Visiting Bahá’í Holy Places/Mansion of Bahjí
Mansion of Bahjí[edit]
“Greetings and salutations rest upon this mansion which increaseth in splendour through the passage of time. Manifold wonders and marvels are found therein, and pens are baffled in attempting to describe them.” (The dedicatory statement of ‘Údí Khammár placed over the lintel upon completion of the mansion in 1870)
This large and imposing building, which covers an area of over 740 square metres, was built about 1870 (over an old one-story structure built many years previously) as a summer palace for ‘Údí Khammár, a prosperous merchant of
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‘Akká and the original owner of the eastern half of what is now known as the House of ‘Abbúd. The owners fled during an epidemic, and in 1879 the Mansion was rented and later purchased as a residence for Bahá’u’lláh.
It was situated on a piece of elevated land crossed by the aqueduct which brought water from the springs at Kabrí to ‘Akká. ‘Abdu’lláh Páshá, the governor of ‘Akká, had a mansion immediately to the south, now known as the Bayḍún mansion. The whole area was known as “Al-Bahjá”, or “Place of Delight”.
Several rooms on the upper floor are of particular interest to Bahá’ís. The south-eastern room was occupied by Bahá’u’lláh. In it He received visitors, including the distinguished orientalist Professor Edward Granville Browne, whose account of the meeting is familiar to many Bahá’ís. The south-western room was used by Shoghi Effendi during the times he stayed and worked at Bahjí. The two small rooms at the centre of the north end of the Mansion are interesting. The one on the left contained for many years the library of the noted Bahá’í scholar Mírzá Abu’l-Faḍl, until it was transferred to the International Bahá’í Library for preservation under more favourable conditions. The one on the right contains the original gravestones of the Purest Branch and of the Mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as well as her original coffin, placed there by the Guardian when he transferred their remains from ‘Akká to new graves at the base of the Arc on Mount Carmel in Haifa. Decorating the interior of the Mansion are numerous photographs, paintings, newspaper clippings, and other materials placed there by the Guardian.
The Turkish primitive paintings above the windows on the outside of the building are of no particular significance, but are considered to be fine examples of such work of the period.
Of the walls surrounding the Mansion, the one to the south is completely original and includes, at its eastern end, a small room which is the tomb of ‘Údí Khammár and the step which Bahá’u’lláh used to mount His steed. The western wall is original as far as the gate.
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Edward Granville Browne's Visit[edit]
The distinguished orientalist Professor Edward G. Browne of the University of Cambridge visited Bahá’u’lláh at Bahjí in the year 1890, and recorded his impressions as follows:
"... my conductor paused for a moment while I removed my shoes. Then, with a quick movement of the hand, he withdrew, and, as I passed, replaced the curtain; and I found myself in a large apartment, along the upper end of which ran a low divan, while on the side opposite to the door were placed two or three chairs. Though I dimly suspected whither I was going and whom I was to behold (for no distinct intimation had been given to me), a second or two elapsed ere, with a throb of wonder and awe, I became definitely conscious that the room was not untenanted. In the corner where the divan met the wall sat a wondrous and venerable figure, crowned with a felt head-dress of the kind called táj by dervishes (but of unusual height and make), round the base of which was wound a small white turban. The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow; while the deep lines on the forehead and face implied an age which the jet-black hair and beard flowing down in indistinguishable luxuriance almost to the waist seemed to belie. 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 sigh for in vain!
"A mild dignified voice bade me be seated, and then continued: 'Praise be to God that thou hast attained!... Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile.... We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment. . . . That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled-what harm is there in this?... Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the "Most Great Peace" shall come.... Do not you in Europe need this also? Is not this that which Christ foretold?... Yet do we see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind.... These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family.... Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind......
"Such, so far as I can recall them, were the words which, besides many others, I heard from Behá. Let those who read them consider well with themselves whether such doctrines merit death and bonds, and whether the world is more likely to gain or lose by their diffusion."