‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London

A friend enquired concerning Bahá’u’lláh’s prophecy in the Words of Paradise, that a universal language would be formed, and desired to know if Esperanto would be the language chosen.

“The love and effort put into Esperanto will not be lost,” he answered, “but no one person can construct a Universal Language. It must be made by a Council representing all countries, and must contain words from different languages. It will be governed by the simplest rules, and there will be no exceptions; neither will there be gender, nor extra and silent letters. Everything indicated will have but one name. In Arabic there are hundreds of names for the camel! In the schools of each nation the mother tongue will be taught, as well as the revised Universal Language.”