Servant, the General, and Armageddon

by Roderic Maude and Derwent Maude

The Story of 'Abdu'l-Baha and General Allenby.

The intriguing story of a battle that linked the lives of two men who shaped history in very different ways: General Allenby and 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

They called the kings together at the place, called in Hebrew, Armageddon. The seventh angel emptied his bowl into the air, and a voice shouted from the sanctuary, 'The end has come'. Then there were flashes of lightning and peals of thunder and the most violent earthquake that anyone has ever seen since there have been men on the earth.
Revelation 16:16-18

The world war, which has raged across Europe, North Africa and the Ottoman Empire for four years, is finally drawing to a close. General Edmund H. H. Allenby - broad-shouldered, square-jawed man possessed of great physical strength, 'an explosive general' - marches his army north past Megiddo, 'the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon'. The goal: the town of Haifa in the north of Palestine.

In Haifa the small and terrified Bahá'í community gathers in the house of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the head of the Bahá'í Faith. 'Abdu'l-Bahá calms the excited Bahá'ís and calls them to prayer. He assures them that all will be well. But His own life has been threatened by the Ottoman leader, Djemal Pasha.