Bahá'u'lláh - The Promised One

It is only through the independent investigation of truth, a key teaching of the Bahá’í  Faith, that one can truly begin to understand staggering message of Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh, which in Arabic means "The Glory of God", was no mere holy man or prophet, but "The Promised One" that all the great religions have anticipated and longed for.

Bahá'u'lláh explained that religion, like everything in God's creation, needs to be transformed and renewed. Otherwise, as time passes, corruption, misunderstandings and divisions set in. Religion loses its force. Sadly, this has been illustrated throughout history when, time and again, religion becomes a source of conflict and destruction. Bahá'u'lláh went so far as to say, “Religion must be the cause of fellowship and love. If it become the cause of estrangement, then it is not needed, for religion is like a remedy: if it aggravate the disease, then it becometh unnecessary.”

Bahá’í s believe in one merciful and just God who does not leave humanity alone to struggle through the ages without new guidance, without the ''Word" being renewed. It is for this reason Bahá'u'lláh was sent to guide us into the next stage of human development: a peaceful and global human family.

Everything Bahá'u'lláh said, everything He did, is inspired by God. He is God's Divine Presence, made manifest in the form of a human being. This has been the way of God throughout religious history: a demonstration of His love for man through a succession of divine teachers, among them Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.  

Bahá'u'lláh’s astounding proclamation that He was sent by God to fulfill the Scriptures of all the great religions...that He was the "Promised One" come to unite all people would bring him into conflict with the fanatical Muslim clerics of that day. He spent the last forty years of His life a prisoner and exile in the Ottoman Empire, forced from Tehran to Baghdad, to Constantinople, Adrianople, then Akka, the prison fortress across the bay from Haifa, Palestine (now Israel). He endured decade after decade of extreme privation, suffering and hardship to bring to humanity the teachings and guidance needed for humanity to move forward toward a better, more loving and unified world.

In 1890, while still imprisoned Bahá’u’lláh was visited by Edward G. Browne, the famed English scholar. Browne, profoundly moved, wrote of the experience:

"The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow. .... No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!

A mild dignified voice bade me be seated, and then continued: "Praise be to God that thou hast attained!...Thou hast come to see a prisoner and exile...We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer-up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment...These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family...Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind."

A unique feature of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation is that He Himself wrote over 100 volumes of spiritual teachings and principles by which humanity could establish the long-awaited age of peace and unity. Bahá’í s and others the world over can read and study the actual words of the Founder of the Bahá’í  Faith.  Most of those volumes are carefully preserved at the Bahá’í  World Center in Haifa, Israel. 

Bahá’u’lláh spent the final years of his life under house arrest at a place called Bahji, near Haifa. He passed away in May of 1892 and His remains were laid to rest in a garden room adjoining His home. This site, for Bahá’ís, is the most holy place on earth.  At the time of His passing, His faith was already known throughout the world and there were followers in thirteen countries. Today the Bahá’í  Faith is the second most widely spread religion on the planet next to Christianity. More than five million Bahá’í s embrace the Teachings of the one reverently  referred to in Bahá’í Scriptures as "The Blessed Beauty".

The Greater Columbia Bahá'í Community Website
Richland and Lexington Counties, SC