tors of one such newspaper opened an article on the Master's
arrival by referring to "His Eminence Mirza 'Abbas Effendi, the learned
and erudite Head of the Baha'is in 'Akka and the Centre of authority for
Baha'is throughout the world" and expressing appreciation of His visit to
Alexandria.(17) This and other articles paid particular tribute to
'Abdu'l-Baha's understanding of Islam and to the principles of unity and
religious tolerance that lay at the heart of His teachings.

Despite the Master's ill health that had caused it, the Egyptian interlude
proved to be a great blessing. Western diplomats and officials were able
to observe at first-hand the extraordinary success of 'Abdu'l-Baha's
interaction with leading figures in a region of the Near East that was of
lively interest in European circles. Accordingly, by the time the Master
embarked for Marseilles on 11 August 1911, His fame had preceded Him.

III

A Tablet addressed by 'Abdu'l-Baha to an American believer in 1905
contains a statement that is as illuminating as it is touching. Referring
to His situation following the ascension of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha
spoke of a letter He had received from America at "a time when an ocean of
trials and tribulations was surging...":

Such was our state when a letter came to us from the American friends.
They had covenanted together, so they wrote, to remain at one in all
things, and ... had pledged themselves to make sacrifices in the pathway
of the love of God, thus to achieve eternal life. At the very moment when
this letter was read, together with the signatures at its close,
'Abdu'l-Baha experienced a joy so vehement that no pen can describe
it....(18)

An appreciation of the circumstances in which the expansion of the Cause
in the West occurred is vital for present-day Baha'is, and for many
reasons. It helps us abstract ourselves from the culture of coarse and
intrusive communication that has become so commonplace in present-day
society as to pass almost unnoticed. It draws to our attention the
gentleness with which the Master chose to introduce to His Western
audiences the concepts of human nature and human society revealed by
Baha'u'llah, concepts revolutionary in their implications and entirely
outside His hearers' experience. It explains the delicacy with which He
used metaphors or relied on historical examples, the frequent indirectness
of His approach, the intimacy He could summon up at will, and the