Consultation in the Bahá’í Faith: A Review of its Developmental Process

Abstract

This paper looks at consultation in the Bahá'í Faith. It starts from the mention of this process in the Kitab-i-Aqdas and the manner in which this was initially put into practice in Iran in the late 1870s. It then looks at the ways in which each of the successive leaders of the Bahá'í Faith — Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l- Bahá and Shoghi Effendi emphasized the importance of consultation and promoted its use in the community. Finally, the paper looks at the role of consultation in the transformation of society from the present established and customary practices in the world towards the new World Order that Bahá'u'lláh envisaged.