Visiting Bahá’í Holy Places/Shrine of the Báb

Shrine of the Báb

“The outermost circle in this vast system, the visible counterpart of the pivotal position conferred on the Herald of our Faith, is none other than the entire planet. Within the heart of this planet lies the ‘Most Holy Land’, acclaimed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as ‘the Nest of the Prophets’ and which must be regarded as the centre of the world and the Qiblih of the nations. Within this Most Holy Land rises the Mountain of God of immemorial sanctity, the Vineyard of the Lord, the Retreat of Elijah, Whose return the Báb Himself symbolizes. Reposing on the breast of this holy mountain are the extensive properties permanently dedicated to, and constituting the sacred precincts of, the B2ib’s holy Sepulchre. In the midst of these properties, recognized as the international endowments of the Faith, is situated the most holy court, an enclosure comprising gardens and terraces which at once embellish, and lend a peculiar charm to, these sacred precincts. Embosomed in these lovely and verdant surroundings stands in all its exquisite beauty the mausoleum of the Báb, the shell designed to preserve

and adorn the original structure raised by ‘Abdu’l—B-aha as the tomb of the

VISITING BAHAW HOLY PLACES 3

[Page 4]Martyr—Herald ofour Faith. Within this shell is enshrined that Pearl of Great Price, the holy of holies, those chambers which constitute the tomb itself, and which were constructed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Within the heart ofthis holy of holies is the tabernacle, the vault wherein reposes the most holy casket. Within this vault rests the alabaster sarcophagus in which is deposited that inestimable jewel, the Báb’s holy dust. So precious is this dust that the very earth surrounding the edifice enshrining this dust has been extolled by the Centre of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, in one ofHis Tablets in which He named the five doors belonging to the six chambers which He originally erected after five of the believers associated with the construction of the Shrine, as being endowed with such potency as to have inspired Him in bestowing these names, whilst the tomb itself housing this dust He acclaimed as the spot round which the Concourse on high circle in adoration.” 5 (Shoghi lilfcmli)

“In the same year that this precious Trust reached the shores of the Holy Land and was delivered into the hands of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, He . . . drove to the recently purchased site which had been blessed and selected by Bahá’u’lláh on Mt. Carmel, and there laid, with His own hands, the foundation—stone of the edifice, the construction ofwhich He, a few months later, was to commence. About that same time, the marble sarcophagus, designed to receive the body of the Báb, an offering oflove from the Bahá’ís of Rangoon, had, at ‘/\bdu’l—Baha’s suggestion, been completed and shipped to Haifa.” 6 (Shoghi Effendi)

“Within a few months of the historic decree which set Him free, in the very year that witnessed the downfall of Sultan ‘Abdu’l—Ham1'd, that same power from on high which had enabled ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to preserve inviolate the rights divinely conferred on Him, to establish His Fathers Faith in the North American continent, and to triumph over His royal oppressor, enabled Him to achieve one of the most signal acts of His ministry: the removal of the Báb’s remains from their place of concealment in Tihran to Mt. Carmel. He Himself testified, on more than one occasion, that the safe transfer of these remains, the construction ofa befitting mausoleum to receive them, and their final interment with His own hands in their permanent resting—place constituted one of the three principal objectives which, ever since the inception of His mission, He had conceived it His paramount duty to achieve. This act indeed deserves to rank as one of the outstanding events in the first Bahá’í century.” 7 (Shoghi Effendi)

“When all was finished, and the earthly remains of the Martyr-Prophet of Sh1'r2iz were, at long last, safely deposited for their everlasting rest in the bosom of God’s holy mountain, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who had cast aside His turban, removed His shoes and thrown off His cloak, bent low over the still open sarcophagus, His silver hair waving about His head and His face transfigured and luminous, rested His forehead on the border of the wooden casket, and, sobbing aloud, wept with such a weeping that all those who were present wept with Him. That night He

could not sleep, so overwhelmed was He with emotion.” 8 (Shoghi Effendi)

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[Page 5]“‘Every stone of that building, every stone of the road leading to it,’ He, many a time was heard to remark, ‘I have with infinite tears and at tremendous cost, raised and placed in position.’ ‘One night,’ He, according to an eye-witness, once observed, ‘I was so hemmed in by My anxieties that I had no other recourse than to recite and repeat over and over again a prayer of the Báb which I had in My possession, the recital of which greatly calmed Me. The next morning the owner of the plot himself came to Me, apologized and begged Me to purchase his property.” 9

(‘Abdu'l—Bah;i, quoted by Shoghi Effendi)

“‘The most joyful tiding is this,‘ He wrote later in a Tablet announcing to His followers the news of this glorious victory, ‘that the holy, the luminous body of the Báb . . . after having for sixty years been transferred from place to place, by reason of the ascendancy of the enemy, and from fear of the malevolent, and having known neither rest nor tranquillity has, through the mercy of the Abhá Beauty, been ceremoniously deposited, on the day of Naw—Rt'1z, within the sacred casket, in the exalted Shrine on Mt. Carmel. . . . By a strange coincidence, on that same day of Naw-Rúz, a cablegram was received from Chicago, announcing that the believers in each of the American centres had elected a delegate and sent to that city . . . and definitely decided on the site and construction of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.’” '° (‘Abdu’l—Bah;i. quoted by Shoghi Effendi)

“I cannot at this juncture over—emphasize the sacredness of that holy dust embosomed in the heart of the Vineyard of God, or overrate the unimaginable potencies of this mighty institution founded sixty years ago, through the operation of the Will of, and the definite selection made by, the Founder of our Faith, on the occasion of His historic visit to that holy mountain, nor can I lay too much stress on the role which this institution, to which the construction of the superstructure of this edifice is bound to lend an unprecedented impetus, is destined to play in the unfoldment of the World Administrative Centre of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh and in the efflorescence ofits highest institutions constituting the embryo of its future World Order.” ” (Shoghi Effendi)