The Bahá'í Faith in Israel

The Bahá'í Faith's relationship with the land of Israel was formed during the time when Bahá'u'lláh, after a series of successive banishments from His native Persia, was exiled, with members of His family and a small band of His followers, to the Holy Land, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, to the Turkish penal colony of Acre in 1868.

Initially seen by the public as a group of despised and suspect exiled prisoners, the Bahá'ís were eventually regarded as a respected religious community through a growing recognition of the eminence of Bahá'u'lláh and the continuous labors of His son `Abdu'l-Bahá. In later years Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957, and the Universal House of Justice, which was first elected in 1963, continued the work of solidifying the foundations of the Bahá'í World Centre in the Holy Land that had been begun by Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá.

Bahá'u'lláh's death and burial in the vicinity of Acre fixed the permanent location of the spiritual and administrative center of His Faith. His burial place at Bahji, north of Acre, is the holiest place on earth for Bahá'ís. Thus, through the force of historical circumstances, the Acre/Haifa area has been the focal center of the international Bahá'í community since the second half of the nineteenth century.

Bahá'ís resident in Israel are religious volunteers from all over the world who serve for specified periods at the Bahá'í World Centre and are engaged solely in the care of the Bahá'í Holy Places and the internal administration of the Bahá'í world community.