As to thy question concerning the husband and wife, the tie
between them, and the children given to them by God, know thou, verily, the
husband is one who has sincerely turned unto God, is awakened by the call of
the Beauty of Abha and chants the verses of oneness in the great assemblies.
The wife is a being who wishes to be overflowing with and seeks after the
attributes of God and His names; and the tie between them is no other than the
Word of God. Verily, it (the Word of God) causes the multitudes to assemble
together, and the remote ones to be united. Thus the husband and wife are
brought into affinity, are united and harmonized, even as though they were one
person. Through their mutual union, companionship and love great results are
produced in the world, both material and spiritual. The spiritual result is the
appearance of divine bounties. The material result is the children who are born
in the cradle of the love of God, who are nurtured by the breast of the
knowledge of God, are brought up in the bosom of the gift of God and are
fostered in the lap of the training of God. Such children are those of whom it
was said by Christ: "Verily, they are the children of the Kingdom.
Consequently, O thou maidservant of God, reach the
maidservants of the Merciful One, and tell them from the tongue of
‘Abdu’l-Baha: O maidservants of the Merciful! It is incumbent upon you to train
the children from their earliest babyhood! It is incumbent upon you to beautify
their morals! It is incumbent upon you to attend to them under all aspects and
circumstances! Inasmuch as God—glorified and exalted is He!—hath ordained
mothers as the primary trainers of children and infants; this is a great and important
affair and a high and exalted position, and it is not allowable to slacken
therein at all.
If thou walkest in this right path thou wilt become a real
mother to the children, both spiritually and materially.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Star of the West, vol. 9, no. 7, July 13,
1918)
