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The evacuation of the Mansion of Baha'u'llah by these Covenant- breakers, after their unchallenged occupancy of it since His ascension, a Mansion which, through their gross neglect, had fallen into a sad state of disrepair; its subsequent complete restoration, fulfilling a long cherished desire of Abdu'l- Baha; its illumination through an electric plant installed by an American believer for that purpose; the refurnishing of all its rooms after it had been completely denuded by its former occupants of all the precious relics it contained, with the exception of a single candlestick in the room where Baha'u'llah had ascended; the collection within its walls of Baha'i historic documents, of relics and of over five thousand volumes of Baha'i literature, in no less than forty languages; the extension to it of the exemption from government taxes, already granted to other Baha'i institutions and properties in Akka and on Mt. Carmel; and finally, its conversion from a private residence to a center of pilgrimage visited by Baha'is and non- Baha'is alike-- these served to further dash the hopes of those who were still desperately striving to extinguish the light of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah. Furthermore, the success later achieved in purchasing and safeguarding the area forming the precincts of the resting- place of the Bab on Mt. Carmel, and the transfer of the title- deeds of some of these properties to the legally constituted Palestine Branch of the American Baha'i National Spiritual Assembly, no less than the circumstances attending the death of the one who had been the prime mover of mischief throughout Abdu'l- Baha's ministry, demonstrated to these enemies the futility of their efforts and the hopelessness of their cause. (356:1) Of a more serious nature, and productive of still greater repercussions, was the unlawful seizure by the Shi'ahs of Iraq, at about the same time that the keys of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah were wrested by the Covenant- breakers from its keeper, of yet another Baha'i Shrine, the House occupied by Baha'u'llah for well nigh the whole period of His exile in Iraq, which had been acquired by Him, and later had been ordained as a center of pilgrimage, and had continued in the unbroken and undisputed possession of His followers ever since His departure from Baghdad. This crisis, originating about a year prior to Abdu'l- Baha's ascension, and precipitated by the measures which, after the change of regime in Iraq, had, according to His instructions, been taken for the reconstruction of that House, acquired as it developed a steadily widening measure of publicity. It became the object of the consideration of successive tribunals, first of the local Shi'ah Ja'fariyyih court in Baghdad, second of the Peace court, then the court of First Instance, then of the court of Appeal in Iraq, and finally of the League of Nations, the greatest international body yet come into existence, and empowered to exercise supervision and control over all Mandated Territories. Though as yet unresolved through a combination of causes, religious as well as political, it has already remarkably fulfilled Baha'u'llah's own prediction, and will, in its own appointed time, as the means for its solution are providentially created, fulfill the high destiny ordained for it by Him in His Tablets. Long before its seizure by fanatical enemies, who had no conceivable claim to it whatever, He had prophesied that "it shall be so abased in the days to come as to cause tears to flow from every discerning eye."
(356:2)
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