Life of the Hand of The Cause of God George Townshend – by Adib Taherzadeh (transcript of a talk at the Baha’i World Center)

I do not know how you chose to hear about George Townshend, but I am very glad you did. I consider him one of the greatest Bahá'ís—the greatest I have ever known personally among the Western believers. Shoghi Effendi described him as the greatest scholar of the Faith in the West. As mentioned, he was appointed in the first contingent of the twelve Hands of the Cause named by Shoghi Effendi.

It is difficult to summarize his life because there are so many facets to it. I had the great privilege and honor to spend long periods with him in Dublin, Ireland, over a span of seven years. I consider those seven years to be the most fruitful period of my life.

The Nature of Bahá'í Scholarship

First, let me speak about his stature as a scholar of the Faith. Bahá'í scholarship differs fundamentally from how the term is typically used in the wider world. A true Bahá'í scholar never believes in their heart that they are a source of knowledge or greatness—it does not even dawn on them. That is the hallmark of genuine Bahá'í scholarship: others may call them a scholar, but they never refer to themselves as such.

During all those years, I never perceived the slightest indication from George Townshend that he regarded himself as a man of great learning. He was utterly modest and humble. When speaking with him, he seemed ready to learn from anyone, even a child, as though he knew nothing at all. That posture was not an act; it was entirely genuine.

The height of Bahá'í knowledge is the realization that one is merely a drop before the ocean. This was equally true of great Eastern scholars like Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl. Many who have studied George Townshend's life refer to him as the "Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl of the West."

A Study of a Christlike Character – by George Townshend, Hand of the Cause (sometime Cannon of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland)

circa 1920

To live today in deed and truth the kind of life that Jesus of Nazareth led and bade His followers lead; to love God wholeheartedly, and for God’s sake to love all mankind, even one’s slanderers and enemies; to give consistently good for evil, blessings for curses, kindness for cruelty and, through a career darkened along its entire length by tragic misrepresentation and persecution, to preserve one’s courage, one’s sweetness and calm faith in God - to do all this and yet to play the man in a world of men, sharing at home and in business the common life of humanity, administering when occasion arose affairs large and small and handling complex situations with foresight and firmness — to live in such a manner throughout a long and arduous life, and when, in the fullness of time, death came, to leave to multitudes of mourners a sense of desolation and to be remembered and loved by them all as the servant of God - to how many men is such an achievement given as it has been given in this age of ours to ‘Abdu’l-Baha?

To the historian, the psychologist, the student of comparative religion, the narrative in all its aspects has much to offer of interest and value. But to the would-be Christian of the twentieth century the personal life and character of Sir Abbas Effendi (more widely known as ‘Abdu’l-Baha) make a direct and peculiar appeal.

An ordinary man who has set himself really to follow the precepts of Christ finds himself in special difficulties today. The very understanding and knowledge of the will of Christ, as well as the performance of it, seem now less easy to attain than they were for our forefathers. The accuracy of the Gospel record not only in phrase and detail, but in larger matters likewise is, however unjustifiably, questioned by a number of scholars. The record in any case is brief and fragmentary; and the utterances attributed to the Christ are not only very few but so terse and epigrammatic that their bearing is often uncertain and they admit of diverse interpretations. The problems of the contemporary world, too, are so much more complex than those of the period in which Christ lived that His words which suited so well the conditions of the past are difficult to apply to the present. Those who profess themselves the teachers of Christendom speak, as a whole, with such different voices and offer such contradictory advice that there is much bewilderment.