The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, the Guardianship, and the Universal House of Justice are the three themes explored in The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh.

Described in this course as Bahá’u’lláh’s supreme gift to humanity, the Covenant is studied here with one central aim: to increase awareness of its unifying power, the “pivot of the oneness of mankind”. In the context of these themes, participants explore such concepts as the Kitáb-i-‘Ahd and the station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the Centre of the Covenant, authorised Interpreter, and perfect Exemplar; the need for a Centre to which the faithful turn, and the difference between spiritual authority and temporal power; the major achievements of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry; the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the Charter of the New World Order; the twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice; the nature of obedience and the pledge of conduct that entering the Covenant implies; Covenant-breaking and the posture to adopt towards attacks on the Faith; the life and role of the Greatest Holy Leaf; the Guardian’s development of the Spiritual Assembly, including consultation, Bahá’í elections, and the relationship between institutions and the individual; the Fund, the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the Nineteen Day Feast, Ḥuqúqu’lláh, and the summer school; the systematic execution of the Divine Plan from the early national plans to the Ten Year Crusade; the Hands of the Cause; the rise of the World Spiritual and Administrative Centre; the station of the three Central Figures; the election of the Universal House of Justice and its Constitution; the institution of the Counsellors; the series of global Plans from 1996 to 2021 and the three protagonists they empower; and the centrality of Bahá’í law to the civilisation-building process and the responsibilities of the individual, the community, and the institutions in upholding it.

Service Outcomes
No specific act of service is associated with this course; rather, a growing understanding of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant endows every act of service with fresh and expanded meaning. The capacities built include the ability to remain firm in, and defend, the Covenant; to draw up a personal plan for the systematic study of the writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and Bahá’u’lláh; and to help those more recently embarked on the path of service deepen their understanding of the Covenant and the Administrative Order it has raised up.

Digital editions are free to download from the Ruhi Foundation website.