God Passes By - Shoghi Effendi
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Page 274 of  412

Unable to find a suitable place in the suburb of Shah Abdu'l- 'Azim, Mulla Ali- Akbar and his companion continued their search until, on the road leading to Chashmih- 'Ali, they came upon the abandoned and dilapidated Masjid- i- Masha'u'llah, where they deposited, within one of its walls, after dark, their precious burden, having first re- wrapt the remains in a silken shroud brought by them for that purpose. Finding the next day to their consternation that the hiding- place had been discovered, they clandestinely carried the casket through the gate of the capital direct to the house of Mirza Hasan- i- Vazir, a believer and son- in- law of Haji Mirza Siyyid Aliy- i- Tafrishi, the Majdu'l- Ashraf, where it remained for no less than fourteen months. The long- guarded secret of its whereabouts becoming known to the believers, they began to visit the house in such numbers that a communication had to be addressed by Mulla Ali- Akbar to Baha'u'llah, begging for guidance in the matter. Haji Shah Muhammad- i- Manshadi, surnamed Aminu'l- Bayan, was accordingly commissioned to receive the Trust from him, and bidden to exercise the utmost secrecy as to its disposal. (274:1)

Assisted by another believer, Haji Shah Muhammad buried the casket beneath the floor of the inner sanctuary of the shrine of Imam- Zadih Zayd, where it lay undetected until Mirza Asadu'llah- i- Isfahani was informed of its exact location through a chart forwarded to him by Baha'u'llah. Instructed by Baha'u'llah to conceal it elsewhere, he first removed the remains to his own house in Tihran, after which they were deposited in several other localities such as the house of Husayn- 'Aliy- i- Isfahani and that of Muhammad- Karim- i- 'Attar, where they remained hidden until the year 1316 (1899) A.H., when, in pursuance of directions issued by Abdu'l- Baha, this same Mirza Asadu'llah, together with a number of other believers, transported them by way of Isfahan, Kirmanshah, Baghdad and Damascus, to Beirut and thence by sea to Akka, arriving at their destination on the 19th of the month of Ramadan 1316 A.H. (January 31, 1899), fifty lunar years after the Bab's execution in Tabriz. (274:2)

In the same year that this precious Trust reached the shores of the Holy Land and was delivered into the hands of Abdu'l- Baha, He, accompanied by Dr. Ibrahim Khayru'llah, whom He had already honored with the titles of "Baha's Peter," "The Second Columbus" and "Conqueror of America," drove to the recently purchased site which had been blessed and selected by Baha'u'llah on Mt. Carmel, and there laid, with His own hands, the foundation- stone of the edifice, the construction of which He, a few months later, was to commence. About that same time, the marble sarcophagus, designed to receive the body of the Bab, an offering of love from the Baha'is of Rangoon, had, at Abdu'l- Baha's suggestion, been completed and shipped to Haifa. (274:3)

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