In a
talk about our need for an international language, given at the Esperanto
Society in Edinburgh, Scotland, on January 7, 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Baha cited the
following funny incident to demonstrate how language barriers could cause misunderstandings:
I recall an incident which occurred in Baghdad. There were
two friends who knew not each other's language. One fell ill, the other visited
him, but not being able to express his sympathy in words resorted to gesture,
as if to say, "How do you feel?” - with another sign the sick replied,
"I shall soon be dead;” and his visitor, believing the gesture to indicate
that he was getting better, said, "God be praised!”
(Star of the West, vo.
4, no. 2, April 9, 1913)
