In those days, a few influential notables were planning to
procure ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s release from confinement. They were fully capable of
doing so. But in reply, this servant said, “This citadel is the Prison of the
Abhá Beauty. He spent well-nigh four and twenty years here; I have therefore no
wish to be released from this prison, nor do I seek deliverance. Nay, rather, I
seek renewed confinement and earnestly desire an even more severe
incarceration.” Those souls were bewildered by my words. But my intent was that
they should understand that, in the path of the Lord, prison for us is even as
a royal palace, and the depths of the pit as the apex of heaven. This indeed is
an unquestionable reality. This verily is the truth, and all else naught but
manifest error. - ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet; ‘Light of the World’)
