The Balm of ‘Abdul

We have with us at present ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Abbas, son of Bahá’u’lláh, Glory of God, third prophet of the Bahá’ís, on a mission. As missions go it is not an old one, in the specific form in which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá brings it to us. It was declared first by Mirza Ali Mohammad, who was born in Shiraz, Persia, in 1819, and who was shot at Tabriz six years after he had become a prophet. It was carried on by Bahá’u’lláh, Glory of God, who passed most of a hard life in prison or in exile.

The mission thus tempestuously born is one of universal brotherhood and peace, a universal religion of inter-racial amity. From Bahá’u’lláh the torch was passed to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, his son, and thus it comes to Chicago, the prophet being on a tour which has carried him to the Bahá’ís in Europe and America.

It is a noble mission, even if one which will not progress according to its merits. The prophet finds us given over to wrath and contention, suspicious of our neighbors and vexed within ourselves. The mind is not slow to anger, nor are causes and provocations lacking. It is moving time, the Mexicans rage to the south, and politics bubbles as it were in a caldron over a hot fire. Possibly there will be a balm in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to soothe sore disturbed minds and iron out the kinks in tempers. That as it may be, but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is welcome to our midst with the mission declared by Mirza Ali Mohammad.