Shoghi Effendi:
Recollections
by Ugo Giachery
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chapter 12 | start page | single page | chapter 14 |  |
Chapter 13
XIII
The Mansion of Bahji
"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." (1870)
THESE verses are engraved in Arabic, on a marble tablet immediately above the entrance door of the Bahji Mansion. This imposing structure, known then as the palace of Udi Khammar, built in the plains of 'Akka for a wealthy Syrian at great cost, was completed about two years after the arrival of Bahá'u'lláh in that prison-city, when His tribulations had reached new heights. It is almost incredible that the builder, whoever he was and whatever his aims and vision, had unknowingly disclosed a prophetic pattern of the events to come. While the Blessed Beauty was suffering from the sudden, heartrending loss of His beloved son, Mirza Mihdi, 'The Purest Branch', the hand of destiny was preparing a dwelling-place where His Majesty and Splendour would be asserted in their fullness. He, Himself, defined it as 'the lofty mansion', and as the spot which 'God hath ordained as the most sublime vision of mankind'.[21]
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[21] Cited GPB p.193
Because of an outbreak of a contagious epidemic, the owner and his family had fled from the palace, never to return. The Mansion was first rented and later purchased for Bahá'u'lláh; thus for almost twelve years after His confinement within the walls of the prison-city of 'Akka - and following the two years He spent in the Mansion of Mazra'ih - 'the doors of majesty and true sovereignty were flung wide open,'[22] as stated by the Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It was in this Mansion that Professor Edward Granville Browne, the orientalist from Cambridge University, was granted, in April 1890, four successive interviews with Bahá'u'lláh, so eloquently described by this distinguished professor in words known to every Bahá'í the world over.[23]
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[22] Cited GPB p.193
[23] See TN vol. II xxxviii-xl
As already mentioned in these recollections, after the passing of Bahá'u'lláh the occupancy of the Mansion was taken over by the Covenant-breakers and their families. Shoghi Effendi spoke to me on several occasions of the situation which ensued thereafter. At the time of Bahá'u'lláh's passing, the Mansion was owned one-third by Badi'u'llah[*] and two-thirds by Abdu'l-Bahá, but the former immediately sold his share to the Chief of Police in Akka. Years after this man's death, his family migrated to Damascus retaining the part-ownership for well over three decades, until the passing of Abdu'l-Bahá, when Shoghi Effendi took immediate steps to regain possession of the remaining one-third. Unbelievable developments created by the machinations of a Covenant-breaker, who was working at the time in the Land Registry Office of Akka, made it possible to thwart and impede Shoghi Effendi's efforts to purchase the share available.[**] Such situations made it impossible for the Guardian, for almost four decades, to regain full ownership of the Mansion for the Cause.
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* An unfaithful half-brother of Abdu'l-Bahá.
** At that time it belonged to other Covenant-breakers, respectively uncle and father of the above-mentioned registrar, who also kept a share for himself.
It was only some months before his passing that the matter could be definitely settled. In the course of those decades, however, two things happened which permitted him to gain control, if not full ownership, of the Mansion. The first was the collapse of a large part of the roof of the edifice; the second was the arbitrary seizing by force of the key of the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh from its custodian - the already mentioned faithful gardener Abu'l-Qasim - an event which precipitated the intervention of the Palestine Mandate authorities, who recognized officially Shoghi Effendi as the sole Custodian of the Bahá'í Holy Places.
The collapse of the roof was a matter which deeply troubled the beloved Guardian; that such a holy and historical building was falling into ruins gave him no peace of mind. When he approached the Mansion's occupant, 'the Arch-breaker of the Covenant', to induce him to make the necessary repairs, he was told that for lack of funds nothing could be done. Then Shoghi Effendi proposed to restore the building as befitted such a holy place, an offer which was readily accepted. After being vacated by its occupants, the Mansion was at long last completely restored at great cost, and exempted from taxation and, being classified as a Bahá'í Holy Place, it came fully under his custodianship. When the occupants vacated the premises, they left ruin everywhere, taking away whatever was transportable, with the exception of a single candlestick which was left behind in the room where Bahá'u'lláh passed away.
With all his enthusiasm and eagerness, Shoghi Effendi restored the building to its original state and furnished it as a place of visitation and pilgrimage, where the Bahá'ís visiting the Holy Places at the World Centre could sleep for two nights. he also personally looked after the most minute details, placing relics, decorations, paintings, and other pictures, books, tapestries, rugs, lamps, and chandeliers, practically with his own hands, in their present locations.
Some years ago I met a gentleman, author of some publication on archaeology and Palestinian architecture, who told me that 'without any doubt, the Mansion of Bahji was considered the most beautiful building in the country'. I believe that so far nothing comparable to the classical beauty of this building has yet been erected. Shoghi Effendi did not spare any effort to bring the Mansion - a Holy Place by rights - to the distinguished rank of a veritable museum in which relics, mementoes, portraits and books are enshrined and displayed, to glorify the great destiny of the building as promised in the marble inscription mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. As was done in the Shrine of the Báb on Mt. Carmel, soon after the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, electric illumination was installed by an American believer, through a small generator located in the garden close to the door of the west wall of the inner garden. On my first pilgrimage the generator was still there.
From the beginning of his Guardianship, Shoghi Effendi had nourished the idea of making the Mansion the physical focal centre of the memories of God's Manifestation on earth, something so greatly missed in the other Faiths of the world. It was also a great challenge to him to restore the fabric of the building as it had been in the days of Bahá'u'lláh. He mentioned to me his whole-hearted commitment to carry out this plan, the final and glorious stage of what was to become a sequence of blazing and permanent landmarks connected with the earthly life of Bahá'u'lláh: the home of His birth and the Siyah-Chal in Tihran, the Most Great House in Baghdad, the houses in Constantinople and Adrianople, and the Most Great Prison in 'Akka. As was his nature, he spoke with emphasis as if looking at something real, already existing, that he was describing, joyfully, anticipating the fullness of the accomplishment. For it was Shoghi Effendi who was the responsible animator, assisted by the believers of the world, for the acquisition and preservation of these holy sites.
It would not be within the spirit and purpose of these recollections to describe in detail the characteristics of the building; but in order to render honour to the noble efforts made by Shoghi Effendi, I shall briefly summarize what he accomplished with such marked success. The Mansion of Bahji is composed of a ground floor with spacious rooms and high ceilings, surrounded on the north, west and south sides by a graceful arcade which confers an air of spaciousness and strength to the whole building. Around this floor there is a small enclosed garden of flowers and citrus trees. Each room on these sides opens on the colonnade, while on the east side, in addition to some doors of rooms, there is the main door leading by a staircase to the upper floor. This upper and only other floor was designed for comfortable and gracious living. On reaching that level the visitor enters, by a short corridor, a large hall paved with marble and flooded with light penetrating from a series of large windows opening into the roof, which is supported by eight marble columns, in the manner of an Islamic courtyard. This hall, with its majestic size and luminosity, lends itself perfectly to the plans devised by Shoghi Effendi, as the area of the floor and of the walls gave him the opportunity to display world-wide historical mementoes, and many visual representations of milestones in the development of the Faith. Over a number of years, whenever some remarkable happening took place, he found a way to remember it by a picture, a relic, a drawing, or some other object placed on the walls, while models of the Shrine of the Báb and of Bahá'í Temples, already built or to be built, were placed on small tables located in the centre of the floor right under the well of light. From this central hall, many large rooms branch out, some with windows opening on the small garden, others opening on to the broad balcony which runs above the arcade. All rooms have much importance in the purpose of the restoration and some are furnished to remind us of a few of the outstanding believers of the world. The one room in which Bahá'u'lláh passed away remains as it was.
Each room is furnished with simplicity and in good taste, the general decor being characteristic of the land of Bahá'u'lláh's birth, transporting the visitor into a Persian atmosphere of many decades ago. Rugs, textiles, bronze ewers, fine glass and porcelain lamps, vases, bowls, mirrors, basins, and many other ornamental objects add to the air of mystery which pervades the Mansion.
Shoghi Effendi destined all the rooms, except that of Bahá'u'lláh and the two adjoining ones, as lodgings for pilgrims, retaining one for the use of himself when in Bahji; and to remind visitors of the creative power of the New Revelation, he placed in every room, except Bahá'u'lláh's, hundreds of Bahá'í books published in nearly all the major languages of the world. These books testify to the immensity of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation which is permeating every land of the world. How eager the Guardian was to place the new publications that continually reached him on the shelves of the many chambers of the Mansion! A copy of every first edition was kept in the chamber he had destined for himself. How delighted I was to see copies of the first Italian translations of the Writings carefully placed among the hundreds of other publications he kept in his quarters. His insight had prompted him to establish a monumental record for all the generations of Bahá'ís to come. The Mansion is not an archive, a reliquary, a library or a shrine, but it is a combination of all four to satisfy the longing of the visitor's soul.
For the seeker whose fantasy and imagination are alive, the experience of visiting this unique building is conducive to much intimate joy. My personal sensation was of indelible exaltation, second only to the feelings experienced in the Shrines of Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb.
The focal point of the Mansion is the chamber occupied by Bahá'u'lláh; it is at the south-east corner of the edifice, provided on two sides with ample luminous windows, one side looking towards the plain, and the other to the terrace from which, at a fair distance, Mt. Carmel is plainly visible. Part of the terrace is screened with framed plate-glass panes in colour, a sort of shelter from the glaring sunlight from the south and west, especially in the late spring and summer months. A marble fountain, which at one time spouted fresh water, is at the back of the screen. It must have been of great relief and enjoyment to the Blessed Beauty, after the many decades of unbearable sufferings, to listen to the ripple of that water falling into the font. A door leading from His room to the terrace made it possible for the august Occupant to move outdoors at any time and with a great amount of privacy. This part of the terrace is covered, and the roof is sustained by slender marble columns which add their beauty to the landscape, as if one were looking at it through a precious frame. I have stood many times, mostly at nightfall, in that particular corner of the terrace, enjoying the unique view of Mt. Carmel in the flaming glow of sundown. It was to me a world of make-believe, to imagine that Bahá'u'lláh was standing there, a little ahead of me, beholding with His keen sight the Carmel blazing in its glory. I could see in the distance the white edifice and the golden dome of the Shrine of the Báb, just as the Blessed Beauty might have anticipated, as He Himself might have imagined it: a reality already decreed in God's ledger. That chamber is the true goal of every visitor to the Mansion; the description given by Professor Browne has fired the imagination of countless pilgrims and visitors who have succeeded one another for nearly a century.
When I reached the door of that room for the first time, my heart was pulsating with great trepidation; I removed my shoes and my eyes caught Professor Browne's immortal page of his interview with Bahá'u'lláh. Shoghi Effendi has placed this document, printed and framed, beside the door, for everyone to see and be reminded of the drama which took place in that chamber - the Mouthpiece of God telling the Western scholar what the destiny of mankind would be: the Light of the East shining upon the dimness of unbelief; the promise of a spiritual regeneration for the whole world.
'In the corner where the divan met the wall sat a wondrous and venerable figure... The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget...'[24] These words were ringing in my mind when, putting the curtain of the door aside, I entered that sacred room. The light was quite dim, all windows being hermetically closed with the exception of two small circular ones high up on the wall which allowed some light to filter in. I prostrated myself on the floor, unable to raise my eyes in any direction, least of all towards the famous corner. Hope and awe kept me fixed to that floor, sobbing, aware of His presence, of His piercing eyes that would read my soul. Moments of supreme ecstasy gave me fleeting images of the life He had spent there, in His vital regality, with one imperative thought in His mind: the redemption of man. Much time passed thus, and when the reality of the surroundings became evident and I dared to look, I saw His fur coat, His taj, and the corner where the Wondrous Figure had sat. Many a visit I have made to that room over a number of years, and the process of sublimation and return has been as engaging and as powerful as that first time.
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[24] See TN, vol. II, xxxix
Again, it was my good fortune at one time to be in the Mansion and in that chamber with Shoghi Effendi. He was the talisman that brought to me, closer than ever, the majesty of the Blessed Beauty; his chanting, unique in tonality and emotion, made the heart throb with that quality of infinite love which surely belonged to the world of saints and angels.
The chamber that Shoghi Effendi had selected for himself is located on one corner of the main hall. It has the same dimensions as the one used by Bahá'u'lláh, and also opens on the terrace, close to the fountain. The iron bed which is in the room, in the same location where he had placed it, was used by him every time he went to Bahji, and spent the night there.
The nearness to the Tomb of Bahá'u'lláh offered a rare and unique possibility of praying at the Tomb until late at night and early in the morning. Those of us who were allowed to stay some days in the Mansion, as pilgrims, can well remember the hours of true bliss, forgetful of the outer world, living intensely in a state of rapture and beatitude every instant spent within the Mansion and the Sacred Sepulchre. Awakening in the morning in one of the Mansion's chambers, refreshed and infinitely happy, I could hear the chanting of the Guardian who had already entered Bahá'u'lláh's chamber, a music which would enkindle heart and limbs with a wondrous eagerness to do things. One day when I was allowed to enter his chamber, I noticed with amazement that, on the wall by the head of his bed, Shoghi Effendi had the photograph of the first Italian Local Assembly, that of Rome, to which both my wife Angeline and I belonged. When I mentioned this to him, he looked at me with overwhelming tenderness and said that nothing had pleased him more than the establishment of a Bahá'í administrative institution in the Christian capital of the world. On that occasion he added, 'There are three religious centres in the world with distinct functions: Rome, Mecca, and Cairo, where the Cause will register its greatest victories for the Faith in the future.' I am not able to comment further on the chamber chosen by Shoghi Effendi, but to the sensitive visitor it will appear, as it did to me, the distinguished retreat of a superior mind desirous of tranquillity - a retreat filled with living memories of the recent past, conducive to meditation and noble thoughts, and, above all, permeated by an air of purity and innocence, an aura Shoghi Effendi carried with him.
Another room of the Mansion, one of the smallest on the north side, was destined to receive all printed publicity on the Faith, over many years. In the centre of this room was an ever-growing pyramid of newspapers which the Guardian would deposit himself, one on top of the other, as they arrived from all parts of the world in many different languages.
Many other wonders are enshrined in the Mansion, but I would rather leave it to the ingenuity and the perspicacity of the visitor to discover them and utter cries of delight and astonishment.
When the Mansion was used for pilgrims, who usually remained in Bahji for two days, the rooms of the ground and the first floors were used as sleeping quarters for them. Unforgettable days of supreme enchantment they were, when one became at once the ennobled dweller of the lofty Mansion, its proud defender, and the humble-hearted seeker of the mysteries of creation. Many nights I have spent in those hallowed chambers, with prayers on my lips, my heart filled with joy and contentment, hearing the echo of footsteps and voices of the past, sheltered in the certainty that God's Messenger had breathed there hopefulness and blessings for all men. Once I had this rare privilege when Shoghi Effendi was there, and my cup of joy overflowed.
The little garden, encircled by a stone wall which is a part of the Mansion, was at the time of my first pilgrimage a veritable little paradise; after many years of neglect, following the passing of Bahá'u'lláh, Shoghi Effendi had brought the garden back to its pristine charm, by planting trees, shrubs and flowers all around. On the east side, there were tangerine, orange and lemon trees; red blazing geraniums and roses on the north, and jasmine of several varieties on the west. It was early spring when I first visited the Mansion, and I could inhale the strong scent of jasmine and orange blossoms as I walked outside the dividing wall, towards the main door. Once I entered that door, the fragrance grew so strong that for a moment I felt inebriated, as though from a draught of heavenly nectar. At that time the land outside the wall surrounding the small garden was wild and abandoned; it belonged to absentee owners, and was cluttered around the eastern wall with dilapidated and shabby dwellings occupied by large families of nomads. All this made a strong contrast, and caused my mind to race back to the days, seven decades before, when the Blessed Beauty was able to enjoy the redolence of that little oasis and the shade of its trees, while outside, all around, the land was neglected and barren. Singing birds and turtle-doves were now nesting in the trees and shrubbery, well aware of the perfect safety from men or animals offered by that hallowed enclave. That day before leaving, I gathered some jasmine blossoms, and that night I put them in a small vase which I placed in front of the Guardian at the dinner-table. There was no need for words on his part; he looked pleased and deeply moved. He searched my eyes with his luminous gaze, smiled, raised the flowers to his nostrils and with much delight breathed in the strong scent. Some time after, I heard that jasmine was his favoured perfume.
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