Baháʼí pilgrimage

Baháʼu'lláh decreed pilgrimage in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas to two places: the House of Baháʼu'lláh in Baghdad, and the Báb's house 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". Baháʼu'lláh has "exempted women as a mercy on His part", though the Universal House of Justice has clarified that women are free to perform this pilgrimage. Baháʼís are free to choose between the two houses, as either has been deemed sufficient. Later, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá designated the Shrine of Baháʼu'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 Baháʼís, as they are in Iraq and Iran respectively, and thus when Baháʼís currently refer to pilgrimage, it refers to a nine-day pilgrimage that occurs at the Baháʼí 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 Baháʼu'lláh will occur in the future.

Demolished pilgrimage sites

House of Baháʼu'lláh, Baghdad

House of the Báb, Shiraz