'The day is approaching when God will have raised up a people who will call to remembrance Our days,'
~ Bahá'u'lláh.

The 144 stories in these pages make such remembrance both effortless and delightful. They come to mind whether one is far away or visiting the scenes in which they occurred. They describe Bahá'u'lláh in Iran, Baghdad, Constantinople, Adrianople, 'Akká and Bahjí, and linger in the memory to uplift and gladden both heart and mind.

There are very few people in the West who have known even one person who saw Bahá'u'lláh or experienced the majesty and power, the compassion, humility and humour which characterized His earthly life. Bahá'ís of the East are more fortunate, many having known those, often their relatives, who were in His presence as companions or pilgrims. Yet, as the editor of this book remarks, 'only a few recorded their observations for posterity'. It was in 1975 that 'the thought of collecting personal accounts' occurred to the Hand of the Cause 'Alí-Akbar Furútán. Through correspondence and the examination of numerous memoirs, published and in manuscript, he selected the stories in this enthralling collection.

'Alí-Akbar Furútán resided in Haifa at the World Centre of the Bahá'í Faith from 1957, having been named by his fellow Hands of the Cause of God one of the nine Custodians of the Faith after the death of Shoghi Effendi. He remained in this capacity until the election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963, continuing his services at the World Centre as Hand of the Cause and member of the International Teaching Centre until his death in 2003.