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Better Conditions

Sources: 'abdu'l-baha In London

After two years of the strictest confinement permission was granted me to

find a house so that we could live outside the prison walls but still

within the fortifications. Many believers came from Persia to join us but

they were not allowed to do so. Nine years passed. Sometimes we were

better off and sometimes very much worse. It depended on the governor,

who, if he happened to be a kind and lenient ruler, would grant us

> permission to leave the fortification, and would allow the believers free

access to visit the house; but when the governor was more rigorous, extra

guards were placed around us, and often pilgrims who had come from afar

were turned away.



I learned, afterwards, from a Persian, who, during these troublous times,

was a member of 'Abdu'l-Baha's household, that the Turkish government

could not credit the fact that the interest of the English and American

visitors was purely spiritual and not political. Often these pilgrims were

refused permission to see him, and, many times, the whole trip from

America would be rewarded merely by a glimpse of 'Abdu'l-Baha from his

prison window.



The Government thought that the tomb of the Bab, an imposing building on

Mount Carmel, was a fortification erected with the aid of American money,

and that it was being armed and garrisoned secretly. Suspicion grew with

each new arrival, resulting in extra spies and guards.



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