In view of questions that have sometimes arisen concerning
Some Answered Questions and how it came to be written, Laura Clifford Barney, the interlocutor who obtained the answers from
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, has made known to the publishers the following facts:
The talks between ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Laura Clifford Barney took place during the difficult years, 1904 - 1906, when He was confined to the city of
‘Akká by the Turkish government and permitted to receive only a few visitors. At the time He was under constant threat of removal to a distant desert confinement.
As interlocutor, Mis Barney arranged for of one ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sons-in-law, or for one of the three distinguished Persians of His secretariat of that period, to be present during the talks to insure accuracy in recording His replies to the questions asked of Him. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá later read the transcriptions, sometimes changing a word or a line with His reed pen. They were later translated into English by Miss Barney. The original Persian texts are today a part of the Bahá’í archives of
Haifa. For additional commentary on this work, refer to
Shoghi Effendi’s statements in
God Passes By, pages 107, 260, 268, 305 and 383.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá was finally freed in 1908 after the revolution in the
Ottoman Empire and the overthrow of the
Sulṭán. A few years later He traveled to Egypt, Europe and North America, welcoming persons of all religious faiths and classes, meeting outstanding personalities, and