The Burning Shrine of Abdul Baha – Failure of construction safety or incineration of evidence of corruption.

The news of the fire which broke out at the under construction shrine of Abdu'l Baha in the early part of April was indeed very sad news. The blazing flames and the tower of bellowing smoke made the whole scene appear as an eternal inferno. Such visuals of the shrine of the Master brought both tears into my eyes as well as a rage in my heart. How could such a catastrophe happen?

The shock had not cleared out when came down the heavy hand of the administration over the dissemination of the sad news. The “Almighty Administration” without mincing words through their minion assemblies asked the faithful to stop spreading the news and also asked, in a stern tone if I may, to delete any and all media regarding this utterly sad incident.

After this sorry attempt at censorship came the, as expected, sombre sounding message :-
 

"A major fire broke out earlier today at the construction site of the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The fire has now been extinguished and no one has been injured. The Holy Site of the Riḍván Garden has not been affected.

Time will be required to assess the extent of the damage that has been caused and the remedial work needed. More information will be provided in this regard when it becomes available. 

While this is a considerable setback for the project, the steps required to recover from it and for the construction to resume will begin as expeditiously as possible."

- The Universal House of Justice 


Reading this message made my heart burn with rage.






The shrine of Abdu'l Baha was burnt down to ashes, except for the concrete walls (which by nature are resistant to fire) nothing survived and all the Administration could do is give out a few words. Hell, even the bahai.org page about the updates to the construction of the shrine has entirely skipped this devastating episode. But then nothing better was expected from this incompetent shit piece called the administration.



I have a few pressing questions to ask 

1. Why has no inquiry been initiated into the cause of the fire?
2. Why has no independent authority been appointed to survey the damage?
3. The message from the administration asked for time to “assess the damage” and suggest remedial action. It has been more than a month now. Where is the assessment and remedial action?
4. It has been reported that the construction project was insured. Then why does the administration not share the Insurance appraisers report into the fire?
5. Will the administration ultimately inform the Baha’is as to who was responsible for this mishap and what action is being pursued against him/her?

I am absolutely certain, that asking these questions will have me declared as a covenant breaker. But these are questions which desperately need answers. I have discussed this issue with other faithful and have gained a significant insight into this devastating incident. Since the administration won’t form a committee to investigate, we the faithful have formed our own committee and have noted the follows. 

 

1. The administration routinely calls for guest workers from outside of Israel under the guise of service but they often end up doing paid work at labour rates significantly cheaper that the prevailing wages in Israel. Most of these workers come from economically backward countries with scant regard for workplace safety. Will the administration kindly clarify how many such guest (read illegal) workers were working on site at the time of this incident along with their nationalities?
2. Similar to the United States having occupational health and safety standards, Israel, being a high income OECD Nation also has rigorous standards for occupational safety. These Standards prohibit the storage of Flammable material near sources of ignition. These laws are meant to precisely prevent such an inferno. The size and magnitude of this fire shows that such laws on safety were disregarded by the administration, putting at risk not just the project site but also the residents of the city of Haifa and the state of Israel. The incompetency of the administration seems to be greater than any fire that it can cause.
3. A friend from Eastern Europe with experience from the Insurance industry flatly labelled this incident as insurance fraud. His contention is that the money thirsty members of the administration having embezzled a tonne of money from this US$ 77 million project found themselves in a soup to justify their expenses on account of over invoicing. Israeli Tax Authority requires audits to be submitted by the End of May each year and Audits have to report inventory to justify expenses. Any missing inventory would be reported and the same would then make headlines of financial fraud in the pool of money made up completely from donations. So the administration using their stupid little animals brains thought of burning up the Shrine of Abdu'l Baha in order to hide their crimes and fraud.

The Third point in particular hit hard. Knowing the malpractices (especially financial) perpetrated by these hungry for position soul less hypocrites the possibility of fraud in the construction project seems ever so likely. Also the hush around the reporting of the fire and the lack of accountability thereafter further points to their guilt. The lack of independent investigation and discussion paints the picture further black. The administration should produce before us the construction logs, material invoices and inventory reports to show where our donation is being spent. But alas, they will not even produce a coffee receipt.  

The scoundrels in the administration should answer all of this and if the incompetent administration has even an iota of shame, it should permit the setting up of a fact finding committee along with a forensic audit into the books of accounts to uncover this fraud and bring out those who have committed crimes so that they may be brought to justice.

I wish to conclude with some wise words from an old Baha’i friend – “A fire in the middle of the desert is a sign of distress. Maybe the spirituality of the Baha’i Faith is in such grave distress that the Master chose to put fire into his own shrine to act as a beacon of distress?” – Words to Ponder !

 

References:  

Email of the UHJ

Letter of the UHJ