Why Didn't `Abdu'l-Bahā Speak English in England and French in Paris?
Baha’is believe that Bahā’u’llāh and his successor `Abdu’l-Bahā are infallible and possess Divine or superhuman knowledge. According to Shia Islam—which Bahā’u’llāh adhered to before becoming a Bābī—one of the traits of the Messengers of God and their successors, is the ability to speak the language of all people and races. Abā Ṣalt a disciple of the eighth Shia Imam, al-Riḍā, narrates:
(Imam) al-Riḍā would speak with all the people by their own tongues and by God, from amongst the people, he was the most eloquent and most knowledgeable about all languages. One day I said to him, “O Son of God’s Apostle, I am astounded that you know all these different languages!” He replied, “O Ābā Ṣalt, I am God’s proof over His creations. God will not appoint a Proof over a group (whilst that Proof) cannot speak their tongue.”[1]
Why couldn’t `Abdu’l-Bahā speak English or French in his travels to Europe and America? What kind of superhuman Knowledge and what form of Divine Appointment did he possess that lacked one of the main traits needed to communicate God’s messages to the people?
[1] Al-Ṣadūq, `Uyūn akhbār al-Riḍā (n.p.: Intishārāti Jahān: 1378 AH), vol. 2, p. 228.