Shaykh Alíy-i-Mírí, the Muftí of Akká, had even, at the suggestion of `Abdu'l-Bahá, to plead insistently that He might permit the termination of His nine-year confinement within the walls of the prison-city, before He would consent to leave its gates. The garden of Na'mayn, a small island, situated in the middle of a river to the east of the city, honoured with the appellation of Ridván, and designated by Him the "New Jerusalem" and "Our Verdant Isle," had, together with the residence of `Abdu'lláh Páshá,--rented and prepared for Him by `Abdu'l-Bahá, and situated a few miles north of Akká--become by now the favourite retreats of One Who, for almost a decade, had not set foot beyond the city walls, and Whose sole exercise had been to pace, in monotonous repetition, the floor of His bed-chamber.

Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 192-193