Till the very last day of His earthly life ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
continued to shower that same love upon high and low alike, to extend that same
assistance to the poor and the down-trodden, and to carry out those same duties
in the service of His Father’s Faith, as had been His wont from the days of His
boyhood. On the Friday before His passing, despite great fatigue, He attended
the noonday prayer at the mosque, and distributed afterwards alms, as was His
custom, among the poor; dictated some Tablets—the last ones He revealed—;
blessed the marriage of a trusted servant, which He had insisted should take
place that day; attended the usual meeting of the friends in His home; felt feverish
the next day, and being unable to leave the house on the following Sunday, sent
all the believers to the Tomb of the Báb to attend a feast which a Pársí
pilgrim was offering on the occasion of the anniversary of the Declaration of
the Covenant; received with His unfailing courtesy and kindness that same
afternoon, and despite growing weariness, the Muftí of Haifa, the Mayor and the
Head of the Police; and inquired that night—the last of His life—before He
retired after the health of every member of His household, of the pilgrims and
of the friends in Haifa.
At 1:15 A.M. He arose, and, walking to a table in His room,
drank some water, and returned to bed. Later on, He asked one of His two
daughters who had remained awake to care for Him, to lift up the net curtains,
complaining that He had difficulty in breathing. Some rose-water was brought to
Him, of which He drank, after which He again lay down, and when offered food,
distinctly remarked: “You wish Me to take some food, and I am going?” A minute
later His spirit had winged its flight to its eternal abode, to be gathered, at
long last, to the glory of His beloved Father, and taste the joy of everlasting
reunion with Him.
The news of His passing, so sudden, so unexpected, spread
like wildfire throughout the town, and was flashed instantly over the wires to
distant parts of the globe, stunning with grief the community of the followers
of Bahá’u’lláh in East and West. Messages from far and near, from high and low
alike, through cablegrams and letters, poured in conveying to the members of a
sorrow-stricken and disconsolate family expressions of praise, of devotion, of
anguish and of sympathy.
- Shoghi Effendi ('God Passes By’)