ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (; Persian: عبد البهاء‎, 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás (عباس), was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 until 1921.
He is commonly referred to in Baháʼí texts as "The Master". ==Early life== ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran, Iran on 23 May 1844 (5th of Jamadiyu'l-Avval, 1260 AH), the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and Navváb.
In the middle of the stairway, all of a sudden we heard His [Baháʼu'lláh's]…voice: 'Do not bring him in here', and so they took me back". == Baghdad == Baháʼu'lláh was eventually released from prison, but ordered into exile, and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then 8 years old, joined his father on the journey to Baghdad in the winter (January to April) of 1853.
After a year of difficulties Baháʼu'lláh absented himself rather than continue to face the conflict with Mirza Yahya and secretly secluded himself in the mountains of Sulaymaniyah in April 1854 a month before ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's tenth birthday.
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá also took an interest in the art of horse riding and, as he grew, became a renowned rider. In 1856, news of an ascetic carrying on discourses with local Súfí leaders that seemed to possibly be Baháʼu'lláh reached the family and friends.
In 1863, in what became known as the Garden of Ridván, his father Baháʼu'lláh announced to a few that he was the manifestation of God and He whom God shall make manifest whose coming had been foretold by the Báb.
On day eight of the twelve days, it is believed ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was the first person Baháʼu'lláh revealed his claim to. == Constantinople/Adrianople == In 1863 Baháʼu'lláh was summoned to Constantinople (Istanbul), and thus his family, including ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then nineteen, accompanied him on his 110-day journey.
Baháʼu'lláh and his family were – in 1868 – exiled to the penal colony of Acre, Palestine where it was expected that the family would perish.
After a wearisome journey from Isfahán to Akka she finally arrived accompanied by her brother in 1872.
On 8 March 1873, at the urging of his father, the twenty-eight-year-old ʻAbdu'l-Bahá married Fátimih Nahrí of Isfahán (1847–1938) a twenty-five-year-old from an upper-class family of the city.
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá had written in 1875 for the need to establish a "Union of the nations of the world", and he praised the attempt through the League of Nations as an important step towards the goal.
The first group includes The Secret of Divine Civilization written before 1875, A Traveller's Narrative written around 1886, the Resāla-ye sīāsīya or Sermon on the Art of Governance written in 1893, the Memorials of the Faithful, and a large number of tablets written to various people; including various Western intellectuals such as Auguste Forel which has been translated and published as the Tablet to Auguste-Henri Forel.
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was able to arrange for houses to be rented for the family, the family later moved to the Mansion of Bahjí around 1879 when an epidemic caused the inhabitants to flee. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá soon became very popular in the penal colony and Myron Henry Phelps a wealthy New York lawyer described how "a crowd of human beings...Syrians, Arabs, Ethiopians, and many others", all waited to talk and receive ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.
He undertook a history of the Bábí religion through publication of A Traveller's Narrative (Makála-i-Shakhsí Sayyáh) in 1886, later translated and published in translation in 1891 through Cambridge University by the agency of Edward Granville Browne who described ʻAbdu'l-Bahá as: ===Marriage and family life=== When ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was a young man, speculation was rife amongst the Baháʼís to whom he would marry.
The first group includes The Secret of Divine Civilization written before 1875, A Traveller's Narrative written around 1886, the Resāla-ye sīāsīya or Sermon on the Art of Governance written in 1893, the Memorials of the Faithful, and a large number of tablets written to various people; including various Western intellectuals such as Auguste Forel which has been translated and published as the Tablet to Auguste-Henri Forel.
Many of his writings, prayers and letters are extant, and his discourses with the Western Baháʼís emphasize the growth of the faith by the late 1890s. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's given name was ʻAbbás.
Years later in 1890 Edward Granville Browne described how ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was "one more eloquent of speech, more ready of argument, more apt of illustration, more intimately acquainted with the sacred books of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muhammadans...scarcely be found even amongst the eloquent." When ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was seven, he contracted tuberculosis and was expected to die.
He undertook a history of the Bábí religion through publication of A Traveller's Narrative (Makála-i-Shakhsí Sayyáh) in 1886, later translated and published in translation in 1891 through Cambridge University by the agency of Edward Granville Browne who described ʻAbdu'l-Bahá as: ===Marriage and family life=== When ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was a young man, speculation was rife amongst the Baháʼís to whom he would marry.
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (; Persian: عبد البهاء‎, 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás (عباس), was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 until 1921.
The war replaced the openly hostile Ottoman authorities with the British Mandate, who knighted him for his help in averting famine following the war. In 1892 ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Baháʼí Faith.
The first group includes The Secret of Divine Civilization written before 1875, A Traveller's Narrative written around 1886, the Resāla-ye sīāsīya or Sermon on the Art of Governance written in 1893, the Memorials of the Faithful, and a large number of tablets written to various people; including various Western intellectuals such as Auguste Forel which has been translated and published as the Tablet to Auguste-Henri Forel.
The first group arrived in 1898 and throughout late 1898 to early 1899 Western Baháʼís sporadically visited ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.
The first group arrived in 1898 and throughout late 1898 to early 1899 Western Baháʼís sporadically visited ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.
It was Laura Clifford Barney who, by asking questions of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá over many years and many visits to Haifa, compiled what later became the book Some Answered Questions. ===Ministry, 1901–1912=== During the final years of the 19th century, while ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was still officially a prisoner and confined to ʻAkka, he organized the transfer of the remains of the Báb from Iran to Palestine.
With the increase of pilgrims visiting ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Muhammad ʻAlí worked with the Ottoman authorities to re-introduce stricter terms on ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's imprisonment in August 1901.
In 1901, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá had purchased about 1704 acres of scrubland near the Jordan river and by 1907 many Baháʼís from Iran had begun sharecropping on the land.
His interment there is meant to be temporary, until his own mausoleum can be built in the vicinity of Riḍván Garden. ===Legacy=== ʻAbdu'l-Bahá left a Will and Testament that was originally written between 1901 and 1908 and addressed to Shoghi Effendi, who at that time was only 4–11 years old.
By 1902, however, due to the Governor of ʻAkka being supportive of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the situation was greatly eased; while pilgrims were able to once again visit ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, he was confined to the city.
Regarding the meetings of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Muhammad ʻAbduh, Shoghi Effendi asserts that "His several interviews with the well-known Shaykh Muhammad ʻAbdu served to enhance immensely the growing prestige of the community and spread abroad the fame of its most distinguished member." Due to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's political activities and alleged accusation against him by Muhammad ʻAli, a Commission of Inquiry interviewed ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1905, with the result that he was almost exiled to Fezzan.
In 1901, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá had purchased about 1704 acres of scrubland near the Jordan river and by 1907 many Baháʼís from Iran had begun sharecropping on the land.
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá remained a political prisoner there until the Young Turk Revolution freed him in 1908 at the age of 64.
By 1909 the mausoleum of the Shrine of the Báb was completed. ==Journeys to the West== The 1908 Young Turks revolution freed all political prisoners in the Ottoman Empire, and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was freed from imprisonment.
His interment there is meant to be temporary, until his own mausoleum can be built in the vicinity of Riḍván Garden. ===Legacy=== ʻAbdu'l-Bahá left a Will and Testament that was originally written between 1901 and 1908 and addressed to Shoghi Effendi, who at that time was only 4–11 years old.
By 1909 the mausoleum of the Shrine of the Báb was completed. ==Journeys to the West== The 1908 Young Turks revolution freed all political prisoners in the Ottoman Empire, and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was freed from imprisonment.
In 1910, with the freedom to leave the country, he embarked on a three-year journey to Egypt, Europe, and North America, spreading the Baháʼí message. From August to December 1911, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá visited cities in Europe, including London, Bristol, and Paris.
In 1910, with the freedom to leave the country, he embarked on a three-year journey to Egypt, Europe, and North America, spreading the Baháʼí message. From August to December 1911, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá visited cities in Europe, including London, Bristol, and Paris.
He arrived in New York City on 11 April 1912, after declining an offer of passage on the RMS Titanic, telling the Baháʼí believers, instead, to "Donate this to charity." He instead travelled on a slower craft, the RMS Cedric, and cited preference of a longer sea journey as the reason.
On 5 December 1912 he set sail back to Europe. During his visit to North America he visited many missions, churches, and groups, as well as having scores of meetings in Baháʼís' homes, and offering innumerable personal meetings with hundreds of people.
His 1912 visit to Montreal also inspired humourist Stephen Leacock to parody him in his bestselling 1914 book Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich.
Finally, on 12 June 1913, he returned to Egypt, where he stayed for six months before returning to Haifa. On 23 February 1914, at the eve of World War I, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá hosted Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild banking family who was a leading advocate and financier of the Zionist movement, during one of his early trips to Palestine. ==Final years (1914–1921)== During World War I (1914–1918) ʻAbdu'l-Bahá stayed in Palestine and was unable to travel.
He then made several journeys to the West to spread the Baháʼí message beyond its middle-eastern roots, but the onset of World War I left him largely confined to Haifa from 1914 to 1918.
His 1912 visit to Montreal also inspired humourist Stephen Leacock to parody him in his bestselling 1914 book Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich.
Finally, on 12 June 1913, he returned to Egypt, where he stayed for six months before returning to Haifa. On 23 February 1914, at the eve of World War I, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá hosted Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild banking family who was a leading advocate and financier of the Zionist movement, during one of his early trips to Palestine. ==Final years (1914–1921)== During World War I (1914–1918) ʻAbdu'l-Bahá stayed in Palestine and was unable to travel.
With the war still raging in 1917, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá received a large amount of wheat from the crops, and also bought other available wheat and shipped it all back to Haifa.
He then made several journeys to the West to spread the Baháʼí message beyond its middle-eastern roots, but the onset of World War I left him largely confined to Haifa from 1914 to 1918.
The League of Nations formed in January 1920, representing the first instance of collective security through a worldwide organization.
For this service in averting a famine in Northern Palestine he received a knighthood at a ceremony held in his honor at the home of the British Governor on 27 April 1920.
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (; Persian: عبد البهاء‎, 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás (عباس), was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 until 1921.
He was later visited by General Allenby, King Faisal (later king of Iraq), Herbert Samuel (High Commissioner for Palestine), and Ronald Storrs (Military Governor of Jerusalem). ===Death and funeral=== ʻAbdu'l-Bahá died on Monday, 28 November 1921, sometime after 1:15 a.m.
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