About a decade ago Adib Masumian (Baha'i Scholar) commissioned an independent researcher in the UK to sift through various archives and see what documentation on ʻAbduʼl-Bahá's knighthood turned up. Here is what she found:
Download all documents
One of the telegrams mentions ʻAbduʼl-Bahá's "services to British administration in Palestine," and another states that:
"[ʻAbduʼl-Bahá] has given consistently loyal service to the British cause since the occupation [of Palestine]. His advice has been most valuable to the Military Governor and Officers of the Administration in Haifa, where all his influence has been for good."
(Above documents were uploaded by Adib Masumian on Baha'i Studies Facebook Group.)
Under this Facebook post, Baha'i Scholar Brent Poirier commented thus :
Absolutely fascinating. The basis for the knighthood was His services, all for the good, to the British administration there after the War. It is specified that it was an honorary knighthood, because He was not a British subject. It was Class II higher than most of the other OBEs received by others in the Holy Land. It was approved by the king. Wow. this clarifies a great deal.Another Baha'i scholar Susan Maneck wrote:
One other point. During this same year, 1919, Shoghi Effendi approached Oxford and applied for admission. According to Riaz Khadem's Shoghi Effendi at Oxford, a faculty member went to bat for him and approached influential people, as did various believers. One man said he would do anything for a family member of Abdu'l-Baha. The title "Knight Commander" given to Abdu'l-Baha opened doors in the minds of class-conscious British officials and had to be a factor in Shoghi Effendi's admission. The services of the Master to the people, the advice He gave which is mentioned in these documents; and also the Baha'is He recommended for government service, mentioned in the autobiography one of the British governors of Jerusalem mentioned in his book - Storrs, I think - all played a role in this important chapter in the Faith's history - the year or so Shoghi Effendi studied at Oxford which honed his knowledge of English, his translation abilities, his scholarship in study and in writing.
We know He was able to feed the British troops when they arrived.One guy Ingólfur Guðnason wrote :
And he feed the British Army so they were able to fight the Ottoman Army.
Jeanne Foust wrote:
Did everyone notice Churchill’s note? In 1919 he was in the War Office and knew Percy Cox. Of course Percy Cox knew Gertrude Bell well as did Churchill, which may account for his comment. Gertrude Bell was acquainted with members of the Blessed Beauty’s family and met Abdu’l-Baha on several occasions. This she writes about in her letters and diaries. Matches Churchill’s signature.
Below are some documents that falsifies the claims of Baha'is who claim that Abdul Baha was awarded because of his selfless service to the Palestinian people. The scoundrel was actually serving the occupiers.
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Hope these proofs are sufficient to prove that Abdul Baha was a bootlicker of the imperialist country and served the British Occupying Forces with his valuable services and advises, for which he was awarded the K.B.E.
Update :
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| Screenshot of the Facebook page |
I got a bureaucratic run around from hell in 2011 attempting to obtain these very documents, first from the archivist of the Court of St. James, who sent me to the British National Archives who wasted four weeks of my time to no avail to then tell me at the end of the four weeks that the documents were not available to the public. Thank God they are all public now. This settles the matter once and for all and firmly establishes Abbas Effendi as an imperial British collaborator whose KBE was an award to that end -- and NOT "humanitarian" reasons which Baha'i sources have lied about for over a century.
ReplyDeletePlease take screenshots of the conversation on the Baha'i Studies List and post as a separate blog. Very important that a solid record of everything that these people say about these documents is kept, especially what McGlinn says.
ReplyDeleteDone and updated the blogpost. Someone should edit the wikipedia article about Abdul Baha. The article here
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%60Abdu%27l-Bah%C3%A1
says :
"The war replaced the openly hostile Ottoman authorities with the British Mandate, who knighted him for his help in averting famine following the war."