These are wonderful days!
We see an Eastern guest received with love and courtesy in the
West. I have been drawn here, in spite
of my ill health, by the magnet of your love and sympathy.
Some years ago an ambassador was sent from Persia to London
where he stayed five years. (His name was 'Abdu'l Hasan Khán.) When he returned to Persia they asked him to
tell them about the English people. He
answered: "I do not know the
English people. Although I have been in
London five years, I have only met the people of the Court." This man was a great man in Persia, and scent
to England by princes, and yet he did not know the people, although he lived
among them five years. Now I, a
prisoner, come to England for the first time, and although my visit is so
short, I have already met many dear friends and I can say I know the
people. Those I have met are true souls
working for peace and unity. Think of
this subject: What a difference there is
between this time we are living in now, and seventy years ago! Think of the progress! the progress toward
unity and peace!
- 'Abdu'l-Baha (From a compilation of ‘Discourses of ‘Abdu’l-Baha given in
London and Paris’; Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 19, March 2, 1912)
