`Abdu’l-Bahā’s Opinion About Turks
In one of his memories `Abdu’l-Bahā recalls:
When Djemal Pasha[1] . . . reached Acre[2] and asked to see me, I mounted a donkey and headed for his home. As soon as he saw me, he greeted me and sat me next to himself and without hesitation said, “You are a corrupter of religion and that is why the government of Iran exiled you here . . .” I thought to myself that he is a Turk and I must give him a ridiculous and silencing answer.[3]
It seems when `Abdu’l-Bahā was describing the divine principles in this era by saying that “the divine principles in this luminous era are such that one must not insult anyone,”[4] he probably meant some divine principles other than the Baha’i principles. Compare the following statements from `Abdu’l-Bahā with the above attitude:
One must never say this [person] is English, that is German, that is French, and this is Italian. Never utter these words for you are all God’s servants and maids.[5]
When there is oneness of humanity how can we have differences by saying that [person] is German, this is British, this is French, this is Turkish, this one is Roman, and that one is Iranian?[6]
Even though `Abdu’l-Bahā orders his followers not say that one is Turk, this one is French, he himself easily says “I thought to myself he is a Turk and deserves a ridiculous and silencing answer”!
[1] One of the most important leaders of the Ottoman government between 1908–1918.
[2] A city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay.
[3] Asad-Allāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī, Asrār al-āthār khuṣūṣī (n.p.: Mu’assisiyi Millī Maṭbū`āt Amrī, 124 B.), vol. 3, pp. 42–43.
[4] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 1, p. 355.
[5] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Egypt), vol. 1, p. 75.
[6] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Egypt), vol. 1, p. 160.