A Bahá'í Glossary - Universal House of Justice

Universal House of Justice

Redirected from: Baytu'l-'Adl-i-A'ẓam

Supreme administrative body of the Bahá'í Faith, ordained by Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Its membership is confined to men, at present fixed at nine. The Universal House of Justice is elected every five years by the members of the national spiritual assemblies who gather at an International Convention for the purpose. The Universal House of Justice is infallible.

In the Tablet of Carmel Bahá'u'lláh refers to the Ark which will sail upon Mount Carmel. Shoghi Effendi states, 'Bahá'u'lláh refers to an "Ark", whose dwellers are the men of the Supreme House of Justice . . . The "sailing of the Ark" of His laws is a reference to the establishment of the Universal House of Justice.'12

In His Will and Testament 'Abdu'l-Bahá states that the Universal House of Justice, with the Guardian, is 'under the care and protection of the Abhá Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One . . . Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso opposed him hath opposed God; whoso contendeth with them hath contended with God . . .'13 The Universal House of Justice is the 'source of all good and freed from all error'.14 Everything which is not expressly recorded in the Writings 'must be referred to the Universal House of Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or by a majority doth carry, that is verily the Truth and the Purpose of God Himself.'15 The Universal House of Justice has 'power to enact laws that are not expressly recorded in the Book' and 'power to repeal the same . . . The House of Justice is both the Initiator and the Abrogator of its own laws.'16

The Universal House of Justice was elected for the first time in 1963 with the following membership: Hugh Chance, Hushmand Fatheazam, Amoz Gibson, Lutfu'lláh Ḥakím, David Hofman, H. Borrah Kavelin, 'Alí Nak̲h̲javání, Ian Semple, and Charles Wolcott. Its constitution was adopted in 1973 and it assumed its permanent Seat on Mount Carmel in 1982.

[BD 231-233]

Past and present members

Members are entered in the table under the year when they were first elected. Starting with the first election in 1963, regular elections of the entire membership have occurred every five years, and there have been five by-elections, noted in the table with italics, in 1982, 1987, 2000, 2005 and 2010. All members have continued to serve after re-election in subsequent conventions. Amoz Gibson, Charles Wolcott, and Adib Taherzadeh died while in office while the other former members were allowed to retire.

The members listed in bold are newly elected while the members in plain text were reelected.

120 B.E.	125 B.E.	130 B.E.	135 B.E.	139 B.E.
A.D. 1963	A.D. 1968	A.D. 1973	A.D. 1978	A.D. 1982
Luṭfu'lláh Ḥakím	David Ruhe	David Ruhe	David Ruhe	David Ruhe
Amoz Gibson	Amoz Gibson	Amoz Gibson	Amoz Gibson	Glenford Mitchell
Charles Wolcott	Charles Wolcott	Charles Wolcott	Charles Wolcott	Charles Wolcott
David Hofman	David Hofman	David Hofman	David Hofman	David Hofman
Borrah Kavelin	Borrah Kavelin	Borrah Kavelin	Borrah Kavelin	Borrah Kavelin
Hugh Chance	Hugh Chance	Hugh Chance	Hugh Chance	Hugh Chance
Hushmand Fatheazam	Hushmand Fatheazam	Hushmand Fatheazam	Hushmand Fatheazam	Hushmand Fatheazam
Alí Nakhjavání	Alí Nakhjavání	Alí Nakhjavání	Alí Nakhjavání	Alí Nakhjavání
Ian Semple	Ian Semple	Ian Semple	Ian Semple	Ian Semple

140 B.E.	143 B.E.	145 B.E.	150 B.E.	155 B. E.
A.D. 1983	A.D. 1987	A.D. 1988	A.D. 1993	A.D. 1998
David Ruhe	David Ruhe	David Ruhe	Farzam Arbab	Farzam Arbab
Glenford Mitchell	Glenford Mitchell	Glenford Mitchell	Glenford Mitchell	Glenford Mitchell
Charles Wolcott	Peter K̲h̲án	Peter K̲h̲án	Peter K̲h̲án	Peter K̲h̲án
David Hofman	David Hofman	Hooper Dunbar	Hooper Dunbar	Hooper Dunbar
Borrah Kavelin	Borrah Kavelin	Adib Taherzadeh	Adib Taherzadeh	Adib Taherzadeh
Hugh Chance	Hugh Chance	Hugh Chance	Douglas Martin	Douglas Martin
Hushmand Fatheazam	Hushmand Fatheazam	Hushmand Fatheazam	Hushmand Fatheazam	Hushmand Fatheazam
Alí Nakhjavání	Alí Nakhjavání	Alí Nakhjavání	Alí Nakhjavání	Alí Nakhjavání
Ian Semple	Ian Semple	Ian Semple	Ian Semple	Ian Semple

155 B. E.	157 B.E.	160 B.E.	162 B.E.	165 B.E.
A.D. 1998	A.D. 2000	A.D. 2003	A.D. 2005	A.D. 2008
Farzam Arbab	Farzam Arbab	Farzam Arbab	Farzam Arbab	Farzam Arbab
Glenford Mitchell	Glenford Mitchell	Glenford Mitchell	Glenford Mitchell	Gustavo Correa
Peter K̲h̲án	Peter K̲h̲án	Peter K̲h̲án	Peter K̲h̲án	Peter K̲h̲án
Hooper Dunbar	Hooper Dunbar	Hooper Dunbar	Hooper Dunbar	Hooper Dunbar
Adib Taherzadeh	Kiser Barnes	Kiser Barnes	Kiser Barnes	Kiser Barnes
Douglas Martin	Douglas Martin	Douglas Martin	Paul Lample	Paul Lample
Hushmand Fatheazam	Hushmand Fatheazam	Hartmut Grossmann	Hartmut Grossmann	Shahriar Razavi
Alí Nakhjavání	Alí Nakhjavání	Firaydoun Javaheri	Firaydoun Javaheri	Firaydoun Javaheri
Ian Semple	Ian Semple	Ian Semple	Payman Mohajer	Payman Mohajer

166 B.E.	170 B.E.	175 B.E.	180 B.E.
A.D. 2010	A.D. 2013	A.D. 2018	A.D. 2023
Farzam Arbab	Ayman Rouhani	Ayman Rouhani	Ayman Rouhani
Gustavo Correa	Gustavo Correa	Praveen Mallik	Praveen Mallik
Stephen Hall	Stephen Hall	Stephen Hall	Andrej Donoval
Stephen Birkland	Stephen Birkland	Stephen Birkland	Albert Nshisu Nsunga
Kiser Barnes	Chuungu Malitonga	Chuungu Malitonga	Chuungu Malitonga
Paul Lample	Paul Lample	Paul Lample	Paul Lample
Shahriar Razavi	Shahriar Razavi	Shahriar Razavi	Shahriar Razavi
Firaydoun Javaheri	Firaydoun Javaheri	Juan Francisco Mora	Juan Francisco Mora
Payman Mohajer	Payman Mohajer	Payman Mohajer	Payman Mohajer

[ Wikipedia - Universal House of Justice ]

Original members of the first Universal House of Justice, 1963.

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] [ Wikipedia - Universal House of Justice ]

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