Most people need an example to understand and apply new concepts. Even for simple things like how to open a pickle jar, it is helpful to watch someone else do it. Now, if you want to understand how to change the world, you will need an extraordinary example. You need someone exemplary who has inspired people and continues to inspire throughout time. You need someone whose life is not only above reproach, but who lived the difficulties of life with the benefit of innate knowledge while demonstrating truly practical skills. You need a person whose advice will never become dated and who is approachable – someone with wisdom and a sense of humour.
Who could this person be? Where will we find such a model to inspire the youngest child to the most wizened of elders? Bahá’ís believe that person to be ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Son of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh. He is believed to be the Perfect Exemplar with a station beyond what any of the first followers of past religions were able to demonstrate. Baha’is strive to follow His example. It is not uncommon for people with no knowledge of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to be drawn to and love Him through story and the few pictures available. Here is a brief overview of His life and select stories.
Born into a noble family, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s life was early on thrown into turmoil and hardship when His Father first accepted the teachings of the Báb and then later, proclaimed He was the long-awaited Promised One foretold to usher in a world of peace, where war and disease are forever eliminated. According to Bahá’u’lláh, this mission of bringing the kingdom of God to earth, marks the culmination of the maturity of the human race. As such, it is accompanied by teachings appropriate for the age in which we live based on equality and justice.
At the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s childhood, His father was thrown into a prison for promoting teachings such as the independent investigation of truth, the equality of women and men and for insisting on the essential harmony between science and religion. Consequently, young ʻAbbás, as He was called then, was tormented and taunted wherever He went. His family became destitute overnight and continued to live in poverty throughout their lives as they were exiled from place to place in an effort to halt the influence of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings.
Even as a child before His life of exile, young ʻAbbás, at one point went to visit His Father’s farm where He observed the shepherds tending the sheep. He spent an enjoyable day visiting with the shepherds after which they commented that it was customary for guests to give a gift to their hosts. Without skipping a beat, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá instantly replied, “Then I will give you all the sheep.” When His father was later informed that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’ had given away all the sheep to the shepherds, He burst out laughing and said, “One day ‘Abdu’l-Bahá will give Himself away!”
At the beginning of their lives of 40 years of exile, there is a story about a time when young ʻAbbás and His siblings hungrily approached their mother for something to eat. Having no food for her children, she poured into their hands a little bit of flour which was their meal for the day. Later on when ʻAbbás became known as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, meaning Servant of the Glory, He and His wife would regularly pack up an evening meal to give to a family that had not eaten. His comment was, “We have eaten yesterday and will eat again tomorrow “, as He sent the meal off to a family whose children were as hungry as He remembered being in his childhood.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, at age seven, was the first person to recognize the station of His Father and to become a follower of His Faith. He subsequently devoted His life to serving Bahá’u’lláh and was designated as “The Centre of the Covenant”, “the Apple of mine eye”, and “the Master”, by his father because of his outstanding attitude of service towards humanity and his depth of understanding of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s life was filled with hardship, sorrow, and deep suffering. Yet He was known for His wonderful sense of humour and His ability to cheer up anyone who was near Him even in the most difficult circumstances. At one point the Holy Family was exiled by jealous officials to a place where the vermin and bugs were so prevalent that sleeping on sheepskins, family members and followers of the Faith had to turn the mats several times nightly to avoid bed bugs eating through the sheepskin to bite them during sleep. You can imagine how irritable and sleep deprived those people must have been. Even so, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would light a lamp to cheer them up and chase away the bugs and tell them funny stories until they were calm and could try once again to get a bit of precious sleep.
There are many stories about how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá used every opportunity to bring minorities, the downtrodden, and the oppressed to the “table”. When after 40 years, He was finally released from prison, He undertook several voyages to different places in the world to spread the Teachings of His Father’s Faith. Arriving in the United States, He was horrified at the treatment of Black people and refused to speak in meetings until they allowed Black and White people to both attend, something which was against the law in 1912 when He was there. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá encouraged Americans to marry across races so that they could once and for all eliminate racial prejudice, and He took every possible opportunity to demonstrate the unity of humanity by placing those who were considered inferior in the eyes of society into a position of equality and honour.
One such story is about Louis Gregory, an African-American who wanted to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá when he heard of His visit to the United States. The day he came to visit, a high society luncheon had been thrown in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s honour in the hotel where He was staying. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá delayed attending the luncheon until the last minute, when Louis Gregory was starting to leave the building. At that point ‘Abdu’l-Bahá walked into the luncheon hall and asked in a loud voice, “Where is Mr. Gregory? We must have Mr. Gregory before we start!” The hotel officials went to get Mr. Gregory whom ‘Abdu’l-Bahá seated at His right hand in the place of honour, speaking to him as a most dear friend and including him in all the luncheon conversations. Just imagine the surprise of the all-White group witnessing this natural exchange of friendship between two people of different races, who had only just met an hour earlier. Imagine the discomfort of Mr. Gregory and how sitting next to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would have helped dissipate that discomfort and estrangement.
There are many wonderful and inspiring stories about the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He used every moment to connect hearts, to instruct without being paternalistic, to join those who had been estranged to communities of belonging, and to perpetrate justice, peace, and equality between all people.
This February, the Edmonton Baháʼí community will host the Alberta Baha’i Winter School focusing on the example of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and how we can be more like Him. To learn more about this exemplary person whom Bahá’ís consider the model to follow if we want to change the world, you may like to watch these short stories about how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá brought others to the table in 1912 as recounted by the Erica Toussaint-Brocke , the great-granddaughter of Howard Colby Ives, one of the first Westerners to meet and become a follower of the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith.
Louis Gregory – setting a black man at the seat of honour and showing him as a dear friend: https://youtu.be/e_o1MC7mjDU
Fujita – showing Asians as important when they had been so badly oppressed: https://youtu.be/i_IjUeF0CC8
Phoebe Hurst and Robert Turner – removing social class and racial distinctions: https://youtu.be/7bNjonVpKOM
Florence Khan and honoring women in Acca, where the status of women was so low: https://youtu.be/YzhJZloASjw