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Carmel and facing the Qiblih of the Bahá’í world; the enlargement of the scope of Bahá’í international endowments in the twin cities of Akká and Haifa, constituting the World Center of the Faith, until their present value can now be estimated at over five and a half million dollars; a corresponding extension of Bahá’í national endowments in the Great Republic of the West—the stronghold of the Bahá’í Administrative Order—the value of which is fast approaching five million dollars, and of Bahá’í holdings in the Cradle of the Faith, conservatively estimated to be well over forty million túmans; the acquisition of no less than forty-eight National Hazíratu’l-Quds—the central administrative headquarters of Bahá’í communities established in the sovereign States and chief Dependencies of the globe—involving an expenditure of over half a million dollars; the founding of Bahá’í national endowments in no less than fifty capitals and chief cities of all five continents, the cost of which may be estimated to be at least one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the initiation of the construction of the Mother Temples of both Africa and Australia, as well as the purchase of eleven Temple sites for over two hundred thousand dollars; the incorporation of over ninety national and local Spiritual Assemblies, raising the total number of incorporated Assemblies the world over to over two hundred; the translation of Bahá’í literature into one hundred and forty-eight languages, of which no less than seventy-two are over and above those called for by the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan, bringing the total number of languages to two hundred and thirty-seven; as well as a series of additional accomplishments, too numerous to recount, supplementing the objectives of that Plan, in connection with the opening of virgin territories, the acquisition of Temple sites, the inauguration of Bahá’í schools, the founding of Bahá’í local endowments, the establishment of local Hazíratu’l-Quds, the formulation of subsidiary Plans, the initiation of a Bahá’í Publishing Trust, the purchase of Bahá’í Holy Sites, and of plots for Bahá’í burial-grounds and for Bahá’í summer schools—all these can be regarded by any fair-minded observer in no other light except as the manifestations of a momentous progress as diversified in character as it is far-reaching in its import.
Otherwise, He, the ideal King, could easily have left the Qiblih unchanged, and could have caused Jerusalem to remain the Point of Adoration unto His Dispensation, thereby withholding not from that holy city the distinction of acceptance which had been conferred upon it.
This twofold opportunity that providentially presented itself to them, to contribute to the rise and consolidation of the World Center of their Faith, and to the spiritual re-awakening of a long-neglected continent, must, however, be exploited to the fullest extent, if the early completion of the most sacred edifice, next to the Qiblih of the Bahá’í world, is to be assured, and if the executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan are to retain untarnished the primacy conferred upon them by its Author.
Muḥammad strongly resented these words. Whilst, wrapt in meditation and wonder, He was gazing toward heaven, He heard the kindly Voice of Gabriel, saying: “We behold Thee from above, turning Thy face to heaven; but We will have Thee turn to a Qiblih which shall please Thee.” On a subsequent day, when the Prophet, together with His companions, was offering the noontide prayer, and had already performed two of the prescribed Rik’áts, the Voice of Gabriel was heard again: “Turn Thou Thy face towards the sacred Mosque.” , In the midst of that same prayer, Muḥammad suddenly turned His face away from Jerusalem and faced the Ka’bih.
The recently acquired area surrounding the holiest Shrine in the Bahá’í World and its appointed Qiblih in the plain of Akká has been further extended through the purchase from the Development Authority of the State of Israel of a dilapidated house, situated south of the Mansion and blessed by the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and in which He was wont to receive His friends, amongst them the first party of western Bahá’í pilgrims to arrive in the Holy Land after the passing of Bahá’u’lláh.
The conjunction of these three resting-places, under the shadow of the Báb’s own Tomb, embosomed in the heart of Carmel, facing the snow-white city across the bay of Akká, the Qiblih of the Bahá’í world, set in a garden of exquisite beauty, reinforces, if we would correctly estimate its significance, the spiritual potencies of a spot, designated by Bahá’u’lláh Himself the seat of God’s throne.
In the Holy Land—the Qiblih of a world community, the heart from which the energizing influences of a vivifying Faith continually stream, and the seat and center around which the diversified activities of a divinely appointed Administrative Order revolve—following upon the termination of the construction of the Báb’s holy Sepulcher, marking the closing of the first chapter in the history of the evolution of the central institutions of a world Faith, a marked progress in the rise and establishment of these institutions has been clearly noticeable.
The launching of the Crusade itself, with the celebrations and ceremonials which accompanied it; the repercussions of the widely reported proceedings of four successive Intercontinental Teaching Conferences, which heralded its inauguration; the public dedication of the Mother Temple of the West in Wilmette; the systematic intensification of teaching activities in the Arabian Peninsula, enshrining the Qiblih of the entire Islamic world; and, in particular, the opening to the Faith of the twin holy cities of Mecca and Medina—all these may be said to have precipitated this crisis, and alarmed the jealous exponents and guardians of an antiquated religious orthodoxy in the strongholds of both Shí’ah and Sunní Islám.
Thus hath He revealed after the breach amongst the people: “We did not appoint that which Thou wouldst have to be the Qiblih, but that We might know him who followeth the Apostle from him who turneth on his heels.” “Affrighted asses fleeing from a lion.”
In the Holy Land, where a Bahá’í cemetery had, before these pronouncements, been established during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry, the historic decision to bury the Bahá’í dead facing the Qiblih in Akká was taken—a measure whose significance was heightened by the resolution to cease having recourse, as had been previously the case, to any Muḥammadan court in all matters affecting marriage and divorce, and to carry out, in their entirety and without any concealment whatever, the rites prescribed by Bahá’u’lláh for the preparation and burial of the dead.
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