The Blue Door to the Mansion of Bahji
The Mansion at Bahjí where Bahá’u’lláh spent the final years of His life.
Baha'u'llah, the latest of the Messengers of God, was exiled by the Shah of Persia ending his life in this mansion, as formally a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire, Israel today.
Throughout history, God has revealed Himself to humanity through a series of divine Messengers, each of whom has founded a great religion. The Messengers have included Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad.
The latest of these Messengers is Bahá’u’lláh, who brings new spiritual and social teachings for our modern age.
He taught that there is only one God, that all of the world’s religions are from God, and that now is the time for humanity to recognize its oneness and unite.
While at Bahjí, Bahá’u’lláh elucidated His teachings and sent tablets to various parts of the world. They included references to His most pivotal social teaching — the oneness of humankind. All His other social teachings are means of achieving and sustaining the practical unity of humanity so that people may fulfill the purpose of their creation, to peacefully carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.
Bahá’u’lláh renewed the great spiritual teachings found in earlier religions, foremost among which is the need to recognize the Messenger of God in the era in which He appears, and follow His teachings.
In one of His best-known tablets from this period, Bahá’u’lláh counsels:
"Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer to the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility. We pray God to protect thee from the heat of jealousy and the cold of hatred."
It was in that same mansion that the distinguished Orientalist, Prof. E. G. Browne of Cambridge, was granted his four successive interviews with Bahá'u'lláh, during the five days he was His guest at Bahjí (April 15-20, 1890), interviews immortalized by the Exile's historic declaration that:
"these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come."
"The face of Him on Whom I gazed," is the interviewer's memorable testimony for posterity, "I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow.... No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain." "Here," the visitor himself has testified, "did I spend five most memorable days, during which I enjoyed unparalleled and unhoped-for opportunities of holding intercourse with those who are the fountain-heads of that mighty and wondrous spirit, which works with invisible but ever-increasing force for the transformation and quickening of a people who slumber in a sleep like unto death. - Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By p. 194
The order of His imprisonment at ‘Akká having never been rescinded, Bahá’u’lláh stated concerning His days at Bahjí:
"Verily, verily, the most wretched prison has been converted into a Paradise of Eden."
An Arabic inscription placed over the door by the original builder Udi Khammar in 1870 reads: "Greetings and salutation 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." David Ruhe — Door of Hope, Page 103
Bahá’u’lláh characterized the Mansion of Bahjí as the "lofty mansion,"the spot which "God hath ordained as the most sublime vision of mankind."
The Shrine of Baha'u'llah, located in Bahji near Acre, Israel, is the holiest place for Baha'is and represents the Qiblih, or direction of prayer. It contains the remains of Baha'u'llah and is near the spot where he passed away in the Mansion of Bahji.
Baha'u'llah was exiled by the Shah of Persia ending his life in this mansion which was under the Ottoman Empire, Israel today.
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