‘Abdu’l-Baha recalls His life – Part 1: from an interview given by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the Weekly Budget, London, September 23rd, 1911

The Most Great Prison Akka Israel in 1907
(Baha'i News Jan. 1965)

At nine years of age, I accompanied my father, Bahá’u’lláh, in His journey of exile to Baghdád, seventy of His disciples going with us. This decree of exile, after persistent persecution, was intended to effectively stamp out of Persia what the authorities considered a dangerous religion. Bahá’u’lláh, with His family and followers, was banished, and travelled from one place to another. When I was about twenty-five years old, we were moved from Constantinople to Adrianople, and from there went with a guard of soldiers to the fortressed city of Akká, where we were imprisoned and closely guarded.

We had no communication whatever with the out-side world. Each loaf of bread was cut open by the guard to see that it contained no message. All who believed in the Bahá’í manifestation, children, men and women, were imprisoned with us. There were one-hundred and fifty of us together in two rooms and no one was allowed to leave the place with the exceptions of four persons, who went to the bazaar to market each morning, under guard. The first summer was dreadful. Akká is a fever-ridden town. It was said that a bird attempting to fly over it would drop dead. The food was poor and insufficient, the water was drawn from a fever-infected well and the climate and conditions were such, that even the natives of the town fell ill. Many soldiers succumbed and eight out of ten of our guard died. During the intense heat, malaria, typhoid and dysentery attacked the prisoners, so that all, men, women and children, were sick at one time. There were no doctors, no medicines, no proper food, and no treatment of any kind. I used to make broth for the people…

‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Abdu'l-Baha in London’)