Universal House of Justice elected

In April 1963, at the close of the Ten Year Crusade, the members of the world's National Spiritual Assemblies elect the Universal House of Justice for the first time, in Haifa. The nine-member body, provided for in Bahá'u'lláh's writings and seated on Mount Carmel from 1983, is the faith's supreme institution.

Tagged: Bahá'í Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice The Universal House of Justice

The Event

Date

1963 (exact)

Era

The Formative Age; Standard periodization of Bahá'í history

Location

Haifa; today Israel

Traditions

Bahá'í

Streams

Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice, The Universal House of Justice

How the Tradition Tells It

The election of 1963 was accepted by the overwhelming majority of the community; the Remey claim recorded in the controversies entry arose from the same succession.

Connections

History Event Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi 1921-1957 succeeds

Primary Sources

• The tradition's own record of the event.

Secondary Sources

• MacEoin, Denis. The Messiah of Shiraz: Studies in Early and Middle Babism. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
• Momen, Moojan. The Baha'i Faith: A Beginner's Guide. Oxford: Oneworld, 2008.
• Shoghi Effendi. God Passes By. Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1944 (the community's own history, cited as such).
• Smith, Peter. An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• Warburg, Margit. Citizens of the World: A History and Sociology of the Baha'is in Britain and North America. Leiden: Brill, 2006.

Provenance: HIST-1113; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-28.

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