Properties purchased by Shoghi Effendi

Before he passed away he had succeeded in creating great protective rings of land around the holiest of all Shrines, Bahá’u’lláh’s Tomb, and around the resting-places of the Báb, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His mother, sister and brother. In addition to this he had chosen and directed the purchase of the land on Mt Carmel which would serve as the site of the future Bahá’í Temple to be erected in the Holy Land. If we consider that at the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing the area of Bahá’í properties on Mt Carmel probably did not exceed 10,000 square metres, and that Shoghi Effendi had, by 1957, raised this to 230,000 square metres, and that in Bahjí the comparable figures would be 1,000 square metres for 1921 and 257,000 square metres for 1957, we get an idea of his accomplishments in this one field alone. Through the generosity of individual Bahá’ís, through their bequests, through their response to his appeals in times of crisis, through the use of funds he held at the World Centre, Shoghi Effendi succeeded in purchasing land on the scale reflected by these figures and thus metamorphosed the situation of the Faith at its World Centre.

(The Priceless Pearl, Rúhíyyih Rabbani)