Visiting Bahá’í Holy Places/Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá[edit]
"As to the funeral itself, which took place on Tuesday morning-a funeral the like of which Palestine had never seen-no less than ten thousand people participated representing every class, religion and race in that country." 12 (Shoghi Effendi)
"The coffin containing the remains of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was borne to its last resting-place on the shoulders of His loved ones." 13 (Shoghi Effendi)
"Close to the eastern entrance of the Shrine, the sacred casket was placed upon a plain table, and, in the presence of that vast concourse, nine speakers, who represented the Muslim, the Jewish and Christian Faiths, and who included the Mufti of Haifa, delivered their several funeral orations. These concluded, the High Commissioner drew close to the casket, and, with bowed head fronting the Shrine, paid his last homage of farewell to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: the other officials of the Government followed his example. The coffin was then removed to one of the chambers of the Shrine, and there lowered, sadly and reverently, to its last resting-place in a vault adjoining that in which were laid the remains of the Báb." 14 (Shoghi Effendi)
"The interment of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself within a vault of the Báb’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 Adhirbayján; the construction of three additional chambers adjoining His sepulchre, thereby completing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’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...these may be regarded as the initial evidences of the marvelous expansion of the international institutions and endowments of the Faith at its world centre." 15 (Shoghi Effendi)