Abdu’l-Bahá - The Master

Although in prison, I have experienced the utmost joy and fragrance, the heart was attracted, the spirit rejoiced, the eyes turned toward the Kingdom of God and the tongue mentioning the Name of the True One and displaying the utmost effort and endeavor in the promotion of the Word of God and the diffusion of the fragrances of God; yet, under all difficulties, there have been no shortcomings, nor hath there been any lack of enthusiasm. The call hath been raised uninterruptedly and the fragrances of holiness have been diffused through all regions and empires.

At this point one of the Persians explained to me that it was on account of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's wonderful patience, helpfulness, and endurance that he was always called "The Master." One could easily feel his mastership in his complete severance from time and place, and absolute detachment from all that even a Turkish prison could inflict.

O thou friend! Be not sorrowful because of my imprisonment and lament not for my difficulties; nay, rather ask God to increase my hardship in His path, for therein lies a wisdom which none are able to comprehend save the near angels.

Then know ye that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is in cheerfulness and joy and in the happiness of great glad-tidings though being in the far distant prison.[‘Akká] By the life of El-Bahá! -- this prison is my supreme paradise, my utmost desire, the joy of my heart and the dilation of my breast, my shelter, my asylum, my inaccessible cave and my high protection. By it I glory among the angels of heaven and the Supreme Concourse. Be rejoiced, O friends of God, with this confinement which is a cause of freedom, this prison which is a means of salvation (to many) and this suffering which is the best cause of great comfort. Verily, by God, I would not change this prison for the throne of the command of the horizons and would not exchange this confinement for all excursions and enjoyments in the gardens of the earth.