elics and of
over five thousand volumes of Baha'i literature, in no less than forty
languages; the extension to it of the exemption from government taxes,
already granted to other Baha'i institutions and properties in Akka and on
Mt. Carmel; and finally, its conversion from a private residence to a
center of pilgrimage visited by Baha'is and non-Baha'is alike--these served
to further dash the hopes of those who were still desperately striving to
extinguish the light of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah. Furthermore, the
success later achieved in purchasing and safeguarding the area forming the
precincts of the resting-place of the Bab on Mt. Carmel, and the transfer
of the title-deeds of some of these properties to the legally constituted
Palestine Branch of the American Baha'i National Spiritual Assembly, no
less than the circumstances attending the death of the one who had been
the prime mover of mischief throughout 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry,
demonstrated to these enemies the futility of their efforts and the
hopelessness of their cause.

Of a more serious nature, and productive of still greater repercussions,
was the unlawful seizure by the _Sh_i'ahs of 'Iraq, at about the same time
that the keys of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah were wrested by the
Covenant-breakers from its keeper, of yet another Baha'i Shrine, the House
occupied by Baha'u'llah for well nigh the whole period of His exile in
'Iraq, which had been acquired by Him, and later had been ordained as a
center of pilgrimage, and had continued in the unbroken and undisputed
possession of His followers ever since His departure from Ba_gh_dad. This
crisis, originating about a year prior to 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension, and
precipitated by the measures which, after the change of regime in 'Iraq,
had, according to His instructions, been taken for the reconstruction of
that House, acquired as it developed a steadily widening measure of
publicity. It became the object of the consideration of successive
tribunals, first of the local _Sh_i'ah Ja'fariyyih court in Ba_gh_dad,
second of the Peace court, then the court of First Instance, then of the
court of Appeal in 'Iraq, and finally of the League of Nations, the
greatest international body yet come into existence, and empowered to
exercise supervision and control over all Mandated Territories. Though as
yet unresolved through a combination of causes, religious as well as
political, it has already remarkably fulfilled Baha'u'llah's own