The Greatest Holy Leaf at the Barracks

*A retelling based on Lady Blomfield's letter from 'Akká of 2 May 1922, printed in **The Chosen Highway**.*

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Lady Blomfield came to Haifa with Shoghi Effendi at the end of 1921, soon after the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. In *The Chosen Highway* she wrote that most of the details of Bahíyyih Khánum's spoken chronicle were given to her in conversations with Khánum herself.

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Bahíyyih Khánum was six years old in 1852, when her father, Bahá'u'lláh, was thrown into prison in Ṭihrán and the family's house was stripped of everything. She went with the family into exile, and she was among the prisoners brought to 'Akká in 1868. In April 1922, when Shoghi Effendi left Haifa for a time, he named her as his representative during his absence.

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At the beginning of May 1922 Lady Blomfield was staying in the house of Bahá'u'lláh in 'Akká, and she described the visit in a letter to her daughter. On 2 May the Holy Mother, Munírih Khánum, and the Greatest Holy Leaf motored over from Haifa, and a party of nine ladies went to see the barracks where Bahá'u'lláh, His family and His companions had been imprisoned. Áqá Ḥusayn, the cook, who had been with Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád, came with them to give details of all the places and scenes of the captivity.

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They saw the little room on the ground floor where Bahá'u'lláh stayed for a time when He first arrived in 'Akká. Close by was the vault-like room where the rest of the family and the seventy companions had been shut in for the first days. All of them fell sick with typhoid except two, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and one other man, and the Master nursed them, cooked for them and divided out the portions Himself. Lady Blomfield wrote:

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> The Greatest Holy Leaf, her eyes charged with memories, was with us while > we listened. She had been there in that terrible time, and was sick of > that same fever, from the effects of which she has occasionally suffered > all through her life.

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*A retelling based on **The Chosen Highway**. For the fuller account, see the original.*

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