{"id":814,"date":"2010-08-25T03:09:16","date_gmt":"2010-08-25T03:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/?p=814"},"modified":"2012-03-04T05:15:22","modified_gmt":"2012-03-04T05:15:22","slug":"%e2%80%98abdu%e2%80%99l-baha%e2%80%99s-journey-to-the-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/centenary\/%e2%80%98abdu%e2%80%99l-baha%e2%80%99s-journey-to-the-west\/","title":{"rendered":"The Significance of \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1\u2019s Journey to the West"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>t has been mentioned in an earlier article that the prime motive behind \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1\u2019s journey was His desire to consolidate the efforts of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds of the western hemisphere. But what His journey revealed, as we shall see later as we follow His movements, transcended the limits of the meaning of consolidation.<\/p>\n

He had in the past received many invitations from the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds in the United States soliciting His coming with insistence. How impossible it was for a prisoner of a tyrannous sultan to cross over the walls enclosing Him, let alone to traverse to the northwestern end of the globe!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

      'Abdu'l-Bah\u00e1 in a portrait taken 3 May 1912 at Lincoln Park, Chicago      (Reproduced with permission of the Bah\u00e1'\u00ed International Community)<\/p><\/div>\n

Suddenly, the cons- titutional movement of the young Turks freed all political prisoners of the old Ottoman regime. This prompted the officials surveying \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 to in- quire about His status. The Turkish government\u2019s con- firmation that \u2018Ab- du\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 was now a free man revived the hopes of the western Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds to host their beloved Master.<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

In fulfillment of His Father\u2019s behest, \u2018Ab- du\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 had safely deposited the sacred remains of the B\u00e1b within a shrine built upon the precise spot chosen by Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h on Mount Carmel. He, then, in the closing years of His life, consecra- ted all His remaining physical strength to the realization of His project of visiting the West, a project that appears to us now as the most important factor in the change that has occurred in the understructure of the world\u2019s thinking\u2014a world unable to distinguish between what causes its welfare and its woes; a world that has made warfare the means for the settlement of its political differences, religious controversies and economic quarrels; a world that has divided human beings into a hierarchical order as regards their values, mental capacities, and aptitudes in accord with their physical characteristics; a world that has changed divine religions into dividing barriers of hate; a world that values everything according to its material return, and that separates spirituality from public life; a world that has made pleasure and amusement the fundamental purpose of human life.<\/div>\n

During the three years of His journey, this distinguished Prisoner never weakened His pace, never wearied in pursuing His efforts to consolidate those forces that would, fixed step by fixed step, purposively change the world during the coming years and centuries. The outright change for which \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 drew the plan must ripen in the minds of people, strike roots in their consciences, before it yield the desired results. Therefore, our early evaluation of the significance of the effects of His journey, of the concepts, principles and warnings proclaimed by \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 in public pulpits and in private gatherings throughout His travels will afford us only a glimmer of the true significance of His noble Project. But no matter how limited our present perception may be of the future effects of the proclamation made during this journey on world affairs (as on the spirit of the individual), our celebration of the first centenary of this event will be meaningless without us exerting an effort, no matter how humble, to disclose \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1\u2019s role in drawing to the attention of the world\u2019s leaders the necessity of applying new principles and values, as well as new standards, in accordance with the unparalleled change which has occurred on this planet.<\/p>\n

Finally, and after some fifty years since the time of Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h\u2019s announcement of His divine message, His son was able to explain and detail its teachings directly to the public and to their political and religious leaders, and at the same time present to them the solutions these teachings provide for the problems and crises that threaten the future of humanity.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that the talks of \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 and His explanations broadened the horizons of His listeners and brought them to new spiritual vistas; and that they are still gradually correcting the understanding of religions, and rectifying political outlooks, as well as spiritualizing the materialistic thinking of the inhabitants of the West; that from there their influence will spread throughout the other parts of the world.<\/p>\n

The matter we would like to focus on at present relates to the events of His visit to Egypt. From the time of His arrival in that land, which He chose for the recovery of His health and to renew His energy during the intervals between the various stages of His journey, and throughout the duration of His residency there, He did not give any public talks. He contented Himself with receiving visitors in His private residence in Raml in Alexandria. Despite this, His presence attracted the attention of many Egyptian political leaders, leaders of thought, writers, journalists and clergy, who hastened to pay Him their respects. The news items and articles that were published by His visitors and reporters from various journals were like a proclamation of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed Faith, and laid upon those who became aware of it the responsibility to continue investigating its teachings and purpose.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It has been mentioned in an earlier article that the prime motive behind \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1\u2019s journey was His desire to consolidate the efforts of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds of the western hemisphere. But what His journey revealed, as we shall see later as we follow His movements, transcended the limits of the meaning of consolidation. He had in the past received many invitations from the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds in the United States soliciting His coming with insistence. How impossible it was for a prisoner of a tyrannous sultan to cross over the walls enclosing Him, let alone to traverse to the northern end of the globe!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[26,31],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-centenary","tag-abdul-baha-in-egypt","tag-muhammad-ali-tawfiq"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2385,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions\/2385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}