The Best Kind of Trap
Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, Mahmúd's Diary, (1998), George Ronald · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
A retelling for children, based on Mahmúd's Diary (entry of 5 August 1912). The words in quotation marks are 'Abdu'l-Bahá's, as the diary records them.
In the summer of 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was staying in the small town of Dublin, New Hampshire. One afternoon, before a meeting where He was going to speak, a woman who loved Him told Him what a friend of hers had said.
The friend had tried hard to stop her from coming. She had warned her not to go, in case she fell into a trap.
'Abdu'l-Bahá said that people who do not care about God have always tried to hold others back from the Cause of God. Then He spoke about the trap. He said, "we have been trapped happily for sixty years and we have no desire to escape."
Then He explained what kind of trap it was:
It is a trap that frees people from the shackles of prejudice and superstitions and delivers them from the prison of self and desire.
Shackles are chains. Prejudice is judging people unfairly before we know them. This trap, the Master said, sets people free from those chains, and from being shut up inside their own selfish wishes. It makes them "the captives of the love of God" and of service to the oneness of all people.
This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Trap That Sets You Free".
Cite this story
Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, M.. (1998). *Mahmúd's Diary*. George Ronald. https://bahai-library.com/zarqani_mahmuds_diary
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