Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds

Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Tehran in the 1940's.

Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds ( pronunciation), in English The Sacred Fold, is a term used for a building that acts as the center of Bahá'í administrative activity on a local, regional, or national level.

Ideally a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds should be able to house visiting Bahá'ís and should be able to be used to welcome people rather than simply consisting of offices. Not all Bahá'í administrative buildings are designated a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, with the term Bahá'í Center being used for other buildings that serve similar functions. As an institution it is to be complementary to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.

Functions

A memorandum from the Universal House of Justice Research Department summarizes the functions of the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds as follows:

• To provide an efficient administrative centre;
• To be the center of Bahá'í social activites; and
• To facilitate the spread of the Faith.

Shoghi Effendi stated that a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds was to be be used for general meetings, prayers, Assembly meetings, and Nineteen Day Feasts. He provided guidance that a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds could be bought or rented, that it should be the central focus of administrative activities, and that it should house a secretariat, treasury, archives, library, publishing office, assembly hall, council chamber, and pilgrims hostel.

He also stated that while activities such as theatrical performances, youth activities, lectures, conferences, and other activities, could be held at a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds when other facilities were not available, eventually Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds would be used for purely administrative purposes. Letters from Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice indicate that non-Bahá'í groups may use a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, so long as it is not used for activities that are inconsistent with the Faith's teachings, and that there is no confusion as to whether the activities represent the Faith.

History

The word is used in Islamic mysticism to refer to a divine station, and it is used in this way in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. 'Abdu'l-Bahá used the term in the context of the Shrine of the Báb.

Shoghi Effendi established the institution of the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds as a center for Bahá'í community administration in a 1925 letter to the Bahá'ís of Iran and the East, which emphasized that the establishment of Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds was vitally important.

Steps towards building or purchasing National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds began to be made by Eastern Bahá'í communities from 1925, with a National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of Iran beginning construction in 1932 which was completed in 1947. National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds were completed in Iraq in 1939, and in Egypt and India in 1944. Some of the earliest Western communities to acquire a National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds were the United States, which dedicated its Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in 1940, and Australia, which acquired its Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in 1944. From 1944 on National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds were generally acquired as National Spiritual Assemblies were established.

In God Passes By, published in 1944, Shoghi Effendi wrote the following regarding the progress of the institution:

"Simultaneous with the establishment and incorporation of local and national Bahá’í Assemblies, with the formation of their respective committees, the formulation of national and local Bahá’í constitutions and the founding of Bahá’í endowments, undertakings of great institutional significance were initiated by these newly founded Assemblies, among which the institution of the Hazíratu’l-Quds—the seat of the Bahá’í National Assembly and pivot of all Bahá’í administrative activity in future—must rank as one of the most important. Originating first in Persia, now universally known by its official and distinctive title signifying “the Sacred Fold,” marking a notable advance in the evolution of a process whose beginnings may be traced to the clandestine gatherings held at times underground and in the dead of night, by the persecuted followers of the Faith in that country, this institution, still in the early stages of its development, has already lent its share to the consolidation of the internal functions of the organic Bahá’í community, and provided a further visible evidence of its steady growth and rising power."

Regional and Local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds have also been acquired by larger local communities, and in the period of 1986 to 1992 five national, fifty district, and three-hundred and thirty four local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds were established.

References

• Haziratu'l-Quds: Article by Moojan Momen