Refuge at Abú-Sinán

Eight months after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s return to Haifa in December 1913 came the war. Soon after its outbreak, Haifa, which was still under Turkish rule, was panic-stricken. Most of the inhabitants fled inland, fearing bombardment by the Allies. Those Bahá’í friends who were merchants suffered great losses, for all their stores of tea, sugar, etc., were commandeered by the Government, without payment.

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The friends, in spite of the reassurances of the Master that no guns would be turned on Haifa, were living in constant fear, and the children, having heard terrible stories which were being told everywhere, grew quite ill, always looking round and about with frightened eyes.

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At this time, the Master decided that it would be well to accept an invitation of the Shaykh of Abú-Sinán to remove the Bahá’ís and their children to that peaceful, healthy village, out of reach of the dreaded bombarding. In this village also, the very limited resources of the friends would, with strictest economy, be sufficient for their daily needs, with the help of the corn from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s storing.

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Shaykh Ṣáliḥ placed his house at the disposal of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His family, Who received the most cordial welcome from this gracious and courteous chief of the Druze village of Abú-Sinán. The other Persian friends were gladly taken into various houses of the village, where they found themselves in most happy surroundings.

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Their food was of the simplest: lentils, dried beans, delicious olives and their oil, and sometimes milk, eggs, and even some goat’s meat. The fresh pure air was, of course, wonderfully good for their health, and they quickly recovered calm nerves and strength of body. The strictest economy was the rule, from necessity, there being so many mouths to feed, some of whom being in terrible distress, had to be cared for and saved from sheer starvation.

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‘Abdu’l-Bahá had taught the friends to grow nourishing vegetables, which, with the corn from His village of ‘Adasíyyih—where there were marvellous crops—kept many from perishing of hunger.

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The Master’s life was very full at this time. Not only did He care for the friends of Abú-Sinán, but in ‘Akká and Haifa all the poor looked to Him for their daily bread. Even before the war the spectre of starvation had not been very far from many of these pitiful people, but now when all the breadwinners (Germans and Turks) had been taken for the army, the plight of the women and children was desperate, for alas! there were no government “separation allowances.” Nothing and no one but the Master stood between them and certain death from hunger.

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