…the Most Great Name was held prisoner and confined nine
years in the fortress-town of Akká; and at all times, both in the barracks and
afterward, from without the house, the police and farráshes had Him under
constant guard. The Blessed Beauty lived in a very small house, and He never
set foot outside that narrow lodging, because His oppressors kept continual
watch at the door. When, however, nine years had elapsed, the fixed and
predetermined length of days was over; and at that time, against the rancorous
will of the tyrant, ‘Abdu’l-Ḥamíd, and all his minions, Bahá’u’lláh proceeded
out of the fortress with authority and might, and in a kingly mansion beyond
the city, made His home.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk; ‘Memorials of the
Faithful’)
