Abdu'l Baha and the Religious Society of Friends

For some time I've wondered about the compatibility between Baha'i and Quaker teachings. Certainly, there are many areas of overlap, the emphasis on social justice, the lack of a clergy, spirit-led decisionmaking, and a vision of the end-times that places the action of an individual soul at the center of God's saving plan. But one point at which I thought the similarity ended was the means by which God reveals His will to humanity. For Baha'is, God reveals His will through His Manifestations. This happens only once in a great while. For Quakers, the will of God is revealed through the leadings of the Spirit. And this can be as commonplace as eating or waking. Certainly I've butchered and way oversimplified each tradition's understanding of divine Revelation, but up until now I've always had to rely on my own endeavor to explore this issue. I have long suspected that at some point in his travels to the West Abdu'l Baha came across Quakers, and might have said a thing or two about their faith. But I've never come across anything specific. As it turns out though, such an encounter is recorded in the most obvious place to look: Paris Talks, a compilation of talks he gave while in Europe.

So here it is.

http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/PT/pt-55.html

As it turns out, Abdu'l Baha seems to regard Baha'i and Quaker conceptions of Divine Revelation as more compatible than I personally have given them credit for. As for the Persian "Society of Friends" that he mentions, I have no idea who he's talking about. They sound cool though, just like their English counterparts.