The time for my departure [from America] is near and I am
making arrangements for the voyage. Therefore I shall not be able to attend
every meeting, so I shall bid you farewell. I am pleased with you and grateful
for your services. Truly, you have shown great kindness and extended to me the
utmost hospitality.
I supplicate to the Kingdom of Bahá'u'lláh to shower upon
you His assistance and confirmations so that day by day you may be more
assisted to defend the rights of Bahá'u'lláh, that your hearts may become more
enlightened, your morals heavenly, your souls transported with joy and your
conduct proof of your faith and certitude. May you be in the utmost sanctity,
be completely attracted and turned to the Abhá Kingdom and become like
brilliant lights. May you become evident signs of the Blessed Beauty and proofs
of the reality of Bahá'u'lláh so that you may illuminate the world. And when
people look at your deeds and conduct they will see the traces of holiness and
severance and will behold heavenly brightness in you and all will testify that
`these people are truly proofs of the reality of Bahá'u'lláh', and that
`Bahá'u'lláh is undoubtedly the Sun of Truth who has educated these people
through His power'. May they see divine lights in your behavior, find the signs
of the love of God, observe praiseworthy conduct in you and seek the virtues of
the world of man within you. You must each become the proclaimer of truth and
shine from the horizon of the world of humanity like brilliant stars. This is
what is meant by defending the rights of Bahá'u'lláh; this is the purpose of
the Blessed Beauty in suffering afflictions and accepting confinement in the
Most Great Prison. He bore all afflictions and difficulties and ascended to the
Kingdom of God a prisoner so that we would act according to His teachings and
arise and carry out that which is consistent with faithfulness; that we may act
upon His exhortation and raise the call of the Abhá Kingdom and proclaim the
light of the bounties of truth, so that the waves of the Most Great Ocean may
surge high, this world may become the mirror of the world above, this bed of
thorns may turn into a flower garden and this region of dust may reflect the
All-Glorious Paradise.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, December 2, New
York, recorded by Mahmud Zarqani; ‘Mahmud’s Diary’)
