Transcript:Filmstrip/The Bahá’ís and the Holy Land

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Every year thousands of Baha'is, tourists and Israelis

visit the Baha'i Gardens on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Haifa.

The beautiful formal gardens are among the most splendid in this part of the world.

Visitors are also attracted by the classical magnificence of the buildings,

the Shrine of the Bob and the International Archives building.

Certainly these buildings, particularly the Golden Dome Shrine,

dominate the Haifa landscape and have become landmarks.

Whether one approaches the gardens from Carmel Avenue in the lower town

or views Haifa and the Bay beyond from Panorama Road on top of Mount Carmel.

The Baha'i Gardens across the Bay and just north of the main part of Akka

at a place called Baji are thought by some to be even more beautiful and magnificent.

These gardens at Baji surround the mansion and the Shrine of Baha'u'llah,

founder of the Baha'i Faith.

Who are the Baha'is?

Then why are there shrines and gardens established here?

It is universally known, of course, that this land is holy

for the followers of some of the world's major religions.

Jews regard the western wall of the temple in Jerusalem as their most holy spot.

For Christians, the Mount of Olives is holy ground.

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And for Muslims, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is one of their most holy places.

The Baha'i Faith also has deep historical roots here.

But because of its comparatively recent origin,

this fact is not always appreciated or understood.

And so we relate the story of the Baha'is and the Holy.

For every Baha'i, the holy land is both the spiritual and the administrative center of his faith.

Every day, thousands upon thousands of Baha'is, wherever they may be in the world,

turn their faces toward the Shrine of Baha'u'llah in prayer.

Haifa is the administrative center of the faith,

and the offices of the Baha'i International House of Justice are located there.

No wonder that each year, hundreds of Baha'i pilgrims go to Haifa and Aka

to visit their holy places and to pray at the Shrine of the founder of their faith.

It was not because of deliberate choice on the part of the Baha'is

that this land became holy ground to them, as well as to the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims.

It is the holy land to the Baha'is because Baha'u'llah, founder of the faith,

was brought here over a hundred years ago as a prisoner on account of his religion.

It was on August 31, 1868, that the ship bearing Baha'u'llah dropped anchor in Haifa Bay.

Haifa was then a very small village.

That same day Baha'u'llah was taken by a small saving vessel to the fortress city of Aka,

which he entered through the sea gate.

He was imprisoned in the citadel.

Here in this cell, Baha'u'llah remained in confinement for two years, two months, and five days.

From the prison city of Aka, Baha'u'llah wrote many of his famous tablets to the kings and rulers of that day.

To Emperor Franz Josef, Kaiser Wilhelm I, Queen Victoria, Nazridin Shaw, Sultan Abdulaziz, Pope Pius IX,

Zar Alexander II, and Napoleon III.

After being released from confinement in the citadel, Baha'u'llah was forced to remain within the Wall City of Aka

for approximately eight more years, living in various places, including this house known as Beit Abud.

At times, Baha'u'llah was permitted visits to a small island just outside Aka, in the middle of the river Nahmaine, which he called the Garden of Rizwan.

In 1878, Baha'u'llah, though still a prisoner, was allowed to live outside the city walls.

He took up residence near what is now Naharia, and remained here for about two years.

In 1880, Abdulbaha, son of Baha'u'llah, was able to rent the mansion of Urihamar for his illustrious father.

This is at Baji, located northeast of the Old City of Aka. Here, in the mansion of Baji, in April 1890, the distinguished Orientalist Professor E. G. Brown of Cambridge was granted four successive interviews with Baha'u'llah.

In this room where they met, Baha'u'llah said to Professor Brown, "These fruitless stripes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the most great peace shall come."

Brown leer testified, "The face of him on whom I gazed, I can never forget, though I cannot describe it.

Those piercing eyes seem to read one's very soul. Power and authority sat on that ample brow.

No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one, who is the object of a devotion and love, which kings might envy, and emperors cypher in vain."

Baha'u'llah visited Haifa four times during his stay in the Holy Land.

On one occasion, he pitched his tent at the top of Mount Carmel, near the spot which has been chosen as the site of a Baha'i house of worship to be erected sometime in the future.

At another time, Baha'u'llah pitched his tent at the foot of Mount Carmel, now marked by this circle of cypress trees.

And that yet another time, he stood with his eldest son, Abdul Baha'u'llah, at a spot halfway up Mount Carmel, marked by a clump of cypress trees, and there he pointed to the place, where Abdul Baha'u'llah was to erect the mausoleum for the remains of the Baha'u'llah, herald of the Baha'i faith.

On May 29, 1892, Baha'u'llah passed away, and was laid to rest at Baha'u'llah.

This shrine wherein reposes the sacred dust of the founder of their faith is for Baha'is, the holiest spot on earth.

The mental of leadership of the Baha'i faith fell on the shoulders of Abdul Baha'u'llah, known as Abbasafindi to all-time residents of Haifa and Akkah, many of whom still remember him.

He remained a prisoner until 1908, when the young Turks overthrew the Ottoman Empire.

Abdul Baha'u'llah authorized the construction of the first Baha'i house of worship at Ishqabad in Turkestan.

This was built during the first decade of this century.

Abdul Baha'u'llah also supervised the construction of the mausoleum of the Baha'u'llah, as directed by his father, and in 1909,

Abdul Baha'u'llah had the remains of the Baha'u'llah transferred to Haifa, and he, with his own hands, laid them in the marble sarcophagus within the vault prepared for them in the central room of what is now known as the shrine of the Baha'u'llah.

From 1911 to 1913, Abdul Baha'u visited several countries in the West, Britain, the United States, Canada, Germany, France, and Hungary.

In London, he was received by many distinguished leaders of religion and government.

In 1912, in Paris, Abdul Baha'u foretold the discovery of atomic power.

"There is in existence," he said, "a stupendous force, as yet happily undiscovered by man.

Let us supplicate God the beloved, that this force be not discovered by science, until spiritual civilization shall dominate the human mind."

In the hands of men of lower material nature, this power would be able to destroy the full earth.

During that same year, Abdul Baha'u'llah traveled from east to west across America, and while in Wilmette, just north of Chicago, he laid the foundation stone of the first Baha'u'llah house of worship in the west.

Returning to the Holy Land, Abdul Baha'u'llah took up his residence in Haifa, and here he received such notables as King Faisal, General and Lady Allen B.,

Sir Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner of Palestine, Lord Lamington, and the Governor of Jerusalem, Sir Ronald Storff.

In 1920, the British government conferred a knighthood on Abdul Baha'u'llah for his humanitarian works.

And when he passed away in 1921, it is reported that no less than 10,000 people, representing every class, religion, and race in the Holy Land, attended his funeral.

Leaders of every religion and high government officials delivered funeral or race in course.

Abdul Baha'u was laid to rest in a room in the bobs' mausoleum, adjacent to the central room in which repose the bobs' remains.

And so it can be understood that these beautiful gardens and shrines didn't just happen to be here.

The origins of the Baha'i faith go back little more than 125 years, but of that period of time, over 100 years of the growth and development of the faith have been intimately associated with the Holy Land.

Many changes have occurred in Haifa since 1877 when this etching was made of the German Templar colony at the foot of Mount Carmel.

This was only nine years after the arrival of Baha'u'llah.

In the early part of this century, Mount Carmel looked like this from Carmel Avenue.

Now the mountain is embellished with beautiful buildings and gardens on the Baha'i properties.

When Abdul Baha'u rented the mansion at Baji in 1880, it looked something like this.

Now it is surrounded by beautiful formal gardens.

The transformation of the Baha'i properties on Mount Carmel, from what they were at the beginning of this century to their present state of development,

is the result of the genius and untiring labors of Shogi of Fendi Rabani, grandson of Abdul Baha'u,

and head of the Baha'i faith from 1921 until his passing in 1957.

It was he who painstakingly planned the gardens on Mount Carmel

and laid out a beautiful arc surrounding the shrine at Baji.

It was Shogi of Fendi Rabani who, in collaboration with Sutherland Maxwell the architect,

conceived the beautiful golden dome shrine which is so admired by everyone who sees it.

It was he who conceived and built the classical international archives building.

It was also he who conceived the beautiful monument gardens, where we posed the sister, the brother, the mother, and the wife of Abdul Baha'u.

It was he who selected with infinite patience every ornament, every embellishment, and every shrub, gracing these holy places.

As time goes on, these gardens are being steadily extended and enhanced.

Undoubtedly, this is only the beginning.

Already plans are being made for the further extension of the gardens on Mount Carmel and at Baji.

As the Baha'i faith rapidly grows throughout the world, in Africa, in Asia, in America, and in every locality on the globe,

the eyes of the Baha'is of the world will be increasingly focused on the holy land, and they will be coming here in greater and greater numbers on pilgrimage.

To visit the Baha'i holy places, to walk and meditate in the gardens, to see the cell in Aka where Baha'u'llah was imprisoned,

to pray in his shrine, and at the shrine of the bow.

Members of National Baha'i assemblies representing most of the countries of the world come to hype up periodically to assemble in convention

and to cast their ballots in the election of the nine members of the Baha'i International House of Justice.

Two such conventions have already been held at the convention in April 1968.

This delegation was sent to Jerusalem to make a formal call on Israel's president, Zaman Shazar, to deliver the greetings of the convention.

In August 1968, nearly 2,000 Baha'is from many countries assembled at Baha'i to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Baha'u'llah in the holy land.

They later ascended the long stairway from Carmel Avenue to the shrine of the bow, around which they walked in respect for the forerunner and herald of their faith.

Many other Baha'i meetings and conferences are held in the holy land.

This meeting in May 1968 was with a group known as the Hands of the Faith.

Visitors to the shrines have included heads of state and many other leaders in people of prominence.

To all who come, whatever their position or station in life, a most cordial welcome is extended.

It is hoped that here they will find not only a beast for the eyes, but a source of peace, joy and inspiration for their souls.

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