A Prisoner’s Cup of Tea

‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells the story of one of the prisoners in ‘Akká, who had been with Bahá’u’lláh in the Most Great Prison. He said that he had a small rug, a samovar, one cup and a teapot. He said that every afternoon he would sprinkle water somewhere and sweep and then spread this rug, bring his samovar and let the water boil. He would say, "Listen to it. How it boils. It's better than anything, better than anything else in the world. The weather is most pleasant." (The prisoner was referring to the weather of ‘Akká, which was the most stinking in the whole world.) Then he would pour tea for himself. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that he held the cup, looked at its color and said that never was there any tea as beautiful. Every day his tea was better than the previous one. And he would drink it with all sorts of happiness and gratitude and praise to God for one cup of tea, which he had made. And he was full of prayer as he was drinking, full of praise, of joy and happiness, because it was something springing up from his own soul.

Source: As told by Hand of the Cause A. Q. Faizi. Compare ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s account in Memorials of the Faithful of Muḥammad-‘Alí of Iṣfahán, a fellow prisoner of Bahá’u’lláh in ‘Akká, who took his samovar out each afternoon to have his tea and would say, “How delicious my tea is today … What perfume, what color!”

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: joy).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/joy