Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh

The Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh is composed of a central area that contains a small, tree-filled garden surrounded by paths covered with Persian rugs.^[1][11] A glass roof was constructed by Qulám-ʻAlíy-i-Najjár after the death of Baháʼu'lláh.^[12] At the northwest corner of the central area there is a small room containing Baháʼu'lláh's remains.^[13] The central area has doors to a number of other rooms that have, in recent years, been opened to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims and visitors.

The shrine and its surrounding gardens, as well as the Mansion of Bahjí, were inscribed on the World Heritage List in July 2008.^[10][14]

The formal gardens at Bahjí and the larger Baháʼí gardens on Mount Carmel in Haifa have become a significant tourist attraction in northern Israel. By 2011 the Haifa terraces alone were drawing approximately 900,000 visitors per year.^[15] A peer-reviewed study of the Haifa gardens found that the site functions simultaneously as a sacred space for Baháʼí pilgrims and as a secular heritage attraction for the broader public, illustrating the overlap between religious and cultural tourism at World Heritage Sites.^[16] The gardens at Bahjí are open to the public free of charge; the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh is open for self-guided visits Thursday through Monday from 09:00 to 12:00.^[17]

For Baháʼís, the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh is the most sacred site in the Faith and serves as the Qiblih (point of adoration), the direction toward which adherents turn during their daily obligatory prayer.^[18] The practice is comparable to Muslims facing the Kaaba during daily prayer, or to Christians and Jews historically facing Jerusalem.

The designation of a fixed Qiblih emerged from the doctrine of progressive revelation. In His writings, the Báb redirected the direction of prayer toward "He whom God shall make manifest", a future Manifestation of God whom Baháʼís recognise as Baháʼu'lláh. During Baháʼu'lláh's lifetime, Baháʼís therefore faced His person, wherever He resided. The Qiblih became fixed at the location of His remains upon His burial in 1892.^[18] A Tablet from Baháʼu'lláh explaining the matter is reported to have existed but was taken by Covenant-breakers.^[19]

The institution of the Qiblih is established in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Baháʼu'lláh's book of laws.^[18]

Pilgrimage to the shrine is distinct from the two obligatory pilgrimages (hajj) prescribed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas — to the House of Baháʼu'lláh in Baghdad and to the House of the Báb in Shiraz — which carry specific rites set out in two Tablets of Pilgrimage (Súriy-i-Hajj); both Houses are currently inaccessible and these rites cannot be performed.^[20] Visitation of the shrine (ziyárat) draws on the broader Islamic tradition of shrine pilgrimage, particularly in Shíʻí devotion, but in Baháʼí practice it carries no prescribed ceremonies.^[21][22] ʻAbdu'l-Bahá designated the shrine as a place of pilgrimage after the passing of Baháʼu'lláh; according to Walbridge, the practice "evolved, rather than having been established by a clear text".^[22] During Baháʼu'lláh's lifetime believers visited Him as guests; under ʻAbdu'l-Bahá the visit to the Shrines of Baháʼu'lláh and the Báb became the stated purpose of pilgrimage; and Shoghi Effendi later formalized the program, initially lasting nineteen days.^[22] After its election in 1963 the Universal House of Justice reduced the pilgrimage to nine days; pilgrims are generally taken to the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh and the Shrine of the Báb within the first two days.^[23]

The principal devotional text recited at the shrine is the Tablet of Visitation (Lawḥ-i-Ziyárat), a prayer compiled by Nabíl-i-Aʻzam from three Tablets written by Baháʼu'lláh; ʻAbdu'l-Bahá approved its use at both the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh and the Shrine of the Báb.^[24][25] Visitors remove their shoes before entering; Baháʼís often prostrate themselves at the threshold of the burial chamber.^[26] The shrine is open to people of all faiths, though on a more limited schedule than the surrounding gardens.^[27]

The area was originally a garden planted by Sulayman Pasha, who was the ruler of Acre, for his daughter Fatimih, and he named it Bahji.^[5] Later the area was further beautified by ʻAbdu'llah Pasha, and in 1831 when Ibrahim Pasha besieged Acre he used the property as his headquarters.^[5] The property was well known for its beautiful gardens and pond fed by an aqueduct. The property then fell into the possession of a Christian family, the Jamals.^[5]

In 1870 ʻUdi Khammar, a wealthy merchant from Acre who also originally owned the House of ʻAbbúd, bought some of the land from the Jamals close to the mansion of ʻAbdu'llah Pasha and built the Mansion of Bahji, over an earlier and smaller building, which Abdu'llah Pasha had built for his mother.^[28][5][4] Udi Khammar placed an Arabic inscription over the door in 1870 which reads: "Greetings and salutation rest upon this Mansion which increaseth in splendour through the passage of time. Manifold wonders and marvels are found therein, and pens are baffled in attempting to describe them."^[29] ʻUdi Khammar had built the house for his family, and when he died was buried in a tomb in the south-east corner of the wall directly around the building.^[5][30] In 1879 an epidemic caused the inhabitants to flee and the building became vacant.

Mansion of Bahjí

Baháʼu'lláh's son ʻAbdu'l-Bahá first rented, and then purchased, the mansion for his father and the Baháʼí holy family to live in, and Baháʼu'lláh moved from Mazra'ih to Bahjí and resided in the building until his death.^[5][29] In 1890 the Cambridge orientalist Edward Granville Browne met Baháʼu'lláh in this house; after this meeting he wrote his famous pen-portrait of Baháʼu'lláh.^[4]

When Baháʼu'lláh died in 1892 he was interred in one of the surrounding buildings.^[4] The site has since been beautified with paradise gardens, the Haram-i-Aqdas (the Most Holy Precincts or Sanctuary), which are intersected by a circular path used to circumambulate the shrine.^[4] The mansion, the shrine, and the surrounding gardens are among the most sacred sites in the Baháʼí Faith and are destinations of Baháʼí pilgrimage.^[5][4]

• 
  Aerial view (2022)
• 
  Gardens near the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh
• 
  Baháʼí gardens at Bahjí
• 
  Mansion of Bahjí
• 
  Collins Gate at the entrance of the pathway towards the shrine
• 
  The larger building on the left is the mansion, and the shrine is on the right
• 
  Main entrance to the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh

• Burial places of founders of world religions
• Baháʼí gardens
• Baháʼí pilgrimage
• Baháʼí World Centre
• Haram (site)
• Religious significance of the Syrian region
• Shrine of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá