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Youth |
From that time onwards, He became His father’s closest
companion and, as it were, protector. Although a mere youth,
He already showed astonishing sagacity and discrimination,
and undertook the task of interviewing all the numerous visitors
who came to see His father. If He found they were genuine
truth seekers, He admitted them to His father’s presence,
but otherwise He did not permit them to trouble Bahá’u’lláh.
On many occasions He helped His father in answering the
questions and solving the difficulties of these visitors. For example,
when of the Súfí leaders, named ‘Alí Shawkat
Páshá, asked for an explanation of the phrase: “I was a Hidden
Mystery,” which occurs in a well-known Muḥammadan tradition,
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Bahá’u’lláh turned to the “Mystery of God,” Abbás, and
asked Him to write the explanation. The boy, who was then
about fifteen or sixteen years of age, at once wrote an important
epistle giving an exposition so illuminating as to astonish
the Páshá. This epistle is now widely spread among the
Bahá’ís, and is well known to many outside the Bahá’í faith.
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After Bahá’u’lláh’s Declaration in the Garden outside Baghdád,
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s devotion to His father became greater
than ever. On the long journey to Constantinople He guarded
Bahá’u’lláh night and day, riding by His wagon and watching
near His tent. As far as possible He relieved His father of all
domestic cares and responsibilities, becoming the mainstay
and comfort of the entire family.
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During the years spent in Adrianople, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá endeared
Himself to everyone. He taught much, and became generally
known as the “Master.” At ‘Akká, when nearly all the
party were ill with typhoid, malaria, and dysentery, He washed
the patients, nursed them, fed them, watched with them, taking
no rest, until utterly exhausted, He Himself took dysentery,
and for about a month remained in a dangerous condition.
In ‘Akká, as in Adrianople, all classes, from the Governor
to the most wretched beggar, learned to love and respect Him.
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1. | The tradition is quoted in a Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh; see Chapter 5 of this book. [ Back To Reference] |