A Bahá'í Glossary

Bahjí

Pronunciation: ba-h-gee

Place of Delight. The site on the plain of 'Akká which gives its name to the mansion which was the last residence of Bahá'u'lláh . Originally built by 'Abdu'lláh Pás̲h̲á in 1821, it was later restored and expanded by 'Udí K̲h̲ammár, who completed it in 1870. The Mansion of Bahjí became empty in 1879 when the K̲h̲ammár family fled an epidemic disease, probably bubonic plague. Bahá'u'lláh took up residence in the mansion in 1879 and while living there revealed His major volume, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, as well as the Tablets of Is̲h̲ráqát, Bis̲h̲árát, Ṭarázát, Tajallíyát, Kalimát-i-Firdawsíyyih, Lawḥ-i-Aqdas, Lawḥ-i-Dunyá, and Lawḥ-i-Maqsúd, writings which Shoghi Effendi described as 'among the choicest fruits which His mind has yielded [and which] mark the consummation of His forty-year-long ministry'.11

It was in the Mansion of Bahjí in 1890 that Bahá'u'lláh received the Cambridge orentalist E. G. Browne. On 29 May 1892 Bahá'u'lláh passed away and was interred in the small house adjacent to the Mansion. This small house became His Shrine, the holiest spot on earth, and the Qiblih of the Bahá'í Faith.

However, in the years that followed, the Mansion was occupied by Covenant-breakers and allowed to decay. In 1929 Shoghi Effendi regained custody of the building and started the work of restoration.

In the early 1950's, with the acquisition of the surrounding land, Shoghi Effendi began a programme of beautification including the setting out of extensive gardens surrounding the mansion. The northwestern quadrant which encloses the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh itself is called the Haram-i-Aqdas (Most Holy Sanctuary or precincts).

[BD 42-43]

Delight. Denotes that part of the plain of Akká Where the Shrine and Mansion of Bahá'u'lláh are situated.

[BG 11]