23 March 2003
Extract from the Tablet of Carmel
“Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the joyful
tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-conquering
sovereignty is manifest; His all-encompassing splendour is revealed. Beware
lest thou hesitate or halt. Hasten forth and circumambulate the City of God
that hath descended from heaven, the celestial Kaaba round which have circled
in adoration the favoured of God, the pure in heart, and the company of the
most exalted angels. Oh, how I long to announce unto every spot on the surface
of the earth, and to carry to each one of its cities, the glad-tidings of this
Revelation—a Revelation to which the heart of Sinai hath been attracted, and in
whose name the Burning Bush is calling: ‘Unto God, the Lord of Lords, belong
the kingdoms of earth and heaven.’ Verily this is the Day in which both land
and sea rejoice at this announcement, the Day for which have been laid up those
things which God, through a bounty beyond the ken of mortal mind or heart, hath
destined for revelation. Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee, and will
manifest the people of Bahá who have been mentioned in the Book of Names.”
(“Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas" (Wilmette:
Baháí Publishing Trust, 1998), pages 4-5) [1]
From the letters written by Shoghi Effendi
Then will the Throne of Bahá’u’lláh’s sovereignty be founded
in the promised land and the scales of justice be raised on high. Then will the
banner of the independence of the Faith be unfurled, and His Most Great Law be
unveiled and rivers of laws and ordinances stream forth from this snow-white
spot with all-conquering power and awe-inspiring majesty, the like of which
past ages have never seen. Then will appear the truth of what was revealed by
the Tongue of Grandeur: “Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the joyful
tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-conquering
sovereignty is manifest; His all-encompassing splendour is revealed.” “...O
Carmel... Well is it with him that circleth around thee, that proclaimeth the
revelation of thy glory, and recounteth that which the bounty of the Lord, thy
God, hath showered upon thee.... Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee, and
will manifest the people of Bahá who have been mentioned in the Book of
Names.”...
Through it the pillars of the Faith on this earth will be firmly established and its hidden powers be revealed, its signs shine forth, its banners be unfurled and its light be shed upon all peoples. (27 November 1929, translated from the Persian) [2]
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For it must be clearly understood, nor can it be sufficiently emphasized, that the conjunction of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf with those of her brother and mother incalculably reinforces the spiritual potencies of that consecrated Spot which, under the wings of the Báb’s overshadowing Sepulchre, and in the vicinity of the future Mashriqu’l-Adhkár which will be reared on its flank, is destined to evolve into the focal centre of those world-shaking, world-embracing, world-directing administrative institutions, ordained by Bahá'u'lláh and anticipated by "Abdu’l-Bahá, and which are to function in consonance with the principles that govern the twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. Then, and then only, will this momentous prophecy which illuminates the concluding passages of the Tablet of Carmel be fulfilled: “Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee (Carmel), and will manifest the people of Bahá who have been mentioned in the Book of Names.” (“Messages to America: Selected Letters and Cablegrams Addressed to the Bahá’ís of North America, 1932-1946” (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1947), pages 32-33) [3]
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The construction of the Mausoleum of the Báb, synchronizing with the birth of that State, and the progress of which has been accompanied by these successive manifestations of the goodwill and support of the civil authorities, will, if steadily maintained, greatly reinforce, and lend a tremendous impetus to, this process of recognition which constitutes a historic landmark in the evolution of the world centre of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh—a process which the newly formed Council, now established at its very heart, is designed to foster, which will gather momentum, with the emergence, in the course of time, of a properly recognized and independently functioning Bahá'í court, which will attain its consummation in the institution of the Universal House of Justice and the emergence of the auxiliary administrative Agencies, revolving around this Highest Legislative Body, and which will reveal the plenitude of its potentialities with the sailing of the Divine Ark as promised in the Tablet of Carmel. (“Citadel of Faith: Messages to America 1947-1957” (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), pages 94-95) [4]
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This stately edifice [The International Archives Building] will in turn herald the establishment of the exalted World Administrative Centre of the Faith on this Holy Mountain and will signalize at once the sailing of the Ark of God and the fulfilment of the momentous glad-tidings to which the glorious Pen of Bahá’u’lláh has made an allusion more eloquent than any explicit utterance. Exalted and glorified be His Words: “Verily this is the Day in which both land and sea rejoice at this announcement, the Day for which have been laid up those things which God, through a bounty beyond the ken of mortal mind or heart, hath destined for revelation. Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee, and will manifest the people of Baha who have been mentioned in the Book of Names....” There is no doubt whatever that what is meant by “Ark” at the end of this Tablet, is the Ark of Laws and not that of the Cause of God, whose Mariner is the supreme Lawgiver, the Most Glorious Abhá Beauty, and whose dwellers are the entire Bahá’í community, the companions of the Crimson Ark. (Naw-Rúz 1954, translated from the Persian) [5]
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In this great Tablet which unveils divine mysteries and heralds the establishment of two mighty, majestic and momentous undertakings—one of which is spiritual and the other administrative, both at the World Centre of the Faith—Bahá’u’lláh refers to an “Ark”, whose dwellers are the men of the Supreme House of Justice, which, in conformity with the exact provisions of the Will and Testament of the Centre of the Mighty Covenant, is the body which should lay down laws not explicitly revealed in the Text. In this Dispensation, these laws are destined to flow from this Holy Mountain, even as in the Mosaic Dispensation the law of God was promulgated from Zion. The “sailing of the Ark" of His laws is a reference to the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, which is indeed the Seat of Legislation, one of the branches of the World Administrative Centre of the Bahá'ís on this Holy Mountain. It will be housed in a separate building near the International Archives Building, now under construction, on a site in the neighbourhood of the Shrine of the Báb, and overlooking the sacred and illumined Monuments.
In the neighbourhood of these two stately edifices and two mighty institutions, [The Seat of the Universal House of Justice and the International Archives Building] another edifice will gradually be erected which will be the Seat of the Guardianship, the Centre which will interpret, expound and prepare commentaries on the explicitly revealed laws, and will reinforce and supplement the legislative body. Yet another edifice to supplement these three edifices will be the Centre for the propagation and teaching of the Faith, the Seat for the Hands of the Cause, who, in accordance with the explicit text of the Will and Testament, are charged with the security, the preservation and protection of the Cause, the safeguarding of the unity of the community, the promotion of God's religion and the spread of His Word.
These majestic and mighty edifices, which will be constructed gradually in accordance with a beautiful and unique style of architecture around the sacred Monuments, are all considered as branches of this highly exalted, firmly grounded and broadly based World Administrative Centre of the followers of the Cause of Him Who is the Lord of this Age and the Ruler of Creation. (Naw-Rúz 1954, translated from the Persian) [6]
From the Writings and Letters of the Universal House of Justice
The members of the Universal House of Justice, designated by
Bahá’u’lláh “the Men of Justice”, “the people of Bahá who have been mentioned
in the Book of Names”, “the Trustees of God amongst His servants and the
daysprings of authority in His countries”, shall in the discharge of their
responsibilities ever bear in mind the following standards set forth by Shoghi
Effendi, the Guardian of the Cause of God... (“The Constitution of the
Universal House of Justice” (Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1972), page 6) [7]
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While there are many references in the Writings to the “Ark of the Cause”, these refer to the entire Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, Who writes of His followers as “the dwellers in the Crimson Ark”. A more restricted meaning appears in the Tablet of Carmel:'
“Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee, and will manifest the people of Baha who have been mentioned in the Book of Names.”
This passage is referred to by Shoghi Eftendi, who identifies it as the Ark of God’s Laws, whose occupants are the members of the Universal House of Justice. In other words this passage is an allusion to the establishment of the Universal House of Justice on Mount Carmel. (From a letter dated 13 December 1994, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly) [8]
(Baha’i Library Online)