Baháʼí World Centre

[2] The location of the Baháʼí World Centre originated in Baháʼu'lláh's banishment and imprisonment to the fortress of Acre in 1868 by Ottoman authorities.

[5] The location of the administrative centre was a result of a successive number of banishments and imprisonments of Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith.

[7] Baháʼu'lláh lived out the rest of his life in the area and he communicated with his followers throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and India through special couriers, and Acre became the centre of the expanding network of Baháʼí groups.

Following his death, Baháʼu'lláh's son ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was appointed to be the head of his father's faith and the condition of the area as the centre of Baháʼí activity continued.

[1] During the final years of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's life the increasing levels of correspondence led to the employment of a number of secretaries including some in Western languages and the provision of a Pilgrim House in the area.

[11] After ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's death, Shoghi Effendi was the head of the religion, and he directed the development of a number of separate projects in the area.

[1] He renovated the house of Baháʼu'lláh in Bahji in 1929, and in the 1950s secured legal possession of the lands around the building, creating a number of gardens.

[8][14] The fifth and yet-to-be-built building, the International Baháʼí library, is planned to be eventually built at the eastern end of the Arc,[14] and is anticipated as a center for "knowledge in all fields", including scientific investigation.

With the end of the mandate in 1948, and the resulting 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the majority of the Baháʼís in Israel left the country, and only Shoghi Effendi and a few others remained behind.

[16][17] Uniquely, despite the presence of several hundred volunteer staff in Haifa and Acre, there is no formal community of Baháʼís in Israel in the sense that there are no Nineteen Day Feasts, Spiritual Assemblies etc.

Additionally, since the days of Baháʼu'lláh, Baháʼís have observed a self-imposed ban on teaching their religion to the local population of Israel.

In a letter dated 1995, the Baháʼí Universal House of Justice wrote: ...the people in Israel have access to factual information about the Faith, its history and general principles.

Mothers with small children who are married to the staff members and Iranian Baháʼís with Jewish backgrounds are somehow connected to the Israeli society.