God Passes By Part 17

Already on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Michigan, in the outskirts of the first Baha'i center established in the American continent and under the shadow of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West; in the capital city of Persia, the cradle of the Faith; in the vicinity of the Most Great House in Ba_gh_dad; in the city of I_sh_qabad, adjoining the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i world; in the capital of Egypt, the foremost center of both the Arab and Islamic worlds; in Delhi, the capital city of India and even in Sydney in far-off Australia, initial steps have been taken which must eventually culminate in the establishment, in all their splendor and power, of the national administrative seats of the Baha'i communities established in these countries.

Locally, moreover, in the above-mentioned countries, as well as in several others, the preliminary measures for the establishment of this inst.i.tution, in the form of a house, either owned or rented by the local Baha'i community, have been taken, foremost among them being the numerous administrative buildings which, in various provinces of Persia, the believers have, despite the disabilities from which they suffer, succeeded in either purchasing or constructing.

Equally important as a factor in the evolution of the Administrative Order has been the remarkable progress achieved, particularly in the United States of America, by the inst.i.tution of the summer schools designed to foster the spirit of fellows.h.i.+p in a distinctly Baha'i atmosphere, to afford the necessary training for Baha'i teachers, and to provide facilities for the study of the history and teachings of the Faith, and for a better understanding of its relation to other religions and to human society in general.

Established in three regional centers, for the three major divisions of the North American continent, in Geyserville, in the Californian hills (1927), at Green Acre, situated on the banks of the Piscataqua in the state of Maine (1929), and at Louhelen Ranch near Davison, Michigan (1931), and recently supplemented by the International School founded at Pine Valley, Colorado Springs, dedicated to the training of Baha'i teachers wis.h.i.+ng to serve in other lands and especially in Latin America, these three embryonic Baha'i educational inst.i.tutions have, through a steady expansion of their programs, set an example worthy of emulation by other Baha'i communities in both the East and the West. Through the intensive study of Baha'i Scriptures and of the early history of the Faith; through the organization of courses on the teachings and history of Islam; through conferences for the promotion of inter-racial amity; through laboratory courses designed to familiarize the partic.i.p.ants with the processes of the Baha'i Administrative Order; through special sessions devoted to Youth and child training; through cla.s.ses in public speaking; through lectures on Comparative Religion; through group discussion on the manifold aspects of the Faith; through the establishment of libraries; through teaching cla.s.ses; through courses on Baha'i ethics and on Latin America; through the introduction of winter school sessions; through forums and devotional gatherings; through plays and pageants; through picnics and other recreational activities, these schools, open to Baha'is and non-Baha'is alike, have set so n.o.ble an example as to inspire other Baha'i communities in Persia, in the British Isles, in Germany, in Australia, in New Zealand, in India, in 'Iraq and in Egypt to undertake the initial measures designed to enable them to build along the same lines inst.i.tutions that bid fair to evolve into the Baha'i universities of the future.

Among other factors contributing to the expansion and establishment of the Administrative Order may be mentioned the organized activities of the Baha'i Youth, already much advanced in Persia and in the United States of America, and launched more recently in India, in the British Isles, in Germany, in 'Iraq, in Egypt, in Australia, in Bulgaria, in the Hawaiian Islands, in Hungary and in Havana. These activities comprise annual world-wide Baha'i Youth Symposiums, Youth sessions at Baha'i summer schools, youth bulletins and magazines, an international correspondence Bureau, facilities for the registration of young people desiring to join the Faith, the publication of outlines and references for the study of the teachings and the organization of a Baha'i study group as an official university activity in a leading American university. They include, moreover, "study days" held in Baha'i homes and centers, cla.s.ses for the study of Esperanto and other languages, the organization of Baha'i libraries, the opening of reading rooms, the production of Baha'i plays and pageants, the holding of oratorical contests, the education of orphans, the organization of cla.s.ses in public speaking, the holding of gatherings to perpetuate the memory of historical Baha'i personalities, inter-group regional conferences and youth sessions held in connection with Baha'i annual conventions.

Still other factors promoting the development of that Order and contributing to its consolidation have been the systematic inst.i.tution of the Nineteen Day Feast, functioning in most Baha'i communities in East and West, with its threefold emphasis on the devotional, the administrative and the social aspects of Baha'i community life; the initiation of activities designed to prepare a census of Baha'i children, and provide for them laboratory courses, prayer books and elementary literature, and the formulation and publication of a body of authoritative statements on the non-political character of the Faith, on members.h.i.+p in non-Baha'i religious organizations, on methods of teaching, on the Baha'i att.i.tude towards war, on the inst.i.tutions of the Annual Convention, of the Baha'i Spiritual a.s.sembly, of the Nineteen Day Feast and of the National Fund.

Reference should, moreover, be made to the establishment of National Archives for the authentication, the collection, the translation, the cataloguing and the preservation of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah and of 'Abdu'l-Baha and for the preservation of sacred relics and historical doc.u.ments; to the verification and transcription of the original Tablets of the Bab, of Baha'u'llah and of 'Abdu'l-Baha in the possession of Oriental believers; to the compilation of a detailed history of the Faith since its inception until the present day; to the opening of a Baha'i International Bureau in Geneva; to the holding of Baha'i district conventions; to the purchase of historic sites; to the establishment of Baha'i memorial libraries, and to the initiation of a flouris.h.i.+ng children's Savings Bank in Persia.

Nor should mention be omitted of the partic.i.p.ation, whether official or non-official, of representatives of these newly founded national Baha'i communities in the activities and proceedings of a great variety of congresses, a.s.sociations, conventions and conferences, held in various countries of Europe, Asia and America for the promotion of religious unity, peace, education, international cooperation, inter-racial amity and other humanitarian purposes. With organizations such as the Conference of some Living Religions within the British Empire, held in London in 1924 and the World Fellows.h.i.+p of Faiths held in that same city in 1936; with the Universal Esperanto Congresses held annually in various capitals of Europe; with the Inst.i.tute of Intellectual Cooperation; with the Century of Progress Exhibition held in Chicago in 1933; with the World's Fair held in New York in 1938 and 1939; with the Golden Gate International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1939; with the First Convention of the Religious Congress held in Calcutta; with the Second All-India Cultural Conference convened in that same city; with the All-Faiths' League Convention in Indore; with the Arya Samaj and the Brahmo Samaj Conferences as well as those of the Theosophical Society and the All-Asian Women's Conference, held in various cities of India; with the World Council of Youth; with the Eastern Women's Congress in ?ihran; with the Pan-Pacific Women's Conference in Honolulu; with the Women's International League for Peace and with the Peoples Conference at Buenos Aires in Argentina-with these and others, relations.h.i.+ps have, in one form or another, been cultivated which have served the twofold purpose of demonstrating the universality and comprehensiveness of the Faith of Baha'u'llah and of forging vital and enduring links between them and the far-flung agencies of its Administrative Order.

Nor should we ignore or underestimate the contacts established between these same agencies and some of the highest governmental authorities, in both the East and the West, as well as with the heads of Islam in Persia, and with the League of Nations, and with even royalty itself for the purpose of defending the rights, or of presenting the literature, or of setting forth the aims and purposes of the followers of the Faith in their unremitting efforts to champion the cause of an infant Administrative Order. The communications addressed by the members of the National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada-the champion builders of that Order-to the Palestine High Commissioner for the rest.i.tution of the keys of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah to its custodian; to the _Sh_ah of Persia, on four occasions, pleading for justice on behalf of their persecuted brethren within his domains; to the Persian Prime Minister on that same subject; to Queen Marie of Rumania, expressing grat.i.tude for her historic tributes to the Baha'i Faith; to the Heads of Islam in Persia, appealing for harmony and peace among religions; to King Feisal of 'Iraq for the purpose of insuring the security of the Most Great House in Ba_gh_dad; to the Soviet Authorities on behalf of the Baha'i communities in Russia; to the German authorities regarding the disabilities suffered by their German brethren; to the Egyptian Government concerning the emanc.i.p.ation of their co-religionists from the yoke of Islamic orthodoxy; to the Persian Cabinet in connection with the closing of Persian Baha'i educational inst.i.tutions; to the State Department of the United States Government and the Turkish Amba.s.sador in Was.h.i.+ngton and the Turkish Cabinet in Ankara, in defense of the interests of the Faith in Turkey; to that same State Department in order to facilitate the transfer of the remains of Lua Getsinger from the Protestant Cemetery in Cairo to the first Baha'i burial-ground established in Egypt; to the Persian Minister in Was.h.i.+ngton regarding the mission of Keith Ransom-Kehler; to the King of Egypt with accompanying Baha'i literature; to the Government of the United States and the Canadian Government, setting forth the Baha'i teachings on Universal Peace; to the Rumanian Minister in Was.h.i.+ngton on behalf of the American Baha'is, on the occasion of the death of Queen Marie of Rumania; and to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, acquainting him with Baha'u'llah's summons issued in His Kitab-i-Aqdas to the Presidents of the American Republics and with certain prayers revealed by 'Abdu'l-Baha-such communications const.i.tute in themselves a notable and illuminating chapter in the history of the unfoldment of the Baha'i Administrative Order.

To these must be added the communications addressed from the world center of the Faith as well as by Baha'i national and local a.s.semblies, whether telegraphically or in writing, to the Palestine High Commissioner, pleading for the delivery of the keys of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah to its original keeper; the appeals made by Baha'i centers in East and West to the Iraqi authorities for the restoration of the House of Baha'u'llah in Ba_gh_dad; the subsequent appeal made to the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, following the verdict of the Ba_gh_dad Court of Appeals in that connection; the messages despatched to the League of Nations on behalf of Baha'i communities in the East and in the West, in appreciation of the official p.r.o.nouncement of the Council of the League in favor of the claims presented by the Baha'i pet.i.tioners, as well as several letters exchanged between the International Center of the Faith, on the one hand, and that archetype of Baha'i teachers, Martha Root, on the other, with Queen Marie of Rumania, following the publication of her historic appreciations of the Faith, and the messages of sympathy addressed to Queen Marie of Yugoslavia, on behalf of the world-wide Baha'i Community, on the occasion of the pa.s.sing of her mother, and to the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent following the tragic death of her husband.

Nor should we fail to make special mention of the pet.i.tion forwarded by the National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of 'Iraq to the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, as a result of the seizure of Baha'u'llah's house in Ba_gh_dad, or of the written messages sent to King _Gh_azi I of 'Iraq by that same a.s.sembly, after the death of his father and on the occasion of his marriage, or of its condolences conveyed in writing to the present Regent of 'Iraq at the time of the sudden death of that King, or of the communications of the National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of Egypt submitted to the Egyptian Prime Minister, the Minister of the Interior, and the Minister of Justice, following the verdict of the Muslim ecclesiastical court in Egypt, or of the letters addressed by the National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of Persia to the _Sh_ah and to the Persian Cabinet in connection with the closing of Baha'i schools and the ban imposed on Baha'i literature in that country.

Mention should, moreover, be made of the written messages despatched by the National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of Persia to the King of Rumania and the Royal Family on the occasion of the death of his mother, Queen Marie, as well as to the Turkish Amba.s.sador in ?ihran enclosing the contribution of the Persian believers for the sufferers of the earthquake in Turkey; of Martha Root's letters to the late President Von Hindenburg and to Dr. Streseman, the German Foreign Minister, accompanying the presentation to them of Baha'i literature; of Keith Ransom-Kehler's seven successive pet.i.tions addressed to the _Sh_ah of Persia, and of her numerous communications to various ministers and high dignitaries of the realm, during her memorable visit to that land.

Collateral with these first stirrings of the Baha'i Administrative Order, and synchronizing with the emergence of National Baha'i communities and with the inst.i.tution of their administrative, educational, and teaching agencies, the mighty process set in motion in the Holy Land, the heart and nerve-center of that Administrative Order, on the memorable occasions when Baha'u'llah revealed the Tablet of Carmel and visited the future site of the Bab's sepulcher, was irresistibly unfolding. That process had received a tremendous impetus through the purchase of that site, shortly after Baha'u'llah's ascension, through the subsequent transfer of the Bab's remains from ?ihran to Akka, through the construction of that sepulcher during the most distressful years of 'Abdu'l-Baha's incarceration, and lastly through the permanent interment of those remains in the heart of Mt. Carmel, through the establishment of a pilgrim house in the immediate vicinity of that sepulcher, and the selection of the future site of the first Baha'i educational inst.i.tution on that mountain.

Profiting from the freedom accorded the world center of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, ever since the ignominious defeat of the decrepit Ottoman empire during the war of 191418, the forces released through the inception of the stupendous Plan conceived by Him could now flow unchecked, under the beneficent influence of a sympathetic regime, into channels designed to disclose to the world at large the potencies with which that Plan had been endowed. The interment of 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself within a vault of the Bab's mausoleum, enhancing still further the sacredness of that mountain; the installment of an electric plant, the first of its kind established in the city of Haifa, flooding with illumination the Grave of One Who, in His own words, had been denied even "a lighted lamp" in His fortress-prison in a_dh_irbayjan; the construction of three additional chambers adjoining His sepulcher, thereby completing 'Abdu'l-Baha's plan for the first unit of that Edifice; the vast extension, despite the machinations of the Covenant-breakers, of the properties surrounding that resting-place, sweeping from the ridge of Carmel down to the Templar colony nestling at its foot, and representing a.s.sets estimated at no less than four hundred thousand pounds, together with the acquisition of four tracts of land, dedicated to the Baha'i Shrines, and situated in the plain of Akka to the north, in the district of Beersheba to the south, and in the valley of the Jordan to the east, amounting to approximately six hundred acres; the opening of a series of terraces which, as designed by 'Abdu'l-Baha, are to provide a direct approach to the Bab's Tomb from the city lying under its shadow; the beautification of its precincts through the laying out of parks and gardens, open daily to the public, and attracting tourists and residents alike to its gates-these may be regarded as the initial evidences of the marvelous expansion of the international inst.i.tutions and endowments of the Faith at its world center. Of particular significance, moreover, has been the exemption granted by the Palestine High Commissioner to the entire area of land surrounding and dedicated to the Shrine of the Bab, to the school property and the archives in its vicinity, to the Western pilgrim-house situated in its neighborhood, and to such historic sites as the Mansion in Bahji, the House of Baha'u'llah in Akka, and the garden of Ridvan to the east of that city; the establishment, as a result of two formal applications submitted to the civil authorities, of the Palestine Branches of the American and Indian National Spiritual a.s.semblies, as recognized religious societies in Palestine (to be followed, for purposes of internal consolidation, by a similar incorporation of the branches of other National Spiritual a.s.semblies throughout the Baha'i world); and the transfer to the Branch of the American National Spiritual a.s.sembly, through a series of no less than thirty transactions, of properties dedicated to the Tomb of the Bab, and approximating in their aggregate fifty thousand square meters, the majority of the t.i.tle-deeds of which bear the signature of the son of the Arch-breaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant in his capacity as Registrar of lands in Haifa.

Equally significant has been the founding on Mt. Carmel of two international Archives, the one adjoining the shrine of the Bab, the other in the immediate vicinity of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf, where, for the first time in Baha'i history, priceless treasures, hitherto scattered and often hidden for safekeeping, have been collected and are now displayed to visiting pilgrims. These treasures include portraits of both the Bab and Baha'u'llah; personal relics such as the hair, the dust and garments of the Bab; the locks and blood of Baha'u'llah and such articles as His pen-case, His garments, His brocaded tajes (head dresses), the ka_sh_kul of His Sulaymaniyyih days, His watch and His Qur'an; ma.n.u.scripts and Tablets of inestimable value, some of them illuminated, such as part of the Hidden Words written in Baha'u'llah's own hand, the Persian Bayan, in the handwriting of Siyyid ?usayn, the Bab's amanuensis, the original Tablets to the Letters of the Living penned by the Bab, and the ma.n.u.script of "Some Answered Questions." This precious collection, moreover, includes objects and effects a.s.sociated with 'Abdu'l-Baha; the blood-stained garment of the Purest Branch, the ring of Quddus, the sword of Mulla ?usayn, the seals of the Vazir, the father of Baha'u'llah, the brooch presented by the Queen of Rumania to Martha Root, the originals of the Queen's letters to her and to others, and of her tributes to the Faith, as well as no less than twenty volumes of prayers and Tablets revealed by the Founders of the Faith, authenticated and transcribed by Baha'i a.s.semblies throughout the Orient, and supplementing the vast collection of their published writings.

Moreover, as a further testimony to the majestic unfoldment and progressive consolidation of the stupendous undertaking launched by Baha'u'llah on that holy mountain, may be mentioned the selection of a portion of the school property situated in the precincts of the Shrine of the Bab as a permanent resting-place for the Greatest Holy Leaf, the "well-beloved" sister of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the "Leaf that hath sprung" from the "Pre-existent Root," the "fragrance" of Baha'u'llah's "s.h.i.+ning robe,"

elevated by Him to a "station such as none other woman hath surpa.s.sed,"

and comparable in rank to those immortal heroines such as Sarah, asiyih, the Virgin Mary, Fatimih and Tahirih, each of whom has outshone every member of her s.e.x in previous Dispensations. And lastly, there should be mentioned, as a further evidence of the blessings flowing from the Divine Plan, the transfer, a few years later, to that same hallowed spot, after a separation in death of above half a century, and notwithstanding the protests voiced by the brother and lieutenant of the arch-breaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, of the remains of the Purest Branch, the martyred son of Baha'u'llah, "created of the light of Baha," the "Trust of G.o.d" and His "Treasure" in the Holy Land, and offered up by his Father as a "ransom" for the regeneration of the world and the unification of its peoples. To this same burial-ground, and on the same day the remains of the Purest Branch were interred, was transferred the body of his mother, the saintly Navvab, she to whose dire afflictions, as attested by 'Abdu'l-Baha in a Tablet, the 54th chapter of the Book of Isaiah has, in its entirety, borne witness, whose "Husband," in the words of that Prophet, is "the Lord of Hosts," whose "seed shall inherit the Gentiles,"

and whom Baha'u'llah in His Tablet, has destined to be "His consort in every one of His worlds."

The conjunction of these three resting-places, under the shadow of the Bab's own Tomb, embosomed in the heart of Carmel, facing the snow-white city across the bay of Akka, the Qiblih of the Baha'i world, set in a garden of exquisite beauty, reinforces, if we would correctly estimate its significance, the spiritual potencies of a spot, designated by Baha'u'llah Himself the seat of G.o.d's throne. It marks, too, a further milestone in the road leading eventually to the establishment of that permanent world Administrative Center of the future Baha'i Commonwealth, destined never to be separated from, and to function in the proximity of, the Spiritual Center of that Faith, in a land already revered and held sacred alike by the adherents of three of the world's outstanding religious systems.

Scarcely less significant has been the erection of the superstructure and the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West, the n.o.blest of the exploits which have immortalized the services of the American Baha'i community to the Cause of Baha'u'llah. Consummated through the agency of an efficiently functioning and newly established Administrative Order, this enterprise has itself immensely enhanced the prestige, consolidated the strength and expanded the subsidiary inst.i.tutions of the community that made its building possible.

Conceived forty-one years ago; originating with the pet.i.tion spontaneously addressed, in March 1903 to 'Abdu'l-Baha by the "House of Spirituality" of the Baha'is of Chicago-the first Baha'i center established in the Western world-the members of which, inspired by the example set by the builders of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of I_sh_qabad, had appealed for permission to construct a similar Temple in America; blessed by His approval and high commendation in a Tablet revealed by Him in June of that same year; launched by the delegates of various American a.s.semblies, a.s.sembled in Chicago in November, 1907, for the purpose of choosing the site of the Temple; established on a national basis through a religious corporation known as the "Baha'i Temple Unity," which was incorporated shortly after the first American Baha'i Convention held in that same city in March, 1909; honored through the dedication ceremony presided over by 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself when visiting that site in May, 1912, this enterprise-the crowning achievement of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in the first Baha'i century-had, ever since that memorable occasion, been progressing intermittently until the time when the foundations of that Order having been firmly laid in the North American continent the American Baha'i community was in a position to utilize the instruments which it had forged for the efficient prosecution of its task.

At the 1914 American Baha'i Convention the purchase of the Temple property was completed. The 1920 Convention, held in New York, having been previously directed by 'Abdu'l-Baha to select the design of that Temple, chose from among a number of designs compet.i.tively submitted to it that of Louis J. Bourgeois, a French-Canadian architect, a selection that was later confirmed by 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself. The contracts for the sinking of the nine great caissons supporting the central portion of the building, extending to rock at a depth of 120 feet below the ground level, and for the construction of the bas.e.m.e.nt structure, were successively awarded in December, 1920 and August, 1921. In August, 1930, in spite of the prevailing economic crisis, and during a period of unemployment unparalleled in American history, another contract, with twenty-four additional sub-contracts, for the erection of the superstructure was placed, and the work completed by May 1, 1931, on which day the first devotional service in the new structure was celebrated, coinciding with the 19th anniversary of the dedication of the grounds by 'Abdu'l-Baha. The ornamentation of the dome was started in June, 1932 and finished in January, 1934. The ornamentation of the clerestory was completed in July, 1935, and that of the gallery unit below it in November, 1938. The mainstory ornamentation was, despite the outbreak of the present war, undertaken in April, 1940, and completed in July, 1942; whilst the eighteen circular steps were placed in position by December, 1942, seventeen months in advance of the centenary celebration of the Faith, by which time the exterior of the Temple was scheduled to be finished, and forty years after the pet.i.tion of the Chicago believers had been submitted to and granted by 'Abdu'l-Baha.

This unique edifice, the first fruit of a slowly maturing Administrative Order, the n.o.blest structure reared in the first Baha'i century, and the symbol and precursor of a future world civilization, is situated in the heart of the North American continent, on the western sh.o.r.e of Lake Michigan, and is surrounded by its own grounds comprising a little less than seven acres. It has been financed, at cost of over a million dollars, by the American Baha'i community, a.s.sisted at times by voluntary contributions of recognized believers in East and West, of Christian, of Muslim, of Jewish, of Zoroastrian, of Hindu and Buddhist extraction. It has been a.s.sociated, in its initial phase, with 'Abdu'l-Baha, and in the concluding stages of its construction with the memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Purest Branch, and their mother. The structure itself is a pure white nonagonal building, of original and unique design, rising from a flight of white stairs encircling its base; and surmounted by a majestic and beautifully proportioned dome, bearing nine tapering symmetrically placed ribs of decorative as well as structural significance, which soar to its apex and finally merge into a common unit pointing skyward. Its framework is constructed of structural steel enclosed in concrete, the material of its ornamentation consisting of a combination of crystalline quartz, opaque quartz and white Portland cement, producing a composition clear in texture, hard and enduring as stone, impervious to the elements, and cast into a design as delicate as lace. It soars 191 feet from the floor of its bas.e.m.e.nt to the culmination of the ribs, clasping the hemispherical dome which is forty-nine feet high, with an external diameter of ninety feet, and one-third of the surface of which is perforated to admit light during the day and emit light at night. It is b.u.t.tressed by pylons forty-five feet in height, and bears above its nine entrances, one of which faces Akka, nine selected quotations from the writings of Baha'u'llah, as well as the Greatest Name in the center of each of the arches over its doors. It is consecrated exclusively to wors.h.i.+p, devoid of all ceremony and ritual, is provided with an auditorium which can seat 1600 people, and is to be supplemented by accessory inst.i.tutions of social service to be established in its vicinity, such as an orphanage, a hospital, a dispensary for the poor, a home for the incapacitated, a hostel for travelers and a college for the study of arts and sciences. It had already, long before its construction, evoked, and is now increasingly evoking, though its interior ornamentation is as yet unbegun, such interest and comment, in the public press, in technical journals and in magazines, of both the United States and other countries, as to justify the hopes and expectations entertained for it by 'Abdu'l-Baha. Its model exhibited at Art centers, galleries, state fairs and national expositions-among which may be mentioned the Century of Progress Exhibition, held in Chicago in 1933, where no less than ten thousand people, pa.s.sing through the Hall of Religions, must have viewed it every day-its replica forming a part of the permanent exhibit of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago; its doors now thronged by visitors from far and near, whose number, during the period from June, 1932 to October, 1941 has exceeded 130,000 people, representing almost every country in the world, this great "Silent Teacher" of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, it may be confidently a.s.serted, has contributed to the diffusion of the knowledge of His Faith and teachings in a measure which no other single agency, operating within the framework of its Administrative Order, has ever remotely approached.

"When the foundation of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar is laid in America,"

'Abdu'l-Baha Himself has predicted, "and that Divine Edifice is completed, a most wonderful and thrilling motion will appear in the world of existence... From that point of light the spirit of teaching, spreading the Cause of G.o.d and promoting the teachings of G.o.d, will permeate to all parts of the world." "Out of this Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar," He has affirmed in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, "without doubt, thousands of Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars will be born." "It marks," He, furthermore, has written, "the inception of the Kingdom of G.o.d on earth." And again: "It is the manifest Standard waving in the center of that great continent."

"Thousands of Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars," He, when dedicating the grounds of the Temple, declared, "...will be built in the East and in the West, but this, being the first erected in the Occident, has great importance."

"This organization of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar," He, referring to that edifice, has moreover stated, "will be a model for the coming centuries, and will hold the station of the mother."

"Its inception," the architect of the Temple has himself testified, "was not from man, for, as musicians, artists, poets receive their inspiration from another realm, so the Temple's architect, through all his years of labor, was ever conscious that Baha'u'llah was the creator of this building to be erected to His glory." "Into this new design," he, furthermore, has written, "...is woven, in symbolic form, the great Baha'i teaching of unity-the unity of all religions and of all mankind. There are combinations of mathematical lines, symbolizing those of the universe, and in their intricate merging of circle into circle, and circle within circle, we visualize the merging of all the religions into one." And again: "A circle of steps, eighteen in all, will surround the structure on the outside, and lead to the auditorium floor. These eighteen steps represent the eighteen first disciples of the Bab, and the door to which they lead stands for the Bab Himself." "As the essence of the pure original teachings of the historic religions was the same ... in the Baha'i Temple is used a composite architecture, expressing the essence in the line of each of the great architectural styles, harmonizing them into one whole."

"It is the first new idea in architecture since the 13th century,"

declared a distinguished architect, H. Van Buren Magonigle, President of the Architectural League, after gazing upon a plaster model of the Temple on exhibition in the Engineering Societies Building in New York, in June 1920. "The Architect," he, moreover, has stated, "has conceived a Temple of Light in which structure, as usually understood, is to be concealed, visible support eliminated as far as possible, and the whole fabric to take on the airy substance of a dream. It is a lacy envelope enshrining an idea, the idea of light, a shelter of cobweb interposed between earth and sky, struck through and through with light-light which shall partly consume the forms and make of it a thing of faery."

"In the geometric forms of the ornamentation," a writer in the well-known publication "Architectural Record" has written, "covering the columns and surrounding windows and doors of the Temple, one deciphers all the religious symbols of the world. Here are the swastika, the circle, the cross, the triangle, the double triangle or six pointed star (Solomon's seal)-but more than this-the n.o.ble symbol of the spiritual orb ... the five pointed star; the Greek Cross, the Roman cross, and supreme above all, the wonderful nine pointed star, figured in the structure of the Temple itself, and appearing again and again in its ornamentation as significant of the spiritual glory in the world today."

"The greatest creation since the Gothic period," is the testimony of George Grey Barnard, one of the most widely-known sculptors in the United States of America, "and the most beautiful I have ever seen."

"This is a new creation," Prof. Luigi Quaglino, ex-professor of Architecture from Turin declared, after viewing the model, "which will revolutionize architecture in the world, and it is the most beautiful I have ever seen. Without doubt it will have a lasting page in history. It is a revelation from another world."

"Americans," wrote Sherwin Cody, in the magazine section of the New York Times, of the model of the Temple, when exhibited in the Kevorkian Gallery in New York, "will have to pause long enough to find that an artist has wrought into this building the conception of a Religious League of Nations." And lastly, this tribute paid to the features of, and the ideals embodied in, this Temple-the most sacred House of Wors.h.i.+p in the Baha'i world, whether of the present or of the future-by Dr. Rexford Newcomb, Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois: "This 'Temple of Light' opens upon the terrain of human experience nine great doorways which beckon men and women of every race and clime, of every faith and conviction, of every condition of freedom or servitude to enter here into a recognition of that kins.h.i.+p and brotherhood without which the modern world will be able to make little further progress ...The dome, pointed in form, aiming as a.s.suredly as did the aspiring lines of the medieval cathedrals toward higher and better things, achieves not only through its symbolism but also through its structural propriety and sheer loveliness of form, a beauty not matched by any domical structure since the construction of Michelangelo's dome on the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome."

Chapter XXIII: Attacks on Baha'i Inst.i.tutions

The inst.i.tutions signalizing the rise and establishment of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah did not (as the history of their unfoldment abundantly demonstrates) remain immune against the a.s.saults and persecutions to which the Faith itself, the progenitor of that Order, had, for over seventy years, been subjected, and from which it is still suffering. The emergence of a firmly knit community, advancing the claims of a world religion, with ramifications spread over five continents representing a great variety of races, languages, cla.s.ses and religious traditions; provided with a literature scattered over the surface of the earth, and expounding in several languages its doctrine; clear-visioned, unafraid, alert and determined to achieve at whatever sacrifice its goal; organically united through the machinery of a divinely appointed Administrative Order; non-sectarian, non-political, faithful to its civil obligations yet supranational in character; tenacious in its adherence to the laws and ordinances regulating its community life-the emergence of such a community, in a world steeped in prejudice, wors.h.i.+pping false G.o.ds, torn by intestine divisions, and blindly clinging to obsolescent doctrines and defective standards, could not but precipitate, sooner or later, crises no less grave, though less spectacular, than the persecutions which, in an earlier age, had raged around the Founders of that community and their early disciples. a.s.sailed by enemies within, who have either rebelled against its G.o.d-given authority or wholly renounced their faith, or by adversaries from without, whether political or ecclesiastical, the infant Order identified with this community has, since its inception, and throughout every stage in its evolution, felt severely the impact of the forces which have sought in vain to strangle its budding life or to obscure its purpose.

To these attacks, destined to grow in scope and severity, and to arouse a tumult that will reverberate throughout the world, 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself had already, at the time the outlines of that Divine order were being delineated by Him in His Will, significantly alluded: "Erelong shall the clamor of the mult.i.tude throughout Africa, throughout America, the cry of the European and of the Turk, the groaning of India and China, be heard from far and near. One and all, they shall arise with all their power to resist His Cause. Then shall the knights of the Lord ... reinforced by the legions of the Covenant, arise and manifest the truth of the verse: 'Behold the confusion that hath befallen the tribes of the defeated!'"

Already in more than one country the trustees and elected representatives of this indestructible world-embracing Order have been summoned by civil authorities or ecclesiastical courts, ignorant of its claims, or hostile to its principles or fearful of its rising strength, to defend its cause, or to renounce their allegiance to it, or to curtail the range of its operation. Already an aggressive hand, unmindful of G.o.d's avenging wrath, has been stretched out against its sanctuaries and edifices. Already its defenders and champions have, in some countries, been declared heretics, or stigmatized as subverters of law and order, or branded as visionaries, unpatriotic and careless of their civic duties and responsibilities, or peremptorily ordered to suspend their activities and dissolve their inst.i.tutions.

In the Holy Land, the world seat of this System, where its heart pulsates, where the dust of its Founders reposes, where the processes disclosing its purposes, energizing its life and shaping its destiny all originate, there fell, at the very hour of its inception, the first blow which served to proclaim to high and low alike the solidity of the foundations on which it has been established. The Covenant-breakers, now dwindled to a mere handful, instigated by Mirza Mu?ammad-'Ali, the Arch-rebel, whose dormant hopes had been awakened by 'Abdu'l-Baha's sudden ascension, and headed by the arrogant Mirza Badi'u'llah, seized forcibly the keys of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah, expelled its keeper, the brave-souled Abu'l-Qasim-i-_Kh_urasani, and demanded that their chief be recognized by the authorities as the legal custodian of that Shrine. Unadmonished by their abject failure, as witnessed by the firm action of the Palestine authorities, who, after prolonged investigations, instructed the British officer in Akka to deliver the keys into the hands of that same keeper, they resorted to other methods in the hope of creating a cleavage in the ranks of the bereaved yet resolute disciples of 'Abdu'l-Baha and of ultimately undermining the foundations of the inst.i.tutions His followers were laboring to erect. Through their mischievous misrepresentations of the ideals animating the builders of the Baha'i Administrative Order; through the maintenance, though not on its original scale, of a subversive correspondence with individuals whose loyalty they hoped they could sap; through deliberate distortions of the truth in their contact with officials and notables whom they could approach; through attempts, made through bribery and intimidation, to purchase a part of the Mansion of Baha'u'llah; through efforts directed at preventing the acquisition by the Baha'i community of certain properties situated in the vicinity of the Tomb of the Bab, and at frustrating the design to consolidate the foundation of some of these properties by transferring their t.i.tle-deeds to incorporated Baha'i a.s.semblies, they continued to labor intermittently for several years until the extinction of the life of the Arch-breaker of the Covenant himself virtually sealed their doom.

The evacuation of the Mansion of Baha'u'llah by these Covenant-breakers, after their unchallenged occupancy of it since His ascension, a Mansion which, through their gross neglect, had fallen into a sad state of disrepair; its subsequent complete restoration, fulfilling a long cherished desire of 'Abdu'l-Baha; its illumination through an electric plant installed by an American believer for that purpose; the refurnis.h.i.+ng of all its rooms after it had been completely denuded by its former occupants of all the precious relics it contained, with the exception of a single candlestick in the room where Baha'u'llah had ascended; the collection within its walls of Baha'i historic doc.u.ments, of relics and of over five thousand volumes of Baha'i literature, in no less than forty languages; the extension to it of the exemption from government taxes, already granted to other Baha'i inst.i.tutions and properties in Akka and on Mt. Carmel; and finally, its conversion from a private residence to a center of pilgrimage visited by Baha'is and non-Baha'is alike-these served to further dash the hopes of those who were still desperately striving to extinguish the light of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah. Furthermore, the success later achieved in purchasing and safeguarding the area forming the precincts of the resting-place of the Bab on Mt. Carmel, and the transfer of the t.i.tle-deeds of some of these properties to the legally const.i.tuted Palestine Branch of the American Baha'i National Spiritual a.s.sembly, no less than the circ.u.mstances attending the death of the one who had been the prime mover of mischief throughout 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry, demonstrated to these enemies the futility of their efforts and the hopelessness of their cause.

Of a more serious nature, and productive of still greater repercussions, was the unlawful seizure by the _Sh_i'ahs of 'Iraq, at about the same time that the keys of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah were wrested by the Covenant-breakers from its keeper, of yet another Baha'i Shrine, the House occupied by Baha'u'llah for well nigh the whole period of His exile in 'Iraq, which had been acquired by Him, and later had been ordained as a center of pilgrimage, and had continued in the unbroken and undisputed possession of His followers ever since His departure from Ba_gh_dad. This crisis, originating about a year prior to 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension, and precipitated by the measures which, after the change of regime in 'Iraq, had, according to His instructions, been taken for the reconstruction of that House, acquired as it developed a steadily widening measure of publicity. It became the object of the consideration of successive tribunals, first of the local _Sh_i'ah Ja'fariyyih court in Ba_gh_dad, second of the Peace court, then the court of First Instance, then of the court of Appeal in 'Iraq, and finally of the League of Nations, the greatest international body yet come into existence, and empowered to exercise supervision and control over all Mandated Territories. Though as yet unresolved through a combination of causes, religious as well as political, it has already remarkably fulfilled Baha'u'llah's own prediction, and will, in its own appointed time, as the means for its solution are providentially created, fulfill the high destiny ordained for it by Him in His Tablets. Long before its seizure by fanatical enemies, who had no conceivable claim to it whatever, He had prophesied that "it shall be so abased in the days to come as to cause tears to flow from every discerning eye."

The Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of Ba_gh_dad, deprived of the use of that sacred property through an adverse decision by a majority of the court of Appeal, which had reversed the verdict of the lower court and awarded the property to the _Sh_i'ahs, and aroused by subsequent action of the _Sh_i'ahs, soon after the execution of the judgment of that court, in converting the building into waqf property (pious foundation), designating it "?usayniyyih," with the purpose of consolidating their gain, realized the futility of the three years of negotiations they had been conducting with the civil authorities in Ba_gh_dad for the righting of the wrong inflicted upon them. In their capacity as the national representatives of the Baha'is of 'Iraq, they, therefore, on September 11, 1928, through the High Commissioner for 'Iraq and in conformity with the provisions of Art.

22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, approached the League's Permanent Mandates Commission, charged with the supervision of the administration of all Mandated Territories, and presented a pet.i.tion that was accepted and approved by that body in November, 1928. A memorandum submitted, in connection with that pet.i.tion, to that same Commission, by the Mandatory Power unequivocally stated that the _Sh_i'ahs had "no conceivable claim whatever" to the House, that the decision of the judge of the Ja'fariyyih court was "obviously wrong," "unjust" and "undoubtedly actuated by religious prejudice," that the subsequent ejectment of the Baha'is was "illegal," that the action of the authorities had been "highly irregular," and that the verdict of the Court of Appeal was suspected of not being "uninfluenced by political consideration."

"The Commission," states the Report submitted by it to the Council of the League, and published in the Minutes of the 14th session of the Permanent Mandates Commission, held in Geneva in the fall of 1928, and subsequently translated into Arabic and published in 'Iraq, "draws the Council's attention to the considerations and conclusions suggested to it by an examination of the pet.i.tion... It recommends that the Council should ask the British Government to make representations to the 'Iraq Government with a view to the immediate redress of the denial of justice from which the pet.i.tioners have suffered."

The British accredited representative present at the sessions of the Commission, furthermore, stated that "the Mandatory Power had recognized that the Baha'is had suffered an injustice," whilst allusion was made, in the course of that session, to the fact that the action of the _Sh_i'ahs const.i.tuted a breach of the const.i.tution and the Organic Law of 'Iraq. The Finnish representative, moreover, in his report to the Council, declared that this "injustice must be attributed solely to religious pa.s.sion," and asked that "the pet.i.tioner's wrongs should be redressed."

The Council of the League, on its part, having considered this report as well as the joint observations and conclusions of the Commission, unanimously adopted, on March 4, 1929, a resolution, subsequently translated and published in the newspapers of Ba_gh_dad, directing the Mandatory Power "to make representations to the Government of 'Iraq with a view to the immediate redress of the injustice suffered by the Pet.i.tioners." It instructed, accordingly, the Secretary General to bring to the notice of the Mandatory Power, as well as to the pet.i.tioners concerned, the conclusions arrived at by the Commission, an instruction which was duly transmitted by the British Government through its High Commissioner to the 'Iraq Government.

A letter dated January 12, 1931, written on behalf of the British Foreign Minister, Mr. Arthur Henderson, addressed to the League Secretariat, stated that the conclusions reached by the Council had "received the most careful consideration by the Government of 'Iraq," who had "finally decided to set up a special committee ... to consider the views expressed by the Baha'i community in respect of certain houses in Ba_gh_dad, and to formulate recommendations for an equitable settlement of this question."

That letter, moreover, pointed out that the committee had submitted its report in August, 1930, that it had been accepted by the government, that the Baha'i community had "accepted in principle" its recommendations, and that the authorities in Ba_gh_dad had directed that "detailed plans and estimates shall be prepared with a view to carrying these recommendations into effect during the coming financial year."

No need to dwell on the subsequent history of this momentous case, on the long-drawn out negotiations, the delays and complications that ensued; on the consultations, "over a hundred" in number, in which the king, his ministers and advisers took part; on the expressions of "regret," of "surprise" and of "anxiety" placed on record at successive sessions of the Mandates Commission held in Geneva in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932 and 1933; on the condemnation by its members of the "spirit of intolerance" animating the _Sh_i'ah community, of the "partiality" of the Iraqi courts, of the "weakness" of the civil authorities and of the "religious pa.s.sion at the bottom of this injustice"; on their testimony to the "extremely conciliatory disposition" of the pet.i.tioners, on their "doubt" regarding the adequacy of the proposals, and on their recognition of the "serious"

character of the situation that had been created, of the "flagrant denial of justice" which the Baha'is had suffered, and of the "moral debt" which the 'Iraq Government had contracted, a debt which, whatever the changes in her status as a nation, it was her bounden duty to discharge.

Nor does it seem necessary to expatiate on the unfortunate consequences of the untimely death of both the British High Commissioner and the Iraqi Prime Minister; on the admission of 'Iraq as a member of the League, and the consequent termination of the mandate held by Great Britain; on the tragic and unexpected death of the King himself; on the difficulties raised owing to the existence of a town planning scheme; on the written a.s.surance conveyed to the High Commissioner by the acting Premier in his letter of January, 1932; on the pledge given by the King, prior to his death, in the presence of the foreign minister, in February, 1933, that the House would be expropriated, and the necessary sum would be appropriated in the spring of the ensuing year; on the categorical statement made by that same foreign minister that the Prime Minister had given the necessary a.s.surances that the promise already made by the acting Premier would be redeemed; or on the positive statements made by that same Foreign Minister and his colleague, the Minister of Finance, when representing their country during the sessions of the League a.s.sembly held in Geneva, that the promise given by their late King would be fully honored.

Suffice it to say that, despite these interminable delays, protests and evasions, and the manifest failure of the Authorities concerned to implement the recommendations made by both the Council of the League and the Permanent Mandates Commission, the publicity achieved for the Faith by this memorable litigation, and the defense of its cause-the cause of truth and justice-by the world's highest tribunal, have been such as to excite the wonder of its friends and to fill with consternation its enemies. Few episodes, if any, since the birth of the Formative Age of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, have given rise to repercussions in high places comparable to the effect produced on governments and chancelleries by this violent and unprovoked a.s.sault directed by its inveterate enemies against one of its holiest sanctuaries.

"Grieve not, O House of G.o.d," Baha'u'llah Himself has significantly written, "if the veil of thy sanct.i.ty be rent asunder by the infidels. G.o.d hath, in the world of creation, adorned thee with the jewel of His remembrance. Such an ornament no man can, at any time, profane. Towards thee the eyes of thy Lord shall, under all conditions, remain directed."