A Unique Institution

The Universal House of Justice is unique in religious history. Never before has a Manifestation of God explicitly ordained the establishment of an institution with the mandate to maintain the integrity and flexibility of His religion, safeguard the unity and guide the activities of His followers, and exert a beneficial influence on the life of society.

By virtue of the authority invested in it by Bahá’u’lláh, the Universal House of Justice sits as the head of an administrative order whose features, authority and mode of functioning are clearly enunciated in the Sacred Writings. The work of the institutions of this administrative order is characterized by an ethos of loving service, focused as it is on the development of human potential and the advancement of civilization.