February 7. On this date in 1923, Shoghi Effendi wrote Wellesley Tudor Pole "I have had a long talk with Col. Symes" regarding the right of access to Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahji by Mandate authorities to Bahá'ís and Covenant-breakers alike.

 

February 7. On this date in 1923, Shoghi Effendi wrote Wellesley Tudor Pole "I have had a long talk with Col. Symes" regarding the right of access to Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahji by Mandate authorities to Bahá'ís and Covenant-breakers alike.

From the chapter titled 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Ascension and Its Immediate Consequences in Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum's book The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith...

The matter which concerned Shoghi Effendi most, however, was the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahji. The keys of the inner Tomb were still held by the authorities; the right of access to other parts of the Shrine was accorded Bahá'ís and Covenant-breakers alike; the Bahá'í custodian looked after it as before, and any decision seemed in a state of abeyance. Shoghi Effendi never rested until, through representations he made to the authorities, backed by insistent pressure from Bahá'ís all over the world, he succeeded in getting the custody of the Holy Tombback into his own hands. On February 7, 1923, he wrote to Tudor Pole: "I have had a long talk with Col. Symes and have fully explained to him the exact state of affairs, the unmistakable and overwhelming voice of all the Bahá'í Community and their unshakeable determination to stand by the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Recently he sent a message to Muhammad 'Ali requiring from him the sum of œ108 for the expenses of the policeman, contending that he being the aggressor is liable to this expense. So far he has not complied with this request and I await future developments with great anxiety."

The following day Shoghi Effendi received this telegram from his cousin, who was in Jerusalem:

His Eminence Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, Haifa.

Letter received immediate steps taken the final decision by the High Commissioner is in our favour the key is yours.

The letter referred to was one written by Sir Gilbert Clayton, Chief Secretary of the Palestine Administration, to the High Commissioner. Shoghi Effendi, in another letter to Tudor Pole, informed him that he was on very warm terms with the Governor of Haifa, Col. G. Stewart Symes and had met Sir Gilbert; it was no doubt due to these contacts that the authorities decided in favour of the Guardian and the key was officially returned to the legitimate Bahá'í keeper of the Shrine, from whom it had been wrested by force over a year before.

Though the safety of the Qiblih of the Bahá'í world was now assured once and for all time, the house Bahá'u'lláh had occupied in Bagdad was still in the hands of the Shi'ah enemies of the Faith, and continues to be so until the present day; the battle to get it back into Bahá'í custody was to worry and to exercise Shoghi Effendi for many years.