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An Overview of the Bahá'í Faith |
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The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's
independent religions and is established in more locations around the planet
than any faith other than Christianity. Its founder, Bahá'u'lláh (an Arabic
title meaning The Glory of God)), is regarded by Bahá'ís as the most
recent in the line of Messengers of God that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha,
Krishna, Christ and Muhammad.
Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892) taught that there is one
God Who, through a series of divine teachers, has revealed His immeasurable
love for humanity and His will for human spiritual progress. These teachings
have been the chief civilizing force in history. While the bulk of humanity
has seen these successive divine revelations as separate, irreconcilable
religious systems, Bahá'u'lláh taught that, in fact, they have all served the
common purpose of bringing the human race to spiritual and moral maturity. The
central theme of
Bahá'u'lláh's
message is that humanity is one single race and that the day
promised by all the world’s religions for its unification into one global
family has come. Bahá'u'lláh was born a Persian prince, heir to great wealth and a position in the court of the shah. Because of His teachings, He was stripped of his title, tortured, imprisoned, and exiled from his homeland. Tens of thousands of the earliest believers were tortured and killed for believing that God had sent a new messenger to help humanity progress to a new level of spiritual development. The persecution and sacrifices of those thousands drew the attention of the world, invoking admiration and comment from such contemporary figures as Leo Tolstoy and Sarah Bernhardt.
During the forty years of his exile and
imprisonment Bahá'u'lláh wrote over 100 volumes. These works constitute the
foundation of the Bahá'í scriptures and the bedrock of the Bahá'í belief
system. Bahá'u'lláh was eventually
imprisoned in Akka, in what is now Israel. The World Center of the
Bahá'í Faith is based in
Haifa, not far from Akka, where the life of Bahá'u'lláh
ended in 1892. The beautiful Bahá'í shrines, located on Mount Carmel, the
"mountain of the Lord", stand in glorious splendor, a testament to the beauty
and majesty of
Bahá'u'lláh's
teachings for the day in which we live.
Alone among
world religions, the Bahá'í Faith has resisted any fragmentation. At the time
of the passing of
Bahá'u'lláh a
century ago, there were perhaps 50,000 Bahá'ís in the world. Today there are
more than five million and the Bahá'í Faith is the most geographically
widespread independent religion after Christianity with communities in
235 countries and territories. There are currently over 2,100
ethnic, racial, and tribal groups represented within the Bahá'í Faith. This
varied and diverse group of people is working together to bring
Bahá'u'lláh's
teachings to practical effect and to spread the Bahá'í vision of humanity as
one global family. Among the principles which the Bahá'í Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of this goal are
Bahá'u'lláh said of the unity of humankind: O CHILDREN OF MEN! Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created. Since We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest. Such is My counsel to you, O concourse of light! Heed ye this counsel that ye may obtain the fruit of holiness from the tree of wondrous glory.
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Bahá'í
Faith |
The History of the Bahá'í Faith |
A Global Faith |
Bahá'í
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