Tribute to the Shrine of the Báb – by Shoghi Effendi

This magnificent edifice stands facing Bahá’u’lláh’s Most Great Prison, extolled by the Pen of Glory as the ‘Heaven of heavens’, and looks toward the Qiblih of the people of Bahá, that Spot within the vale of security and peace, the plain of ‘Akká, round which circle in adoration the Concourse on high. To her right are the hills of Galilee in which nestles the childhood home of the beautiful Christ, and the locality by the banks of the Jordan River where He Who is the Spirit (Jesus Christ) was called to prophethood; and on her left, on the crest of Carmel, are to be found the Cave of Elijah and the exalted Spot which was blessed by the footsteps of the Most Holy Abhá Beauty and was ennobled through the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel from the treasury of the Pen of Glory. Behind her stand the twin Mounts of Zion and Olives and the holy and ancient city of Jerusalem, within whose walls lie the site of the martyrdom and the burial place of Jesus Christ, the seat of the Throne of David, the glorious Temple of Solomon and the Aqsa Mosque which ranks third among the shrines of the Islamic world. Beyond these there rises Mount Sinai, the cradle of the Jewish Faith, that Sacred Mount, the Paran of light, that holy land where He Who conversed with God (Moses) heard the Voice from the Blessed Tree. And further beyond lies the Arabian Peninsula, the land of Hijaz, the cradle of the Muhammadan Dispensation, with the two cities of Batha and Yathrib, the noble Mecca and the bright Medina, one enshrining the Qiblih of Islam and the other the Resting-place of Him Who is the Lord of mankind (Muhammad) – upon Him be countless salutations and praise.

High, immeasurably high, is this Shrine, the lofty, the most great, the most wondrous. Exalted, immeasurably exalted, is this Resting-place, the fragrant, the pure, the luminous, the transcendent. Glorified, immeasurably glorified, is this Spot, the most august, the most holy, the most blessed, the most sublime.

Rooms of the Shrine of the Báb - their respective doors are named after certain believers

('Coronation on Carmel', by Michael Day)

November 1958: Conclave of the Hands of the Cause of God in 'Abdu'l-Baha's house

1954: The Guardian’s reference about the Canadian Baha’i community and some of its distinguished members

A Community, [Canada] whose founder [1] has conferred upon it such splendid benefits and whose dust now lies on the far-off shores of the South American continent; which has been exalted by reason of the eminent services which two other members [2] Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum Rabbani (Mary Maxwell)—daughter of May and Sutherland Maxwell, became the wife of Shoghi Effendi in 1937, appointed a Hand of the Cause of God in 1952, of her family have rendered, in the Holy Land, to the world Bahá’í community; which can, moreover boast of the enduring and historic achievements of yet another Hand of the Cause [3]—the third nominated from the ranks of its members; and which, in the course of the past year, has set a further example of steadfastness and devotion through the action of outstanding members [4] [5] of its National Assembly who have forsaken their homes to settle in the African continent—such a community can well assert its capacity and determination to consummate, within the allotted time, the laborious and mighty task it has risen to shoulder.

The rapidity of its expansion, its sound development, the steadiness, the single-mindedness, the tenacity, the enthusiasm, the unity and staunchness of its members, augur well for the remarkable material and spiritual progress which the nation to which it belongs must achieve in the years to come, in accordance with the explicit promise enshrined in the Tablets of the Divine Plan by the Centre of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 15 June 1954 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada; ‘Messages to Canada’)

Ali Nakhjavani describes the life of Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga

 

Shoghi Effendi as a child with his father and siblings

 

Shoghi Effendi is on far right.

('Coronation on Carmel', by Michael Day)