Upon them be the Glory of God!
O friends of Baha'u'llah!
Your letters reached me and were read with great joy. Praise
be to God, that they are the proofs of faith and assurance in the Kingdom Abha.
They are witnesses of firmness and steadfastness and earnest supplication.
His Highness Jesus says if the Promised One manifests in the
East, His signs will appear in the West. Now give thanks to God that as the Great
Sun arose in the East, His Brilliant Light shone upon the West arid brightened
the western world. Therefore you must give a thousand thanks every moment that
though you were apparently very far off, in reality you were near.
A blind person cannot see the sun though near, but eyes with
sight can see it from a thousand miles' distance. For this the Great Almighty
be praised, that in the far west the nostrils are perfumed by the Holy
Fragrance.
Appreciate this Bounty, be happy and joyful for this Divine
boundless Bounty. With great love you have asked for the presence of
‘Abdu'l-Baha in America, I also greatly wish to go to the friends and see their
interesting faces. But during this journey I have no time. I must go back to
the East, this is according to wisdom. Therefore with great regret and sorrow
at separation I am obliged to return. If it pleases God next year I will take a
journey towards the West so that I may engage myself in seeing the faces of the
friends, in proclaiming the Word of God and in spreading the Divine Fragrance
and the calling of the Kingdom of God in the great meetings and assemblies.
If you only knew in what condition of tumult and excitement
of longing is the soul and heart of ‘Abdu’l-Baha to see you, then surely,
because of the greatness of your happiness you would express your joy in music
and song and engage yourselves in the melodies of the Supreme Court in worshiping and praising Almighty God.
Upon you be the Glory of Abha!
(Signed) ‘Abdu’l-Baha Abbas
(Star of the West, vol. 2, no.4, November 4, 1911)
