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17. Traveller’s Narrative
The book was written anonymously by Abdul Baha in A.D. 1886 during the lifetime of Baha and a copy of it was gifted to E. G. Browne during his visit to Baha at Acre in 1890. The book was published by Prof. Browne. Vol. I contains and embodies notes A to Z by Professor Browne at the end of the book.
Writing on the chief features of the tone of the Traveller’s Narrative, Professor Browne notes:
a) “The quite secondary importance accorded to the Primal Point, whose mission is throughout depicted as a mere preparation”, for Baha and
b) “Nominal supremacy enjoyed by Subh-i-Azal out of regard for certain considerations of expediency”.
Commenting on the Traveller’s Narrative in his Introduction to his French translation of Le Bayan Persan, Vol I pages XVI, A.L.M. Nicholas:
« Ils le méconnaissent jusqu'à réduire son rang à la plus simple expression ils ignorent d’ailleurs aussi bien les dogmes du Bâbisme que son histoire, et le livre intitulé «Maqalé Chakhs-i-Séyyah» oeuvre d’Abd-oul-Béha , est un mauvais roman, composé uniquement pour prouver que le Bâb est simplement le précurseur, l’annonciateur de Béha Oulla. Extrêmement tendancieux il méconnaît à tout instant la vérité historique, et l’auteur n’a même pas cherché, comme je l’ai Fait, dans l’œuvre immense du Bâb, les notes autobiographiques qui y abondent. Il se contente de réunir les légendes qui cadrent le mieux avec le but qu’il poursuit . Il est regrettable qu’un homme comme Abbas Effendi se montre si ignorant de la vie de Séyyèd Ali Mohammed, dit le Bâb. »
Vol.I. contains the Persian text, and Vol. II. Its English version. The Traveller’s Narrative was written anonymously by Sir Abbas Effendi in Acre in about A.H. 1303 (1885-1886). Prof. Browne’s Persian Introduction to the Nuqta-al-Kaf, P. 11. In his god passes by, P. 28, Shoghi Effendi quotes Sir Abbas Effendi as “according to the testimony of Abdul Baha in Traveller’s Narrative …”
Walking in the footsteps of his father, Baha, who, “attired in the garb of a traveller, coarsely clad, taking with him nothing but his Kashkul (Alms bowl), and assuming the name of Dervish [i.e. member of a religious fraternity] Muhammad,” god passes by, P. 120, fled from Baghdad to Suleymaniyya to live down his backsliding. In the Traveller’s Narrative Sir Abbas Effendi poses as an unknown traveller, and cites himself for himself as the authority for his stories in the Narrative.
Bahai assassinations that preceded and followed Baha’s practice of godcraft are completely blacked out in the Traveller’s Narrative.
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