AKKA

Akká - Ptolemais of the ancient world, St Jean d'Acre of the Crusaders and their last stronghold, which refused to bow to the might of Napoleon, a city that gathered renown throughout the centuries - had indeed fallen into disrepute at this period of its chequered history. Its air and water were foul and pestilential. Proverb had it that a bird flying over 'Akká would fall dead. To its forbidding barracks were consigned the rebels, the desperadoes, the unredeemable criminals of the Ottoman domains - sent there to perish.

This was also the city of which David had spoken as 'The Strong City', which Hosea had extolled as a 'door of hope', of which Ezekiel had said, 'Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. . . . And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.'3 And the Founder of Islam had thus eulogized this very city, 'Blessed the man that hath visited 'Akká, and blessed he that hath visited the visitor of 'Akká. . . . And he that raiseth therein the call to prayer, his voice will be lifted up unto Paradise.'

The 'Akká which opened its gates to receive as a Prisoner the Redeemer of the world, was a city that had fathomed the depths of misery. And Bahá'u'lláh's exile to the Holy Land, His incarceration in the grim citadel of 'Akká, was intended by His adversaries to be the final blow which, in their calculations, would shatter His Faith and fortune. How significant and momentous will this exile seem, if we recall certain prophecies uttered in the past. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, and the Expounder of His Message, thus speaks of this stupendous event:

When Bahá'u'lláh came to this prison in the Holy Land, the

wise men realized that the glad tidings which God gave through the

tongue of the Prophets two or three thousand years before, were again

manifested, and that God was faithful to His promise; for to some of the

Prophets He had revealed and given the good news that 'The Lord of Hosts

should be manifested in the Holy Land.' All these promises were fulfilled,

and it is difficult to understand how Bahá'u'lláh could have been obliged

to leave Persia, and to pitch His tent in this Holy Land, but for the

persecution of His enemies, His banishment and exile.

David had so majestically announced: 'and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.'

'The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them' Isaiah had said, 'and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel an Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.'

'The Lord will roar from Zion' had been Amos's testimony, 'and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherd shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.'7

And Micah had thus foreseen,8 ' . . . from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain', he shall come.

(H.M. Balyuzi, Baha'u'llah - The King of Glory, p. 281)