God Passes By

by Effendi Shoghi

The Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Baghdád, deprived of the use of that sacred property through an adverse decision by a majority of the court of Appeal, which had reversed the verdict of the lower court and awarded the property to the Shí’ahs, and aroused by subsequent action of the Shí’ahs, soon after the execution of the judgment of that court, in converting the building into waqf property (pious foundation), designating it “Ḥusayníyyih,” with the purpose of consolidating their gain, realized the futility of the three years of negotiations they had been conducting with the civil authorities in Baghdád for the righting of the wrong inflicted upon them. In their capacity as the national representatives of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq, they, therefore, on September 11, 1928, through the High Commissioner for ‘Iráq and in conformity with the provisions of Art. 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, approached the League’s Permanent Mandates Commission, charged with the supervision of the administration of all Mandated Territories, and presented a petition that was accepted and approved by that body in November, 1928. A memorandum submitted, in connection with that petition, to that same Commission, by the Mandatory Power unequivocally stated that the Shí’ahs had “no conceivable claim whatever” to the House, that the decision of the judge of the Ja’faríyyih court was “obviously wrong,” “unjust” and “undoubtedly actuated by religious prejudice,” that the subsequent ejectment of the Bahá’ís was “illegal,” that the action of the authorities had been “highly irregular,” and that the verdict of the Court of Appeal was suspected of not being “uninfluenced by political consideration.”

“The Commission,” states the Report submitted by it to the Council of the League, and published in the Minutes of the 14th session of the Permanent Mandates Commission, held in Geneva in the fall of 1928, and subsequently translated into Arabic and published in ‘Iráq, “draws the Council’s attention to the considerations and conclusions suggested to it by an examination of the petition... It recommends that the Council should ask the British Government to make representations to the ‘Iráq Government with a view to the immediate redress of the denial of justice from which the petitioners have suffered.”

The British accredited representative present at the sessions of the Commission, furthermore, stated that “the Mandatory Power had recognized that the Bahá’ís had suffered an injustice,” whilst allusion was made, in the course of that session, to the fact that the action of the Shí’ahs constituted a breach of the constitution and the Organic Law of ‘Iráq. The Finnish representative, moreover, in his report to the Council, declared that this “injustice must be attributed solely to religious passion,” and asked that “the petitioner’s wrongs should be redressed.”

The Council of the League, on its part, having considered this report as well as the joint observations and conclusions of the Commission, unanimously adopted, on March 4, 1929, a resolution, subsequently translated and published in the newspapers of Baghdád, directing the Mandatory Power “to make representations to the Government of ‘Iráq with a view to the immediate redress of the injustice suffered by the Petitioners.” It instructed, accordingly, the Secretary General to bring to the notice of the Mandatory Power, as well as to the petitioners concerned, the conclusions arrived at by the Commission, an instruction which was duly transmitted by the British Government through its High Commissioner to the ‘Iráq Government.

A letter dated January 12, 1931, written on behalf of the British Foreign Minister, Mr. Arthur Henderson, addressed to the League Secretariat, stated that the conclusions reached by the Council had “received the most careful consideration by the Government of ‘Iráq,” who had “finally decided to set up a special committee ... to consider the views expressed by the Bahá’í community in respect of certain houses in Baghdád, and to formulate recommendations for an equitable settlement of this question.” That letter, moreover, pointed out that the committee had submitted its report in August, 1930, that it had been accepted by the government, that the Bahá’í community had “accepted in principle” its recommendations, and that the authorities in Baghdád had directed that “detailed plans and estimates shall be prepared with a view to carrying these recommendations into effect during the coming financial year.”

No need to dwell on the subsequent history of this momentous case, on the long-drawn out negotiations, the delays and complications that ensued; on the consultations, “over a hundred” in number, in which the king, his ministers and advisers took part; on the expressions of “regret,” of “surprise” and of “anxiety” placed on record at successive sessions of the Mandates Commission held in Geneva in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932 and 1933; on the condemnation by its members of the “spirit of intolerance” animating the Shí’ah community, of the “partiality” of the Iráqí courts, of the “weakness” of the civil authorities and of the “religious passion at the bottom of this injustice”; on their testimony to the “extremely conciliatory disposition” of the petitioners, on their “doubt” regarding the adequacy of the proposals, and on their recognition of the “serious” character of the situation that had been created, of the “flagrant denial of justice” which the Bahá’ís had suffered, and of the “moral debt” which the ‘Iráq Government had contracted, a debt which, whatever the changes in her status as a nation, it was her bounden duty to discharge.

Nor does it seem necessary to expatiate on the unfortunate consequences of the untimely death of both the British High Commissioner and the Iráqí Prime Minister; on the admission of ‘Iráq as a member of the League, and the consequent termination of the mandate held by Great Britain; on the tragic and unexpected death of the King himself; on the difficulties raised owing to the existence of a town planning scheme; on the written assurance conveyed to the High Commissioner by the acting Premier in his letter of January, 1932; on the pledge given by the King, prior to his death, in the presence of the foreign minister, in February, 1933, that the House would be expropriated, and the necessary sum would be appropriated in the spring of the ensuing year; on the categorical statement made by that same foreign minister that the Prime Minister had given the necessary assurances that the promise already made by the acting Premier would be redeemed; or on the positive statements made by that same Foreign Minister and his colleague, the Minister of Finance, when representing their country during the sessions of the League Assembly held in Geneva, that the promise given by their late King would be fully honored.

Suffice it to say that, despite these interminable delays, protests and evasions, and the manifest failure of the Authorities concerned to implement the recommendations made by both the Council of the League and the Permanent Mandates Commission, the publicity achieved for the Faith by this memorable litigation, and the defense of its cause—the cause of truth and justice—by the world’s highest tribunal, have been such as to excite the wonder of its friends and to fill with consternation its enemies. Few episodes, if any, since the birth of the Formative Age of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, have given rise to repercussions in high places comparable to the effect produced on governments and chancelleries by this violent and unprovoked assault directed by its inveterate enemies against one of its holiest sanctuaries.

“Grieve not, O House of God,” Bahá’u’lláh Himself has significantly written, “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,” He, in another passage, referring to that same House, has prophesied, “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.”

To the bold onslaught made by the breakers of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh in their concerted efforts to secure the custodianship of His holy Tomb, to the arbitrary seizure of His holy House in Baghdád by the Shí’ah community of ‘Iráq, was to be added, a few years later, yet another grievous assault launched by a still more powerful adversary, directed against the very fabric of the Administrative Order as established by two long-flourishing Bahá’í communities of the East, culminating in the virtual disruption of these communities and the seizure of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the Bahá’í world and of the few accessory institutions already reared about it.