Holy Land
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The Holy Land (Persian: Ard-i-Aqdas) for Bahá’ís is Haifa and ‘Akká, where the shrines of The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh are. Bahá'u'lláh Himself makes reference to the substitution of the land of the cedar for the land of the sycamore. The more southern part of Palestine/Israel is known for being the land of the sycamore fig. The cedar referred to will be the Cedar of Lebanon, a magnificent, spreading tree only found in the more northerly part of the Near East.
Before Bahá’í Use[edit]
The term "Holy Land" has been used for centuries before the Bahá’í Era. The Holy Bible speaks of "the holy land" many times and the Muslims call Jerusalem "holy land" (al-Quds). The Jews pray towards Jerusalem (Yerushaliyim) because it was there that the Temple was built, with the "Holy of Holies" inside. Christians then continued this practice, because this was where Jesus was crucified. To this day, many Christian churches are arranged so that the congregation is facing towards Jerusalem during prayer. This idea of the Qiblih continues into Islám. Muhammad at first led prayers in the direction of Jerusalem, but due to the lack of response from the "People of the Book", he switched the Qiblih to the Ka'aba, built by Abraham in Mecca.
The spiritual significance of the history of Jerusalem was also confirmed by the spiritual experience of Muhammad in His "Night Journey" to Jerusalem, which Bahá'u'lláh confirms was a spiritual journey rather than a physical one. This led to the Muslim decision to build a mosque (Al-Aqsa) next to the spot Muhammad is supposed to have visited. There is also a building directly over the spot itself, this building being known as the Dome of the Rock.
Past and Future[edit]
The precise geographical extent of the Holy Land has varied over the centuries, but in general terms it is the land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Lebanon mountain mass. It is therefore bounded on one side by the sea, and generally by the valley of the River Jordan on the western side. To the south, the Sinai desert and the Red Sea form natural boundaries. Traditionally, this area was considered to have been promised to the children of Abraham. Bahá'u'lláh Himself confirmed that it is the children of Abraham who will live here. The present-day Jews and Arabs both consider themselves to be children of Abraham, and of course Bahá'u'lláh Himself may have been speaking of all mankind as the Children of Abraham. He also said,
"Land belongs not to one people, but to all people".
Before Moses and Joshua led the Hebrews (habiru means slave) into this area, it was known as Canaan. The Hebrews later established a kingdom in Judea, centred on Jerusalem, and became known as Jews. The non-Jewish population of the Gaza area were known as filistina (Philistines), or as the Roman version has it, Palestina - hence the later name of Palestine for the whole territory. (The area known since 1948 as Israel, together with the Palestinian territories, still generally conforms to the area known historically as the Holy Land.)
It is generally assumed, as the Universal House of Justice has its seat on Mount Carmel, and the Bahá'í World Centre slowly expands the range of its institutions there, that the future capital city of the world will be Haifa with Akká. This will once again confirm the remarkable place which the Holy Land has had in religious history.
