An Editorial from Bahá'í Sikkim

'O God, our God !' the people wailed with one accord, 'Our father has left us .....'

When The Beloved Master Left Us...

Abdu'l-Bahà, the Beloved Master, continued unceasingly the task of proclaiming the Faith, looking after the sick, giving alms to the poor, helping the needy and attending the noon prayers till the very last moments of His life. He passed away at the age of 77, on Monday, the 8th of November, 1921 at about 1 A.M. in Haifa (Israel).

'So peaceful was His ascent ion that to the two daughters watching by His bed side it seemed as if He had gone quietly to sleep.'

It was the next day that the funeral took place. It was a funeral the like of which Haifa, nay Palestine itself, had surely never seen ....... The High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samual, the Governor of Jerusalem, the Governor Phoenicia, the Chief officials of the Government, the Consuls of the various countries, resident in Haifa, the heads of various religious communities ..... men, women, children both of high and low degree ..... all about ten thousand in number (were) mourning the loss of their beloved one... 'O God, our God !', the people wailed with one accord, "Our father has left us, our father has left us.'

'They slowly wended their way up Mount Carmel .... After two hours walking, they reached the garden of the Tomb of the Bab. .... As the vast concourse pressed around, representatives of various denominations (their) hearts being ablaze with fervent love of Abdu'l-Baha raised their voices in eulogy and regret, paying the last homage of farewell to their loved one. So united were they in their acclamation of Him, as the wise educator and reconciler of the human race in this perplexed and sorrowful age, that there seemed to be nothing left for the Bahá'ís to say.....'

'Surely here was a fitting tribute to the memory of one who had labored all His life for unity of religions, of races, of tongues .... a tribute and also a proof, that His life work had not been in vain, that the ideals of Bahà'u'llàh, which were His inspiration, nay His very life, were already beginning to permeate the world and, to break the barriers of sect and caste.....'

© Prof. Anil Sarwal