Reconciliation of Races and Religions — 18 – [Part III. Biographical and Historical (continued)]: Dayyan; Mirza Haydar 'Ali; Abdul Baha (Abbas Effendi).

DAYYAN

We have already been introduced to a prominent Bābī, variously called Asadu'llah and Dayyan; he was also a member of the hierarchy called 'the Letters of the Living.'

He may have been a man of capacity, but I must confess that the event to which his name is specially attached indisposes me to admit that he took part in the so-called 'Council of Tihran.'

To me he appears to have been one of those Bābīs who, even in critical periods, acted without consultation with others, and who imagined that they were absolutely infallible.

Certainly he could never have promoted the claims of Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel, whose defects he had learned from that personage's secretary.

He was well aware that Ezel was ambitious, and he thought that he had a better claim to the supremacy himself.

It would have been wiser, however, to have consulted Baha-'ullah, and to have remembered the prophecy of the Bāb, in which it was expressly foretold that Dayyan would believe on 'Him whom God would make manifest.'

Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel was not slow to detect the weak point in Dayyan's position, who could not be at once the Expected One and a believer in the Expected One.

[Footnote: See Ezel's own words in _Mustaikaz_, p. 6. ] Dayyan, however, made up as well as he could for his inconsistency.

He went at last to Baha-'ullah, and discussed the matter in all its bearings with him.

The result was that with great public spirit he retired in favour of Baha.

The news was soon spread abroad; it was not helpful to the cause of Ezel.

Some of the Ezelites, who had read the Christian Gospels (translated by Henry Martyn), surnamed Dayyan 'the Judas Iscariot of this people.'

[Footnote: _TN_, p. 357. ] Others, instigated probably by their leaders, thought it best to nip the flower in the bud.

So by Ezelite hands Dayyan was foully slain.

It was on this occasion that Ezel vented curses and abusive language on his rival.

The proof is only too cogent, though the two books which contain it are not as yet printed.

[Footnote: They are both in the British Museum, and are called respectively _Mustaikaz_ (No. 6256) and _Asar-el-Ghulam_ (No. 6256).

I am indebted for facts (partly) and references to MSS.

to my friend Mirza 'Ali Akbar.

] MIRZA HAYDAR 'ALI

A delightful Bahai disciple--the _Fra Angelico_ of the brethren, as we may call him,--Mirza Haydar 'Ali was especially interesting to younger visitors to Abdul Baha.

One of them writes thus: 'He was a venerable, smiling old man, with long Persian robes and a spotlessly white turban.

As we had travelled along, the Persian ladies had laughingly spoken of a beautiful young man, who, they were sure, would captivate me.

They would make a match between us, they said.

'This now proved to be the aged Mirza, whose kindly, humorous old eyes twinkled merrily as he heard what they had prophesied, and joined in their laughter.

They did not cover before him.

Afterwards the ladies told me something of his history.

He was imprisoned for fourteen years during the time of the persecution.

At one time, when he was being transferred from one prison to another, many days' journey away, he and his fellow-prisoner, another Bahai, were carried on donkeys, head downwards, with their feet and hands secured.

Haydar 'Ali laughed and sang gaily.

So they beat him unmercifully, and said, "Now, will you sing?"

But he answered them that he was more glad than before, since he had been given the pleasure of enduring something for the sake of God.

'He never married, and in Akka was one of the most constant and loved companions of Baha-'ullah.

I remarked upon his cheerful appearance, and added, "But all you Bahais look happy."

Mirza Haydar 'Ali said: "Sometimes we have surface troubles, but that cannot touch our happiness.

The heart of those who belong to the Malekoot (Kingdom of God) is like the sea: when the wind is rough it troubles the surface of the water, but two metres down there is perfect calm and clearness."

' The preceding passage is by Miss E. S.

Stevens (_Fortnightly Review_, June 1911).

A friend, who has also been a guest in Abdul Baha's house, tells me that Haydar 'Ali is known at Akka as 'the Angel.'

ABDUL BAHA (ABBAS EFFENDI)

The eldest son of Baha-'ullah is our dear and venerated Abdul Baha ('Servant of the Splendour'), otherwise known as Abbas Effendi.

He was born at the midnight following the day on which the Bāb made his declaration.

He was therefore eight years old, and the sister who writes her recollections five, when, in August 1852, an attempt was made on the life of the Shah by a young Bābī, disaffected to the ruling dynasty.

The future Abdul Baha was already conspicuous for his fearlessness and for his passionate devotion to his father.

The _gamins_ of Tihran (Teheran) might visit him as he paced to and fro, waiting for news from his father, but he did not mind--not he.

One day his sister--a mere child--was returning home under her mother's care, and found him surrounded by a band of boys.

'He was standing in their midst as straight as an arrow--a little fellow, the youngest and smallest of the group--firmly but quietly _commanding_ them not to lay their hands upon him, which, strange to say, they seemed unable to do.'

[Footnote: Phelps, pp. 14, 15. ] This love to his father was strikingly shown during the absence of Baha-'ullah in the mountains, when this affectionate youth fell a prey to inconsolable paroxysms of grief.

[Footnote: Ibid.

p. 20. ] At a later time--on the journey from Baghdad to Constantinople--Abdul Baha seemed to constitute himself the special attendant of his father.

'In order to get a little rest, he adopted the plan of riding swiftly a considerable distance ahead of the caravan, when, dismounting and causing his horse to lie down, he would throw himself on the ground and place his head on his horse's neck.

So he would sleep until the cavalcade came up, when his horse would awake him by a kick, and he would remount.'

[Footnote: Phelps, pp. 31, 32. ] In fact, in his youth he was fond of riding, and there was a time when he thought that he would like hunting, but 'when I saw them killing birds and animals, I thought that this could not be right.

Then it occurred to me that better than hunting for animals, to kill them, was hunting for the souls of men to bring them to God.

I then resolved that I would be a hunter of this sort.

This was my first and last experience in the chase.'

'A seeker of the souls of men.'

This is, indeed, a good description of both father and son.

Neither the one nor the other had much of what we call technical education, but both understood how to cast a spell on the soul, awakening its dormant powers.

Abdul Baha had the courage to frequent the mosques and argue with the mullās; he used to be called 'the Master' _par excellence_, and the governor of Adrianople became his friend, and proved his friendship in the difficult negotiations connected with the removal of the Bahaites to Akka.

[Footnote: Ibid.

p. 20, n. 2. ] But no one was such a friend to the unfortunate Bahaites as Abdul Baha.

The conditions under which they lived on their arrival at Akka were so unsanitary that 'every one in our company fell sick excepting my brother, my mother, an aunt, and two others of the believers.'

[Footnote: Phelps, pp. 47-51. ] Happily Abdul Baha had in his baggage some quinine and bismuth.

With these drugs, and his tireless nursing, he brought the rest through, but then collapsed himself.

He was seized with dysentery, and was long in great danger.

But even in this prison-city he was to find a friend.

A Turkish officer had been struck by his unselfish conduct, and when he saw Abdul Baha brought so low he pleaded with the governor that a _ḥakîm_ might be called in.

This was permitted with the happiest result.

It was now the physician's turn.

In visiting his patient he became so fond of him that he asked if there was nothing else he could do.

Abdul Baha begged him to take a tablet (i. e. letter) to the Persian believers.

Thus for two years an intercourse with the friends outside was maintained; the physician prudently concealed the tablets in the lining of his hat!

It ought to be mentioned here that the hardships of the prison-city were mitigated later.

During the years 1895-1900 he was often allowed to visit Ḥaifa.

Observing this the American friends built Baha-'ullah a house in Ḥaifa, and this led to a hardening of the conditions of his life.

But upon the whole we may apply to him those ancient words: 'He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.'

In 1914 Abdul Baha visited Akka, living in the house of Baha-'ullah, near where his father was brought with wife and children and seventy Persian exiles forty-six years ago.

But his permanent home is in Ḥaifa, a very simple home where, however, the call for hospitality never passes unheeded.

'From sunrise often till midnight he works, in spite of broken health, never sparing himself if there is a wrong to be righted, or a suffering to be relieved.

His is indeed a selfless life, and to have passed beneath its shadow is to have been won for ever to the Cause of Peace and Love.'

Since 1908 Abdul Baha has been free to travel; the political victory of the Young Turks opened the doors of Akka, as well as of other political 'houses of restraint.'

America, England, France, and even Germany have shared the benefit of his presence.

It may be that he spoke too much; it may be that even in England his most important work was done in personal interviews.

Educationally valuable, therefore, as _Some Answered Questions_ (1908) may be, we cannot attach so much importance to it as to the story--the true story--of the converted Muḥammadan.

When at home, Abdul Baha only discusses Western problems with visitors from the West.

The Legacy left by Baha-'ullah to his son was, it must be admitted, an onerous educational duty.

It was contested by Muḥammad Effendi--by means which remind us unpleasantly of Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel, but unsuccessfully.

Undeniably Baha-'ullah conferred on Abbas Effendi (Abdul Baha) the title of Centre of the Covenant, with the special duty annexed of the 'Expounder of the Book.'

I venture to hope that this 'expounding' may not, in the future, extend to philosophic, philological, scientific, and exegetical details.

Just as Jesus made mistakes about Moses and David, so may Baha-'ullah and Abdul Baha fall into error on secular problems, among which it is obvious to include Biblical and Ḳuranic exegesis.

It appears to me that the essence of Bahaism is not dogma, but the unification of peoples and religions in a certain high-minded and far from unpractical mysticism.

I think that Abdul Baha is just as much devoted to mystic and yet practical religion as his father.

In one of the reports of his talks or monologues he is introduced as saying: 'A moth loves the light though his wings are burnt.

Though his wings are singed, he throws himself against the flame.

He does not love the light because it has conferred some benefits upon him.

Therefore he hovers round the light, though he sacrifice his wings.

This is the highest degree of love.

Without this abandonment, this ecstasy, love is imperfect.

The Lover of God loves Him for Himself, not for his own sake.'

--From 'Abbas Effendi,' by E. S.

Stevens, _Fortnightly Review_, June 1911, p. 1067. This is, surely, the essence of mysticism.

As a characteristic of the Church of 'the Abha' it goes back, as we have seen, to the Bāb. As a characteristic of the Brotherhood of the 'New Dispensation' it is plainly set forth by Keshab Chandra Sen. It is also Christian, and goes back to Paul and John.

This is the hidden wisdom--the pearl of great price.

PART IV