| (Bayt-i-A'ẓam) The ‘extremely modest' house in which Bahá'u'lláh resided during nearly all of His ten-year exile in Iraq from 1853 to 1863. It is situated in the Karkh quarter of the city, near the western bank of the river. Named by Him the ‘Most Great House' and the ‘House of God', it is designated in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas as a place of pilgrimage and is considered a holy shrine by Bahá'ís. During the 1920s the House was seized by S̲h̲í'ih enemies of the Faith and although the Council of the League of Nations upheld the Bahá'ís' claim to it, this ruling was never carried out and the House has not yet been returned to the Bahá'ís. Bahá'u'lláh, in His Tablets, prophesied the abasement and future exaltation of the House. |
| [BD 109] |
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| House of Bahá'u'lláh in Bag̲h̲dád |
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| The site of one of the foremost sacred Baha'i holy places, known as the the House of Baha'u'llah*, entitled The Most Great House, is the northern district of Bag̲h̲dád, ‘Iráq known as Al Kazimiyah or Kazmain District --- a District regarded as a holy area in S̲h̲í‘ah Islam. Musa al-Kazim, the Seventh Imam and his grandson, the Ninth Imam, Muḥammad at-Taqi, are both buried within the Al Kadhimiya Mosque-Shrine near to where the House of Baha'u'llah is located. S̲h̲í‘ah go on an annual pilgrimage to the Shrine in that district in August and September. |
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The site of the House of Baha'u'llah remains in the possession of S̲h̲í‘ah leaders, known to be used as a pilgrimage hostel for those visiting the Shrine of the Holy Imams by Shí‘ah pilgrims, but off limits to the Baha'is. |
| With recent political events in that country, and the re-establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of ‘Iráq in 2004, after the banning of the Faith for over thirty years, could the House be returned in the coming years and become one of the foremost Baha'i Shrines and site of obligatory Bahá'í pilgrimage as envisioned by Bahá'u'lláh? |
| *Update 27 June 2013: The Universal House of Justice announced in a letter dated 27 June 2013 , the destruction of the House of Baha'u'llah in Baghdad -- presumably by adversaries of the Baha'i Faith. |
[  ] [ Bahá'í - House of Bahá'u'lláh in Bag̲h̲dád ] |
