Earl Redman, author of the new book "Abdu'l-Baha in Their Midst" has rendered a wonderful service: He has sifted through more than one hundred books with personal accounts of Abdu'l-Baha in Europe and North America, some of them hard to find, and brought them all to light in chronological order. It includes biographical sketches of scores of important early Baha'is. Now the reader gets a sense of how the Master's time during His journey unfolded city by city, country by country, heart by heart.
Abdu'l-Baha at Green Acre, August, 1912
With members of His retinue: L-R Amin'u'llah Farid, Ali-Akbar Nakhjavani, Ahmad Sohrab. The identities of the two women are not known. Between the women, in the background is the Eirenion, a building in which Abdu'l-Baha gave several addresses. Between Dr. Farid and Mr. Nakhjavani is the Sarah Farmer Inn.
This is not a history book, nor is it a collection of the talks Abdu'l-Baha gave in the West. It is 330 pages of stories, of people's accounts of how Abdu'l-Baha touched their lives. It is also a significant act of Baha'i scholarship -- it took a lot of work, bringing all of these wonderful accounts together.
It can be purchased here.
The book has a good index of names, and the Table of Contents is city-by-city. It is amazing that the author pulled this huge amount of material together, in the short amount of time he had. I think that every Baha'i book should have its own website, for updates, corrections, and comments after publication -- and in this case, maybe a fuller topical index.
"Abdu'l-Baha in their Midst" is an important book, extremely readable and enjoyable. It is going to be one of the most valuable of all the books during the events in Europe, Canada and the United States commemorating the Centenary of Abdu'l-Baha's visit -- one of the greatest acts of His ministry.
It can be purchased here.
The book has a good index of names, and the Table of Contents is city-by-city. It is amazing that the author pulled this huge amount of material together, in the short amount of time he had. I think that every Baha'i book should have its own website, for updates, corrections, and comments after publication -- and in this case, maybe a fuller topical index.
"Abdu'l-Baha in their Midst" is an important book, extremely readable and enjoyable. It is going to be one of the most valuable of all the books during the events in Europe, Canada and the United States commemorating the Centenary of Abdu'l-Baha's visit -- one of the greatest acts of His ministry.
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Anyone interested in Abdul-Baha in the West, will also be interested to hear about this lengthy and very detailed diary of His visit to the UK, available to download (still a working draft) -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.paintdrawer.co.uk/david/folders/Spirituality/001=Bahai/sohrab-diary-uk-1913.pdf
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Thank you Brent for sharing this narrative and these precious photos of Abdu'l-Baha. When Abdu'l-Baha passed Aqa Husyan Ashchi was informed by Khosrow, at the bidding of Bahiyyih Khanum, who also directed that Husyan go to Haifa right away. Husyan was to go and oversee the cooking and catering efforts to the thousands of visiting mourners. An old man himself, Husayn went to Haifa were he remained for 40 days; which was the entire mourning period where the family of the bereaved feeds the throngs of mourners who come to convey their condolences. In that part of the world, and Muslim cultures, they hold memorials, on the 7th and 40th days to commemorate their departed.
ReplyDeletehossein