'Abdu'l-Baha in Their Midst

CONTENTS Preface vii 1 Who is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá?

1

2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Travels to the West

3

3 A Delay in Egypt

8

4 Arrival in the West

17

5 Egypt and an Atlantic Crossing

50

6 Greeting the Statue of Liberty

55

7 ‘White and Black Sitting Together’

89

Thonon-les-Bains – London – Bristol – Byfleet – London – Paris

Alexandria

New York

Washington, DC

8 The Mother Temple of the West

107

9 The City of the Covenant

125

10 Summer Travels

145

Chicago – Cleveland, Ohio and Pittsburgh – Washington, DC

New York – Boston – New York – Philadelphia – New York

Montclair and West Englewood – New York – Boston – Dublin – Green Acre – Malden

‘ abdu ’ l-bahá in their midst

11 North to Canada

179

12 California Bound

189

13 ‘Your Love Drew Me to You’

211

14 The Last Days in America

243

15 Return to the United Kingdom

273

16 From Paris to Budapest and Back

307

17 Home Again

326

Bibliography References Index of Names

339 345 365

Montreal

Buffalo and Niagara Falls – Chicago – Kenosha – Minneapolis/St Paul – Omaha and Lincoln – Denver – Glenwood Springs – Salt Lake City

San Francisco and Oakland – Pleasanton – San Francisco – Los Angeles – San Francisco – Sacramento

To Chicago – Cincinnati – Washington, DC – Baltimore, Maryland and Philadelphia – New York

Liverpool – London – Oxford – London – Edinburgh – Bristol – London

Paris – Stuttgart – Esslingen – Stuttgart – Bad Mergentheim – Budapest – Vienna – Stuttgart – Paris

Port Said, Ismailia, Alexandria and Ramleh – Haifa

vi

4

ARRIVAL IN THE WEST August–December 1911 Thonon-les-Bains, France Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá upon His arrival at Marseilles and had the privilege of escorting him to Thonon-les-Bains, a quiet town on the French part of Lake Geneva. The Master thoroughly enjoyed the train ride through the verdant country they traversed.

During the following two weeks, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá rested in the scenic splendour of the Alps, giving few formal talks and meeting informally with an increasing number of Bahá’ís who travelled across Europe to see Him. Writing to His wife, Munírih Khánum, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá described the area as ‘truly a delightful place. The mildness of the weather, the freshness of the grass and fields, the lushness and pleasantness of the hills, as well as the beauty of the scenery are most perfect. From the day I left Iran until now I had not seen such a place.’1 Juliet Thompson was deeply attached to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. When she had departed from Haifa after her pilgrimage in 1909, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had promised that they would meet again. On 13 July she received a letter from Ahmad Sohrab enclosing a Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

In the Tablet, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá summoned her to meet Him in London, where Ahmad Sohrab said He would be addressing the Universal Races Congress a week later. Juliet ‘leaped over every “hindrance” . . . and within the week . . . boarded the Lusitania.’2 A few days later, she was in London, but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was not. He cabled that she should wait in London. It wasn’t until 22 August that Juliet received a telegram that said simply ‘come here. hotel parc. abdul baha.’3 Juliet, along with Tamaddunu’l-Mulk, was on the train the next day. When they arrived in Geneva, they barely had time to catch the next train and no time to inform anyone of their impending arrival in 17

‘ abdu ’ l-bahá in their midst

Thonon-les-Bains, so the station was empty of friends when they arrived.

When there appeared to be no one to take them to the hotel, they appropriated a wheelbarrow for their luggage and pushed it up to the hotel.

She then describes the Hotel du Parc where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was staying: A great white hotel. At its entrance, two oleander trees in bloom.

Inside, high ceilings, white walls, glass doors, rose-coloured carpets, rose-coloured damask furniture. Beyond the green terrace with its marble balustrade, Lake Geneva. Behind the hotel, two mountains overhung with clouds. In the halls and strolling through the grounds: gay, artificial, dull-eyed people. Passing among these silently with His indescribable majesty, His strange Power and His holy sweetness, the Master –’Abdu’l-Bahá – unrecognized but not unfelt. As He passes, the dull eyes follow Him, lit up for a moment with wonder.4

Juliet Thompson Juliet Thompson was a New York artist and painter who, at one point, lived across the street from Kahlil Gibran. She discovered the Faith about 1898, then went to Paris in 1901 where she met Thomas Breakwell, another early Bahá’í. The following year, Juliet went back to New York where she became a successful painter. Her first pilgrimage was in 1909, after which she was in thrall to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Juliet attracted marriage proposals from Roy Wilhelm and John Bosch and was, at one point, engaged to Mason Remey. The love of her life, however, was Percy Grant, a Unitarian minister, whom ‘Abdu’lBahá said she could marry, but only if he became a Bahá’í. He didn’t and she remained single throughout her life.

When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá began His travels to the West, He called her to join Him at Thonon-les-Bains. She spent as much time as possible in His company when He arrived in America and painted His portrait.

In 1926, Juliet made a second pilgrimage and in the 1940s she made several long teaching trips into Mexico.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá was particularly fond of her because of her total honesty. When the Guardian asked her what she thought of the design for the American House of Worship near Chicago, she said that she didn’t like it because ‘it looks like a wedding cake’.

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arrival in the west

Juliet’s Diary is one of the most intimate books about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s interactions with one of His followers. With her artistic eye and writing style she left a mesmerizing memoir of her time with the Master.

Hippolyte and Laura Dreyfus-Barney Also staying at the hotel were Hippolyte and Laura Dreyfus-Barney.

Hippolyte Dreyfus learned about the Faith from May Maxwell about 1900. Coincidentally, he also met Laura Barney, his future wife, at May’s apartment. Many of the first translations of the Writings into French were made by Hippolyte because his linguistic skills, which included Persian and Arabic, enabled him to translate the Kitáb-i-Aqdas into French from Arabic. Because of his background in law, Hippolyte was of great value to Shoghi Effendi after the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He was instrumental in the early stages of attempting to regain possession of Bahá’u’lláh’s house in Baghdad in the 1920s and he helped pave the way for the emancipation of Bahá’ís in Egypt in 1925.5 Laura Barney was an American, daughter of painter Alice Barney and sister of the notorious Natalie. Laura found the Faith in Paris. On her return to America, she was mocked in a Washington gossip magazine, but convinced her mother of the truth of the Faith. Though she was away from Paris between 1901 and 1906, Laura made several trips to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Holy Land. In 1905, she travelled with Hippolyte Dreyfus and Madame Lachenay to Iran at the request of the Master, the first Western Bahá’ís to do so. They visited Tabriz, Maku and Ashqabad, where the first Bahá’í House of Worship had been built.

During Laura’s many visits to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, she compiled what became the book Some Answered Questions. She, like her future husband, became fluent in Persian Laura and Hippolyte were married in 1911 and spent much of the rest of the year travelling with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Europe. They also were with the Master in Washington, DC and in London and Paris in 1913. * * * On the morning of 24 August Juliet finally was reunited with the Master. His first words to her were: ‘Are you happy, Juliet?’ He greeted her with those same words the next morning. That short phrase became 19

End of this sample.

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