Messages from the Universal House of Justice

• “23 May 2016 UHJ To the Bahá’ís of the World: home-front pioneering, international pioneering
• 20 April 2016 UHJ Riḍván 173 To the Bahá’ís of the World

“How striking that, amid the cacophony of fixed opinions and opposing interests that grows everywhere more fierce, you are focused on drawing people together to build communities that are havens of unity. Far from disheartening you, let the world’s prejudices and hostilities be reminders of how urgently souls all around you need the healing balm that you alone can present to them. ..[S]pare no effort in applying all you have learned and every God-given ability and skill you possess…”

• 26 March 2016 UHJ To the Bahá’ís of the world acting under the Mandate of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

“Though misunderstandings and problems sometimes arose, you forgave one another and marched together in serried lines…Before you, beloved friends, lies stretched out the blank scroll of the future on which you and your spiritual descendants will inscribe fresh and lasting deeds of renunciation and heroism for the betterment of the world.”

• 26 March 2016 UHJ To the chosen recipients of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan the Bahá’ís of the United States and the Bahá’ís of Canada

“…the communities you build will directly combat and eventually eradicate the forces of corruption, of moral laxity, and of ingrained prejudice eating away at the vitals of society…cast away the idle fancies and distractions of a world that has lost its way that you may consecrate yourselves in the next five years to the priceless opportunities and inescapable obligations of the latest stage of a spiritual enterprise on which the fate of humanity ultimately depends.”

• 20 April 2015 UHJ Riḍván 2015 To the Bahá’ís of the World
• 10 July 2014 UHJ July 2014 Link to the official site of the Universal House of Justice
• 20 April 2014 UHJ April 2014 Link to the official site, copyright Baha’i International Community (BIC).
• 5 December 2013 UHJ December 2013
• 27 July 2013 UHJ 27 July 2013 The UHJ called on academics engaged in “intellectual inquiry in diverse fields” to “consciously and progressively” clarify the “notion” and the “elements” of an “evolving conceptual framework, a matrix that organizes thought and gives shape to activities and which becomes more elaborate as experience accumulates.” 

“In this respect, it may be useful to give consideration to insights that have contributed to the community’s progress: the relationship between study and action, the need for focus, which is not to be confused with uniformity, the challenge of fostering the capacity of individuals and accompanying others in service, the dynamics of organic development, the institutional arrangements necessary to sustain ever more complex patterns of activity, the coherence required among all areas of endeavour, and sound relations among individuals, the community, and the institutions. Perhaps the most important of these is learning in action; the friends participate in an ongoing process of action, reflection, study, and consultation in order to address obstacles and share successes, re-examine and revise strategies and methods, and systematize and improve efforts over time…” UHJ

The UHJ encouraged groups of participants with experience in certain professions or academic disciplines such as “philosophy or religious studies” to select specific topics, hold a number of small seminars to assist each other to “examine some aspect” or “specific topic” of the discourse of their field” sharing articles, preparing papers, and consulting on “contemporary perspectives and related Bahá’í concepts.“

• 1 July 2013 UHJ 1 July 2013 To the participants in the forthcoming 114 youth conferences throughout the world
• 2013-05-03 UHJ April 2013 Riḍván 170 PDF
• 2 March 2013 UHJ 2 March 2013 To the Bahá’ís of Iran regarding involvement in politics.

“Though devastating in their effects, the forces of disintegration tend to sweep away barriers that block humanity’s progress, opening space for the process of integration to draw diverse groups together and disclosing new opportunities for cooperation and collaboration.” UHJ 2 March 2013

• 8 February 2013 UHJ To the Bahá’ís of the World which called for youth conferences around the globe,
  

  “To every generation of young believers comes an opportunity to make a contribution to the fortunes of humanity, unique to their time of life. For the present generation, the moment has come to reflect, to commit, to steel themselves for a life of service from which blessing will flow in abundance. In our prayers at the Sacred Threshold, we entreat the Ancient Beauty that, from out a distracted and bewildered humanity, He may distil pure souls endowed with clear sight: youth whose integrity and uprightness are not undermined by dwelling on the faults of others and who are not immobilized by any shortcomings of their own…”

• 2012-04-21 UHJ April 2012 Riḍván 169
• 2011-12-12 Universal House of Justice. Ruhi Institutes and the Five-Year Plan (2011). Download: bahai-library.com/pdf/2012_02/uhj_5-year-plan_ruhi_training.pdf. [PDF help]
• 2011-12-12 UHJ to all National Spiritual Assemblies
• 2011-05-21 — UHJ May 23, 2011 homefront pioneers 5-year plan
• 2011-04 The Five-Year Plan: Messages of the Universal House of Justice. Palabra Publications
• 2011-04-23 — UHJ April 2011 — Riḍván 168 . framework for action, intensive programs of growth,
• 2011-01-15  The Universal House of Justice, Introduction to Five Year Plan Message of 28 December 2010
• 2010-12-28 The Universal House of Justice, Five Year Plan Message 2011-2016 To all National Spiritual Assemblies
• 2010-12-28 The Universal House of Justice “To the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors” PDF

“The 28 December letter is a 16 page, 44 paragraph document of the House of Justice to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors. It describes the goals and plans for the Bahá’í community during the 2011-2016 Five Year Plan, calls upon the Auxiliary Board members to support the friends with “love free of paternalism”, describes intensive programs of growth, warns against scaling back flourishing activity, calls upon the community to raise the number of IPG’s over the next five years from 1,600 to 5,000, reflects on innovations to the cluster that resulted from rapidly growing communities, emphasizes the importance of developing Local Spiritual Assemblies and increasing the capacity of the institutions, discusses the pattern of growth rural clusters should follow, touches on the purpose of consultation at the Nineteen Day Feast, stresses the importance of “sacrifice on the part of those entrusted to administer the affairs of the Faith”, highlights the Guardian’s words in The Advent of Divine Justice regarding the distinguishing characteristics of the life of the Bahá’í community and that of the individual; including “the extent to which young minds are affected by the choices parents make for their own lives”, reaffirms that prejudice of any kind is alien to the very purpose of the Faith, encourages the friends to strive to understand “the totality of the vision conveyed in the messages” of the House of Justice; warning against focusing on isolated fragments, and lastly covers “the three protagonists in the Divine Plan”: the individual, the institutions, and the community.” (bahaitext)

“That political life everywhere has continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate in the intervening years, as the very conception of statesmanship has been drained of meaning, as policies have come to serve the economic interests of the few in the name of progress, as hypocrisy has been allowed to undermine the operation of social and economic structures, is evident. If indeed great effort was required for the friends to uphold the high standards of the Faith then, how much greater must be the exertion in a world that rewards dishonesty, that encourages corruption, and that treats truth as a negotiable commodity.” UHJ 28 December 2010

• A la Conferencia de los Cuerpos Continentales de Consejeros: 28 de diciembre de 2010. Universal House of Justice. (2010).
• 2010-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 167.
• 2009-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 166.
• 2009-04-19 [Authorized translation from Persian] 19 May 2009 “To the Believers in the Cradle of the Faith.” PDF
• 2008-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 165.
• 2008-10-20 by Universal House of Justice. Anniversary of the Birth of the Báb,
• 2007-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 164. home visits
• 2006-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 163. Junior youth, accelerated disintegration,
• 2005-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 162. Core activities, Ruhi Institute, systematic learning, International Teaching Centre,
• 27 December 2005 – The Next 5 Year Plan. To the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors.
• One Common Faith. Baha’i World Center. (Haifa: Baha’i World Center, 2005).
• 2004-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 161. Ruhi Institute
• 28 November 2004 – International Teaching Centre
• Day of the Covenant 26 November 2003: To the Followers of Baha’u’llah in the Cradle of the Faith, in Baha’i Canada. Universal House of Justice. (2004). A message to the Baha’is of Iran.
• 2003-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 160.
• 17 January 2003 – Unfoldment of the Five Year Plan – Universal House of Justice
• Autoridades religiosas del mundo, A las. Casa Universal de Justicia. Cortesia, trans. (2002). Spanish translation of “Letter to the World’s Religious Leaders, April 2002.”
• Letter to the World’s Religious Leaders. Universal House of Justice. (2002).
• 2002-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 159.
• 2001-01-16 Universal House of Justice to the Bahá’ís of the World The Faith entered the fifth epoch of the Formative Age.
• 2001-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 158.
• 9 January 2001 – 5 Year Plan – Universal House of Justice
• Attainment of the Unity of Nations and the Lesser Peace. Universal House of Justice. (2001).
• Institution of the Counsellors: Letter to the Counsellors January 16 2001. Universal House of Justice. (2001).
• Institution of the Counsellors: Letter to the Counsellors January 9 2001. Universal House of Justice. (2001).
• Institution of the Counsellors. Universal House of Justice. (2001).
• February 2000 – Training Institutes & Systematic Growth
• 2000 UHJ and Shoghi Effendi on “Community Functioning, Issues Concerning: Fostering the Development of Bahá’í Communities.”
• 2000-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 157. Children’s classes
• 2000: One-Year Plan: Introductory Letter. Universal House of Justice. (1999).
• 1999 – “Who Is Writing the Future? Reflections on the Twentieth Century.” Universal House of Justice. (1999).
• 1999-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 156.
• April 1998 – Training Institutes
• 1998-04-21 — UHJ Riḍván Message 155.
• Election and Infallibility of the Universal House of Justice, in Messages from the Universal House of Justice: 1963-1986: The Third Epoch of the Formative Age. Universal House of Justice, pages 50-58 (Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1996). Answers to three questions: Why were steps taken to elect a Universal House of Justice with the foreknowledge that there would be no Guardian? Was the time ripe for such an action? Could not the International Baha’i Council have carried on the work?
• Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-86: table of contents. Universal House of Justice. Geoffry W. Marks, comp. (Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1996).
• Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-86: complete text (very large file!). Universal House of Justice. Geoffry W. Marks, comp. (Wilmette: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1996).
• Ridván 1996 (Four Year Plan): training institutes
• 26 December 1995 Message to the Counsellors. Universal House of Justice. (1995).
• BIC. 1995-10. “Turning Point For All Nations: A Statement of the Bahá’í International Community on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations.” New York, USA.

V. A Turning Point for All Nations: A Call to World Leaders

We have reached a turning point in the progress of nations.

“Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.”^[45] Over a century ago, Bahá’u’lláh taught that there is but one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world’s religions represent stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity. Bahá’u’lláh announced the arrival of the time, foretold in all of the world’s scriptures, when humanity would at last witness the uniting of all peoples into a peaceful and integrated society.

He said that human destiny lies not merely in the creation of a materially prosperous society, but also in the construction of a global civilization where individuals are encouraged to act as moral beings who understand their true nature and are able to progress toward a greater fulfillment that no degree of material bounty alone can provide.

“The 20th Century, one of the most tumultuous periods in human history, has been marked by numerous upheavals, revolutions and radical departures from the past. Ranging from the collapse of the colonial system and the great nineteenth century empires to the rise and fall of broad and disastrous experiments with totalitarianism, fascism and communism, some of these upheavals have been extremely destructive, involving the deaths of millions, the eradication of old lifestyles and traditions, and the collapse of time-honored institutions (BIC 1995).”
“Other movements and trends have been more obviously positive. Scientific discoveries and new social insights have spurred many progressive social, economic and cultural transformations. The way has been cleared for new definitions of human rights and affirmations of personal dignity, expanded opportunities for individual and collective achievement, and bold new avenues for the advancement of human knowledge and consciousness (BIC 1995).”

“These twin processes — the collapse of old institutions on the one hand and the blossoming of new ways of thinking on the other — are evidence of a single trend which has been gaining momentum during the last hundred years: the trend toward ever-increasing interdependence and integration of humanity (BIC 1995).”

“The Four Year Plan marked a “turning point of epochal magnitude” in the life of the Bahá’í community (Arbab 2015).”

” “[E]ntry by troops,” the House of Justice has written, “is not merely a stage of the progress of the Cause destined to occur in its own good time, dependent on the receptivity of the population as a whole—it is a phenomenon which the Bahá’í communities, by their own activities, can prepare for and help to bring about. It is also a process which, once started, can be sustained.” (Arbab 2015)

• 1995: Four-Year Plan: Messages to the Bahá’ís of the World (announcing the Four Year Plan). Universal House of Justice.
• Ridván 1995: Bahá’í Era 152. Universal House of Justice. (1995).

• Ridván 1994: Bahá’í Era 151. Universal House of Justice. (1994).
• Letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, May 19 1994. Universal House of Justice. (1994).
• Wider Horizon: Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice 1983-1992. Universal House of Justice. Paul Lample, comp.
• Ridván 1993: Bahá’í Era 150. Universal House of Justice. (1993).
• Ridván 1992: Bahá’í Era 149. Universal House of Justice. (1992).
• Ridvan 1991: Baha’i Era 148. Universal House of Justice. (1991).
• 1991 Crisis and Victory by Bahá’u’lláh, Abdu’l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi and Universal House of Justice. Compiled by Research Department of the Universal House of Justice. Published in Compilation of Compilations, Volume 1, pages 131-186. 1991
• Ridvan 1990: Baha’i Era 147. Universal House of Justice. (1990).
• Ridvan 1989: Baha’i Era 146. Universal House of Justice. (1989).
• Individual Rights and Freedoms. Universal House of Justice. (1988).
• Ridván 1988: Baha’i Era 145. Universal House of Justice. (1988).
• Ridván 1987: Baha’i Era 144. Universal House of Justice. (1987).
• 1986: Six-Year Plan. Universal House of Justice. (1986).
• 1987-06-15. Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1986-2001. Plight of the Indigenous and Aboriginal Peoples
• Ridván 1986: Baha’i Era 143. Universal House of Justice. (1986).
• 1986-01-02 “Inception of the Fourth Epoch of the Formative Age.” Universal House of Justice to the Bahá’ís of the world.
• UHJ. 1985-10. “The Promise of World Peace. Bahá’í World Centre.
• Promise of World Peace. Universal House of Justice. (1985).
• Ridván 1985: Baha’i Era 142. Universal House of Justice. (1985).
• Bahá’í World, The: An International Record, volume 18: 136-140 of the Bahá’í Era, 1979-1983. Universal House of Justice, comp, Vol. XVIII (Haifa: Baha’i World Center, 1986).
• Baha’i scholarship: importance, nature, and promotion of. International Teaching Centre of the Universal House of Justice. (1984). Information on Baha’i scholarship to devise ways to foster the development of Baha’i scholarship along lines that are in accordance with Baha’i standards and values.
• Ridván 1984: Baha’i Era 141. Universal House of Justice. (1984).
• Ridván 1983: Baha’i Era 140. Universal House of Justice. (1983).
• UHJ. 1983-09-01. “Meditation, Prayer, and Spiritualization.”
• Ridván 1982: Baha’i Era 139. Universal House of Justice. (1982).
• Ridvan 1981: Baha’i Era 138. Universal House of Justice. (1981).
• Ridvan 1980: Baha’i Era 137. Universal House of Justice. (1980).
• Naw-Ruz 1979: Baha’i Era 136. Universal House of Justice. (1979).
• Ridvan 1978: Baha’i Era 135. Universal House of Justice. (1978).
• Infallibility of the Guardianship and of the Universal House of Justice. Universal House of Justice. (1977). Distinction between the interpretive spheres of the Guardian versus the Universal House of Justice.
• Ridván 1977: Baha’i Era 134. Universal House of Justice. (1977).
• Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1968-73. Universal House of Justice. (Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1976).
• Naw-Ruz 1976: Baha’i Era 133. Universal House of Justice. (1976).
• Ridvan 1975: Baha’i Era 132. Universal House of Justice. (1975).
• Laws from the Kitab-i-Aqdas Not Yet Binding. Universal House of Justice. (1974). Which laws of the Kitab-i-Aqdas are and are not currently binding upon Western believers.
• Naw Rúz 1974: Baha’i Era 131. Universal House of Justice. (1974).
• Ridván 1973: Baha’i Era 130. Universal House of Justice. (1973).
• Constitucion de la Casa Universal de Justicia, La. Casa Universal de Justicia. (1972). Spanish translation of Constitution of the Universal House of Justice.
• Constitution of the Universal House of Justice. Universal House of Justice. (Haifa: Baha’i World Center, 1972).
• Ridván 1972: Baha’i Era 129. Universal House of Justice. (1972).
• Ridván 1971: Baha’i Era 128. Universal House of Justice. (1971).
• Ridván 1969: Baha’i Era 126. Universal House of Justice. (1969).
• Ridván 1970: Baha’i Era 127. Universal House of Justice. (1970).
• Ridvan 1968: Baha’i Era 125. Universal House of Justice. (1968).
• Ridván 1967: Baha’i Era 124. Universal House of Justice. (1967).
• Ridván 1966: Baha’i Era 123. Universal House of Justice. (1966).
• Ridván 1965: Baha’i Era 122. Universal House of Justice. (1965).
• Ridván 1964: Baha’i Era 121. Universal House of Justice. (1964).
• 1963-04-30 Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986. Statement to the First Bahá’í World Congress[1] 2?
• Ministry of the Custodians: An Account of the Stewardship of the Hands of the Cause 1957-63. Universal House of Justice.

Century of Light. Universal House of Justice.

La Libertad de Expresión. Casa Universal de Justicia. Spanish translation of “Individual Rights and Freedoms”
Ridván 1996 (Four Year Plan): Bahá’í Era 153. Universal House of Justice. (1996).

Ridván 1996 (Four Year Plan) – To the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh (in Australia and the Pacific): Bahá’í Era 153. Universal House of Justice. (1996).

Ridván 1996 (Four Year Plan) – To the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh in Cambodia, Hong Kong, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam: Bahá’í Era 153. Universal House of Justice. (1996).

Ridván 1996 (Four Year Plan) – To the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh in North America: Alaska, Canada, Greenland and the United States: Bahá’í Era 153. Universal House of Justice. (1996).

Ridván 1996 (Four Year Plan) – To the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka: Bahá’í Era 153. Universal House of Justice. (1996).

Ridván 1996 (Four Year Plan) – To the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh in Western and Central Asia: Bahá’í Era 153. Universal House of Justice. (1996).

Ridván 1996 (Four Year Plan) – To the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh in Africa: Bahá’í Era 153. Universal House of Justice. (1996).

Ridván 1996 (Four Year Plan) – To the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh in Europe: Bahá’í Era 153. Universal House of Justice. (1996).

Ridván 1997: Baha’i Era 154. Universal House of Justice. (1997).

Ridván 1998: Baha’i Era 155. Universal House of Justice. (1998).

Ridván 1999: Baha’i Era 156. Universal House of Justice. (1999).

Ridván 2000: Baha’i Era 157. Universal House of Justice. (2000).

Ridvan 2001: Baha’i Era 158. Universal House of Justice. (2001).

Ridvan 2002: Baha’i Era 159. Universal House of Justice. (2002).

Ridván 2003: Bahá’í Era 160. Universal House of Justice. (2003).

Ridvan 2004: Baha’i Era 161. Universal House of Justice. (2004).

Ridvan 2005: Baha’i Era 162. Universal House of Justice.

Ridvan 2006: Baha’i Era 163. Universal House of Justice.

Ridván 2007: Baha’i Era 164. Universal House of Justice.

Ridvan 2008: Baha’i Era 165. Universal House of Justice.

Wellspring of Guidance: Messages of the Universal House of Justice 1963-68. Universal House of Justice, First Revised Edition (Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1969).

Statements from the Bahá’í International Community (BIC)

• 1995 “The Prosperity of Humankind.” A statement prepared in 1995 by the Bahá’í International Community Office of Public Information, Haifa, and first distributed at the United Nations World Summit on Social Development, Copenhagen, Denmark.

“These rising impulses for change must be seized upon and channeled into overcoming the remaining barriers that block realization of the age-old dream of global peace. The effort of will required for such a task cannot be summoned up merely by appeals for action against the countless ills afflicting society. It must be galvanized by a vision of human prosperity in the fullest sense of the term—an awakening to the possibilities of the spiritual and material well-being now brought within grasp. Its beneficiaries must be all of the planet’s inhabitants, without distinction, without the imposition of conditions unrelated to the fundamental goals of such a reorganization of human affairs (The Prosperity of Humankind BIC 1995).”