The Mansion of Bahjí

A retelling based on The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 4 by Adib Taherzadeh (chapter 7, "The Mansion of Bahjí"), with details from God Passes By by Shoghi Effendi. Words in quotation marks are quoted in those books.

Bahá'u'lláh was brought to the prison-city of 'Akká in 1868. For nine years He did not set foot outside its walls. Shoghi Effendi records that the Muftí of 'Akká, at 'Abdu'l-Bahá's suggestion, had to plead with Him insistently before He would agree to leave the city. He then lived at Mazra'ih, a house a few miles north of 'Akká that 'Abdu'l-Bahá had rented and prepared for Him.

Outside the city stood another house, the Mansion of Bahjí. Its builder, 'Údí Khammár, was the owner of the house in 'Akká where Bahá'u'lláh had lived for several years, and he built the new Mansion for himself and his family. Over its entrance, in 1870, he placed an inscription in Arabic, which Taherzadeh gives in translation: "Greetings and salutations rest upon this mansion which increaseth in splendour through the passage of time. Manifold wonders and marvels are found therein, and pens are baffled in attempting to describe them."

Toward the end of Bahá'u'lláh's stay at Mazra'ih an epidemic broke out in the area. People panicked; many left their homes and many died. 'Údí Khammár died and was buried by the wall of his Mansion. 'Abdu'l-Bahá then rented it for His Father. In Shoghi Effendi's words, the house "was rented and later purchased for Him--a dwelling-place which He characterized as the 'lofty mansion,' the spot which 'God hath ordained as the most sublime vision of mankind.'"

Bahá'u'lláh moved to Bahjí in September 1879 and lived there for almost thirteen years. At the time of the move He was staying in 'Akká, and He set out for the Mansion from the city. While living at Mazra'ih and Bahjí He still went into 'Akká from time to time and stayed there for various lengths of time.

Taherzadeh notes that there were no formal gardens at Bahjí in Bahá'u'lláh's day; the gardens that surround it now were laid out after His ascension. The Mansion stood among open fields, close to a stand of pine trees, some of which still grow in the grounds.

In one of His Tablets, Taherzadeh relates, Bahá'u'lláh describes the Mansion as the scene of His transcendent glory and says it was built to serve as the Seat of God in His Day. He says of its builder that during his life he had no idea for whom he was building it, and asks God's bounties for his soul. He rebukes His enemies, who had condemned Him to life imprisonment in the Most Great Prison, and states that as a sign of His sovereignty He has turned that prison into a lofty Mansion.

It was at Bahjí that Bahá'u'lláh's last illness began, with a slight fever on the night before 8 May 1892, and there that He passed away at dawn on 29 May. Shoghi Effendi records that He was laid to rest the same day, shortly after sunset, "in the northernmost room of the house which served as a dwelling-place for His son-in-law, the most northerly of the three houses lying to the west of, and adjacent to, the Mansion." That spot is now the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, which Taherzadeh calls, for Bahá'ís, "the holiest spot on earth."

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 4 by Adib Taherzadeh.

Taherzadeh, A.. (1987). *The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 4*. George Ronald.