He [Nabíl] journeyed… and at last he reached the Akká
fortress. In those days the restrictions were exceptionally severe. The gates
were shut, the roads closed off. Wearing a disguise, Nabíl arrived at the Akká
gate. Siyyid Muhammad and his wretched accomplice immediately hurried to the
Governorate and informed against the traveler. “He is a Persian,” they
reported. “He is not, as he seems, a man of Bukhárá. He has come here to seek
for news of Bahá’u’lláh.” The authorities expelled him at once.
Nabíl, despairing, withdrew to the town of Safád. Later he
came on to Haifa, where he made his home in a cave on Mount Carmel. He lived
apart from friend and stranger alike, lamenting night and day, moaning and
chanting prayers. There he remained as a recluse, and waited for the doors to
open. When the predestined time of captivity was over, and the gates were flung
wide, and the Wronged One issued forth in beauty, in majesty and glory, Nabíl
hastened to Him with a joyful heart. Then he used himself up like a candle,
burning away with the love of God. Day and night he sang the praises of the one
Beloved of both worlds and of those about His threshold, writing verses in the
pentameter and hexameter forms, composing lyrics and long odes. Almost daily,
he was admitted to the presence of the Manifestation.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘Memorials
of the Faithful’)
