{"id":2166,"date":"2012-01-06T01:29:59","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T01:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/"},"modified":"2017-10-24T06:43:21","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T06:43:21","slug":"imprisonment-forty-years","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/imprisonment-forty-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Glimpses of an Imprisonment Lasting Forty Years (continued)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately upon his arrival, \u00c1rif Bey proceeded to denounce me and tried to get proof strong enough to warrant sending me to Fiz\u00e1n, or throwing me into the sea. Fiz\u00e1n is a caravan station on the boundary of Tripoli where there are no houses and no water. It is a month\u2019s journey by camel route from \u2018Akk\u00e1.<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cThe committee twice sent for me to hear what I had to say in my own defence and twice I sent back word: \u2018I know your purpose, I have nothing to say.\u2019<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

         Seawall of the Prison-City of 'Akk\u00e1 (Courtesy Ezra Freelove)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis so infuriated \u00c1rif Bey that he declared he would return to Constantinople and bring back an order from the Sul\u1e6d\u00e1n to have me hanged at the gate of \u2018Akk\u00e1. He and his committee set sail with their report con- taining the following ac- cusations:\u2014\u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 is establishing a new nation of which he is to be the king; \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 is uplifting the banner of a new religion; \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 has built or caused to be built fort- ifications in Haifa, a neigh- bouring village, and is buy- ing up all the surrounding lands.\u2019<\/div>\n
\u201cAbout this time an Italian ship appeared in the harbour sent by order of the Italian Consul. It had been planned that I was to escape on it by night. The Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds in \u2018Akk\u00e1 implored me to go but I sent this message to the captain: \u2018The B\u00e1b did not run away: Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h did not run away; I shall not run away, so the ship sailed away after waiting three days and three nights.<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was while the Sul\u1e6d\u00e1n\u2019s committee of investigation was homeward bound that the first shell was dropped into \u2018Abdu\u2019l-\u1e24am\u00edd\u2019s camp and the first gun of freedom was fired into the home of despotism. That was God\u2019s gun,\u201d said \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1, with one of his wonderful smiles.<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the committee reached the Turkish capital, they had more urgent things to think of. The city was in a state of uproar and rebellion, and the committee, as members of the government staff, were delegated to investigate the insurrection. Meanwhile the people were establishing a constitutional government and \u2018Abdu\u2019l-\u1e24am\u00edd was given no chance to act.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

The Release<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cWith the advent of the Young Turks\u2019 supremacy, realized through the Society of Union and Progress, all the political prisoners of the Ottoman Empire were set free. Events took the chains from my neck and placed them about Ham\u00edd\u2019s; \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 came out of prison and \u2018Abdu\u2019l-\u1e24am\u00edd went in!\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat became of the committee?\u201d asked someone, breaking the deep silence that followed the recital of this thrilling page of history. \u201c\u00c1rif Bey,\u201d continued \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1, \u201cwas shot with three bullets, the general was exiled, the next in rank died, and the third ran away to Cairo, where he sought and received help from the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cWill you tell us how you felt while in prison and how you regard your freedom?\u201d I asked. \u201cWe are glad that you are free.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d he said graciously, and continuing\u2014<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom is not a matter of place. It is a condition. I was thankful for the prison, and the lack of liberty was very pleasing to me, for those days were passed in the path of service, under the utmost difficulties and trials, bearing fruits and results.<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cUnless one accepts dire vicissitudes, he will not attain. To me prison is freedom, troubles rest me, death is life, and to be despised is honour. Therefore, I was happy all that time in prison. When one is released from the prison of self, that is indeed release, for that is the greater prison. When this release takes place, then one cannot be outwardly imprisoned. When they put my feet in stocks, I would say to the guard, \u2018You cannot imprison me, for here I have light and air and bread and water. There will come a time when my body will be in the ground, and I shall have neither light nor air nor food nor water, but even then I shall not be imprisoned.\u2019 The afflictions which come to humanity sometimes tend to centre the consciousness upon the limitations, and this is a veritable prison. Release comes by making of the will a Door through which the confirmations of the Spirit come.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

This sounded so like the old theology that the modern in me rose doubting if the discipline could be compensated for by the effort. \u201cWhat do you mean by the confirmations of the Spirit?\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cThe confirmations of the Spirit are all those powers and gifts which some are born with (and which men sometimes call genius), but for which others have to strive with infinite pains. They come to that man or woman who accepts his life with radiant acquiescence.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

Radiant acquiescence\u2014that was the quality with which we all suddenly seemed inspired as \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 bade us good-bye.<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

It was a remarkable experience, hearing one who had passed along the prison path for forty years declare \u201cThere is no prison but the prison self;\u201d and it drove conviction to one\u2019s mind as this white-robed messenger from the East pointed the way out,\u2014not by the path called \u201cRenunciation,\u201d but \u201cUnattachment;\u201d Radiant Acquiescence\u2014the Shining Pathway out of the \u201cgreater prison of self\u201d as \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 so beautifully terms those bars that keep us from our fulfillment.<\/div>\n

Isabel Fraser1<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

The photographs in this article are used with the kind permission of Ezra Freelove.
\nhttp:\/\/freelovephotography.com\/<\/p>\n

1. As published in \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1, \u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1 in London (UK Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed Publishing Trust, 1982 reprint), pp. 114-21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cImmediately upon his arrival, \u00c1rif Bey proceeded to denounce me and tried to get proof strong enough to warrant sending me to Fiz\u00e1n, or throwing me into the sea. Fiz\u00e1n is a caravan station on the boundary of Tripoli where there are no houses and no water. It is a month\u2019s journey by camel route […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2166","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2166"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3028,"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2166\/revisions\/3028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.farstretchingriver.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}