On Baha'i Life: Missing Ruhi and Awaiting Pilgrimage

Photo: Hand of the Cause Abu'l-Qasim Faizi and Gloria Faizi, approximately 1980

I was a brand new Baha'i during the time of the Palermo Conference back in the late Sixties. I wasn't there, but my heart was. One of the speakers was Hand of the Cause of God Abu'l-Qasim Faizi who referred in the passage excerpted below to the pilgrims who came to Acca just to see Baha'u'llah's hand waving from a window, a story our study circle covered during Ruhi Book 4 which we recently completed. My wife and I, too, will be pilgrims to that city in a few years, finally.

We are in an hiatus from Ruhi during the fast. Riding home from our canoe paddle yesterday, my wife said, "I miss Ruhi. Do you?" "Yes, very much," I said. And it's only been two Sundays.

Now after the lapse of one century we can stand in the precincts of the Fortress to gaze at the windows of His prison cell. We remember the dauntless pilgrims who crossed desserts and mountains on foot with the sole aim of beholding the countenance of their Beloved. When they reached those sacred shores some were forbidden to enter; others came in, but could not behold His face, nor where their hearts attracted by hearing His melodious voice. A few--only a few--saw His hand waving from the same windows. They saw little and received physically less, but were so imbued with the spirit of pilgrimage that they returned home and consecrated their lives to the service of the Cause.

Abu'l-Qasim Faizi, "From Adrianople to Akka: A talk to the Oceanic Conference, Palermo, Sicily"