Monday afternoon, Ruha and Munavar Khanum (two of
‘Abdu’l-Baha’s daughters) came to my room and told me the ladies of the
household would call upon me after sunset. So the Greatest Holy Leaf (the
Master’s sister) and the Holy Mother (the Master’s wife), Ruha and Munavar
Khanum, came to my room. I gave them presents sent from America, and delivered
to Ruha Khanum many supplications for the Master, from Americans.
Monday night I spent with the ladies in the large sitting
room. They asked me to sing for them, and I sang many things. They requested
the hymn, “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” While I was in Egypt I learned from one of
the Persian believers a Tablet in Arabic, and also learned to chant it. The
members of the household were much pleased when I chanted it for them. This was
Monday night, Jan. 30, 1905, my second and last night, I thought, in this
sacred and spiritual atmosphere — as the Master had said I could come for two
nights.
During my stay the Master was never present in the evening
after dinner.
The household consists of the Master, the Greatest Holy
Leaf, the Holy Mother, two married daughters, their husbands and children, Ruha
and Munavar u(the Master’s two youngest daughters), besides some little
children who are orphans and have no one to take care of them, and women who
are widows, their husbands having suffered martyrdom in the Path of God. These
serve in some capacity in the household, and the sentiment of love and equality
in every member of this home is a living example for the world. Everything is
done in the spirit of love. These women whose husbands have been martyred who
are now living under the Master’s roof, are very happy, as their beaming faces
testify, for all their sorrow is forgotten in the Presence of this Great One.
Through Him they are learning the reality of life.
- Mary L. Lucas (‘A Brief Account of My Visit to Acca’,
published by Chicago Baha'i Publishing Society in 1905)
