser of its light, was, as conceived by Himself, to enrich and extend the bounds of the incorruptible patrimony entrusted to His hands by shedding the illumination of His Father's Faith upon the West, by expounding the fundamental precepts of that Faith and its cardinal principles, by consolidating the activities which had already been initiated for the promotion of its interests, and, finally, by ushering in, through the provisions of His own Will, the Formative Age in its evolution.

A year after the ascension of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha had, in a verse which He had revealed, and which had evoked the derision of the Covenant-breakers, already foreshadowed an auspicious event which posterity would recognize as one of the greatest triumphs of His ministry, which in the end would confer an inestimable blessing upon the western world, and which erelong was to dispel the grief and the apprehensions that had surrounded the community of His fellow-exiles in Akka. The Great Republic of the West, above all the other countries of the Occident, was singled out to be the first recipient of G.o.d's inestimable blessing, and to become the chief agent in its transmission to so many of her sister nations throughout the five continents of the earth.

The importance of so momentous a development in the evolution of the Faith of Baha'u'llah-the establishment of His Cause in the North American continent-at a time when 'Abdu'l-Baha had just inaugurated His Mission, and was still in the throes of the most grievous crisis with which He was ever confronted, can in no wise be overestimated. As far back as the year which witnessed the birth of the Faith in _Sh_iraz the Bab had, in the Qayyumu'l-Asma, after having warned in a memorable pa.s.sage the peoples of both the Orient and the Occident, directly addressed the "peoples of the West," and significantly bidden them "issue forth" from their "cities" to aid G.o.d, and "become as brethren" in His "one and indivisible religion."

"In the East," Baha'u'llah Himself had, in antic.i.p.ation of this development, written, "the light of His Revelation hath broken; in the West the signs of His dominion have appeared." "Should they attempt," He, moreover, had predicted, "to conceal its light on the continent, it will a.s.suredly rear its head in the midmost heart of the ocean, and, raising its voice, proclaim: 'I am the lifegiver of the world!'" "Had this Cause been revealed in the West," He, shortly before His ascension, is reported by Nabil in his narrative to have stated, "had Our verses been sent from the West to Persia and other countries of the East, it would have become evident how the people of the Occident would have embraced Our Cause. The people of Persia, however, have failed to appreciate it." "From the beginning of time until the present day," is 'Abdu'l-Baha's own testimony, "the light of Divine Revelation hath risen in the East and shed its radiance upon the West. The illumination thus shed hath, however, acquired in the West an extraordinary brilliancy. Consider the Faith proclaimed by Jesus. Though it first appeared in the East, yet not until its light had been shed upon the West did the full measure of its potentialities become manifest." "The day is approaching," He has affirmed, "when ye shall witness how, through the splendor of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, the West will have replaced the East, radiating the light of Divine guidance." And again: "The West hath acquired illumination from the East, but, in some respects, the reflection of the light hath been greater in the Occident."

Furthermore, "The East hath, verily, been illumined with the light of the Kingdom. Erelong will this same light shed a still greater illumination upon the West."

More specifically has the Author of the Baha'i Revelation Himself chosen to confer upon the rulers of the American continent the unique honor of addressing them collectively in the Kitab-i-Aqdas, His most Holy Book, significantly exhorting them to "adorn the temple of dominion with the ornament of justice and of the fear of G.o.d, and its head with the crown of the remembrance" of their Lord, and bidding them "bind with the hands of justice the broken," and "crush the oppressor" with the "rod of the commandments" of their "Lord, the Ordainer, the All-Wise." "The continent of America," wrote 'Abdu'l-Baha, "is, in the eyes of the one true G.o.d, the land wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed, where the mysteries of His Faith shall be unveiled, where the righteous will abide and the free a.s.semble." "The American continent," He has furthermore predicted, "giveth signs and evidences of very great advancement. Its future is even more promising, for its influence and illumination are far reaching. It will lead all nations spiritually."

"The American people," 'Abdu'l-Baha, even more distinctly, singling out for His special favor the Great Republic of the West, the leading nation of the American continent, has revealed, "are indeed worthy of being the first to build the Tabernacle of the Most Great Peace, and proclaim the oneness of mankind." And again: "This American nation is equipped and empowered to accomplish that which will adorn the pages of history, to become the envy of the world, and be blest in both the East and the West for the triumph of its people." Furthermore: "May this American democracy be the first nation to establish the foundation of international agreement. May it be the first nation to proclaim the unity of mankind.

May it be the first to unfurl the standard of the Most Great Peace." "May the inhabitants of this country," He, moreover has written, "...rise from their present material attainment to such heights that heavenly illumination may stream from this center to all the peoples of the world."

"O ye apostles of Baha'u'llah!," 'Abdu'l-Baha has thus addressed the believers of the North American continent, "...consider how exalted and lofty is the station you are destined to attain... The full measure of your success is as yet unrevealed, its significance still unapprehended."