(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablet of the Divine Plan (U.S. and Canada III), 1916-Apr-19, to Baha'is of the United States and Canada -- AB00032)
Prayers for travelers and those far from home
prayer for pioneers and travel teachers
Editorial introduction
Leaving home shows how much of a person’s courage was borrowed from familiar faces. The prayers ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote for those who went abroad to teach do not hide this. They ask God to be the companion of the lonely, the helper in a strange land, the remover of sorrows; they speak of tears in the dark of night and of patience nearly spent; they bless the one who has forsaken rest and gone to a country never touched by the feet of his ancestors. Yet the same prayers are full of thanksgiving for the privilege of being a stranger for God’s sake, and they imagine the return, when the traveller comes home bearing a fragrance to share with those who stayed. Psalm 121 gives the journey its oldest shape, going out and coming in under a keeper who does not sleep [1]. To pray these words is also to ask what a community owes to the newcomer who arrives among them tired and far from home. From here the path leads into pioneering and travel teaching themselves, and into the wider treasury of prayer for every condition of life.
Selected passages
O God, my God! This is Your servant, attracted to Your Most Glorious Beauty, his heart aflame with the fire of Your love amidst the concourse, his tears flowing in remembrance of You in the dark of night, his patience exhausted for love of Your Most Glorious Beauty, his face radiant with Your greatest mercy, his breast expanded by the verses of Your oneness among the people, expatriated in the West having left the sweetest homeland, bearing hardship in Your path, O my Most Exalted Lord!
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1901 ca., to Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani -- AB01164)
O Divine Herald! Give thanks to God, your Lord, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, for having enabled you to travel through lands and be a stranger far from home, proclaiming the rising of the Sun of Truth in those regions and exalting the Word of God with proofs and clear evidences, until you blow into the trumpet and the psalms of the House of David.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1921-Jul-19, to Shaykh Muhyid-Din Al-Kurdi -- AB02262)
O my Lord! As Thou hast confirmed him to press his face against that pure earth and illumine his radiant brow with the lights shining from that brilliant spot, assist him to return to Thy lands and regions bearing the garment of Joseph of Thy guidance, that a sweet, perfumed and holy fragrance might spread through those parts and regions.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1909 or <, to Ali-Akbar Rawhani Muhibulsultan -- AB11844)
O my God, my Beloved! Thou art witness and well aware that this evanescent servant is occupied with Thy remembrance and that of Thy loved ones throughout the nights and days, and with utmost lowliness and supplication beseecheth Thee to confirm those souls who are enkindled with the fire of Thy love and are engaged in Thy service under all conditions.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1298-06-15 [1881-May-15] -- BH00291)
My Lord and my Hope! Aid Your servant, the teacher, with the glad tidings of forgiveness and cause him to enter the midst of Paradise. Verily You are the Generous, the Merciful.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Natiq, Aqa Mirza Muhammad et al -- AB03552)
He has travelled toward the West, leaving behind his sweet country, and has accepted hardships in Thy Path. … He has forsaken rest and composure, tranquility and peacefulness, serenity and calmness, and has journeyed to that distant clime - - a land which is not touched by the feet of his fathers and ancestors - - in order to diffuse Thy Fragrances, upraise Thy Flags, spread Thy Words and elucidate Thy Proofs.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1913 ca. -- AB02629)
O God! O thou Attracted of the hearts of the favored ones toward the Manifest Horizon!
Verily, Thou art witnessing that the fire is ablaze in the breasts, the tears are streaming from the eyes and the period of patience and silence hath come to an end. The eyes of the beloved ones, O my God, are swimming in tears; the hearts of the yearning ones, O my Beloved, are wandering in the wilderness of Thy mercifulness; and the souls of the attracted ones, O my Desire, are afflicted with anguish on account of Thy separation!
Verily, they have heard Thy universal proclamation,
O my God, and what Thou hast revealed in the Koran: "Say! Travel ye on the earth, so that ye may behold the signs of the mercy of God." Thereupon, after Thy ascension, the people of faithfulness have arisen, traveling to distant lands and hastening to far and remote regions of the world, in order to cry out Thy Name, to remind the souls of the arrival of Thy days, to lead the minds to the fountain of Thy signs, to demonstrate to all the inhabitants of the world Thy proof and Thy religion, to guide the truth seekers to the right path and to indicate the straight highway to the strivers. From among them is Thy servant ... who is firm in the Ancient Covenant, fleeing from the people of darkness, drinking from the water of eternal life and intoxicated with the wine which is overflowing from the divine cup. Verily, he hath left his native abode, waved the hand of farewell to his relatives, forsaken ease and comfort, hastened to strange and unknown kingdoms and accepted hardship and adversities while heralding Thy Name, commemorating Thy glorification, attracted to Thy beauty, stirred by the fragrances of Thy holiness, speaking Thy praises, voicing Thy Cause, guiding others to Thee, proving Thy religion, demonstrating Thy irrefutable truth, becoming an answerer to every questioning one and a guide to every one held in error!
O my Lord! O my Lord! Verily, he endured every affliction in Thy path and bore patiently every hardship and adversity in Thy love. A breath of rest hath he not breathed, neither hath he sought after any favor, abode or habitation in this world; nay, rather hath he walked in the footsteps of Thy most exalted Word, His Highness Christ, for he hath taken the stars for his lamp, the earth for his bed and the herbs for his food. Notwithstanding this, his cry was raised in the assemblages and his voice was heard in the meetings. The seekers flowed toward him and the thirsty ones hastened to drink from the water of his utterance. O my God! This in no other than through Thy generosity, Thy beneficence, Thy mercy, and Thy favors. O my God! Help him by the hosts of the approximate angels, assist him by the cohorts of the Supreme Concourse amid Thy creatures, make him a lamp of guidance in that distant part of the earth and a luminary shining and sparkling from the dawning-place of faithfulness, in order that he may serve Thy holy threshold, falling prostrate upon the ground thanking and praising for Thy bounty, liberality and gifts to him; girding up his loins of endeavor in Thy service and becoming reinforced and empowered in Thy adoration!
O my Lord! O my Lord! Assign for him every bounty and suffer him to become the sign of Thy gifts amid Thy people. then have pity upon me, forgive me, show me Thy mercy and make me a sharer in his services, a partner in his adversities and a companion in his loneliness.
Verily Thou art the Confirmer, the Assister, the Mighty, the Generous, the Compassionate and the Merciful!
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1916 or < -- AB00930)
My God, my God! These are Thy trusted servants and Thy stranger bondsmen who have left their homes and taken refuge in these regions.
… Assist them all in what Thou lovest and art pleased with, and make him not despairing of Thy mercy.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Yazdi, Haji Ahmad son of Muhammad Ali (Ishqabad) et al -- AB01327)
Continue exploring
- pioneering; travel teaching
Consider the responsibility to care for those who travel to serve.
- prayers (general or uncategorized)
For thought and discussion
Questions to carry forward
- What forms of companionship are sought in these prayers, and how might they be experienced far from familiar people and places?
- How can a journey change what we are able to bring back to others?
- What might it mean for a community to help answer the prayers of a newcomer or a homesick traveler?