Heartbreaking Destruction of the House of Baha’u’llah

As Baha’is, my wife, Cheri, and I feel devastated by the news that the House of Baha’u’llah in Baghdad, Iraq, has been destroyed.

MostGreatHouseThe Baha’i supreme governing body, the Universal House of Justice, announced this news earlier today. The circumstances, they say, are unclear.

The House does say, however, that “The peoples of the world have been robbed of a sanctuary of incalculable sacredness.”

The photo to the right is from The Baha’i World, vol. 6.

It goes without saying that every last detail of the building is meticulously documented, that Baha’is will one day regain possession of the property, and that it will be rebuilt in precise detail. My guess is that emerging technologies for 3D printing mean that even the exact corrugations and indentations of the original stones will be replicated, whenever this happens.

But they won’t be the same stones. Not the ones Baha’u’llah saw and lived with. Not the same molecules. We can rebuild the structure, but we can’t fill the void this leaves in all our hearts.

More news will no doubt be forthcoming.

That sacred structure, and Baha’u’llah’s prophecies about it, were among the topics covered in my book, The Challenge of Baha’u’llah. The excerpt below is what I wrote about it in that volume:

The house that Bahá’u’lláh occupied during His exile in Baghdád was designated by Him, in His Book of Laws, as a centre of pilgrimage for Bahá’ís. He Himself acquired title to the residence, which remained in unbroken and undisputed possession of the Bahá’í community after His departure from Baghdád.

Bahá’u’lláh, however, wrote of it: “Grieve not, O House of God, if the veil of thy sanctity be rent asunder by the infidels.” (Gleanings 114) “Verily, it shall be so abased in the days to come as to cause tears to flow from every discerning eye. Thus have We unfolded to thee things hidden beyond the veil . . .” (Gleanings 115)

Around the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing, the Shí’ih Muslim community of Baghdád, which had no conceivable claim to the property, seized it and expelled the Bahá’ís. After a succession of legal battles, Iraq’s Court of Appeals ruled in favour of the Muslims. Bahá’ís appealed to the League of Nations, which at the time exercised control over Iraq. The Council of the League – the world’s highest tribunal – ruled unanimously in favour of the Bahá’ís, concluding that both the seizure and the subsequent appeals court verdict had been motivated by religious passion.

There followed many years of delays, protests, and evasions. Bahá’ís, as a result, have never regained possession of the property. Their sole consolation is the further prophecy of Bahá’u’lláh regarding His house:

“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. Thus hath spoken the Lord, thy God, ere the day of lamentation arriveth.” (Gleanings 115)

12 comments

  1. Gary, my feelings echo your own… It’s a heartbreaking loss… they are not the same molecules. Have to wonder if these constitute the ‘days of lamentation’.

    1. I’ve wondered the same thing, Norma — whether this destruction means we are living in the “days of lamentation” to which Baha’u’llah referred.

      That said, I must confess I once thought the theft and seizure of the property, around the time of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s passing, constituted those days. And I figured that that meant the worst was in the past — that when Baha’u’llah said His House would become a great shrine, that meant it was at least physically safe. Never considered the possibility we might have to rebuild it before that could happen!

  2. The destruction of this site, which is of extreme significance to this peaceful religious group, is an attack on civilization. Only savages with no conscience can do something like this. Thanks God we live in democratic nations like the United States where these behaviours will never be seen.

    1. Thanks, Kevin, for the kind words. Let’s indeed hope our democratic tradition means nothing like this will happen in the United States.

      Perhaps I should say “happen again”. Because our national record, while perhaps excellent overall, is hardly unblemished. There was the recent mass shooting at a Sikh temple. We’ve seen Muslim mosques and Jewish synagogues attacked. Christian churches have been burned by nominal “Christians” because they were owned and occupied by fellow-Christians of a different race. Native American sacred sites have been desecrated, burial grounds flooded, and the like. And sadly, there’s more.

      Please don’t misunderstand: Our nation’s culture of religious freedom is something to cherish — and to defend. I’m just saying we can defend it more effectively if we decline to take it for granted! There can be, and have been, stains on the history of that culture. We still need eternal vigilance.

      Let’s also not prejudge the motives behind the destroying of Baha’u’llah’s house in Baghdad. At this moment, we don’t know enough. The first report (which is all that I have so far seen) said the circumstances were unclear. We don’t know how the building was destroyed, or even to what extent. Who was behind it? What was the motivation? Was it a government-sanctioned or even government-sponsored action? Was it a rogue terrorist — perhaps an Iraqi equivalent of Timothy McVeigh? We don’t know!

      Without knowing more, we have to consider whether the action was taken in good faith by individuals of good will who knew nothing of the sacredness of the spot they were destroying. The House of Baha’u’llah was seized from Baha’is in the early 1920s — nearly a century ago. While Baha’i ownership was legally vindicated at the time (but never enforced), I doubt the matter would be viewed in that way by whoever currently holds title. For all I know, the property may have changed hands many times; the current owner or owners may have paid for it “fair and square”; there may be a statute of limitations that would deprive Baha’is of any legal standing to reclaim the property (without buying it anew).

      Given these complexities, it seems possible that the structure was demolished for commercial reasons, or urban-renewal reasons, or zoning-ordinance reasons, or other perfectly innocent reasons, by folks who knew nothing of its sacred significance.

      Of course, the action may instead have been undertaken by religious zealots as a plot to harm the Baha’i community. That wouldn’t surprise me; it’s just not anything we can know without more information than we gleaned from the original announcement.

      Shoghi Effendi writes that a Baha’i attitude “must be demonstrated in the impartiality of every defender of the Faith against its enemies, in his fair-mindedness in recognizing any merits that enemy may possess, and in his honesty in discharging any obligations he may have towards him.” (Advent of Divine Justice, page 27) We are grief-stricken. Let us, in our grief, give the benefit of the doubt to those whose actions precipitated it.

  3. It is important not to jump to conclusions about the reasons it was destroyed. On Facebook, I mentioned that I hoped the Baha’i International Community would “protest” at the UN and to other authorities. To protest, we must know the perpetrator. It might have been better for me to have said that I hoped we would share with as many institutions and individuals as possible the significance of the site, the historic wrong that was done the Baha’i community by the theft of the House in 1920, and now the tremendous deprivation its destruction in 2013 will cause.

  4. As sad as it is that this Holy Place was demolished, I strongly believe that the Dust this must have caused will have scattered widely throughout the region. In a sense this might release powers, invisible and unknown to us. It may open and transform hearts in a region that has been troubled for so long. Holiness transcends bricks and molecules. It has been and always be crisis followed by victory. We will rebuild, for sure!

  5. Gary, Your article and the encouragement of our LSA Chairman, Jason Ross, inspired me to write an article about the Most Great House for our Cluster’s newsletter, the Garden Voice.

    May I have your e-mail address so that I may send a copy of our newsletter to you?
    Gary Kerns, co-editor of the Garden Voice

    1. Gary, many thanks. Address sent, and newsletter copy received — great, detailed, well-researched article. Kudos!

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