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Posted April 20, 2009 by Clethass

Centenary of ᒑAbdul-Bahҡs European visits to be extensively documented in 2011<o:p></o:p>

The BahaҒi Publishing Trust based in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Paris</st1:place></st1:city> has recently announced three publications to be prepared and made available by August of 2011. The project is being guided by Jan Jasion an experienced author and editor of several important studies of Bahai history and biography most recently his excellent study of Marion Jack. The first volume is titled ғThe Talks of Abdul-Baha in France and SwitzerlandҔ <ISBN 2-912155-25-8> . This will include all the talks in the popular Paris Talks, reedited plus other published talks given in France and Switzerland in 1911 and 1913plus previously unpublished translations of His talks and conversations newly discovered in the French and American Bahᒭ archives. The talks will be presented in a chronological order beginning with His love song to Juliet Thompson in Thonon-les-Bains. Some of these talks were originally published in Persian, a few in Arabic and at least one in Esperanto. The aim of this historically important venture is to present to Bahᒭs and to non-Bahᒭs the wonder that was Abduђl-Bah in a readable, informative and well-documented format. The second projected volume On the Banks of the Seine: The History of Abduᓒl-Baha in France and Switzerland 1911 and 1913 <ISBN2-912155-26-6>. This book constitutesa day-by-day account of His 121-day stay in four visits to <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region> and two to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Switzerland</st1:place></st1:country-region>. People, places, reminiscences, first hand accounts, anecdotes, including stories He told of the early days of His FatherԒs Faith, richly woven on a Parisian backdrop. The book will be generously illustrated with historical and contemporary photographs and maps of places He visited and people He met. The final volume will be of general interest to many Bahai scholars. Titled ғThey all Witnessed His Triumph: A Biographical Guide to Abduђl-Bahs Western Travelsᒔ <ISBN 2-912155-32-0>is a biographical dictionary of the more than1300 personages encountered and documented from the published records of His travels. Each entry, where possible, will include full name, dates, occupation, education, writings, where and when they met the Master and if Bahᒭs, and their service to the Faith. They range from notables such as Theodore Roosevelt and the Ranee of Sarawak to Wilbur the butler and the governess Madame Bricka. Notes will indicate in which publication they were recorded. Also included will be those people whom He mentioned in the talks He gave in the West. The aim of this historically important venture is to present to Bahᒭs and to non-Bahᒭs the wonder that was Abduђl-Bah in a readable, informative and well-documented format. All three volumes are planned to be published concurrently in French and English.<o:p></o:p>

www.abs.org.nz 11 Jan 2009<o:p></o:p>

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God is not partial and is no respecter of persons. He has made provision for all. The harvest comes forth for everyone. The rain showers upon everybody and the heat of the sun is destined to warm everyone. The verdure of the earth is for everyone. Therefore there should be for all humanity the utmost happiness, the utmost comfort, the utmost well-being.<o:p></o:p>

But if conditions are such that some are happy and comfortable and some in misery; some are accumulating exorbitant wealth and others are in dire want -- under such a system it is impossible for man to be happy and impossible for him to win the good pleasure of God. God is kind to all. The good pleasure of God consists in the welfare of all the individual members of mankind.<o:p></o:p>

(Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 41)<o:p></o:p>

Tags: Humanity, Happiness, Comfort, Wealth, Man, Welfare, Individual, World, Unity, Abdul-