With a heart overflowing with thankfulness and joy I take my pen to share
with you tidings that eloquently testify to the triumphant majesty and
unconquerable spirit of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. From Geneva, the seat of
the League of Nations, there comes the news that the fervent plea
addressed by the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq to the world’s supreme Tribunal
regarding an issue that for a time has stirred the Bahá’í world to its
foundation has at last met with a noble and most gratifying response.
You will recall the references made in my previous communications, dated
November 6, 1925, October 29, 1926, and January 1, 1929, to the forcible
seizure of Bahá’u’lláh’s sacred house by the _Sh_í’ah of Ba_gh_dád, to the
appeals which from almost every quarter of the globe have showered upon
the authorities of ‘Iráq for its restitution, to the long and unsuccessful
legal proceedings to which the representatives of the Faith in that land
have resorted, and lastly to the petition which they have addressed to the
League’s Permanent Mandates Commission setting forth the history of the
case and appealing for the intervention of the Council in their behalf. I
am now informed that after mature deliberation the conclusion arrived at
by the Mandates Commission, urging that prompt action be taken to redress
the wrong suffered by the Bahá’ís, has been duly communicated to, and
adopted by, the Council of the League, which in turn will formally
communicate the recommendations of its Commission to the Mandatory Power.
Decision of League of Nations
From the official text of the minutes of the meeting of the Mandates
Commission, as well as from its authorized report to the Council, both of
which have been made public, it is clear and evident that the terms of the
conclusion arrived at are neither vague nor evasive, but set forth in
unmistakable language the legitimate aspirations of an oppressed and
struggling Faith. The decision neither implies compensation to the Bahá’í
Community for the loss of the sacred buildings, nor does it expressly
provide for the expropriation of the property by the State. To quote from
the text of the official document, the Commission has resolved “to
recommend the Council to ask the British Government to call upon the
Government of ‘Iráq to redress without delay the denial of justice from
which the petitioners have suffered.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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