Better Conditions
After two years of the strictest confinement permission was granted me to
find a house so that we could live outside the prison walls but still
within the fortifications. Many believers came from Persia to join us but
they were not allowed to do so. Nine years passed. Sometimes we were
better off and sometimes very much worse. It depended on the governor,
who, if he happened to be a kind and lenient ruler, would grant us
permission to leave the fortification, and would allow the believers free
access to visit the house; but when the governor was more rigorous, extra
guards were placed around us, and often pilgrims who had come from afar
were turned away.
I learned, afterwards, from a Persian, who, during these troublous times,
was a member of 'Abdu'l-Baha's household, that the Turkish government
could not credit the fact that the interest of the English and American
visitors was purely spiritual and not political. Often these pilgrims were
refused permission to see him, and, many times, the whole trip from
America would be rewarded merely by a glimpse of 'Abdu'l-Baha from his
prison window.
The Government thought that the tomb of the Bab, an imposing building on
Mount Carmel, was a fortification erected with the aid of American money,
and that it was being armed and garrisoned secretly. Suspicion grew with
each new arrival, resulting in extra spies and guards.
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'abdu'l-hamid's CommitteePrevious:
The First Summer
Informational
