Bahá’í World/Volume 6/The Modern Miracles of Palestine, by Beatrice Irwin

The Bahá’í World
Volume 6

THE MODERN MIRACLES OF PALESTINE

BY BEATRICE IRWIN

AMONG the “Hidden Words” which embody the sacred utterances of Bahá’u’lláh translated from the Íránian we find these words, "Be ye as great trees bearing broad leaves and fragrant fruits,” which is a thought peculiarly appropriate to the subject under discussion. For ours is an age of spiritual springtide in which we see the miracle of many lands, being simultaneously reborn before our eyes.

Through evolution and revolution, the whole earth is emerging from age-old inertias, from prejudices, and from fettering traditions into a verdant and vigorous growth of expanded life, quickened mentality, and new outlooks that may well be compared to the annual miracle of spring.

Perhaps some of us take these wonders of life too much for granted, and because we live in the midst of them, we lose the sense of their joy and wonder; others, subject them only to the critical analysis of scientific phenomena, but to world-travelers it is sometimes granted to pass beyond both these stages of perception and to become active partakers, as well as eye-witnesses, of those silent mysteries of growth and fevers of spiritual unrest that always precede the re-birth of lands and peoples.

Palestine, more intimately known as the Holy Land, is approximately only two hundred miles long by one hundred and fifty wide. It has taken, and is still playing, one of the most powerful and dramatic roles in the great pageant of world reconstruction. Within its small area it is subject to many climatic extremes which have had their influence on its historic developments and peoples. Bounded on the west by the Mediterranean, on the east by the desert of Transjordania, and stretching from the cool heights of Lebanon, 1200 feet above sea-level, to the Dead Sea, 1400 feet below sea-level, its seasons are divided between six months of dry heat and desert winds, and six months of moderate rain and sunshine producing fine fruits and a semi-tropical vegetation.

The tremendous drama of the struggle between the Kings of Israel and the Prophets of God seems to have impregnated this small portion of earth with a deathless spiritual magnetism that at intervals focuses its power, and acts definitely and dramatically as a lever for the uplift of humanity.

Following the early struggles of Israel, the Crusades continued the inspiring traditions of the Holy Land, and then the Turks held it in thrall, for seven hundred years, till in the World War General Lord Allenby made his historic entry into Jerusalem on foot, and Palestine became a British Mandate.

Such, briefly, is the background against which the modern miracles of this land are fulfilling the Bible prophecy that “Carmel and Sharon shall see the Glory of the Lord.” In the year 1868 Bahá’u’lláh with His family and a small band of disciples were imprisoned for supposed sedition in the worst criminal prison of Palestine in ‘Akká which some chronicles call the “oldest city on earth.” Here he dwelt in close confinement with all its attendant hardships for several years, and then at the request of the governor of the city, He was granted a house at Bahjí some miles distant, where, though still under restrictions, He was allowed to pass the remainder of His life, receiving the pilgrims that visited from all lands, and writing those books of law and wisdom that are the basis of the New World Order, that it was His divine mission to [Page 720] proclaim! These principles of unity are painfully but surely becoming operative throughout the world, and Bahá’í literature has already been translated into thirty different tongues.

Bahá’u’lláh ascended in November, 1892, leaving the promulgation of his work to His son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and so the first of the modern miracles of Palestine was achieved, and the breeze of spiritual freedom began to rise, unobserved, save by the few. Among this minority, however, were certain Turkish officials, who communicated to their government that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was employing his comparative freedom and newly acquired leadership and leisure in the construction of an imposing building on Mount Carmel, which they inferred was destined to become a fort for operations against Turkey.

In reality, this historic edifice, already prophesied in Scripture, and whose location and plan had been selected by Bahá’u’lláh, was to be a shrine for the mortal remains of the Báb. Turkish intrigue, however, refused to interpret its erection otherwise than in terms of its own suspicions, and so ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was once more placed under strict confinement till again, as by a miracle, he was freed in 1908, by the coup d’état of the young Turk’s revolution! At the moment ‘Abdu’l-Bahá actually lay under sentence of death by ‘Abdu’l-Hamid, but had been secretly offered the means of escape by an Italian ship that lay in the harbor of ‘Akká. He refused—saying that the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh had never turned their backs on danger nor would He. Under these unique and historic circumstances ‘Abdu’l-Bahá inaugurated His personal mission of teaching, and the third phase in the unfolding of the Bahá’í Revelation began.

It is important to note in this connection that in Turkey, where women had been most fettered, they now come close to leading the world in the rightful enjoyment of their freedom and privileges.

Another significant fact is that the Turkish Revolution was the first of those rapidly succeeding upheavals, spiritual and economic that have since disrupted nearly every inhabited portion of the earth.

Palestine is still among these smouldering spiritual volcanos for within its restricted area Jews, Arabs and the British are trying to solve the problems of racial amity and economic understandings.

Simultaneously with the conflagrations that are burning away outworn prejudices, other constructive forces have been building new foundations in Palestine, and the statistics of these are bewildering in their magnitude.

When He was charged with sedition, Bahá’u’lláh replied, “We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations, that all nations should become one in faith, and that diversity of religion should cease and differences of race be annulled. . . .”

Of all the lands that are inevitably advancing to the fulfillment of this hope, Palestine is one of the most spectacular in its promise and achievements, emerging as it has done in such a short space of time from a primitive and pastoral community into an arena for some of the greatest engineering and cultural feats of our day.

Before the World War (1914) Palestine had few railways or even motor roads; in fact in 1912, only two motors were registered and communication was largely dependant on caravan trails. Now, thousands of motor cars are registered, and up to date railways and air—ways abound.

The shining sea of Galilee surrounded by its golden sandstone cliffs, is an air and water port for giant planes that, flying at the rate of 120 miles an hour, make this point their halt between Europe and Asia, after achieving the flight between England and Palestine in three days.

Till 1933, Haifa, situated on the historic Bay of ‘Akká, had only a port of natural beauty, and ocean liners were obliged to dock some miles out. On October 31, 1933, the British government threw open a port which has cost over a million pounds, a fact that marks a milestone in Haifa’s history, giving the town a new international and industrial importance, and making it a link between the near and far East that has extensive implications for economic developments.

One of the most important of these is that Haifa has become the terminal of the [Page 721] giant pipe-line which conducts oil for six hundred twenty-seven miles across the desert, from Mosul in ‘Iráq to be tapped at this point into barrels and distributed around the world! In its long wanderings, this oil pipe follows for a while the course of the Tigris and Euphrates, whose valley legend connects with the Garden of Paradise, and it also passes, over the cavern where Saul is supposed to have consulted the Witch of Endor. The obstacles overcome in the difficult achievement of its construction present a fairy tale of science, and one of the greatest engineering feats of this, or of any age!

Before the war the Dead Sea was still the Dead Sea, but now owing to the enterprise of Scottish scientists and engineers this vast sheet of water, five times as salty as any ocean, and lying 1400 feet below sea level, has been made to produce potash and bromine, the latter product being used extensively in chemical products and dyestuffs.

Co—operatively with this industrial activity, picturesque building operations have materialized so that the Dead Sea whose borders were once the lone retreat of hawk and heron, is now a smiling summer resort for the city dwellers of Palestine, and its blue waters are whitened by the foam of speed-boats.

Domestic architecture of a new and interesting character is manifesting in both public and private buildings, notably in the model Jewish colony of Tel—Aviv situated a few miles from Haifa. Here the Zionist Movement has shown itself well worthy of the 285,000 ars of land which it has acquired for socialization, and the Jew has proved himself capable of being as good a farmer as he is a business man.

The fine international university, built on the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem, also carries on the tradition of Hebrew learning in an expanded spirit. From these three outstanding projects accomplished within seventeen years—I refer to the development of the Dead Sea, the construction of the Port Haifa and the laying of the oil—pipe—we can see that even materially Palestine is a land of modern miracles. Statistics show that her main towns have doubled their population in ten years, and that street lighting has become prevalent, owing to the electrical development engineered from the Jordan by the enterprise of a brilliant Russian Jew.

America and England have also contributed new and notable buildings to the glory of Jerusalem, the former has erected a palatial Y.M.C.A. and museum buildings, the latter a new government house, and the handsome St. David’s Hotel.

But in conclusion let us drift back to Haifa, which in reality holds the key to all these bewildering activities, for here the creative and holy dust of prophet and martyr mingle, and are enshrined in a verdant and spell-binding beauty that challenges the world! Half way up on Mount Carmel there is unfolded another miracle, a nine-terraced garden which in a few years has been landscaped from the rocky hillside into a modern Eden, where one is led through avenues of palm and cypress, and through flowering progressions of almond, fig and pomegranate blooms, through reefs of roses, stocks, and hyacinths, to the silence of a golden sandstone shrine. Simple, strong and majestic in outline this building has two beautiful vaulted chambers. In one of these reposes the remains of the Báb, he who in 1844 prophesied the coming of the new World Redeemer, Bahá’u’lláh, (1863-1892) and in the other rests ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh, who traveled and expounded His Father’s teachings throughout Europe, America and Palestine in a mission that lasted from 1892 to 1921 when He ascended, conferring the furtherance of his work to His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, and to the body of Bahá’í believers throughout the world.

Among the countless services which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s inspiration rendered to a disillusioned world, the plan for this beautiful garden was one of the most merciful and healing. Ships from all lands discharge their travelers at Haifa, and they stream through these shrine gardens.

It is not to be wondered at that this oasis of love and beauty inspires inquiry, and a very serious consideration of the great lives that it commemorates, lives that looked so far into the future and that built such a [Page 722] symbol of resurrection and joy into the present.

This garden is the spiritual port of Haifa. Built by the love of Bahá’í believers throughout the world, it welcomes believers of all creeds and colors in the spirit of the new day, and it distinguishes Palestine with a beacon whose searchlights point to expanded horizons from which flooding radiance is dawning on our ken!

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