No sacrifice can be deemed too great, no expenditure of material
resources, no degree of renunciation of worldly benefits, comfort and
pleasures, can be regarded as excessive when we recall the precious blood
that flowed, the many lives that were snuffed out, the wealth of material
possessions that was plundered during these most tumultuous and
cataclysmic years of the Heroic Age of our Faith.
Nor will the sacrifices willingly and universally accepted by the
followers of the Faith in East and West for the sake of so noble a Cause,
so transcendent an enterprise, fail to contribute their share towards the
upbuilding of the World Administrative Center of that Faith, and the
reinforcement of the ties already linking this Center with the recognized
authorities of a state under the jurisdiction of which it is now
functioning, ties which the newly formed International Baha'i Council are
so assiduously striving to cement.
Already the completion of the construction of the arcade of this majestic
Sepulcher and of its ornamental parapet has excited the admiration,
stimulated the interest, and enlisted the support, of both the local
authorities and of the central government, as evidenced by the series of
acts which, ever since the emergence of that state, have proclaimed the
good will shown and the recognition extended by the various departments of
that state to the multiplying international institutions, endowments, laws
and ordinances of a steadily rising Faith.
The recognition of the sacred nature of the twin holy Shrines, situated in
the plain of Akka and on the slopes of Mount Carmel; the exemption from
state and civic taxes, granted to the mansion of Bahji adjoining the Most
Holy Shrine, to the twin houses, that of Baha'u'llah in Akka, and
'Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa, to the twin archives, adjoining the Shrine of the
Bab and the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf, and the twin pilgrim
houses constructed in the neighborhood of that Shrine, and of the
residence of 'Abdu'l-Baha; the delivery of the mansion of Mazra'ih by the
authorities of that same state to the Baha'i Community and its occupation
after a lapse of more than fifty years; the setting apart, through
government action, of the room occupied by Baha'u'llah in the barracks of
Akka, as a place of pilgrimage; the recognition of the Baha'i marriage
certificate by the District Commissioner of Haifa; the recognition of the
Baha'i holy days, in an official circular published by the Ministry of
Education and Culture; the exemption from duty accorded by the Customs
Department to all furniture received for Baha'i holy places as well as for
all material imported for the construction of the Bab's Sepulcher, the
exemption from taxes similarly extended to all international Baha'i
endowments surrounding the holy tomb on Mount Carmel, stretching from the
ridge of the mountain to the Templar colony at its foot, as well as to the
holdings in the immediate vicinity of the resting-place of the Greatest
Holy Leaf and her kinsmen--all these establish, beyond the shadow of a
doubt, the high status enjoyed by the international institutions of a
world Faith, in the eyes of this newborn state.
The construction of the mausoleum of the Bab, synchronizing with the birth
of that state, and the progress of which has been accompanied by these
successive manifestations of the good will and support of the civil
authorities will, if steadily maintained, greatly reinforce, and lend a
tremendous impetus to this process of recognition which constitutes an
historic landmark in the evolution of the World Center of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah--a process which the newly formed Council, now established at
its very heart, is designed to foster, which will gather momentum, with
the emergence in the course of time of a properly recognized and
independently functioning Baha'i court, which will attain its consummation
in the institution of the Universal House of Justice and the emergence of
the auxiliary administrative agencies, revolving around this highest
legislative body, and which will reveal the plenitude of its
potentialities with the sailing of the Divine Ark as promised in the
Tablet of Carmel.
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 Center of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah and in the efflorescence of its highest institutions
constituting the embryo of its future World Order.