The Man Who Owned the Most Great House
Bahá'í Chronicles editors, Bahá'í Chronicles · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
Baghdád (today: Baghdad, Iraq)
Haji Mirza Musay-i-Javahiri was entitled by Bahá’u’lláh the Harf-i-Baqa (Letter of Eternity). His father, Haji Mirza Hadi, had been a Persian vazir and was highly revered. He was a man of great wealth and influence and moved to Baghdad. Towards the latter part of his life he became attracted to Bahá’u’lláh and was devoted to Him. Despite his wealth and position he would often enter Bahá’u’lláh’s presence and sit at His feet in humility and self-effacement.
After Haji Mirza Hadi died, his son, Haji Mirza Musa, a loyal and steadfast follower of Bahá’u’lláh, inherited a portion of the estate. He owned the house where Bahá’u’lláh lived and was extremely happy to present it to Him as a gift. However, Bahá’u’lláh refused, and only after Haji Mirza Musa’s continuous pleas did He give instructions that the house be purchased from him at a fair price. As a result this house became a property of the Faith. This building, which Bahá’u’lláh designated the House of God, the Most Great House, and ordained to be a centre of pilgrimage, was sadly destroyed in June 2013.
In some of His Tablets, Bahá’u’lláh has extolled the holiness and glory of this sacred spot, has foretold its fate and the abasement to which it would be subjected, and has prophesied its ultimate exaltation and grandeur in days to come. In one Tablet Bahá’u’lláh has revealed the following:
“Grieve not, O House of God, if the veil of thy sanctity be rent asunder by the infidels. God hath, in the world of creation, adorned thee with the jewel of His remembrance. Such an ornament no man can, at any time, profane. Towards thee the eyes of thy Lord shall, under all conditions, remain directed… In the fullness of time the Lord shall, by the power of truth, exalt it in the eyes of all men. He shall cause it to become the Standard of His Kingdom, the Shrine round which will circle the concourse of the faithful.”
It was in honour of Haji Mirza Musa that Bahá’u’lláh revealed the Arabic Tablet of Subhána-Rabbíya’l-A’lá (Praise to the Exalted Lord). Bahá’u’lláh opens the Tablet with words of encouragement to Mírzá Músá, the Harf-i-Baqá, calling on him to detach himself from this world and everything in it, to enable him to soar in the realms of spirit and partake of the melodies of the Kingdom.
He portrays in dramatic terms the appearance before Him of the ‘Maid of Heaven’, personifying the ‘Most Great Spirit’, and alludes to His own Revelation in such terms as no pen can describe. The whole Tablet conveys in symbolic language the joyous tidings of the advent of the Day of God, at the same time warning the faithful to beware of tests which will befall them, causing many to be deprived of attaining to His glory and grace.
This Tablet is written in allusive language. To understand it the believer must turn to Bahá’u’lláh and meditate upon His words. Only in this way can his heart receive Bahá’u’lláh’s unfailing grace and realize the significance of His utterances.
Source: Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, vol. 1, ch. 12, “Bahá’u’lláh’s Approaching Declaration” (Oxford: George Ronald, 1974), pp. 211–213; the destruction of the House is reported in “Sacred site in Baghdad destroyed,” Bahá’í World News Service, 2013. As compiled by Bahá’í Chronicles (https://bahaichronicles.org/haji-mirza-musay-i-javahari/).
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editors, B. C.. *Bahá'í Chronicles*. https://bahaichronicles.org/haji-mirza-musay-i-javahari/
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