Pilgrimage to the House of the Báb

The magnificent ruins of Persepolis, symbol of the first flowering of Persia

twenty-five hundred years ago, lie among desert mountains at the edge of
a great, fertile valley.
The Gate of Peace of ancient Apadana Palace manifests the influence of
the Faith of Zoroaster, a faith which created new values for human life in
the Achaemenian Empire.
Centuries later, southwest of abandoned Persepolis, there arose a new
city, Shíráz, destined for an undreamed-of-crown—
Shíráz, "city of the poets Háfiz and Sa'dí," "mother of Persian genius and
sanctuary of poetry and philosophy";
Shíráz, place of singular mosques built in expression of the Shí'ih doctrine
of Islam;
Shíráz, where mansions set in the midst of splendid gardens confirm that it
is the "home of Persian culture."
But a simple House with an upper Room in a quiet corner of this old city is
more important by far than any of the great mansions.
All Bahá'ís shall visit here; for "God has ordained, for those . . . who are
able, [that they shall] go on pilgrimage" to this very House of the blessed
Báb.
This is the House of Siyyid 'Alí-Muhammad, the Primal Point, the Martyr-
Prophet and Herald "whose day every Prophet hath announced."
 And then, obeying the command of pilgrimage, the believer approaches
Shíráz from the north through the Alláh-u-Akbar Pass, at that first view he
may cry out "God is most great!" at "the exceeding beauty of the city."
At that place too the pilgrim may utter with fervor his prayer of tribute to
that blessed city, as the Persian Bahá'ís have done for generations.
"The Spirit of God and His splendor, and the glory of God and His praise
rest upon thee, O thou the city of God, the habitation of His names, the
repository of His attributes,
 "the fountainhead of the outpourings of His grace, the source of His
bounties and the dawning-place of His effulgent splendors which have
encompassed the entire creation . . .
"I bear witness that out of the bosom of thy soil hath shone forth the One
Who is the Primal Point, the beauteous Image of the Ever-Abiding, . . .
"the Mystery of His ancient sovereignty, the all-embracing Word of God,
His irrevocable Decree and His well-guarded secret . . .
The Gate of the Qur'án is a fitting entry into Shíráz, for was not the
promised Qá'im manifested therein?
 The room above the gate enshrines a massive Qur'án, placed there to
bring the blessing of peace and the knowledge of the Will of God to those
entering the city.
Beyond the gate spreads Shíráz, an expanse of low buildings-in their midst
the sacred House where began, more than a hundred years ago, the
supreme spiritual drama of our time.
"In the year sixty," 1844, from the port of Bushihr on the Persian Gulf came
another pilgrim, afoot, guided by a spiritual intuition to Shíráz.
 In this spot where yesterday stood the Kázirun Gate, Mullá Husayn of
Bushruyih met "a Youth of radiant countenance," Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad,
and was invited to his Home.
Walking through the crooked streets,
They passed by the Ilkhani Mosque where Mullá Husayn's brother and
nephew awaited him.
Traversing the narrow, cobbled lanes of the obscure Shamshir-Girán
Quarter,
They came to the door of a modest House.
 At a knock an Ethiopian servant opened the door, whereupon, the Báb,
addressing His guest, uttered the Qur'ánic verse: "Enter therein in peace,
secure!"
Today the pilgrim passes the door and down a narrow street,
 And, rounding the corner, enters, through an inconspicuous door, a
dwelling which has been prepared to receive the pilgrims to the House.
The pilgrim emerges into its courtyard.
He crosses to a door which pierces the far wall, glimpsing for the first time
the charming, small court of the blessed Báb's House.
At this wondrous threshold some of the friends, giving thanks for the
bounty of attainment to this Sacred Spot, may even wish to bend in
homage or kiss the shallow sill.
The courtyard of the Báb's House is tiny, with a diminutive pool and an old
orange tree planted by the Báb Himself. On three sides are the rooms of a
simple U-shaped Dwelling.
 In the corner at the left is the household well, which still supplies cool,
sweet water. Standing at the threshold, with "a feeling of unutterable joy,"
One's eyes turn upward to the fateful upper Room where, long ago, the
Báb entertained His honored guest.
Across the narrow court and up three steps . . .
Into the side hallway . . .
At the left is the room of the Báb's widowed mother, empty save for a
lingering memory of her presence.
To the right of the hallway the Báb's narrow sitting room opens onto the
courtyard through ceiling-high windows.
Adjacent is the interior living room, once occupied by the Báb's beloved
wife, Khadíjih Khánum.
The back stairway is steep and narrow, typical of Persian houses of that
day;
But it rises to the Place of revelation.
At the doorway of the Room the pilgrim may pause, as do the Persian
believers, to recite a prayer revealed for this Holy Place.
"I testify with my tongue and my soul, with all my heart and my limbs that
this is the Spot before which all the denizens of His Kingdom
"and beyond them the inhabitants of the realm of creation . . . bow down in
adoration
"This is the Spot where every day the inmates of the Crimson Chambers
sweep the threshold clean and the company of His favored angels dust it
with their locks of spirit."
Through the far door the Báb and Mullá Husayn entered the Room. There
the Báb made His learned and esteemed guest at home.
Seating themselves, the Báb poured water for Mullá Husayn's ablutions,
then offered him "a refreshing beverage" and "Himself prepared the tea,"
after which they shared evening prayers.
About an hour after sunset the Báb began to give to Mullá Husayn the
proofs that He was that "Man of unsurpassed holiness" Whose Cause
would be initiated by none other than the "Lord of the Age."
Beneath this ceiling sat the two young men, He Who was the new Revealer
and he who was the first disciple.
 On that lamplit evening the blessed Báb presented clear proofs of His
Mission and confirmed the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim.
In that Room He revealed what was to become the initial chapter of His
"first, greatest and mightiest" work, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá'.
This commentary on the Surih of Joseph from the Qur'án predicted the
Divine Joseph Who was soon to fulfill the promise of God.
 On that night of nights, at the third hour after sunset, God's new
Manifestation broke bread with His disciple. And the night fled away to
dawn in the outpouring of the new Revelation.
It was the dawn of arousal of all men from their spiritual slumbers, the hour
when the voice of Gabriel from the tongue of Mullá Husayn cried out:
"Awake, for lo! The morning Light has broken . . . [and the] "promised One
is come!"
Then, as daybreak became sunrise, Mullá Husayn, the Bábu'l-Báb, the
gate of the Gate-transformed, bemused-left his Beloved
And descended the nine steps up which he had come the night before, that
supernal night which marked the coming of a new spiritual age.
 At the foot of the stairs he stepped through the door into the humdrum
street. The great adventure of a new Faith was begun—utterly compelling,
gloriously dangerous—at stake the future of mankind.
For the pilgrim, too, all else is afterward. He feels one with that Ethiopian
servant of long ago whose room is the humble memory of a life
transformed by service to the blessed Báb.
Taking a last look about the courtyard to fix it in his mind forever, the
pilgrim reluctantly departs, illumined, brimming, but bereft.
His heart will forever thereafter focus upon the upper Room of that small
House whence issued the first "blast of the trumpet," sounded by "the
Primal Point from which have been generated all created things."
 Walking slowly away from that silent door in its drab, faceless lane, the
pilgrim has a further purpose: to feel the life of the Great One in the city of
His birth.
In this now dilapidated house nearby once lived the Báb, deprived of His
father in infancy, but sheltered and reared by his pious and respected
uncle, Hájí Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí.
The living room of the house is richly fashioned. And it is the place where
perhaps the Báb received for the first time certain of the Letters of the
Living.
 The stained glass windows are joyously colorful, typical of this house of
beauty and taste; but in it lived also piety and love, for the proper nurture of
the young 'Ali-Muhammad.
The school which He attended briefly under the tutorship of the learned
Shaykh 'Abíd has now been converted to a mosque,
Through the Vakíl Bazaar the Báb during His young manhood, was wont to
walk to the shop which He shared with His uncle.
Near the Shrine of Sháh-Chirágh the Báb's beloved wife Khadíjih was
buried in November, 1882.
In the vicinity of the place called Bábí-Dukhtarán was buried the infant
Ahmad, the only child of the blessed Báb and Khadíjih.
The pilgrim may see the Ílkhaní Mosque, where many of the Letters of the
Living were housed during their forty-day-long search for the Promised
One.
At the mosque he remembers Muhammad-'Alí of Barfurúsh, entitled
Quddús, the last, the youngest, but the greatest of them all.
 Shíráz's lovely mosques embody the spirit of Shí'ih expectation of the
return of the twelfth Imam, the Qá'im, Who finally came in accordance with
prophecy.
Near this fortress He, upon His return from pilgrimage to Mecca, was
maltreated by the vicious governor, Husayn Khán.
In the Ark-i-Karímkhání, now long vanished, He was struck and upbraided,
but shielded from grievous harm by the Imám-Jum'ih.
At the college and Mosque of Vakíl,
All too soon the pilgrim must depart from this city made holy by the Báb's
Declaration of His Mission.
All too soon the pilgrim must depart
from this city made holy by the Bb's
Declaration of His Mission.
 Leaving Shíráz for Tihrán that he might discover God's Mystery,
Bahá'u'lláh, the Qayyúm, that Most Great One Who Will Arise, for Whom
the Báb was the Forerunner.
 Leaving Shíráz for Tihrán that he might discover God's Mystery,
Bahá'u'lláh, the Qayyúm, that Most Great One Who Will Arise, for Whom
the Báb was the Forerunner.
 Pilgrimage to the House of the Báb in Shíráz is the privilege of every
Bahá'í. There began the new Dispensation through which "God hath
proved the hearts of the entire company of His Messengers and Prophets."
"Verily, He is Potent to do what He desireth. He ordaineth whatsoever He
pleaseth and doeth what He willeth."
"Verily, He is Potent to do what He desireth. He ordaineth whatsoever He
pleaseth and doeth what He willeth."