Testimonial on the Love of God and Teaching Copyrighted Material

17. Bahá’u’lláh states that there are two things pleasing to God: the tears shed in fear of Him and the blood of the martyr spilt in His path. But since Bahá’u’lláh has advised His followers not to volunteer to give their lives, He has replaced it with teaching His Cause. Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Volume II, p. 94

19. Ibn-I-Abhar went through a turbulent period soon after the death of his father in 1874. The details of the plots against him and the confiscation of all his possessions by his enemies are beyond the scope of this book. In 1876 he sent a letter to the presence of Bahá’u’lláh asking whether it was more meritorious to lay down one’s life for the love of God or to teach the Cause with wisdom and the power of utterance. In a Tablet Bahá’u’lláh counselled him that the latter was preferable. Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Volume IV, p. 305

20. O Son of Man! By my beauty! To tinge thy hair with thy blood is greater in My sight than the creation of the universe and the light of both worlds. Strive then to attain this, O servant!1

By replacing this greatest act of devotion with teaching the Cause, Bahá’u’lláh has discouraged his followers from seeking martyrdom. Instead He has commanded them to devote their entire lives to teaching His Cause to the whole human race.

In one of His Tablets Bahá’u’lláh even explicitly states that in this dispensation it is preferable to teach with wisdom than to give one’s life. Throughout His ministry Bahá’u’llah exhorted His followers to teach the Cause of God with great wisdom. He did not approve of teaching the public indiscriminately. He repeatedly advised the believers in Persia, especially after the martyrdom of Badí’, that for their own safety and the protection of the Cause they should exercise more care and prudence in their approach to people and not excite or antagonize them. In one of His Tablets Bahá’u’lláh counsels His followers:

In this Day, We can neither approve the conduct of the fearful that seeketh to dissemble his faith, nor sanction the behaviour of the avowed believer that clamorously asserteth his allegiance to this Cause. Both should observe the dictates of wisdom, and strive diligently to serve the best interests of the Faith. Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Volume II, p. 97

1 Bahá’u’lláh: (), #47 49-53. The Story of a Shírázi Youth [Excerpt from Balyuzi: Bahá’u’llah: The King of Glory (Chapter 18)]

This is the story of a Shírázi youth--a glorious youth who immolated himself, because his pure heart brimmed with love for Bahá’u’lláh. His story goes back to the opening months of the new Dispensation. It has been told by Bahá’u’lláh; it has been told by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; and Nabíl has recorded it. When Mullá ‘Aliy-i-Bastámí--one of the Báb’s instructed by Him to go to ‘Iráq--left for his destination, he had gone only a short distance from Shíráz before he was overtaken by a youth. His name, the young man said, was ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb. His purpose was very simple: to be with Mullá ‘Alí wherever he was going. And he had a strange tale to tell. Let Nabíl-i-A’zam take up the story:

‘I beseech you,’ he tearfully entreated Mullá ‘Alí, ‘to allow me to accompany you on your journey. Perplexities oppress my heart; I pray you to guide my steps in the way of Truth. Last night in my dream, I heard the crier announce in the market-street of Shíráz the appearance of the Imám ‘Alí, the Commander of the Faithful. He called to the multitude: “Arise and seek him. Behold, he plucks out of the burning fire charters of liberty and is distributing them to the people. Hasten to him, for whoever receives them from his hands will be secure from penal suffering, and whoever fails to obtain them from him, will be bereft of the blessings of Paradise.” Immediately I heard the voice of the crier, I arose and, abandoning my shop, ran across the market-street of Vakil to a place where my eyes beheld you standing and distributing those same charters to the people. To everyone who approached to receive them from yours hands, you would whisper in his ear a few words which instantly caused him to flee in consternation and exclaim: “Woe betide me, for I am deprived of the blessings of ‘Alí and his kindred! Ah, miserable me, that I am accounted among the outcast and fallen!” I awoke from my dream and, immersed in an ocean of thought, regained my shop. Suddenly I saw you pass, accompanied by a man who wore a turban, and who was conversing with you. I sprang from my seat and, impelled by a power which I could not repress, ran to overtake you. To my utter amazement, I found you standing upon the very site which I had witnessed in my dream, engage in the recital of traditions and verses. Standing aside, at a distance, I kept watching you, wholly unobserved by you and your friend. I heard the man whom you were addressing, impetuously protest: “Easier is it for me to be devoured by the flames of hell than to acknowledge the truth of your words, the weight of which mountains are unable to sustain!” To his contemptuous rejection you returned this answer: “Were all the universe to repudiate His truth, it could never tarnish the unsullied purity of His robe and grandeur.” Departing from him, you directed your steps towards the gate of Kázirán [Kázirún]. I continued to follow you until I reached this place.’ Mullá ‘Alí tried to appease his troubled heart and to persuade him to return to his shop and resume his daily work. ‘Your association with me,’ he urged, ‘would involve me in difficulties. Return to Shíráz and rest assured, for you are accounted of the people of salvation. Far be it from the justice of God to withhold from so ardent and devoted a seeker the cup of His grace, or to deprive a soul so athirst from the billowing ocean of His Revelation.’ The words of Mullá ‘Alí proved of no avail. The more he insisted upon the return of ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb, the louder grew his lamentation and weeping. Mullá ‘Alí finally felt compelled to comply with his wish, resigning himself to the will of God. Hájí ‘Abdu’l-Majíd, the father of ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb, has often been heard to recount, with eyes fillled with tears, this story: ‘How deeply,’ he said, ‘I regret the deed I committed. Pray that God may grant me the remission of Farmán-Farmá,2 the governor of the province of Fárs. Such was my position that none dared to oppose or harm me. No one questioned my authority or ventured to interfere with my freedom. Immediately I heard that my son ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb had forsaken his shop and left the city, I ran out in the direction of the Kázirán gate to overtake him. Armed with a club with which I intended to beat him, I inquired as to the road he had taken. I was told that a man wearing a turban had just crossed the street and that my son was seen following him. They seemed to have agreed to leave the city together. This excited my anger and indignation. How could I tolerate, I thought to myself, such unseemly behaviour on the part of my son, I, who already hold so privileged a position in the court of the sons of the Farmán-Farmá? Nothing but the severest chastisement, I felt, could wipe away the effect of my son’s disgraceful conduct. ‘I continued my search until I reached them. Seized with a savage fury, I inflicted upon Mullá ‘Alí unspeakable injuries. To the strokes that fell heavily upon him, he, with extraordinary serenity, returned this answer: “Stay your hand, O ‘Abdu’l-Majíd, for the eye of God is observing you. I take Him as my witness, that I am in no wise responsible for the conduct of your son. I mind not the tortures you inflict upon me, for I stand prepared for the most grievous afflictions in the path I have chosen to follow. Your injuries, compared to what is destined to befall me in future, are as a drop compared to the ocean. Verily, I say, you shall survive me, and will come to recognize my innocence. Great will then be your remorse, and deep your sorrow.” Scorning his remarks, and heedless of his appeal, I continued to beat him until I was exhausted. Silently and heroically he endured this most undeserved chastisement at my hands. Finally, I ordered my son to follow me, and left Mullá ‘Alí to himself. ‘On our way back to Shiráz, my son related to me the dream he had dreamt. A feeling of profound regret gradually seized me. The blamelessness of Mullá ‘Ali was vindicated in my eyes, and the memory of my cruelty to him continued long to oppress my soul. Its bitterness lingered in my heart until the time when I felt obliged to transfer my residence from Shiráz to Baghdád.3 Next, we meet this God-intoxicated youth in Kázimayn,4 the holy city adjacent to Baghdád, where he had set himself up in a shop. The year is 1851. Bahá’u’lláh is temporarily in ‘Iráq, having gone there on the advice of Mírzá Taqi Khán, the Amir Kabír. Kázimayn with its two sacred was frequently visited by Bahá’u’lláh. It was

2 Most probably Husayn-‘Ali Mirzá, son of Fath-‘Alí Sháh. The next Farmán-Farmá, also for a short while the Governor of Fárs, was Firaydún Mirzá, brother of Muhammad Sháh. (HMB) 3 Nabíl, The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 59-61 (Brit.), pp. 87-90 (US). 4 It is also stated that it was in Karbilá that this young man had his shop, and it was there the he met Bahá’u’lláh. inevitable that the Shírází youth should encounter Bahá’u’lláh and, having encountered Him, become fervently attached to Him. Now he knew no peace save in the presence of Bahá’u’lláh, Who was still known only as Jináb-i-Bahá by the Bábis, and as Mírzá Husayn-‘ Alíy-i-Núri by the world at large. Mirzá ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb’s dearest wish was to travel back to Íran in the company of Bahá’u’lláh. But Bahá’u’lláh persuaded him to remain where he was, with his father, and gave him a sum of money to enlarge and extend his trade.

Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved? And what seeker findeth rest away from his heart’s desire? To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved.5

Thus did the Most Sublime Pen inscribe, years later in Baghdád. ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb could not but follow Bahá’u’lláh to Tihrán. He reached the capital at the time when the misguided attempt had been made on the life of the Sháh and Tihrán was in turmoil. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, relating in a Tablet the story of that glorious youth, speaks of the officials searching everywhere for the Bábis, and ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb, undaunted, giving praise to his Lord in the market-place. He was seized and thrown into the Síyáh- Chál. Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb-i-Shírází had, at long last, found that repose, that peace of heart and mind which his whole being craved, for he was continuously in the presence of his Lord. He was chained to Bahá’u’lláh. And Bahá’u’lláh, one day, told Nabíl:

‘We were awakened one night, ere break of day, by Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb-i- Shírází, who was bound with Us to the same chains. He had left Kázimayn and followed Us to Tihrán, where he was arrested and thrown into prison. He asked Us whether We were awake, and proceeded to relate to Us his dream. “I have this night,” he said, “been soaring into a space of infinite vastness and beauty. I seemed to be uplifted on wings that carried me wherever I desired to go. A feeling of rapturous delight filled my soul. I flew in the midst of that immensity with a swiftness and ease that I cannot describe.” “Today,” We replied, “it will be your turn to sacrifice yourself for this Cause. May you remain firm and steadfast to the end. You will then find yourself soaring in that same limitless space of which you dreamed, traversing with the same ease and swiftness the realm of immortal sovereignty, and gazing with that same rapture upon the Infinite Horizon.” ‘That morning saw the gaoler again enter Our cell and call out the name of ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb. Throwing off his chains, he sprang to his feet, embraced each of his fellow-prisoners, and, taking Us into his arms, pressed Us lovingly to his heart. That moment We discovered that he had no shoes to wear. We gave him Our own, and, speaking a last word of encouragement and cheer, sent him forth to the scene of his martyrdom. Later on, his executioner came to Us, praising in glowing language the spirit which that youth had shown. How thankful We were to God for this testimony

5 Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words (Persian), #4. which the executioner himself had given.6

‘Abdu’l-Vahháb kissed the knees of Bahá’u’lláh, then he sang and danced all the way into the embrace of death. All the fiendish cruelties, all the unspeakable tortures, which, at the hour of death, the rapacious enemy inflicted upon the glorious youth of Shiráz, never made a dent in his constancy, because his blessed eyes were gazing ‘upon the infinite Horizon’. His pure heart brimmed with love and joy. Thus died ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb, a simple youth from Shíráz.

And now we move with the years: sixty years after the martyrdom of ‘Abdu’l- Vahháb. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, is in the United States of America, travelling from the shores of the Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific. One day, He relates the story of that Shírází youth to a number of American Bahá’ís. (whom the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith has honoured with the designation of the ‘mother teacher of the West’) is amongst those privileged to hear ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tell that stirring story. Reaching the crucial moment when ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb took leave of Bahá’u’lláh to go to his martyrdom--but let complete the picture:

Suddenly ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s whole aspect changed. It was as though the spirit of the martyr had entered into Him...With His head thrillingly erect, snapping His fingers high in the air, beating on the porch with His foot till we could scarcely endure the vibrations set up--such electric power radiated from Him--He sang the martyr’s song, ecstatic and tragic beyond anything I had ever heard. This was what the Cause meant then! This was what it meant to live near Him! Another realm opened to me--the realm of Divinc Tragedy. ‘And thus,’ ended ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, ‘singing and dancing he went to his death--and a hundred executioners fell on him! And later his old parents came to Baha’o’llah, praising God that their son had given his life in the Path of God!’ He sank back in His chair. Tears swelled in my eyes, blurring everything. When they cleared I saw a yet stranger look on His face. His eyes were unmistakably fixed on the invisible. They were as brilliant as jewels and so filled with delight that they almost made His vision real to us. A smile of exultation played on His lips. Very low, so that it sounded like an echo, he hummed the martyr’s song. ‘See!’ He exclaimed, ‘the effect that the death of a martyr has in the world. It has changed my condition.’ There was a moment of silence; then He said: “What is it, Juliet, that you are pondering so deeply?” ‘I was thinking of the look on your face when you said that your condition has changed. I was thinking I had seen a flash of the joy of God over those who die happily for humanity.’7

Hájí ‘Abdu’l-Majid, the father of ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb--who inflicted such hard punishment on Mullá ‘Aliy-i-Bastámí--and his wife, took unhesitatingly the same path as their glorious son, as soon as they came face to face with Bahá’u’lláh.

6 Nabíl, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 463 (Brit.), pp. 633-634 (US). 7 Thompson, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s First Days in America, p. 34 58-61. (Excerpt from Velda Metalmann: Lua Getsinger: Herald of the Covenant, pp. 55-58)

He kept a record of his experiences and recounted some stories of her in his memoirs.8 Describing the difficult conditions in ‘Akká at the time owing to the imprisonment of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the insidious attempts of the Covenant-breakers to influence the Bahá’ís, he says that Lua was among the few pilgrims allowed to come. Apparently she was willing to adapt to the restrictions it was necessary to impose. She stayed for over a year and, “wearing simple attire, which the Christians of ‘Akká generally wear, was counted among the companions and rendered services worthy of mention”. Lua’s intense feeling for the Faith and her longing to serve it affected everybody. She worked tirelessly teaching English, helping with correspondence and translation. She longed to give her life for the Faith and, Yúnis Khán recounts with some humour, enlisted everyone in her attempts to persuade ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to grant that she might become a martyr. She would prostrate herself at the Master’s feet and beg him tearfully to allow her to go to Persia and proclaim the Faith as Táhirih had done; but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did not agree. However, Lua did not give up. Sometimes she would pray all night for martyrdom, searching out special prayers of the Báb. Once the 1903 martyrdoms began in Yazd and Isfahan she could not control her tearful longing. The intensity of her emotion so affected the Bahá’ís that she soon had them praying for her too. Yúnis Khán wryly confesses that he and his friend Arastú Khán, both of them young men serving as secretaries to the Master, were among those who agreed to pray that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would allow her to become a martyr. They even agreed to get up a t dawn and recite the two well-known prayers of the Báb: “Say, God sufficeth all things...” and “Is there any Remover of difficulties...” “to the number of Qadir” i.e. 314 times! Still Lua was not satisfied. She managed to persuade Yúnis Khán and Hájí Mírzá Haydar-’Alí, an aged and eminent believer, to approach ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on her behalf and plead her cause. This they did not once, but several times. The gist of the Master’s reply was that martyrdom was a high station which Bahá’u’lláh conferred on whomever he chose. The physical fact of being killed was not the point, for there were those who had not been killed but were counted as martyrs, and also those who had been killed but who had not attained the station of a martyr. The essence of martyrdom was service, and she had, thanks be to God, arisen to serve. She should be assured that he would pray for her to attain that station. Yúnis Khán also links Lua’s fervor, which he describes as her “state of attraction”, to the great effect her speech and manner had on others, particularly those who were unfamiliar with the Faith, and even on those who were its enemies. Lua, he says, was often sent to talk to these people, himself acting as interpreter. In each interview, he recounts, her faith was so vibrant that it affected her hearers physically: they would tremble, burst into tears and prostrate themselves. He tells of one such interview, which took place when a Covenant-breaker from Bombay, a man named Mírzá Husayn-‘Alíy-i-Jahrumí, came to the Holy Land ostensibly to ask forgiveness. He was apparently one of those who were trying to minimize the

8 ?? importance of the activities of Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí, half-brother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Arch-breaker of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant. Jahrumí came to ‘Akká with the idea, so he said, of judging for himself who was right, Muhammad-‘Alí or ‘Abdu’l-Bahá! In fact, he was one of the chief promoters of the Arch Covenant-breaker in India. The Master asked Yúnis Khán to meet with him, and then Hájí Mírzá Haydar-‘Alí. Yúnis Khán found him insincere, and uninterested in truth, but Jahrumí insisted on seeing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who granted him an interview. When Lua heard of this, she asked the Master if she could meet with Jahrumí once. Yúnis Khán reminds us that at this time none of the believers were permitted to exchange a single word with the Covenant-breakers, but the Master allowed Lua to meet Jahrumí, with Yúnis Khán as interpreter. Lua entered the room in blazing indignation. On finding Jahrumí evasive, she asked without warning, “Is Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí a Bahá’í or not?” Jahrumí replied that he was a close relative of Bahá’u’lláh and it was necessary to preserve his eminent position in the Faith. To this Lua answered, “I am not asking about his family relationship or his eminent position: I want to know whether he believes in the Blessed Beauty or not.” “Who is more a believer than he?” said Jahrumí. “Then why doesn’t his belief have any effect?” Lua asked. “Christ tells us that we should know a tree by its fruit. Where are the signs of his belief? How many has he taught the Faith to so far? What kind of belief is this, that its fragrance has not been perceived by anyone? I am an ignorant American woman, but since I heard this call I have taught the Faith to more than fifty people. There are thousands of women in America better than I-- their faith and certitude has perfumed the world. What has Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí done so far except to try to deceive the American believers? A Bahá’í should be fair. Is this the result of faith? Is this his fruit--that he should be the cause of confusion among the believers? Is this his eminent station in the Cause? Does such a person expect the believers to turn to him?” Such was Lua’s determination that Jahrumí gave up and asked permission to leave. “I must say a prayer,” said Lua, and she began to recite a short prayer in Persian with much emotion. Jahrumí left the room deflated and weeping, “such a going”, writes Yúnis Khán, “that he is still on his way.” Yúnis Khán was profoundly touched by the change he perceived in Lua as her long visit drew to a close and she came to say goodbye. For him this was an unforgettable, indescribable experience. Her face was so radiant and spiritual that she seemed to him like an angel. “I marvelled at her bearing, and wondered what kind of face this was, that I had never before seen in a human body.” Next day, when Lua had gone, the Master asked him if he had noticed the state she was in at the time of her departure. Yúnis Khán said yes, he had, and had been lost in wonderment. The Master said, “Alas, she will not stay in that condition, it is impossible to stay in that condition. See were we find such souls, see how we educate them!”

62-68 (excerpt from ??)

Thomas Breakwell, the ‘illumined’ young Englishman, whose ‘conversion... reinforced...the first Bahá’í centre to be formed on the European continent’ and who was ‘immortalized by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s fervent eulogy revealed in his memory’9 was born in the small market town of Woking in Surrey on 31st May 1872. His grandfathers on both sides were shoemakers and it seems likely that this professional connection led to the marriage of Breakwell’s parents in Farnborough in 1860. Breakwell’s father, Edward, was an ironmonger and a herbalist who, at some point during the 1860's joined the non- conformist Christian sect known as the Primitive Methodists and subsequently held evangelical meetings in the family home.

Thomas Breakwell, the youngest of five children, was educated at an ordinary state school in Woking before his family emigrated to the United States of America. He found a responsible and well-paid job in a cotton mill, which at that time was run on child labour, in one of the southern states. His high salary enabled him to spend long summer vacations in Europe.

During the summer of 1901, Breakwell was crossing to France on a steamer ship when he encountered a friend of May Bolles--later --who had established Europe’s first Bahá’í Centre in Paris. This woman, Mrs. Milner, noted Breakwell’s apparent interest in Theosophy and informed him of a group of friends in Paris who were interested in similar subjects.

May Bolles had been instructed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to remain in Paris despite her mother’s wish for her to spend the summer with the family on holiday in Brittany. Mrs. Bolles resented her daughter’s work for the Bahá’í Cause and closed the family home, leaving May to find accommodation with another believer, Edith Jackson. The first Frenchman to become a Bahá’í, Hippolyte Dreyfus and others “received the teachings at that time”.10 It was to this apartment that Mrs. Milner brought Breakwell.

May Bolles would later describe this first encounter:

“I shall never forget opening the door and seeing him standing there. It was like looking at a veiled light. I saw at once his pure heart, his burning spirit, his thirsty soul, and over all was cast the veil which is over every soul until it is rent asunder by the power of God in this day.”11

In another description of that meeting, May Bolles described Breakwell as:

“of medium height, slender, erect and graceful, with intense eyes and indescribable charm...a very rare person of high standing and culture, simple, natural, intensely real in his attitude toward life and his fellow-men.”12

9 . God Passes By. Wilmette: BPT, 1944: p. 259. 10 Star of the West, Vol. V, No. 19, p. 298. 11 ibid. 12 The Bahá’í World, Vol. VII, p. 707. Their conversation lasted about half an hour and centred around Theosophy and details of Breakwell’s life and work. As he was leaving, he expressed an interest in hearing about the Bahá’í Teachings which Mrs. Milner had mentioned to him and an appointment was made for another meeting the following day.

When Breakwell returned, May Bolles noticed a profound difference in his character:

“He arrived the next morning in a strangely exalted mood, no veil of materiality covered his radiant soul--his eyes burned with a hidden fire, and looking at me earnestly he asked if I noticed anything strange about him. Seeing his condition I bade him be seated, and reassured him, saying he looked very happy.

““When I was here yesterday he said I felt a power, an influence that I had felt once before in my life, when for a period of three months I was continually in communion with God. I felt during this time like one moving in a rarefied atmosphere of light and beauty. My heart was afire with love for the supreme Beloved. I felt at peace, at one with all my fellow-men. Yesterday when I left you I went alone down the Champs Elysees, the air was warm and heavy, not a leaf was stirring, when suddenly a wind struck me and whirled around me, and in that wind a voice said, with an indescribable sweetness and penetration, Christ has come again! Christ has come again!

“With wide startled eyes he looked at me and asked if I thought he had gone crazy. “No” I said smiling “you are just becoming sane.””13

Within three days, Breakwell received and accepted the Bahá’í Teachings from May Bolles. His declaration took the form of a written supplication to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “My Lord! I believe; forgive me Thy servant, Thos. Breakwell.”14 That same evening when May Bolles went to get her mail she found a cablegram from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which had just arrived, saying she could now leave Paris and rejoin her mother.

Thomas Breakwell immediately planned to visit ‘Akká with a young Bahá’í friend, Hebert Hopper. The two sailed for Port Said and then on to . When they arrived at the House of ‘Abdu’lah Pasha, the prison house where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá resided, they were ushered into a room to await their first encounter with their Lord. Seeing a group of oriental believers, Hopper’s face became ‘irradiated with the joy of instant recognition’15 but Breakwell, unable to recognize ‘Abdu’l-Bahá amongst the group felt ill and disillusioned. Suddenly, a door opened and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá entered. Breakwell immediately sprang to his feet, all doubts dispelled on seeing the Master approach surrounded by what seemed to Breakwell to be dazzlingly intense, white light.

13 ibid. 14 Star of the West, Vol. V, No. 19. p. 298. 15 The Bahá’í World, Vol VII, p. 707 Breakwell was transformed by his meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The Master urged him to cable his resignation to the cotton mill where he worked and return to Paris. His pilgrim notes are filled with references to the Master’s sufferings and necessity of welcoming trials with radiant acquiescence. Dr. Yúnis Khán Afrukhtih, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s secretary, in his book “Memories of Nine Years in ‘Akká” recalls:

“The fervour and the faith of this young man were so sublime in character that his blessed name shall ring throughout centuries, and shall be remembered with deep affection in many chronicles. Verses from the Gospels which attest to the glories of the Kingdom were always on his lips. His sojourn was too short, but so intense was his love, and so ardent his zeal that he touched the depths of the hearts of those who heard him...We were all in tears when we bade farewell to him.”16

On returning to Paris, Breakwell transformed the activities of the embryonic Bahá’í community there despite suffering from a poor health condition which rapidly developed into consumption. Working in the day-time as a stenographer, he was the first Westerner to pay Huqúqu'lláh and lived in a cheap arrondissement of Paris, walking miles to meetings to save his money. He showered love upon all he met, particularly the mother of May Bolles who was yet to recognize the Cause her daughter had enthusiastically embraced. Breakwell’s father, who had disowned his son for rejecting Primitive Methodism, arrived in Paris with his wife to persuade him to return to England in convalesce. Miraculously, Thomas Breakwell’s unfailing devotion to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also succeeded in persuading his father to write a letter of supplication to the Master.

In a letter to Dr. Yúnis Khán written just days before Breakwell died, he spoke of his pain:

“Suffering is a heady wine. I am prepared to receive that bounty which is the greatest of all; torments of the flesh have enabled me to draw much nearer to my Lord. All agony not withstanding, I wish life to endure longer, so that I may taste of more pain. That which I desire is the good-pleasure of my Lord; mention me in His presence.”17

May Bolles recalled,

“He seemed to have no care for his future, burning like a white light in the darkness of Paris, he served his fellow-men with a power and passion to the last breath of his life...He burned with such a fire of love that his frail body seemed t be gradually consumed; he in the deepest sense shed his life for the Cause by which he was enthralled, and in a few brief months shattered the

16 Balyuzi, H. M. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Oxford: George Ronald. 1971: p. 77. 17 ibid: p. 79 cage of existence and abandoned the mortal world.”18

Thomas Breakwell died on June 13th, 1902 aged 30 years old. The last few days of his life were spent in the Maison Municipale de Sante. Two days after his death his body was interred in a cemetery at 164 Avenue Jean Jaures, in the Parisian suburb of Pantin.

Breakwell’s passing came as a heavy burden to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who mysteriously knew about the death without having received notification of it. Dr. Yúnis Khán reports how one evening the Master suddenly turned to him and said “Have you heard? Breakwell passed away, I grieved, very grieved. I have written a prayer of visitation for him. It is very moving, so moving that twice I could not withhold my tears, when I was writing it. You must translate it well, so that whoever reads it will weep.”19

There was some puzzlement as to how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá could have known about Breakwell’s death as any communication of it in English or French would have first passed through Dr. Yúnis Khán’s hands. Two days later, he received the Master’s Tablet to Breakwell for translation. He could not hold back his tears. It was initially translated into French and then later, with the help of Lua Getsinger, into English. Over seventy years later, the Tablet received an authorized translation by a special committee under the direction of the Universal House of Justice.20 It is a deeply moving tablet, recited and loved by Bahá’ís all over the world. One year after Breakwell’s passing, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called for Dr. Yúnis Khán to translate a number of letters which had arrived from all over the world. While examining the envelopes which were still sealed, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá suddenly picked out one saying, “How pleasing is the fragrance that emanates from this envelope, make haste open it and see where it comes from.” Dr. Yúnis Khán opened the envelope which contained a solitary flower--a violet--and a coloured card with the words, “Not dead, but liveth in the Lord’s Spiritual Kingdom” in gold lettering. On the other side, “In loving memory of Thomas Breakwell, who departed this life on June 13th 1902, aged 30 years. Blessed are those who die in the Lord.” To this, hand-written was added, “This flower was picked from Breakwell’s grave” and on an enclosed letter, “Praise be the Lord that my son left this world for the next with the recognition and love of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.” When Dr. Yúnis Khán informed the Master what the message read, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá immediately rose up, took the card, put it to his forehead and tears flowed down his cheeks.21

Thomas Breakwell’s grave was leased for five years after which time, as no surviving members of his family kept up the payments on the plot, his bones were disinterred,

18 The Bahá’í World, Vol. VII, p. 710. 19 Balyuzi, H. M. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Oxford: George Ronald. 1971: p. 78. 20 See ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1982, p. 187. 21 Balyuzi. H. M. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Oxford: George Ronald, 1971: p. 80. Text card revised from subsequent private research. cleaned, bundled and numbered, and placed in the cemetery’s charnel house where they remain to this day. The section where Breakwell’s bones are stacked has long since been sealed and others built against it which in turn have been filled.

On hearing of the passing of Hand of the Cause of God, George Townsend in 1957, Shoghi Effendi ranked Townsend “WITH THOMAS BREAKWELL DR. ESSLEMONT ONE OF THREE LUMINARIES SHEDDING BRILLIANT LUSTRE ANNALS IRISH ENGLISH SCOTTISH BAHAI COMMUNITIES.”22 In the 1980's the Bahá’í community of the honoured Thomas Breakwell by initiating a far-reaching community education programme in his name. The Thomas Breakwell Sunday Schools and Youth College have evolved into progressive institutions within the British community dedicated to raising successive generations of active informed and enthusiastic Bahá’ís.

72-75. (?? Continued ?? Excerpt from ?? )

This sublime Tablet not only moves the reader, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wished, but also prompts one to ponder the reality of Thomas Breakwell, that he should have attained such a station, should have become a ‘star in the supernal sky, and a lamp amid the angels of high Heaven’, ‘like unto the birds chanting the verses of thy Lord, the Forgiving’ should have been led to ‘His precincts of Holiness’, and been blessed with ‘beholding His beauty’.

The terms used by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are moving and significant. Yet, Thomas was a believer for a very short period of his life. One may also be surprised to read Shoghi Effendi, on the occasion of the passing of George Townshend, state he merited a place beside Thomas Breakwell and as one of the ‘THREE LUMINARIES SHEDDING BRILLIANT LUSTRE’23 on the annals of the Irish, English and Scottish Bahá’í communities. Shoghi Effendi paid tribute to George Townshend’s ‘STERLING QUALITIES HIS SCHOLARSHIP HIS CHALLENGING WRITINGS HIGH ECCLESASTICAL POSITION UNRIVALLED ANY BAHAI WESTERN WORLD’; 24 John Esslemont was the author of a book which won singular praise from the Guardian, who said that it would ‘inspire generations yet unborn to tread the path of truth and service as steadfastly and as unostentatiously as was trodden by its beloved author.’25 Both John Esslemont and George Townshend were designated of God by the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith: the former posthumously,26 the latter during his own lifetime.27 That honour was never bestowed upon Thomas. Neither was he included among that group of twenty-one distinguished early western believers whom Shoghi

22 Shoghi Effendi. Unfolding Destiny. : BPT. 1981: p. 377. 23

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27 Effendi designated ‘the Disciples of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’, and ‘Heralds of the Covenant’.28 Compared to the obvious, well-known and lasting achievements of Esslemont and Townshend, the significance of Thomas Breakwell’s life and death seems a mystery indeed. He left behind no tangible legacy for posterity. He was a Bahá’í for hardly one year. Even his final resting place is now as good as lost to history. One can hardly help but wonder why ‘Abdu’l-Bahá should have written about him in such glowing terms; why Shoghi Effendi should have named him one of these ‘three luminaries’, and ranked him coequal in such exalted company. A host of questions may be said to arise when one ponders this question: Why did Thomas long for death so? Why did he wish for more suffering? How did he know that he would please God by drinking from the cup of sorrow, when, in any case he could not escape it? Were not all his qualities of more benefit to humanity when he was living rather than dead? How can one explain all this deployment of mysterious forces which led him to come into contact with the Bahá’í Faith, then live for such a short time after that? Is there some kind of hidden meaning to his life? Perhaps ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself may lift the veil a little for us. In the last talk He gave in Paris, on 1 December 1911, nine years after the death of Thomas Breakwell, ‘Abdu’l- Bahá said:

When I arrived in Paris some time ago for the first time, I looked around me with much interest, and in my mind I likened this beautiful city to a large garden. With loving care and much thought I examined the soil, and found it to be very good and full of possibility for steadfast and firm belief, for a seed of God’s love has been cast into the ground.29

It is tempting to conclude that Thomas Breakwell was chosen to be the seed of the love of God of which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá speaks here. Planted by the hand of the Master Himself, it was helped to grow and flourish, and to produce fresh seedlings whose maturation would signal a decisive stage in the history of the Faith in this capital city. Such was his destiny! Is this why Thomas Breakwell was so on fire, and so urgently wished to give his life, to drink the cup of suffering, because he knew that he would serve the Cause better this way, since God had bestowed tremendous hidden powers on him? Thomas’s sacrifice recalls that of Mírzá Mihdí, Bahá’u’lláh’s youngest son, whose death released such forces as to throw open the doors of the prison which hid the Manifestation of God form the eyes of the pilgrims. What forces, then, may have released by the sacrifice of Thomas Breakwell? If May Bolles, even at that time, thought that he had liberated forces in the Parisian Bahá’í community, the appearance of which launched a new epoch in the Cause, if she claimed that the spirit of Thomas Breakwell continues not only to live, ‘not alone in the

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29 hearts and memories of Bahá’ís, but is also welded into the very structure of the World Order’, and what can be said today, now that almost a hundred years separates us from the time of Thomas’s passing? References

Balyuzi, H. M. (1990). Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory. Oxford: George Ronald Press. Guidelines for teaching. Metalmann, V. (1997). Lua Getsinger: Hearld of the Cause. Oxford: George Ronald Press. Taherzadeh, A. (1977). The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh: Adrianople 1863-68 (Volume II). Oxford: George Ronald Press. Taherzadeh, A. (1987). The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh: Mazra’ih & Bahjí 1877-92 (Volume IV). Oxford: George Ronald Press.