The Trap That Sets You Free

*A retelling based on **Mahmúd's Diary** by Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání (George Ronald), from the entry for 5 August 1912. The narrative is retold in our own words; the short line in quotation marks is verbatim from the diary. Read the [full text](https://bahai-library.com/zarqani_mahmuds_diary) for the original entry.*

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It was the 5th of August, 1912, in Dublin, New Hampshire, where 'Abdu'l-Bahá was spending part of the summer. Before an afternoon meeting, a woman came to Him with a small confession.

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A friend of hers, she admitted, had tried hard to talk her out of coming at all. The friend had warned her, in the way people warn each other about new and unfamiliar movements, that she might be walking straight into a *trap* — that she should be careful, keep her distance, protect herself.

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'Abdu'l-Bahá did not bristle at the word. He did not defend Himself or dismiss the friend's suspicion. Instead, with gentle good humor, He simply agreed — and then turned the word inside out. Yes, He said in effect, it is a trap. But consider what kind:

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> It is a trap that frees people from the shackles of prejudice and superstitions.

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A trap, He went on, that delivers a person from the prison of self and selfish desire — and that, having freed them from all of that, makes them captives of something else entirely: the love of God, and the joy of serving the oneness of humankind. The only thing this snare catches you in, He was telling her, is liberty.

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The woman's fear melted into understanding. What she had been told to dread turned out to be the very thing she had been longing for. And her friend's warning, so anxiously given, had unwittingly described the truth exactly — only with all the values reversed.

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There is a lightness in this little exchange that is easy to love: no arguing, no wounded pride, just a smile and a wink of wisdom that took a word meant to frighten and made it shine. It is a small reminder that the life of faith is not a narrowing but a release — that what looks, from the outside, like a cage may in fact be an open door.

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*This account is retold for the Bahai Story Library; it is a paraphrase, not the original text. The quoted line is verbatim from Mahmúd's Diary (Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, George Ronald). See the source for the original entry.*

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