Spiritual Assembly is a term given by
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (; Persian language, Persian: , 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás ( fa, عباس), was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼà Faith from 1892 until 1921. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was later C ...
to refer to elected councils that govern the
Baháʼà Faith
The Baháʼà Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼà Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼà Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
. Because the Baháʼà Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community. In addition to existing at the local level, there are national Spiritual Assemblies (although "national" in some cases refers to a portion of a country or to a group of countries). Spiritual Assemblies form part of the elected branch of the
Baháʼà administration
The Baháʼà administration or Baháʼà administrative order is the administrative system of the Baháʼà Faith. It has two arms, the #Elected institutions, elected and the #Appointed institutions, appointed. The supreme governing institutio ...
.
Nature and purpose
Baháʼu'lláh
Baháʼu'lláh (born Ḥusayn-Ê»AlÃ; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was the founder of the Baháʼà Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Persia, and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Bábà Faith. In 1863, in I ...
,
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (; Persian language, Persian: , 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás ( fa, عباس), was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼà Faith from 1892 until 1921. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was later C ...
, and
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghà Effendi (; 1 March 1897 – 4 November 1957) was the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, appointed to the role of Guardian of the Baháʼà Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. He created a series of teaching plans that over ...
stated how Spiritual Assemblies should be elected by the BaháʼÃs, defined their nature and purposes, and described in considerable detail how they should function. Since these institutions are grounded in the Baháʼà authoritative texts, BaháʼÃs regard them as divine in nature, and contrast the wealth of scriptural guidance with the paucity of scriptural texts on which Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious institutions are based.
The
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice ( fa, بیت‌العدل اعظم) is the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Baháʼà Faith. It was envisioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼà Faith, as an institution that could legislate o ...
has added that among the responsibilities of Local Spiritual Assemblies are to be “channels of divine guidance, planners of the teaching work, developers of human resources, builders of communities, and loving shepherds of the multitudes.†On a practical level, they organize local Baháʼà communities by maintaining a local Baháʼà Fund, owning the local
Baháʼà center (if one exists), organizing Baháʼà events, counseling BaháʼÃs about personal difficulties, assisting with
Baháʼà marriages and funerals, providing educational programs to adults and children, publicizing the Baháʼà Faith locally, fostering projects for the social and economic development of the region, and enrolling new members of the religion. Spiritual Assemblies appoint individuals, task forces, and committees to carry out many of their functions. National Spiritual Assemblies have a similar mandate at the national level: they coordinate publishing and distribution of
Baháʼà literature
Baháʼà literature covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia. Sometimes considerable overlap between these forms can be obser ...
, direct relations with national organizations and governmental agencies, oversee the work of local spiritual assemblies, and (in some countries) Regional Councils, set local Baháʼà jurisdictional boundaries, provide various educational services and programs, and set the overall tone and direction of the national community.
Local Spiritual Assemblies
The origin of the institution of the local Spiritual Assembly originates from
Baháʼu'lláh
Baháʼu'lláh (born Ḥusayn-Ê»AlÃ; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was the founder of the Baháʼà Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Persia, and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Bábà Faith. In 1863, in I ...
's book of laws, the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Arabic: The Most Holy Book) is the central religious text of the Baháʼà Faith, written by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the religion, in 1873. Though it is the main source of Baháʼà laws and practices, much of the con ...
:
:The Lord hath ordained that in every city a House of Justice be established wherein shall gather counsellors to the number of Baha, and should it exceed this number it doth not matter. They should consider themselves as entering the Court of the presence of God, the Exalted, the Most High, and as beholding Him Who is the Unseen. It behoveth them to be the trusted ones of the Merciful among men and to regard themselves as the guardians appointed of God for all that dwell on earth. It is incumbent upon them to take counsel together and to have regard for the interests of the servants of God, for His sake, even as they regard their own interests, and to choose that which is meet and seemly.
The passage gives the institution a name, a minimum number (nine, for “the number of
Baha†refers to the numerical value of the letters of that word, which is nine), and a general responsibility to take care of the welfare of others even as they would take care of their own. While the resulting institution is local, in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas Baháʼu'lláh also spoke about the responsibilities of the supreme or
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice ( fa, بیت‌العدل اعظم) is the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Baháʼà Faith. It was envisioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼà Faith, as an institution that could legislate o ...
. In response to the passage, MÃrzá Asadu'lláh IsfahánÃ, a prominent Baháʼà teacher, organized an unofficial Baháʼà consultative body in Tehran, Iran, about 1878. The first official Baháʼà consultative body was organized under Ê»Abdu'l-Bahá's direction by
Hand of the Cause
Hand of the Cause was a title given to prominent early members of the Baháʼà Faith, appointed for life by the religion's founders. Of the fifty individuals given the title, the last living was Ê»AlÃ-Muhammad Varqá who died in 2007. Hands of ...
Hajà Ãkhúnd
Ḥajà Mullá Ê»AlÃ-Akbar SÍŸhahmÃrzádà ( fa, 18421910), known as Ḥajà ÃkÍŸhúnd, was an eminent follower of Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼà Faith. He was appointed a Hand of the Cause, and identified as one of the ni ...
in Tehran in 1897; by 1899 it was an elected body. Because of the difficulties in Iran caused by persecution of the Baháʼà Faith, the
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
body served to coordinate both local and national Baháʼà activities. It is not known what name the body was organized under.
The development of a Baháʼà community in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in the 1890s necessitated the creation of local Baháʼà consultative bodies there. In 1899 the BaháʼÃs of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
elected a local council based on their awareness of the provisions of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (which was circulated in provisional English translation as a typescript as early as 1900). The New York BaháʼÃs elected a “Board of Counsel†in December 1900. In 1901 the Chicago body was reorganized and re-elected and took the name “House of Justice of Bahais of Chicago, Ills.†In response,
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (; Persian language, Persian: , 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás ( fa, عباس), was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼà Faith from 1892 until 1921. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was later C ...
revealed three tablets of encouragement and guidance to the body, including prayers to say at the beginning and end of their meetings, prayers that BaháʼÃs use around the world today for their Spiritual Assembly meetings.
In 1902 ʻAbdu'l-Bahá sent a very important tablet to the Chicago governing body where he said "let the designation of that body be 'Spiritual Assembly'—this for the reason that, were it to use the term 'House of Justice', the government might hereafter come to suppose that it was acting as a court of law, or concerning itself in political matters, or that, at some indeterminate future time, it would involve itself in the affairs of government.... This same designation hath been universally adopted throughout Iran." For this reason, Baháʼà local and national governing bodies are designated “Spiritual Assemblies†to this day.
The first decade of the twentieth century saw the proliferation of local Baháʼà governing bodies. Often unaware of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's guidance, they had a variety of titles in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, such as “Council Board, “Board of Consultation,†“House of Spirituality,†and "Executive Committee." Unaware Ê»Abdu'l-Bahá had told the Chicago BaháʼÃs to elect their body every five years, they were usually elected annually or even semi-annually. The number of members varied from five to nineteen (except in New York City, where Ê»Abdu'l-Bahá, in 1911, said they should elect twenty-seven members in order to be inclusive of and to foster unity between that city's diverse Baháʼà groups). They were male only until Ê»Abdu'l-Bahá said, in 1911, that women should be elected to the local governing bodies existing in the United States; their exclusion from local bodies continued in Iran until the 1950s, because of Iranian cultural conventions. In the period of 1900 - 1911, consultative bodies are known to have existed in
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...
,
Boston, Massachusetts,
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
,
Spokane, Washington
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...
, northern
Hudson County
Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, the greater
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
area, California, in the United States; and in
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rÄj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
India;
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-QÄhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
,
Khedivate of Egypt
The Khedivate of Egypt ( or , ; ota, خدیویت مصر ') was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty following the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon Bonaparte's forces which brou ...
;
Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
,
Ottoman Syria
Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...
;
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
,
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
,
Ashgabat
Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, AÅŸgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='EÅ¡qÄbÄd, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, ПолтораÌцк, p=pÉ™ltÉˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...
and
Samarqand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top: Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zin ...
in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
; and
Mashhad
Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...
,
Abadih,
Qazvin
Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was a capital of the ...
, and
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
,
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. Consultative bodies also existed for the
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִי×, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...
BaháʼÃs in Tehran and for the women of a few Baháʼà communities.
Because efforts to organize local Baháʼà consultative bodies remained informal, few additional ones had formed by 1921 (notable exceptions being
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, and
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
), and some of the ones in the United States had lapsed. Upon assuming the
Guardianship of the Baháʼà Faith,
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghà Effendi (; 1 March 1897 – 4 November 1957) was the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, appointed to the role of Guardian of the Baháʼà Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. He created a series of teaching plans that over ...
read ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's
Will and Testament
A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person ( executor) is to manage the property until its final distributi ...
and made establishment of local spiritual assemblies an early priority. His second general letter to the BaháʼÃs of the world, dated March 5, 1922, referred to the “vital necessity of having a local Spiritual Assembly in every locality where the number of adult declared believers exceeds nine.†The letter also quoted extensively from Baháʼu'lláh and Ê»Abdu'l-Bahá about the purposes and duties of Spiritual Assemblies.
The result was a rapid proliferation of local Spiritual Assemblies; a 1928 list had the following: Australia, 6; Brazil, 1; Burma, 3; Canada, 2; China, 1; Egypt, 1; England, 4; France, 1; India, 4; Japan, 1; Korea, 1; Lebanon, 1; New Zealand, 1; Palestine, 1; Iran, 5; Russia, 1; South Africa, 1; Switzerland, 1; Syria, 1; Turkey, 1; and the United States, 47, for a total of 85 local Spiritual Assemblies worldwide.
The number has grown ever since; in 2001 there were 11,740 local Spiritual Assemblies worldwide.
National Spiritual Assemblies
National Spiritual Assemblies are first mentioned in ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's
Will and Testament
A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person ( executor) is to manage the property until its final distributi ...
, but the fact that they would be established circulated for years before the contents of the Will became publicly available in early 1922. In 1909, wrote extensively about the role of the national House of Justice (as it would have been known then) in his ''The Universal Religion: Bahaism, Its Rise and Social Import.''
[(1909). ]
The Universal Religion: Bahaism, Its Rise and Social Import
'. Cope and Fenwick, London. pp. 126-51. In that year, also, the BaháʼÃs of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
elected a nine-member “Executive Committee†for the Bahai Temple Unity, a continental consultative body formed to build the
Baháʼà House of Worship
A Baháʼà House of Worship or Baháʼà temple is a place of worship of the Baháʼà Faith. It is also referred to by the name ''Mashriqu'l-Adhkár'', which is Arabic for "Dawning-place of the remembrance of God". Baháʼà Houses of Worship ...
in
Wilmette, Illinois
Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...
, a suburb of Chicago. Subsequently, the Bahai Temple Unity, which held annual conventions, appointed committees to publish
Baháʼà literature
Baháʼà literature covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia. Sometimes considerable overlap between these forms can be obser ...
, coordinate the spread of the Baháʼà Faith across North America, and review Baháʼà publications for their accuracy. By the time of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's passing in November 1921, the Bahai Temple Unity functioned as a “national†Baháʼà coordinating body.
![Bahai-House-New-Delhi-03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Bahai-House-New-Delhi-03.JPG)
In the same March 5, 1922 letter to the BaháʼÃs of the world that called for the election of local Spiritual Assemblies, Shoghi Effendi called on them to “indirectly†elect National Spiritual Assemblies. He also enumerated committees that a National Spiritual Assembly should have in order to carry out its responsibilities. “Indirectâ€
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
referred to the process, mentioned in the Will and Testament of Ê»Abdu'l-Bahá, of the BaháʼÃs electing one or more delegates from each locality, who would represent them at a national convention and would vote for the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly. The 1928 issue of ''The Baháʼà World'' listed nine National Spiritual Assemblies: Persia (
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
); the United States and Canada;
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
;
Great Britain and Ireland;
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
;
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
;
Turkistan
Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang.
Overview
Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turke ...
;
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
; and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. Of these, the Iranian body was still the “Central Spiritual Assembly†in Tehran, elected by the BaháʼÃs of that community; it was not until 1934 that a national Baháʼà membership list could be drawn up that allowed the election of delegates and convening of a fully representative national convention. It is possible that the Turkistan and Caucasus bodies were preliminary as well. By 1953 the number of National Spiritual Assemblies worldwide had increased to 12; in 1963, 56; by 1968, 81, by 1988, 148; by 2001, 182.
An important part of the process was the establishment of “regional†National Spiritual Assemblies; thus in 1951 all of
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
elected a single National Spiritual Assembly, but by 1963 nearly every nation on that continent had its own. National Spiritual Assemblies are still being formed as areas of the world achieve religious freedom. Some National Spiritual Assemblies have been formed in areas smaller than a nation:
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: ÐлÑÑка, Alyaska; ale, AlaxÌ‚sxaxÌ‚; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, and
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
have their own “national†bodies because they are geographically separated from the lower forty-eight states;
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
has its own because
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghà Effendi (; 1 March 1897 – 4 November 1957) was the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, appointed to the role of Guardian of the Baháʼà Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. He created a series of teaching plans that over ...
said major islands also like in the Caribbean should elect independent National Spiritual Assemblies.
Like local Spiritual Assemblies, all National Spiritual Assemblies have nine members and are elected annually, usually during the
Ridván Festival (April 21-May 2). All Baháʼà elections occur in an atmosphere of prayer where nominations, campaigning, and all discussion of persons is forbidden.
The members of the National Spiritual Assemblies collectively serve as the electoral college for electing the
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice ( fa, بیت‌العدل اعظم) is the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Baháʼà Faith. It was envisioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼà Faith, as an institution that could legislate o ...
, the supreme governing body of the Baháʼà Faith, which was first formed in 1963.
See also
*
Baháʼà Faith by country
The Baháʼà Faith formed in the late 19th century Middle East and soon gained converts in India, the Western world, and beyond. Traveling promoters of the religion played a significant role in spreading the religion into most countries and terri ...
Notes
References
*
*
External links
Formation of National Spiritual Assemblies a chronological overview.
{{BaháʼÃ
Bahá'à institutions