A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
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Strict Imprisonment Renewed |
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In consequence of this and other equally unfounded charges,
in 1901, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His family, who for more than
twenty years had been allowed the freedom of the country for
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some miles around ‘Akká, were again, for over seven years,
strictly confined within the walls of the prison city. This did
not prevent Him, however, from effectively spreading the
Bahá’í message through Asia, Europe and America. Mr.
Horace Holley writes of this period as follows:—
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To ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as a teacher and friend, came men
and women from every race, religion and nation, to sit at
his table like favored guests, questioning him about the
social, spiritual or moral program each had most at
heart; and after a stay lasting from a few hours to many
months, returning home, inspired, renewed and enlightened.
The world surely never possessed such a guest-house
as this.
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Within its doors the rigid castes of India melted away,
the racial prejudice of Jew, Christian and Muḥammadan
became less than a memory; and every convention save
the essential law of warm hearts and aspiring minds broke
down, banned and forbidden by the unifying sympathy of
the master of the house. It was like a King Arthur and the
Round Table … but an Arthur who knighted women as
well as men, and sent them away not with the sword but
with the Word.—The Modern Social Religion, Horace
Holley, p. 171.
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It is the custom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá each week, on Friday
morning, to distribute alms to the poor. From his own
scanty store he gives a little to each one of the needy who
come to ask assistance. This morning about one hundred
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were ranged in line, seated and crouching upon the
ground in the open street of the courts where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
house stands. And such a nondescript collection of
humanity they were. All kinds of men, women and children—poor, wretched, hopeless in aspect, half-clothed,
many of them crippled and blind, beggars indeed, poor
beyond expression—waiting expectant—until from the
doorway came ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. … Quickly moving from
one to another, stopping sometimes to leave a word of
sympathy and encouragement, dropping small coins into
each eager outstretched palm, touching the face of a
child, taking the hand of an old woman who held fast to
the hem of his garment as he passed along, speaking
words of light to old men with sightless eyes, inquiring
after those too feeble and wretched to come for their pittance
of help, and sending them their portion with a message
of love and uplift.—Glimpses of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,
M. J. M., p. 13.
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He had a great love for children, for flowers, and for the
beauties of nature. Every morning about six or seven, the family
party used to gather to partake of the morning tea together,
and while the Master sipped His tea, the little children of the
household chanted prayers. Mr. Thornton Chase writes of
these children:—“Such children I have never seen, so courteous,
unselfish, thoughtful for others, unobtrusive, intelligent,
and swiftly self-denying in the little things that children
love. …”—In Galilee, p. 51.
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The “ministry of flowers” was a feature of the life at ‘Akká,
of which every pilgrim brought away fragrant memories. Mrs.
Lucas writes:—“When the Master inhales the odor of flowers,
it is wonderful to see him. It seems as though the perfume of
the hyacinths were telling him something as he buries his
face in the flowers. It is like the effort of the ear to hear a beautiful
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harmony, a concentrated attention!”—A Brief Account
of My Visit to ‘‘Akká, pp. 25–26.
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Five days we remained within those walls, prisoners
with Him who dwells in that “Greatest Prison.” It is a
prison of peace, of love and service. No wish, no desire is
there save the good of mankind, the peace of the world,
the acknowledgement of the Fatherhood of God and the
mutual rights of men as His creatures, His children. Indeed,
the real prison, the suffocating atmosphere, the
separation from all true heart desires, the bond of world
conditions, is outside of those stone walls, while within
them is the freedom and pure aura of the Spirit of God.
All troubles, tumults, worries or anxieties for worldly
things are barred out there.—In Galilee, p. 24.
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