The Blessed Perfection was a prisoner twenty-five years.
During all this time He was subjected to the indignities and revilement of the
people. He was persecuted, mocked and put in chains. In Persia His properties
were pillaged and His possessions confiscated. First, there was banishment from
Persia to Baghdád, then to Constantinople, then to Adrianople, finally from
Rumelia to the prison fortress of ‘Akká.
During His lifetime He was intensely active. His energy was
unlimited. Scarcely one night was passed in restful sleep. He bore these
ordeals, suffered these calamities and difficulties in order that a
manifestation of selflessness and service might become apparent in the world of
humanity; that the Most Great Peace should become a reality; that human souls
might appear as the angels of heaven; that heavenly miracles would be wrought
among men; that human faith should be strengthened and perfected; that the
precious, priceless bestowal of God—the human mind—might be developed to its
fullest capacity in the temple of the body; and that man might become the
reflection and likeness of God, even as it hath been revealed in the Bible,
“Let us make man in our image.”
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk, New York, 18 April,
1912; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)
