though
they took the command of God for a mockery, a sport, and a
plaything; and they think that they do well, and that they are
harboured in the citadel of security. The matter is not as they
suppose: to-morrow they shall see what they [now] deny.

We are about to shift from this most remote place of banishment
[Adrianople] unto the prison of Acre. And, according to what they
say, it is assuredly the most desolate of the cities of the world,
the most unsightly of them in appearance, the most detestable in
climate, and the foulest in water; it is as though it were the
metropolis of the owl; there is not heard from its regions aught
save the sound of its hooting. And in it they intend to imprison
the servant, and to shut in our faces the doors of leniency and
take away from us the good things of the life of the world during
what remaineth of our days. By God, though weariness should weaken
me, and hunger should destroy me, though my couch should be made
of the hard rock and my associates of the beasts of the desert, I
will not blench, but will be patient, as the resolute and
determined are patient, in the strength of God, the King of
Pre-existence, the Creator of the nations; and under all
circumstances I give thanks unto God. And we hope of His
graciousness (exalted is He) ... that He will render [all men's]
faces sincere toward Him, the Mighty, the Bounteous. Verily He
answereth him who prayeth unto Him, and is near unto him who
calleth on Him. And we ask Him to make this dark calamity a
buckler for the body of His saints, and to protect them thereby
from sharp swords and piercing blades. Through affliction hath His
light shone and His praise been bright unceasingly: this hath been
His method through past ages and bygone times. A Traveller's
Narrative (Episode of the Bab), pp. 145-147.

Imprisonment in Akka

At that time Akka (Acre) was a prison city to which the worst criminals
were sent from all parts of the Turkish Empire. On arriving there, after a
miserable sea journey, Baha'u'llah and His followers, about eighty to
eighty-four in number, including men, women and children, were imprisoned
in the army barracks. The place was dirty and cheerless in the extreme.
There were no beds or comforts of any sort. The food supplied was wretched
and inadequate, so much so that after a time the priso