BahÃĄâ•Žuâ•ŽllÃĄh and the New Era - Knowledge Rush

IntroductionIn December 1914, through a conversation with friends who hadmet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the loan of a few pamphlets, I first becameacquainted with the Bahá’í teachings. I was at once struckby their comprehensiveness, power and beauty. They impressedme as meeting the great needs of the modern world more fullyand satisfactorily than any other presentation of religion whichI had come across—an impression which subsequent study hasonly served to deepen and confirm.In seeking for fuller knowledge about the movement I foundconsiderable difficulty in obtaining the literature I wanted, andsoon conceived the idea of putting together the gist of what Ilearned in the form of a book, so that it might be more easilyavailable for others. When communication with Palestine wasreopened after the war, I wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and encloseda copy of the first nine chapters of the book, which was thenalmost complete in rough draft. I received a very kind andencouraging reply, and a cordial invitation to visit Him in Haifaand bring the whole of my manuscript with me. The invitationwas gladly accepted, and I had the great privilege of spendingtwo and a half months as the guest of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during thewinter of 1919–1920. During this visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá discussedthe book with me on various occasions. He gave several valuablesuggestions for its improvement and proposed that, when I hadrevised the manuscript, He would have the whole of it translatedinto Persian so that He could read it through and amend or correctit where necessary. The revisal and translation were carried outas suggested, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá found time, amid His busy life,to correct some three and a half chapters (Chapters I, II, V andpart of III) before He passed away. It is a matter of profound