The outstanding accomplishments of a valiant and sorely-tested community,
the first fruits of Baha'u'llah's newly established Covenant in the
Western world, had laid a foundation sufficiently imposing to invite the
presence of the appointed Center of that Covenant, Who had called that
Community into being and watched, with such infinite care and foresight,
over its budding destinies. Not until, however, 'Abdu'l-Baha had emerged
from the severe crisis which had already for several years been holding
Him in its toils could He undertake His memorable voyage to the shores of
a continent where the rise and establishment of His Father's Faith had
been signalized by such magnificent and enduring achievements.
This second major crisis of His ministry, external in nature and hardly
less severe than the one precipitated by the rebellion of Mirza
Muhammad-'Ali, gravely imperiled His life, deprived Him, for a number of
years, of the relative freedom He had enjoyed, plunged into anguish His
family and the followers of the Faith in East and West, and exposed as
never before, the degradation and infamy of His relentless adversaries. It
originated two years after the departure of the first American pilgrims
from the Holy Land. It persisted, with varying degrees of intensity,
during more than seven years, and was directly attributable to the
incessant intrigues and monstrous misrepresentations of the Arch-Breaker
of Baha'u'llah's Covenant and his supporters.
Embittered by his abject failure to create a schism on which he had fondly
pinned his hopes; stung by the conspicuous success which the
standard-bearers of the Covenant had, despite his machinations, achieved
in the North American continent; encouraged by the existence of a regime
that throve in an atmosphere of intrigue and suspicion, and which was
presided over by a cunning and cruel potentate; determined to exploit to
the full the opportunities for mischief afforded him by the arrival of
Western pilgrims at the prison-fortress of Akka, as well as by the
commencement of the construction of the Bab's sepulcher on Mt. Carmel,
Mirza Muhammad-'Ali, seconded by his brother, Mirza Badi'u'llah, and aided
by his brother-in-law, Mirza Majdi'd-Din, succeeded through strenuous and
persistent endeavors in exciting the suspicion of the Turkish government
and its officials, and in inducing them to reimpose on 'Abdu'l-Baha the
confinement from which, in the days of Baha'u'llah, He had so grievously
suffered.
This very brother, Mirza Muhammad-'Ali's chief accomplice, in a written
confession signed, sealed and published by him, on the occasion of his
reconciliation with 'Abdu'l-Baha, has borne testimony to the wicked plots
that had been devised. "What I have heard from others," wrote Mirza
Badi'u'llah, "I will ignore. I will only recount what I have seen with my
own eyes, and heard from his (Mirza Muhammad-'Ali) lips." "It was arranged
by him (Mirza Muhammad-'Ali)," he, then, proceeds to relate, "to dispatch
Mirza Majdi'd-Din with a gift and a letter written in Persian to Nazim
Pa_sh_a, the Vali (governor) of Damascus, and to seek his assistance....
As he (Mirza Majdi'd-Din) himself informed me in Haifa he did all he could
to acquaint him (governor) fully with the construction work on Mt. Carmel,
with the comings and goings of the American believers, and with the
gatherings held in Akka. The Pa_sh_a, in his desire to know all the facts,
was extremely kind to him, and assured him of his aid. A few days after
Mirza Majdi'd-Din's return a cipher telegram was received from the Sublime
Porte, transmitting the Sultan's orders to incarcerate 'Abdu'l-Baha,
myself and the others." "In those days," he, furthermore, in that same
document, testifies, "a man who came to Akka from Damascus stated to
outsiders that Nazim Pa_sh_a had been the cause of the incarceration of
Abbas Effendi. The strangest thing of all is this that Mirza
Muhammad-'Ali, after he had been incarcerated, wrote a letter to Nazim
Pa_sh_a for the purpose of achieving his own deliverance.... The Pa_sh_a,
however, did not write even a word in answer to either the first or the
second letter."
It was in 1901, on the fifth day of the month of Jamadiyu'l-Avval 1319
A.H. (August 20) that 'Abdu'l-Baha, upon His return from Bahji where He
had participated in the celebration of the anniversary of the Bab's
Declaration, was informed, in the course of an interview with the governor
of Akka, of Sultan 'Abdu'l-Hamid's instructions ordering that the
restrictions which had been gradually relaxed should be reimposed, and
that He and His brothers should be strictly confined within the walls of
that city. The Sultan's edict was at first rigidly enforced, the freedom
of the exiled community was severely curtailed, while 'Abdu'l-Baha had to
submit, alone and unaided, to the prolonged interrogation of judges and
officials, who required His presence for several consecutive days at
government headquarters for the purpose of their investigations. One of
His first acts was to intercede on behalf of His brothers, who had been
peremptorily summoned and informed by the governor of the orders of the
sovereign, an act which failed to soften their hostility or lessen their
malevolent activities. Subsequently, through His intervention with the
civil and military authorities, He succeeded in obtaining the freedom of
His followers who resided in Akka, and in enabling them to continue to
earn, without interference, the means of livelihood.
The Covenant-breakers were unappeased by the measures taken by the
authorities against One Who had so magnanimously intervened on their
behalf. Aided by the notorious Yahya Bey, the chief of police, and other
officials, civil as well as military, who, in consequence of their
representations, had replaced those who had been friendly to 'Abdu'l-Baha,
and by secret agents who traveled back and forth between Akka and
Constantinople, and who even kept a vigilant watch over everything that
went on in His household, they arose to encompass His ruin. They lavished
on officials gifts which included possessions sacred to the memory of
Baha'u'llah, and shamelessly proffered to high and low alike bribes drawn,
in some instances, from the sale of properties associated with Him or
bestowed upon some of them by 'Abdu'l-Baha. Relaxing nothing of their
efforts they pursued relentlessly the course of their nefarious
activities, determined to leave no stone unturned until they had either
brought about His execution or ensured His deportation to a place remote
enough to enable them to wrest the Cause from His grasp. The Vali of
Damascus, the Mufti of Beirut, members of the Protestant missions
established in Syria and Akka, even the influential _Sh_ay_kh_ Abu'l-Huda,
in Constantinople, whom the Sultan held in as profound an esteem as that
in which Muhammad _Sh_ah had held his Grand Vizir, Haji Mirza Aqasi, were,
on various occasions, approached, appealed to, and urged to lend their
assistance for the prosecution of their odious designs.
Through verbal messages, formal communications and by personal interviews
the Covenant-breakers impressed upon these notables the necessity of
immediate action, shrewdly adapting their arguments to the particular
interests and prejudices of those whose aid they solicited. To some they
represented 'Abdu'l-Baha as a callous usurper Who had trampled upon their
rights, robbed them of their heritage, reduced them to poverty, made their
friends in Persia their enemies, accumulated for Himself a vast fortune,
and acquired no less than two-thirds of the land in Haifa. To others they
declared that 'Abdu'l-Baha contemplated making of Akka and Haifa a new
Mecca and Medina. To still others they affirmed that Baha'u'llah was no
more than a retired dervish, who professed and promoted the Faith of
Islam, Whom Abbas Effendi, His son, had, for the purpose of
self-glorification, exalted to the rank of God-head, whilst claiming
Himself to be the Son of God and the return of Jesus Christ. They further
accused Him of harboring designs inimical to the interests of the state,
of meditating a rebellion against the Sultan, of having already hoisted
the banner of Ya Baha'u'l-Abha, the ensign of revolt, in distant villages
in Palestine and Syria, of having raised surreptitiously an army of thirty
thousand men, of being engaged in the construction of a fortress and a
vast ammunition depot on Mt. Carmel, of having secured the moral and
material support of a host of English and American friends, amongst whom
were officers of foreign powers, who were arriving, in large numbers and
in disguise, to pay Him their homage, and of having already, in
conjunction with them, drawn up His plans for the subjugation of the
neighboring provinces, for the expulsion of the ruling authorities, and
for the ultimate seizure of the power wielded by the Sultan himself.
Through misrepresentation and bribery they succeeded in inducing certain
people to affix their signatures as witnesses to the documents which they
had drawn up, and which they despatched, through their agents, to the
Sublime Porte.
Such grave accusations, embodied in numerous reports, could not fail to
perturb profoundly the mind of a despot already obsessed by the fear of
impending rebellion among his subjects. A commission was accordingly
appointed to inquire into the matter, and report the result of its
investigations. Each of the charges brought against 'Abdu'l-Baha, when
summoned to the court, on several occasions, He carefully and fearlessly
refuted. He exposed the absurdity of these accusations, acquainted the
members of the Commission, in support of His argument, with the provisions
of Baha'u'llah's Testament, expressed His readiness to submit to any
sentence the court might decide to pass upon Him, and eloquently affirmed
that if they should chain Him, drag Him through the streets, execrate and
ridicule Him, stone and spit upon Him, suspend Him in the public square,
and riddle Him with bullets, He would regard it as a signal honor,
inasmuch as He would thereby be following in the footsteps, and sharing
the sufferings, of His beloved Leader, the Bab.
The gravity of the situation confronting 'Abdu'l-Baha; the rumors that
were being set afloat by a population that anticipated the gravest
developments; the hints and allusions to the dangers threatening Him
contained in newspapers published in Egypt and Syria; the aggressive
attitude which His enemies increasingly assumed; the provocative behavior
of some of the inhabitants of Akka and Haifa who had been emboldened by
the predictions and fabrications of these enemies regarding the fate
awaiting a suspected community and its Leader, led Him to reduce the
number of pilgrims, and even to suspend, for a time, their visits, and to
issue special instructions that His mail be handled through an agent in
Egypt rather than in Haifa; for a time He ordered that it should be held
there pending further advice from Him. He, moreover, directed the
believers, as well as His own secretaries, to collect and remove to a
place of safety all the Baha'i writings in their possession, and, urging
them to transfer their residence to Egypt, went so far as to forbid their
gathering, as was their wont, in His house. Even His numerous friends and
admirers refrained, during the most turbulent days of this period, from
calling upon Him, for fear of being implicated and of incurring the
suspicion of the authorities. On certain days and nights, when the outlook
was at its darkest, the house in which He was living, and which had for
many years been a focus of activity, was completely deserted. Spies,
secretly and openly, kept watch around it, observing His every movement
and restricting the freedom of His family.
The construction of the Bab's sepulcher, whose foundation-stone had been
laid by Him on the site blessed and selected by Baha'u'llah, He, however,
refused to suspend, or even interrupt, for however brief a period. Nor
would He allow any obstacle, however formidable, to interfere with the
daily flow of Tablets which poured forth, with prodigious rapidity and
ever increasing volume, from His indefatigable pen, in answer to the vast
number of letters, reports, inquiries, prayers, confessions of faith,
apologies and eulogies received from countless followers and admirers in
both the East and the West. Eye-witnesses have testified that, during that
agitated and perilous period of His life, they had known Him to pen, with
His own Hand, no less than ninety Tablets in a single day, and to pass
many a night, from dusk to dawn, alone in His bed-chamber engaged in a
correspondence which the pressure of His manifold responsibilities had
prevented Him from attending to in the day-time.
It was during these troublous times, the most dramatic period of His
ministry, when, in the hey-day of His life and in the full tide of His
power, He, with inexhaustible energy, marvelous serenity and unshakable
confidence, initiated and resistlessly prosecuted the varied enterprises
associated with that ministry. It was during these times that the plan of
the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i world was conceived by Him,
and its construction undertaken by His followers in the city of I_sh_qabad
in Turkistan. It was during these times, despite the disturbances that
agitated His native country, that instructions were issued by Him for the
restoration of the holy and historic House of the Bab in _Sh_iraz. It was
during these times that the initial measures, chiefly through His constant
encouragement, were taken which paved the way for the laying of the
dedication stone, which He, in later years, placed with His own hands when
visiting the site of the Mother Temple of the West on the shore of Lake
Michigan. It was at this juncture that that celebrated compilation of His
table talks, published under the title "Some Answered Questions," was
made, talks given during the brief time He was able to spare, in the
course of which certain fundamental aspects of His Father's Faith were
elucidated, traditional and rational proofs of its validity adduced, and a
great variety of subjects regarding the Christian Dispensation, the
Prophets of God, Biblical prophecies, the origin and condition of man and
other kindred themes authoritatively explained.
It was during the darkest hours of this period that, in a communication
addressed to the Bab's cousin, the venerable Haji Mirza Muhammad-Taqi, the
chief builder of the Temple of I_sh_qabad, 'Abdu'l-Baha, in stirring
terms, proclaimed the immeasurable greatness of the Revelation of
Baha'u'llah, sounded the warnings foreshadowing the turmoil which its
enemies, both far and near, would let loose upon the world, and
prophesied, in moving language, the ascendancy which the torchbearers of
the Covenant would ultimately achieve over them. It was at an hour of
grave suspense, during that same period, that He penned His Will and
Testament, that immortal Document wherein He delineated the features of
the Administrative Order which would arise after His passing, and would
herald the establishment of that World Order, the advent of which the Bab
had announced, and the laws and principles of which Baha'u'llah had
already formulated. It was in the course of these tumultuous years that,
through the instrumentality of the heralds and champions of a firmly
instituted Covenant, He reared the embryonic institutions, administrative,
spiritual, and educational, of a steadily expanding Faith in Persia, the
cradle of that Faith, in the Great Republic of the West, the cradle of its
Administrative Order, in the Dominion of Canada, in France, in England, in
Germany, in Egypt, in 'Iraq, in Russia, in India, in Burma, in Japan, and
even in the remote Pacific Islands. It was during these stirring times
that a tremendous impetus was lent by Him to the translation, the
publication and dissemination of Baha'i literature, whose scope now
included a variety of books and treatises, written in the Persian, the
Arabic, the English, the Turkish, the French, the German, the Russian and
Burmese languages. At His table, in those days, whenever there was a lull
in the storm raging about Him, there would gather pilgrims, friends and
inquirers from most of the afore-mentioned countries, representative of
the Christian, the Muslim, the Jewish, the Zoroastrian, the Hindu and
Buddhist Faiths. To the needy thronging His doors and filling the
courtyard of His house every Friday morning, in spite of the perils that
environed Him, He would distribute alms with His own hands, with a
regularity and generosity that won Him the title of "Father of the Poor."
Nothing in those tempestuous days could shake His confidence, nothing
would be allowed to interfere with His ministrations to the destitute, the
orphan, the sick, and the down-trodden, nothing could prevent Him from
calling in person upon those who were either incapacitated or ashamed to
solicit His aid. Adamant in His determination to follow the example of
both the Bab and Baha'u'llah, nothing would induce Him to flee from His
enemies, or escape from imprisonment, neither the advice tendered Him by
the leading members of the exiled community in Akka, nor the insistent
pleas of the Spanish Consul--a kinsman of the agent of an Italian steamship
company--who, in his love for 'Abdu'l-Baha and his anxiety to avert the
threatening danger, had gone so far as to place at His disposal an Italian
freighter, ready to provide Him a safe passage to any foreign port He
might name.
So imperturbable was 'Abdu'l-Baha's equanimity that, while rumors were
being bruited about that He might be cast into the sea, or exiled to Fizan
in Tripolitania, or hanged on the gallows, He, to the amazement of His
friends and the amusement of His enemies, was to be seen planting trees
and vines in the garden of His house, whose fruits when the storm had
blown over, He would bid His faithful gardener, Isma'il Aqa, pluck and
present to those same friends and enemies on the occasion of their visits
to Him.
In the early part of the winter of 1907 another Commission of four
officers, headed by Arif Bey, and invested with plenary powers, was
suddenly dispatched to Akka by order of the Sultan. A few days before its
arrival 'Abdu'l-Baha had a dream, which He recounted to the believers, in
which He saw a ship cast anchor off Akka, from which flew a few birds,
resembling sticks of dynamite, and which, circling about His head, as He
stood in the midst of a multitude of the frightened inhabitants of the
city, returned without exploding to the ship.
No sooner had the members of the Commission landed than they placed under
their direct and exclusive control both the Telegraph and Postal services
in Akka; arbitrarily dismissed officials suspected of being friendly to
'Abdu'l-Baha, including the governor of the city; established direct and
secret contact with the government in Constantinople; took up their
residence in the home of the neighbors and intimate associates of the
Covenant-breakers; set guards over the house of 'Abdu'l-Baha to prevent
any one from seeing Him; and started the strange procedure of calling up
as witnesses the very people, among whom were Christians and Moslems,
orientals and westerners, who had previously signed the documents
forwarded to Constantinople, and which they had brought with them for the
purpose of their investigations.
The activities of the Covenant-breakers, and particularly of Mirza
Muhammad-'Ali, now jubilant and full of hope, rose in this hour of extreme
crisis, to the highest pitch. Visits, interviews and entertainments
multiplied, in an atmosphere of fervid expectation, now that the victory
was seen to be at hand. Not a few among the lower elements of the
population were led to believe that their acquisition of the property
which would be left behind by the deported exiles was imminent. Insults
and calumnies markedly increased. Even some of the poor, so long and so
bountifully succored by 'Abdu'l-Baha, forsook Him for fear of reprisals.
'Abdu'l-Baha, while the members of the Commission were carrying on their
so-called investigations, and throughout their stay of about one month in
Akka, consistently refused to meet or have any dealings with any of them,
in spite of the veiled threats and warnings conveyed by them to Him
through a messenger, an attitude which greatly surprised them and served
to inflame their animosity and reinforce their determination to execute
their evil designs. Though the perils and tribulations which had
encompassed Him were now at their thickest, though the ship on which He
was supposed to embark with the members of the Commission was waiting in
readiness, at times in Akka, at times in Haifa, and the wildest rumors
were being spread about Him, the serenity He had invariably maintained,
ever since His incarceration had been reimposed, remained unclouded, and
His confidence unshaken. "The meaning of the dream I dreamt," He, at that
time, told the believers who still remained in Akka, "is now clear and
evident. Please God this dynamite will not explode."
Meanwhile the members of the Commission had, on a certain Friday, gone to
Haifa and inspected the Bab's sepulcher, the construction of which had
been proceeding without any interruption on Mt. Carmel. Impressed by its
solidity and dimensions, they had inquired of one of the attendants as to
the number of vaults that had been built beneath that massive structure.
Shortly after the inspection had been made it was suddenly observed, one
day at about sunset, that the ship, which had been lying off Haifa, had
weighed anchor, and was heading towards Akka. The news spread rapidly
among an excited population that the members of the Commission had
embarked upon it. It was anticipated that it would stop long enough at
Akka to take 'Abdu'l-Baha on board, and then proceed to its destination.
Consternation and anguish seized the members of His family when informed
of the approach of the ship. The few believers who were left wept with
grief at their impending separation from their Master. 'Abdu'l-Baha could
be seen, at that tragic hour, pacing, alone and silent, the courtyard of
His house.
As dusk fell, however, it was suddenly noticed that the lights of the ship
had swung round, and the vessel had changed her course. It now became
evident that she was sailing direct for Constantinople. The intelligence
was instantly communicated to 'Abdu'l-Baha, Who, in the gathering
darkness, was still pacing His courtyard. Some of the believers who had
posted themselves at different points to watch the progress of the ship
hurried to confirm the joyful tidings. One of the direst perils that had
ever threatened 'Abdu'l-Baha's precious life was, on that historic day,
suddenly, providentially and definitely averted.
Soon after the precipitate and wholly unexpected sailing of that ship news
was received that a bomb had exploded in the path of the Sultan while he
was returning to his palace from the mosque where he had been offering his
Friday prayers.
A few days after this attempt on his life the Commission submitted its
report to him; but he and his government were too preoccupied to consider
the matter. The case was laid aside, and when, some months later, it was
again brought forward it was abruptly closed forever by an event which,
once and for all, placed the Prisoner of Akka beyond the power of His
royal enemy. The "Young Turk" Revolution, breaking out swiftly and
decisively in 1908, forced a reluctant despot to promulgate the
constitution which he had suspended, and to release all religious and
political prisoners held under the old regime. Even then a telegram had to
be sent to Constantinople to inquire specifically whether 'Abdu'l-Baha was
included in the category of these prisoners, to which an affirmative reply
was promptly received.
Within a few months, in 1909, the Young Turks obtained from the
_Sh_ay_kh_u'l-Islam the condemnation of the Sultan himself who, as a
result of further attempts to overthrow the constitution, was finally and
ignominiously deposed, deported and made a prisoner of state. On one
single day of that same year there were executed no less than thirty-one
leading ministers, pa_sh_as and officials, among whom were numbered
notorious enemies of the Faith. Tripolitania itself, the scene of
'Abdu'l-Baha's intended exile was subsequently wrested from the Turks by
Italy. Thus ended the reign of the "Great Assassin," "the most mean,
cunning, untrustworthy and cruel intriguer of the long dynasty of
U_th_man," a reign "more disastrous in its immediate losses of territory
and in the certainty of others to follow, and more conspicuous for the
deterioration of the condition of his subjects, than that of any other of
his twenty-three degenerate predecessors since the death of Sulayman the
Magnificent."