> 'Abdu'l-Baha > permitted the covenant breaker to live at the mansion at Bahji, even > paying their expenses. In contrast, Shoghi Effendi could not wait to > get them out and bulldoze their shanty appendages. How do we view > Shoghi Effendi's actions in light of 'Abdu'l-Baha's?
It's my view that the Master took the approach He did, for reasons of wisdom. For years following the Ascension of Baha'u'llah, it was not known that the Covenant-breakers had separated themselves from `Abdu'l-Baha. The pilgrims would come on Pilgrimage, and while there, the Covenant-breakers would invite them to come to the Mansion. (The Master lived in `Akka until 1910, when He moved into His house in Haifa). There are references in Baha'i literature to the efforts the Covenant-breakers made, to turn the believers against `Abdu'l-Baha. (Memorials of the Faithful, p. 55) When the pilgrims would visit the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, the Covenant-breakers would interfere. I believe I read that Mirza Muhammad-`Ali would, with great ceremony, descend the stairway in a manner to try to impress the pilgrims. At this time, the rupture had not become open, and the Master kept it secret. He wrote in a Tablet to Mirza Abu'l-Fazl that when the Covenant-breakers wrote to the Baha'is around the world trying to get the believers to turn to them instead of to the Master, and when some of the mail was returned to the Post Office, it was returned to the Master, not to the Covenant-breakers. Through this means, He discovered their deeds. Since they had made the rupture open, He no longer concealed it. The Master was grievously ashamed of the conduct of the Aghsan. I believe that His support of them was calculated to keep them out of sight, at the Mansion, out of town. I do not think it was something He felt was His duty. Baha'u'llah had written in the Kitab-i-`Ahd that the Aghsan had no right to the property of the believers, and I understand this to mean that there was no right to be supported by the Fund or the Huquq'u'llah. I think it was discretionary with the Master. I do not know when the flow of funds stopped, but have always assumed that it stopped abruptly when Shoghi Effendi became the Guardian. By that time the British Mandate had been in place for three years, and things were opening up. British administration meant more freedom of expression for the Baha'is, protected by the government. Shoghi Effendi did not carry forward the Master's practice of attending Friday prayers at the mosque. No longer being administered by a Muslim government, it was now safe for the Cause to emerge into the public eye as a new Faith. Leroy Ioas was one of the sons of Charles Ioas, who served on the first Assembly in the West -- Chicago. He had met the Master when he was a boy. He became one of the pillars of the Faith in America, deepening the friends at the Geyserville School, educating them in the spirit and administration and history of the Cause. He was a born administrator, and I believe was the VP for Customer Relations for the Union Pacific Railroad. He brought these administrative skills to bear when he served on the National Teaching Committee. It was his encouragement and practical support that enabled a good many homefront and foreign pioneers to settle in their new homes. Then Shoghi Effendi brought Mr. Ioas to Haifa, to assist him in his work. Finally, finally, he had capable assistance. Mr. Ioas met with government officials, particularly in connection with building permits for the burgeoning developments on Carmel. When the three Hands -- Maxwell the architect, Giachery who supervised the marble and tile construction in Europe, and Ioas who was construction supervisor in the Holy Land -- acted on behalf of Shoghi Effendi in building the Shrine of the Bab, these three great Hands enabled Shoghi Effendi to reach his height. Shoghi Effendi loved the Shrine of the Bab so much, that when you sit in the seat he used to sit in, in the Pilgrim House in Haifa, you can see that it enabled him to see the dome of the Shrine of the Bab as he spoke with the friends, framed in the window. Mr. Ioas told Shoghi Effendi that there was an Israeli law that prohibited residences within a certain number of meters of a designated Holy Place. At mealtime Mr. Ioas mentioned this to Shoghi Effendi, and that perhaps this law could be used to evict the Covenant-breakers from the Most Holy Spot. Shoghi Effendi asked Mr. Ioas if he really thought he could do this, and Mr. Ioas said no, he did not think that he could. But if Shoghi Effendi told him to do so, he knew that the power of the Holy Spirit supported everything Shoghi Effendi wanted, and that if he instructed him to do so, it might be done. Shoghi Effendi then asked him to proceed. Shoghi Effendi told Mr. Ioas that everything he had done in his life, all his services to the Cause, including construction of the Shrine of the Bab (Imagine! Constructing the Shrine to One prophecied in the Book of Revelation) -- all of it, was as silver. "This" he said, referring to the eviction of the Covenant-breakers from Bahji -- "This is gold." Mr. Ioas worked at it. The Covenant-breakers brought court action. Everything they did seemed to bring a greater upheaval. But in the end, the decision by the civil authorities was that the Covenant-breakers had to leave. It was while Shoghi Effendi was in England, in October, 1957, just three weeks before his death, that Mr. Ioas cabled Shoghi Effendi that they had gone. He asked him if he wished him to proceed with the demolition of the former residences of the Covenant-breakers. Shoghi Effendi cabled back that he wished to personally supervise this demolition. The Guardian did not return to Haifa. The first act of the Hands after they convened in November, 1957, was to see to the bulldozing of those wretched structures. It seems to me a symbol of the greatness of Shoghi Effendi, how he did this. Throughout the entire ministries of the Master and the Guardian, they never once prayed in the Shrines, without the presence of the Covenant-breakers polluting the Most Holy Spot. The spirit of Shoghi Effendi, acting through the instrumentality of his Hands, cleansed the sanctuary. His pure spirit accomplished this. It fell to Mr. Ioas, after the passing of the Guardian, to sign the deeds in the `Akka Land Registry, deeding these properties into the name of the Faith. It was all done by Shoghi Effendi, but the paperwork. Now, we think nothing of it. We enter the sanctuary of the Most Holy Spot, inhale the fragrances, tread the paths, and our prayers are not interrupted by any unworthy thing. This was accomplished by Shoghi Effendi. 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