e, the last that was to darken the years of
His agitated yet glorious ministry.

The late entry of the United States of America in that world-convulsing
conflict, the neutrality of Persia, the remoteness of India and of the Far
East from the theater of operations, insured the protection of the
overwhelming majority of His followers, who, though for the most part
entirely cut off for a number of years from the spiritual center of their
Faith, were still able to conduct their affairs and safeguard the fruits
of their recent achievements in comparative safety and freedom.

In the Holy Land, however, though the outcome of that tremendous struggle
was to liberate once and for all the Heart and Center of the Faith from
the Turkish yoke, a yoke which had imposed for so long upon its Founder
and His Successor such oppressive and humiliating restrictions, yet severe
privations and grave dangers continued to surround its inhabitants during
the major part of that conflict, and renewed, for a time, the perils which
had confronted 'Abdu'l-Baha during the years of His incarceration in Akka.
The privations inflicted on the inhabitants by the gross incompetence, the
shameful neglect, the cruelty and callous indifference of both the civil
and military authorities, though greatly alleviated through the bountiful
generosity, the foresight and the tender care of 'Abdu'l-Baha, were
aggravated by the rigors of a strict blockade. A bombardment of Haifa by
the Allies was a constant threat, at one time so real that it necessitated
the temporary removal of 'Abdu'l-Baha, His family and members of the local
community to the village of Abu-Sinan at the foot of the hills east of
Akka. The Turkish Commander-in-Chief, the brutal, the all-powerful and
unscrupulous Jamal Pa_sh_a, an inveterate enemy of the Faith, through his
own ill-founded suspicions and the instigation of its enemies, had already
grievously afflicted 'Abdu'l-Baha, and even expressed his intention of
crucifying Him and of razing to the ground the Tomb of Baha'u'llah.
'Abdu'l-Baha Himself still suffered from the ill-health and exhaustion
brought on by the fatigues of His three-year journeys. He felt acutely the
virtual stoppage of all communication with most of the Baha'i centers
throughout the world. Agony filled His soul at the spectacle of human
slaughter precipitated through humanity's failure to respond to the
summons He had issued, or to heed the warnings He had given. Surely sorro