Bahiyyih Khanum

Munírih Khanum,      obelisk

church ceiling

Jewish holy place

      We visited monument gardens, hearing details about the people whose monuments mark their resting places; Bahá’u’lláh’s wife Navváb, the Most Exalted Leaf; His younger son Mirza Mihdi, the Purest Branch; His daughter Bahiyyih Khanum, the Greatest Holy Leaf, who has a station comparable to the Virgin Mary; and Munírih Khanum, wife of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. 

      A coach took us to the temple site, where an obelisk marks the place where the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the Holy Land will be built, then some of us got off on the way back to see Elijah’s two caves. 

      The top one has a monastery built over it, including a very beautiful church. Then we walked down 800 steps to the bottom one, which is a Jewish holy place. During our walk we had to negotiate the rocky slope, which has little soil and indicates what the mountain was like further along before the terraces were constructed; what an achievement for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to have constructed the original terrace, without modern equipment, for the Shrine of the Báb to be built! 

      A few more steps to the bottom of Mount Carmel and we find the Bahá’í cemetery, where we said prayers amidst the resting places of Hands of the Cause and other Bahá’ís. 

     A bus took us to the 1st terrace, and a few of us walked up to the Shrine of the Báb. We needed our free afternoon to recover from all that! A very pleasant time, mainly in the pilgrim reception centre, meeting people on 3-day pilgrimage or visiting family, swapping songs, Tranquillity Zone details and e-mail addresses. 

     In the evening the speakers were Mr.Furutan and a 2nd. member of the International Teaching Centre.