A Wisdom in His Indisposition

After arriving in Port Said in September 1910, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stayed there for nearly a month, and the friends came from Cairo, in turn, to visit Him. One day He asked Siyyid Asadu’lláh-i-Qumí to accompany Him on a walk through the streets of the city, and said: "Do you realize now the meaning of my statement when I was telling the friends that there was a wisdom in my indisposition?" Siyyid Asadu’lláh answered that he remembered it very well.

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The Master continued: "Well, the wisdom was that I must always move according to the requirements of the Cause. Whatever the Cause requires for its promulgation, I will not delay in its accomplishment for one moment! Now, the Cause did require that I travel to these parts, and had I divulged my intention at that time, many difficulties would have arisen."

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After the month in Port Said, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as He had in Haifa, suddenly and without warning, boarded a ship bound for Europe. His voyage, however, was very short, because His health forced Him back on shore at Alexandria, on the other side of the Nile Delta.

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*Sources: Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, p. 8; Siyyid Asadu’lláh’s letter in Star of the West, vol. 1, no. 15, p. 2, quoted in H. M. Balyuzi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Centre of the Covenant, pp. 135–6; Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, ch. 16.*

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