Editing ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (section)

===Ministry, 1901–1912===

During the final years of the 19th century, while ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was still officially a prisoner and confined to ʻAkka, he organized the transfer of the remains of the [[Báb]] from Iran to Palestine. He then organized the purchase of land on [[Mount Carmel]] that Baháʼu'lláh had instructed should be used to lay the remains of the Báb, and organized for the construction of the [[Shrine of the Báb]]. This process took another 10 years.{{sfn|Balyuzi|2001|pp=90–93}} With the increase of pilgrims visiting ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Muhammad ʻAlí conspired with the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman authorities]] to re-introduce stricter terms on ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's imprisonment in August 1901.{{sfn|Iranica|1989}}{{sfn|Balyuzi|2001|pp=94–95}} By 1902, however, due to the support of the Governor of ʻAkka, the situation was greatly eased; while pilgrims were able to once again visit ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, he was still confined to the city.{{sfn|Balyuzi|2001|pp=94–95}} In February 1903, two followers of Muhammad ʻAlí, including Badiʻu'llah and Siyyid ʻAliy-i-Afnan, broke with Muhammad ʻAli and wrote books and letters giving details of Muhammad ʻAli's plots and noting that what was circulating about ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was fabrication.{{sfn|Balyuzi|2001|p=102}}<ref>{{harvnb|Afroukhteh|2003|p=166}}</ref>

From 1902 to 1904, even as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá directed the construction of the [[Shrine of the Báb]], he initiated execution of two additional projects; the restoration of the [[House of the Báb]] in [[Shiraz, Iran]] and the construction of the first [[Baháʼí House of Worship]] in [[Ashgabat]], Turkmenistan.{{sfn|Balyuzi|2001|p=107}} ʻAbdu'l-Bahá asked Aqa Mirza Aqa to coordinate the restoration of the house of the Báb to its state at the time of the Báb's declaration to [[Mulla Husayn]] in 1844;{{sfn|Balyuzi|2001|p=107}} he also entrusted the work on the House of Worship to [[Vakil-u'd-Dawlih]].{{sfn|Balyuzi|2001|p=109}}

In his role as head of the Bahá’í Faith, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would occasionally communicate with leaders of thought to offer commentary and guidance based on the Bahá’í teachings, and in defense of the Bahá’í community. During this period, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá communicated with a number of [[Young Turk]]s, who sought to reform to the reign of [[Abdul Hamid II|Sultan Abdul Hamid II]], including [[Namık Kemal]], [[Ziya Pasha]] and [[Midhat Pasha]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Alkan |first=Necati |date=2011 |title=Late Ottoman Palestine: The Period of Young Turk Rule |chapter=The Young Turks and the Baháʼís in Palestine  |chapter-url=  http://bahai-library.com/alkan_young_turks_palestine | editor1-last= Ben-Bassat | editor1-first= Yuval |editor2-last= Ginio |editor2-first= Eyal |publisher=I.B.Tauris |page=262 |isbn=978-1848856318}}</ref> He emphasized Baháʼís "seek freedom and love liberty, hope for equality, are well-wishers of humanity and ready to sacrifice their lives to unite humanity" but on a more broad approach than the Young Turks. [[Abdullah Cevdet]], one of the founders of the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] who considered the Baháʼí Faith an intermediary step between Islam and the ultimate abandonment of religious belief, would go on trial for defense of Baháʼís in a periodical he founded.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hanioğlu |first=M. Şükrü |author-link=M. Şükrü Hanioğlu |date=1995 |title=The Young Turks in Opposition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fU7azFR3AqcC&pg=PA202 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=202 |isbn=978-0195091151}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Polat |first=Ayşe |year=2015 |title=A Conflict on Bahaʼism and Islam in 1922: Abdullah Cevdet and State Religious Agencies |url=http://insanvetoplum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Ays%CC%A7e-Polat.pdf |journal=Insan & Toplum |volume=5 |issue=10 |access-date= 27 September 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161001173158/http://insanvetoplum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Ays%CC%A7e-Polat.pdf |archive-date= 1 October 2016 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

‛Abdu'l-Bahá also had contact with military leaders, including such individuals as [[Bursalı Mehmet Tahir Bey]] and [[Hasan Bedreddin]]. The latter, who in an earlier period was involved in the overthrow of [[Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire|Sultan Abdülaziz]] in 1876, is commonly known as Bedri Paşa or Bedri Pasha and is referred to in Persian Baháʼí sources as Bedri Bey (Badri Beg). He probably came to know ‘Abdu’l-Baha around 1898 when he served in the Ottoman administration in Akká. Persian sources cite him was a Baháʼí and he who translated ‛Abdu'l-Baha's works into French.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Alkan |first=Necati |date=2011 |title=Late Ottoman Palestine: The Period of Young Turk Rule |chapter=The Young Turks and the Baháʼís in Palestine  |chapter-url=  http://bahai-library.com/alkan_young_turks_palestine | editor1-last= Ben-Bassat | editor1-first= Yuval |editor2-last= Ginio |editor2-first= Eyal |publisher=I.B.Tauris |page=266 |isbn=978-1848856318}}</ref> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá continued to communicate with him for several years when he was governor of Albania.<ref name=":0" />

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá also met [[Muhammad Abduh]], one of the key figures of [[Islamic Modernism]] and the [[Salafi movement]], in Beirut, at a time when the two men shared similar goals of religious reform.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scharbrodt |first=Oliver |date=2008 |title=Islam and the Baháʼí Faith: A Comparative Study of Muhammad ʻAbduh and ʻAbdul-Baha ʻAbbas |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780203928578}}</ref><ref>
{{cite journal |last=Cole |first=Juan R.I. |author-link=Juan Cole |year=1983 |title=Rashid Rida on the Bahai Faith: A Utilitarian Theory of the Spread of Religions |url=http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/2000/rida.htm |journal=Arab Studies Quarterly |volume=5 |issue=2 |page=278}}</ref> [[Rashid Rida]] asserts that during his visits to Beirut, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá would attend Abduh's study sessions.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cole |first=Juan R.I. |author-link=Juan Cole |date=1981 |title=Muhammad ʻAbduh and Rashid Rida: A Dialogue on the Baha'i Faith |url=http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/diglib/articles/A-E/cole/abduh/abduh.htm |journal=World Order |volume=15 |issue=3 |page=11}}</ref> Regarding the meetings of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Muhammad ʻAbduh, Shoghi Effendi asserts that "His several interviews with the well-known Shaykh Muhammad ʻAbdu served to enhance immensely the growing prestige of the community and spread abroad the fame of its most distinguished member."{{sfn|Effendi|1944|p=[http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/GPB/gpb-12.html#pg193 193]}}

Due to Muhammad ʻAli's accusations against him, a Commission of Inquiry interviewed ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1905, almost resulting in exile to [[Fezzan]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Alkan |first=Necati |date=2011 |title=Late Ottoman Palestine: The Period of Young Turk Rule |chapter=The Young Turks and the Baháʼís in Palestine  |chapter-url=  http://bahai-library.com/alkan_young_turks_palestine | editor1-last= Ben-Bassat | editor1-first= Yuval |editor2-last= Ginio |editor2-first= Eyal |publisher=I.B.Tauris |page=263 |isbn=978-1848856318}}</ref>{{sfn|Balyuzi|2001|pp=111–113}}<ref>{{harvnb|Momen|1981|pp=320–323}}</ref> In response, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote the sultan a letter protesting that his followers refrain from involvement in partisan politics and that his ''[[tariqa]]'' had guided many Americans to Islam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Alkan |first=Necati |date=2011 |title=Late Ottoman Palestine: The Period of Young Turk Rule |chapter=The Young Turks and the Baháʼís in Palestine  |chapter-url=  http://bahai-library.com/alkan_young_turks_palestine | editor1-last= Ben-Bassat | editor1-first= Yuval |editor2-last= Ginio |editor2-first= Eyal |publisher=I.B.Tauris |page=264 |isbn=978-1848856318}}</ref> The next few years in ʻAkka were relatively free of pressures and pilgrims were able to come and visit ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. By 1909 the mausoleum of the Shrine of the Báb was completed.{{sfn|Balyuzi|2001|p=109}}