International Bahá'í Council

The International Bahá'í Council (IBC) was an administrative institution of the Bahá'í Faith, first created in 1951 as a precursor to the Universal House of Justice, which replaced it in 1963.

The following is a January 9, 1951 telex to the Bahá'í world from Shoghi Effendi announcing the Council:

In this telex Shoghi Effendi described the significance of the International Bahá'í Council:

Shoghi Effendi also laid out several steps for the IBC's evolvement into the Universal House of Justice:

In March 1951 Shoghi Effendi began appointing the membership of the IBC [1]. During its first year, eight men and women were appointed. In 1952 two members had left due to reasons of health. In 1955 Shoghi Effendi appointed a ninth member. The members of the International Bahá'í Council, the dates of their appointment, their offices on the IBC and those that were Hands of the Cause were:

Between 1951 and 1957 Shoghi Effendi directed the members and used the Council to create an image of an international body handling the Bahá'í affairs in Haifa. According to Shoghi Effendi, the Council's responsibilities were to:

In Messages to the Bahá'í World – 1950–1957, Shoghi Effendi described the Bahá'í Court as an “essential prelude to the institution of the Universal House of Justice” (p. 13) and that the IBC “must pave the way for the formation of the Bahá'í Court.” (p. 149) It was also cited as one of Shoghi Effendi's goals for the Ten Year Crusade. The Court was to come about as a result of its recognition as a legal non-Jewish religious court inside of the state of Israel and was to be composed of the appointed members from the IBC.(p. 152) Despite his efforts, the Court had not yet come into existence at the time of Shoghi Effendi’s death in 1957.

From this point forward the IBC operated under the direction of the Custodial Hands of the Cause and they agreed to carry out Shoghi Effendi's plans for its evolvement.(Ministry of the Custodians, p. 37) In November 1959 the Hands announced to the Bahá'í world that the International Bahá'í Council would go from an appointed body to an elected body. They said: "We wish to assure the believers that every effort will be made to establish a Bahá'í Court in the Holy Land prior to the date set for this election. We should however bear in mind that the Guardian himself clearly indicated this goal, due to the strong trend towards the secularization of Religious Courts in this part of the world, might not be achieved." (Ministry of the Custodians, p. 169) The IBC's recognition as a Bahá'í court was never achieved.

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