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`Abdu'l-Bahá in London
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Pages 113-115
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From an Interview given by `Abdu'l-Bahá to the Weekly Budget. September 23rd, 1911.
SOME OF THE EXPERIENCES OF HIS FORTY YEARS IMPRISONMENT
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IN an apartment in Cadogan Gardens sits
a spiritually illumined Oriental, whose
recent advent in London marks the
latest junction of the East and West.
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The teaching of `Abdu'l-Bahá has already
brought about the commingling of thousands of
Englishmen and Englishwomen with Orientals
from every quarter of the East. Upon the basis of
mutual help and friendship and the worship of
God, regardless of creed and denomination, they
have joined hands with an earnestness and
brotherly love contrary to the theories of certain
cynical poets and philosophers.
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Most of `Abdu'l-Bahá's life has been spent in an
Eastern prison, which he gladly endured rather
than abjure his faith, one of the tenets of which is
the absolute equality of souls regardless of
physical differences, such as sex and colour. He
recognizes no class distinctions except those
conferred by service and the spirit of brotherly
love. For this and other like doctrines he was held
prisoner for forty years in the fortress city of Akká,
in Palestine. When I requested to talk with him, I
was told to come early, and called, according, at
nine o'clock, for an interview. It was already
mid-day to `Abdu'l-Bahá who rises at four, and
who had seen eighteen people before his breakfast
at half-past six.
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Representatives of many languages and
nationalities awaited him in the drawing room.
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We sat in a circle facing `Abdu'l-Bahá who
inquired if there were any questions we would like
to ask. I said my editor had sent me to ascertain
something of his prison life, and `Abdu'l-Bahá at
once related in a simple impersonal way one of
the most remarkable stories conceivable.
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"At nine years of age, I accompanied my
father, Bahá'u'lláh, in his journey of exile to
Baghdád, seventy of his disciples going with us.
This decree of exile, after persistent persecution,
was intended to effectively stamp out of Persia
what the authorities considered a dangerous
religion. Bahá'u'lláh, with his family and
followers, was banished, and travelled from one
place to another. When I was about twenty-five
years old, we were moved from Constantinople to
Adrianople, and from there went with a guard of
soldiers to the fortressed city of Akká, where we
were imprisoned and closely guarded."
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