About Pilgrimage in Haifa Israel

yepper thats me

yepper thats me

Hi my name is Chad I am a Bahá’i. I live on the Gold Coast in sunny Queensland Australia. This blog is all about my first Pilgrimage trip to the Bahá’i Holy Land, in Haifa Israel. I was on the waiting list to go for over 10 years and was super excited to get to go…. (Yes, still excited even though the whole region was in turmoil at the time).

If you have been to Haifa, or have anything to share please leave a comment.If you know someone going to Haifa on Pilgrimage let them know about this site, lots of tips on here for first time Pilgrims…

Thanks! Chad

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p.s. More info on Bahai Pilgrimage here

p.s.s. If your on Twitter, you can follow my twitter here

What is a Bahá’í pilgrimage?

Bahá’ís in good standing may apply to undertake a pilgrimage, which spans nine days and consists of guided visits to the Holy Shrines, various other sites in the Holy Land associated with the Central Figures of the Faith, and the Terraces and gardens on Mount Carmel. In addition to these conducted visits, pilgrims, when not otherwise occupied, will wish to make additional visits to the Shrines and gardens and also to visit the Haifa Pilgrim House, the Monument Gardens, the Temple Land, the resting place of Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum, and the Bahá’í Cemetery in Haifa during the hours that they are open.

The first and supreme obligation of all Bahá’ís who visit the Holy Land is to pray and meditate in the Sacred Shrines of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. To receive this bounty of visiting the Holy Places at the Bahá’í World Centre is an inestimable privilege, infinitely precious to every Bahá’í pilgrim.

The Shrine of the Báb and its Terraces.A Bahá’í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Akká, and Bahjí at the Bahá’í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá’ís do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage. Bahá’u'lláh decreed pilgrimage in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas to two places: the House of Bahá’u'lláh in Baghdad, and the House of the Báb in Shiraz. In two separate Tablets, known as Suriy-i-Hajj, he prescribed specific rites for each of these pilgrimages.

It is obligatory to make the pilgrimage, “if one can afford it and is able to do so, and if no obstacle stands in one’s way”. Bahá’ís are free to choose between the two houses, as either has been deemed sufficient. Later, `Abdu’l-Bahá designated the Shrine of Bahá’u'lláh at Bahjí (the Qiblih) as a site of pilgrimage. No rites have been prescribed for this.

The designated sites for pilgrimage are not accessible to the majority of Bahá’ís, as they are in Iraq and Iran respectively, and thus when Bahá’ís currently refer to pilgrimage, it refers to a nine-day pilgrimage that occurs at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa and Akká in Israel.This nine-day pilgrimage does not replace pilgrimage to the designated sites for pilgrimage, and it is intended that pilgrimage to the House of the Báb and the House of Bahá’u'lláh will occur in the future.

Responses

  1. This is amazing , thanks for effort , thanks for every things , very very inspiring , love Azi

    By: Azi on February 3, 2009
    at 12:33 am

    Reply

  2. Thanks Azi!

    By: bahaiguy on February 14, 2009
    at 7:45 am

    Reply


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