Stepping into the gardens of the Shrine of Bab is like entering a hallucination. They rise in steps all the way up the mountainside above Haifa’s downtown, and at the midway point, at mid-morning, the clear light off the Mediterranean combines with the precise efforts of 150 gardeners to achieve a combination of lucid depth and dazzling color that may be what they were going for in the Johnny Depp Alice in Wonderland, though without the dark undertow.
Shrine of Bab at the Baha'i World Centre
Halfway is where the glittering gold dome of the shrine stands, in an immaculate park that seems to hang suspended in the sky like an infinity pool. “It’s kind of like a theme park, where they’re keeping everything ‘just so,’ ” says Jonas Mejer, 20, a student visiting from Copenhagen. “But it’s a holy place. Entirely different story!”
Ahmadiyya Mosque in Haifa
The story is of the Baha’i faith, which started in Iran in the early 1800s and ended up with its spiritual locus, by an accident of empire, here in what is today Israel.
Categories: Israel, Middle East, Religion
Haifa is a unique place in Israel being home to many minorities including Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and Baha’is. Most of the Jews here are relatively secular (66.6% compared to a national average of 43.7%). The population of Haifa today is 90% Jewish, 4% Muslims and 6 % Christian Arabs. The Muslim population is steadily rising.
Israel is the only home Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has in Middle East. Ahmadies are allowed to call prayers five time a day and enjoy all the benefits of a citizen.
“When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love.”
Israel is the only state in Middle East where Ahmadi Muslims can practice their religion freely.