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Abdu'l-Baha's advice on responding to defamation
O thou faithful servant of the True One!I received thy letter and its contents caused the utmost joy and fragrance within me, because it showed thy firmness in the Cause of God and proved thy steadfastness in the love of the Word of God. Its meanings were the mystery of unity and its expression showed thy firm intention in serving the glorious Lord.
I beseech the Threshold of Unity with all humility and supplication to make thee confirmed in His service and to enable thee to be serviceable in the Holy Threshold; that thou mayest not be a moment at rest nor take a breath of composure; nay, rather to pass all thy life in this greatest gift and this supreme favor employed in diffusing the breath of God; that thy sincerity of heart, thy sanctity and purity may increase and that thou mayest become entirely separated from aught else save God. Except a man be purified and sanctified from the soil of his dependence on this world, the spiritual purity will not become manifest in him. The more the mirror is clear and pure the greater will the rays and the bounties of the Sun of Truth show forth from it.
As to those things published in journals against thee: Thou shouldst not be grieved nor sorry therefor, because thousands of journals have written traducing Abdul-Baha, have given false and base accusations and awful calumnies. Notwithstanding these he was neither troubled nor grieved thereby; nay, rather these caused me to exert myself more than usual in the path of God and to drink the cup of sacrifice and to boil in the fire of His love. Man must seek to gain the acceptance of God and not that of the different classes of men. If one is praised and chosen by God, the accusation of all the creatures will cause no loss to him; and if the man is not accepted in the threshold of God, the praise and admiration of all men will be of no use to him.
By all these it is meant that thou must not be sorry and grieved because of these things the papers have written against thee; nay, rather trust in God and be unmoved by either the praise or the false accusations declared by people towards thee, depend entirely on God and exert thyself to serve His holy vineyard. All else save this is but imagination, though it be the praises of all people in thy behalf; because all else is of no result and bears no fruit.
As to thine action against the journal which hath libeled thee: It is not at all best to bring action against them, because there is no profit in doing that; nay, it will lead to more sayings of a similar nature. Under these circumstances silence is best. Thou must not be disappointed, sorry or grieved thereat; God will remove all these difficulties. If thou wilt employ thyself in the service (of the Cause of God) the past losses will be recovered and all the troubles will be settled.
This is the manifest truth.
Send my greetings to the enlightened leaf, the maid-servant of God, thy noble wife.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v1, p. 156)
O thou who art advancing toward God!
The letter of that divine maid-servant was received and contents were apprehended. The morn of guidance is beaming forth from the supreme horizon and the light of oneness is shining on the supreme apex. The verses of unity are being chanted and the evidences of the Glorious Lord are in themselves the greatest witness and proof.
I beg of God that thou mayest be so replenished with the spirit of the love of God that there may not remain (in thee) any place or access for the winds of tests. For what can dark doubts do with the light of guidance, or clouds with the shining moon? Tests and trials only cause agitation to weak hearts. But the pure souls, a hundred thousand tests are but to them like mirage, imagination and shadow. The shadow cannot withstand the rays of the sun and pure fragrances of holiness will not be concealed through the doubts of the beetle. The headache of wavering (or hesitancy) will not affect those exhilarated with the wine of the love of God.
In sooth, there will be found in those regions certain persons like the Pharisees of the time of Christ, who, night and day, will exert themselves with all heart and soul to cast forth doubts, in order that they may deprive the souls of the glad-tidings of the Holy Spirit. They will disseminate false rumors and utter many a calumny and will publish and announce (false) stories. They will undertake all these only for the sake of earthly vanities.
And some Pharisees among the missionaries of the Gospel will hasten thither from Persia and say, "We are aware of the secret of the matter." All they may say is sheer slander.
Now know you these things, that in its time you may dispel and annihilate the darkness of those suspicions, like unto a manifest light. I beg of God that He may grant thee a power that thou mayest resist all in the earth -- how much more these weak, hired individuals who receive salary and bribe for spreading such calumnies!
Be ye admonished, O possessors of understanding!
(Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v2, p. 251)
O ye shining Assembly! [1]
[1. To the Cleveland (O.) assembly.]
The meeting that you organized hath attracted the divine gaze and the subject of your conversation was the divine commemoration. A ray from the Kingdom of ABHA fell upon that assemblage and that meeting was adorned, and a number of souls, supplicants to God, were gathered in that meeting. If this assembly continues as it is befitting and behooving, great results will thereby appear and conduce to the illumination of those parts, spiritual progress will ensue, the lights of the Sun of Truth will shine, hearts will be illumined, eyes will become seeing, ears become hearing, the lukewarm (or withdrawn ones) become aflame, the inanimate (or numbed ones) will be enkindled in soul and an ecstasy will come to all by which those present will be astonished.
I supplicate to and invoke before the Threshold of Oneness, saying:
"O Thou Creator! Preserve and protect Thou that assembly from grave (or general) tests and keep them firm and constant in the Covenant and Testament. Confer upon them such steadfastness as will enable them to withstand doubts and root out the foundation of calumnious rumors; for some person hath appeared (or arisen) with the utmost falsehood, in those parts, and publisheth false reports in some newspapers."
O ye members of the shining assembly! Each one of you must resist doubts (or false rumors) in those parts like unto a great barrier, until the invisible confirmations may appear and merciful assistance may become manifest. May your souls be cheered!
(Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v2, p. 253)
O ye two [1] revered persons, ye servants in the vineyard of God!
[1 To two members of the Chicago assembly.]
Verily, I read your letter and was informed of its contents filled with spiritual attractions and thanked God -- glorified is He! -- for His grace and His merciful bestowals.
It behooveth you to be the first assistant to the Word of God, the first servant of the Cause of God and the first one to withstand the spreaders (of false rumors) who say that which they know not, who calumniate God, well knowing that they are calumniators and that they, themselves, have contrived the thing for their own sakes, and evil is that which they do.
Remember what the Pharisees published concerning Jesus, attributed to Him and said about Him and how they oppressed Him until they paraded Him in Jerusalem in such a form as made the angels of sanctity to weep in the Sublime Kingdom. They put on His head a crown of thistles; nay, more, they cast dust in His face -- into a face whereby the heaven and the earth is illuminated! They turned their backs upon Him, then bowed and said: "Peace be unto thee, O King of kings! Peace be unto thee, O King of the Jews!"
Of the same class are the Pharisees and priests in this manifest day. "Leave them to amuse themselves with their vain discourse." They are as people deluded by their temptations and are isolated from the gifts of your Lord, the Clement, the Merciful. "They are deaf, dumb and blind; therefore, they will not understand."
Verily, I, through the grace of my Lord, have never heeded these souls, even to reading their articles, inasmuch as their articles signify no other than the buzzing of flies to the hearing of an eagle, or the croaking of a frog of the material world to the ears of the leviathan of the sea of the Kingdom. Is it to be considered as anything? No, by no means! Verily, the eagle soareth high in the supreme apex while the flies rumble in the lowest rubbish.
But it is incumbent upon you to block them up as a stone with decisive arguments before which heads are bowed and voices are made humble. God will strengthen you therein. You will surely find these Pharisees in manifest loss. Can one ever prevent the waves of the sea of the Lofty One from rolling? Or is it possible for me to restrain the fragrances of sanctity from diffusion? Or can one withhold the sun from casting its rays to all regions? No, by no means! Nay, rather such souls make the table sent down from heaven unlawful unto themselves.
How is the bat to be compared with the most great orb which bestows bounty upon all regions! How is the gnat to be compared with the eagle soaring in the spacious firmament! How are Caiaphas and Annas to be compared with the Christ mounted on the clouds with great power and glory!
Thank God that He hath opened your insight to the Light which is shining from the Supreme Concourse and caused you to witness His most mighty signs. By my life! the hearts of the people of Baha' are cheered with such gifts!
(Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v2)
