True Self Baha'i

"To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues."

Baha'u'llah

Helping the poor

“O CHILDREN OF DUST!

Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues.” (Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

“O YE RICH ONES ON EARTH!

The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease.” (Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

"You must assist the poor as much as possible, even by sacrifice of yourself. No deed of man is greater before God than helping the poor. Spiritual conditions are not dependent upon the possession of worldly treasures or the absence of them." ― Abdu’l-Baha

“Each one of you must have great consideration for the poor and render them assistance. Organize in an effort to help them and prevent increase in poverty. The greatest means for prevention is that whereby the laws of the community will be so framed and enacted that it will not be possible for a few to be millionaires and many destitute” ― `Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, page 36.

“We know that to help the poor and to be merciful is good and pleases God, but knowledge alone does not feed the starving man, nor can the poor be warmed by knowledge or words in the bitter winter; we must give the practical help of loving-kindness.” ― ‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Abdu’l-Baha in London, page 60.

STORIES OF BAHA'U'LLAH AND ABDU'L-BAHA : 

The Baha’i teachings advocate abolishing the extremes of poverty and wealth in human society. This basic Baha’i teaching, instead of emerging from a concerned committee or a group policy decision, came directly from the example of the life of Baha’u’llah and the principle He Himself has enunciated.

House of Baha'u'llah in Tehran

• Baha’u’llah the Father of the poor - As a young man in Persia, Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, exemplified this principle by his dedicated work to combat poverty, becoming known as “The Father of the Poor” and “Our Father of Compassion.” Born into and raised by a prosperous family that owned land and had considerable influence in the political affairs of the country, Baha’u’llah rejected the expectations that he would inherit his own father’s prominent position as a wealthy minister of state. Instead, as a young man he began to expend his family’s assets on a wide range of charitable endeavours that helped alleviate the poverty he encountered in 19th-century Persia. Kind and compassionate, he became deeply beloved by the poor in his homeland. Many of Baha’u’llah’s contemporaries and relatives worried that he would spend himself and his own family into poverty as a result of his philanthropy. But Baha’u’llah persisted, giving this counsel to all humanity: ‘Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbour, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge.’ Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 284. Baha’u’llah, definitely generous in prosperity, soon faced enormous adversity. Unjustly thrown into prison because of his new faith, Baha’u’llah and his family suffered tremendous loss very quickly, going from relative wealth to abject poverty literally overnight. At that time, imprisonment in Persia meant officials and others could freely confiscate properties and possessions at will—and they did. After an early life of prosperity, this extreme privation and poverty was yet demonstration of one of many many sufferings that Baha’u’llah consented to share with and on behalf of disadvantaged. Imprisoned and exiled repeatedly for the next forty years of his life, Baha’u’llah never forgot the plight of poor: “If ye meet the abased or the down-trodden, turn not away disdainfully from them, for the King of Glory ever watcheth over them and surroundeth them with such tenderness as none can fathom except them that have suffered their wishes and desires to be merged in the Will of your Lord, the Gracious, the All-Wise. O ye rich ones of the earth! Flee not from the face of the poor that lieth in the dust, nay rather befriend him… By the righteousness of God! Whilst ye consort with him, the Concourse on high will be looking upon you, will be interceding for you, will be extolling your names and glorifying your action.” – Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, pp. 314-315.

• ‘Roy‘, another early pilgrim, described what he saw: ‘Friday mornings at seven there is another picture. Near the tent in the garden one may see an assemblage of the abject poor—the lame, the halt and the blind—seldom less than a hundred. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá passes among them He will be seen to give to each a small coin, and to add a word of sympathy or cheer; often an inquiry about those at home; frequently He sends a share to an absent one. It is a sorry procession as they file slowly away, but they all look forward to this weekly visit, and indeed it is said that this is the chief means of sustenance for some of them. Almost any morning, early, He may be seen making the round of the city, calling upon the feeble and the sick; many dingy abodes are brightened by His presence.’(Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 81)

• Then ‘Abdu’l-Bahá walked to the entrance and, standing there, shook hands with every one of those four hundred: the flotsam and jetsam of humanity. At the same time He put a coin or two in each palm. He had done the same for years, on Fridays, outside His own house in ‘Akká—meeting the poor, dispensing aid, imparting to stunted lives the balm of care and affection and love. In the street others had gathered and there were also a number of children. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá went forth to greet them and offer them also a coin or two. But what mattered most was not the price of a bed He was giving them, but that balm of love and care which healed the wounds of the spirit. (H.M. Balyuzi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá - The Centre of the Covenant, p. 177)

• Among the most touching contacts the Master had with the poor in the Occident were surely His visits to the Salvation Army headquarters in London and to the Bowery Mission in New York City. ‘On Christmas night, 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited a Salvation Army Shelter in London where a thousand homeless men ate a special Christmas dinner. He spoke to them while they ate, reminding them that Jesus had been poor and that it was easier for the poor than the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The men sat enthralled. Some were so impressed that in spite of hunger and the special dinner before them they forgot to eat. When, on leaving, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave the warden of the Shelter money with which to buy a similar dinner on New Year’s night, the men rose to their feet to cheer Him as He went, waving their knives and forks in the air. They little realised that He had experienced trials, hardship and suffering far greater than any they had known.’ (Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 78)

• On April 19, his ninth day in America, ‘Abdu’l-Baha visited the Bowery Mission in New York, a homeless shelter for men. “Tonight I am very happy, for I have come here to meet my friends,” he told them. “I consider you my relatives, my companions; and I am your comrade.” Then he asked them to accept him, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, as their servant.

• A friend had sent some fur so that Abdu’l-Baha could have a good warm coat; He had it cut up and made into twenty caps for the elderly men of the town.                                               Mary Lucas, a pilgrim to Akka in 1905, found that the Master usually ate but one simple meal a day. In eight days He was present at most meals, often coming just to add joy to the occasion... If He knew of someone who had no meal during a day, the family supper was gladly packed up and sent to the needy. (Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá)

• This man who gives so freely must be rich, you think? No, far otherwise. Once his family was the wealthiest in all Persia. But this friend of the lowly, has been oppressed by the great. For fifty years he and his family have been exiles and prisoners. Their property has been confiscated and wasted, and but little has been left to him. Now that he has not much he must spend little for himself that he may give more to the poor. His garments are usually of cotton, and the cheapest that can be bought. Often his friends in Persia - for this man is indeed rich in friends, thousands and tens of thousands who would eagerly lay down their lives at his word - send him costly garments. These he wears once, out of respect for the sender; then he gives them away. A few months ago this happened. The wife of the Master was about to depart on a journey. Fearing that her husband would give away his cloak and so be left without one for himself, she left a second cloak with her daughter, charging her not to inform her father of it. Not long after her departure, the Master, suspecting, it would seem, what had been done, said to his daughter, “Have I another cloak?” The daughter could not deny it, but told her father of her mother’s charge. The Master replied, “How could I be happy having two cloaks, knowing that there are those that have none?” Nor would he be content until he had given the second cloak away. He does not permit his family to have luxuries. He himself eats but once a day, and then bread, olives, and cheese suffice him. His room is small and bare, with only a matting on the stone floor. His habit is to sleep upon this floor.  (Myron Henry Phelps (non-Baha’i), Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi)