The Bahá'í Faith: Bahá'u'lláh, the Báb, Teachings and History

The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded in nineteenth-century Iran by Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892), whom Bahá'ís regard as the most recent in a line of divine messengers that includes Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad. It grew out of the Bábí movement begun in 1844 by the Báb, and it teaches the oneness of God, the essential unity of the world's religions and the oneness of humanity. With several million adherents in almost every country, it is among the most geographically widespread religions in the world, and its administrative and spiritual centre is in Haifa and Acre in present-day Israel.

The Báb and the Bábí Movement§

In nineteenth-century Shiʻi Iran, expectation of the return of the Hidden Imam, the Mahdi, was widespread, and the Shaykhi school had taught that a new spiritual age was near. On 23 May 1844, in Shiraz, a young merchant named Siyyid ʻAlí-Muhammad (1819–1850) declared to a Shaykhi seeker that he was the Báb, the "Gate", a title his followers soon understood as a claim to be the promised Qa'im himself. He composed a large body of writings, including the Bayán, which proclaimed a new religious law and announced the coming of "Him whom God shall make manifest".

The Bábí movement spread rapidly and alarmed both the Shiʻi clergy and the Qajar state. Armed conflicts broke out between Bábís and government forces at Shaykh Tabarsi, Nayriz and Zanjan, and thousands of Bábís were killed. Among the movement's leaders was the poet Táhirih (Qurrat al-ʻAyn), who appeared unveiled at the conference of Badasht in 1848, a symbolic break with Islamic law; she was executed in 1852. The Báb himself was imprisoned and, on 9 July 1850, executed by firing squad in Tabriz. The historian Abbas Amanat has studied this movement as a major episode in the religious history of modern Iran.

Bahá'u'lláh: Prison, Exile and Revelation§

Mírzá Husayn-ʻAlí Núrí, born in Tehran in 1817 to a noble family, became a prominent Bábí. After a failed attempt by a few Bábís on the life of the Shah in 1852, he was imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál, an underground dungeon in Tehran, where, according to his own account, he received his first intimation of divine mission. He took the title Bahá'u'lláh, "the Glory of God".

Released and exiled, he went to Baghdad, where he revived the scattered Bábí community and wrote the Kitáb-i-Íqán (Book of Certitude) and the Hidden Words. In April 1863, in the Garden of Ridván on the eve of a further exile to Istanbul, he declared to companions that he was the one whose coming the Báb had foretold; Bahá'ís celebrate this as the festival of Ridván. Further exile took him to Edirne, where he began a series of letters to the rulers of the world, continued later from Acre and addressed among others to Napoleon III, Queen Victoria and Pope Pius IX, and where a bitter split occurred with his half-brother Mírzá Yahyá (Subh-i-Azal), whose followers became the small Azali Bábí community. In 1868 Ottoman authorities sent Bahá'u'lláh to the prison city of Acre in Palestine. There he wrote his book of laws, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Most Holy Book, completed around 1873). He died at Bahjí near Acre in 1892, and his shrine there is the holiest place for Bahá'ís.

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi and the Administrative Order§

Bahá'u'lláh appointed his eldest son, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (1844–1921), as the authorised interpreter of his writings and centre of his covenant. Released from confinement after the Young Turk revolution of 1908, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá travelled through Egypt, Europe and North America between 1910 and 1913, speaking in churches, synagogues and universities and laying the cornerstone of the House of Worship at Wilmette near Chicago, completed in 1953.

His will named his grandson Shoghi Effendi (1897–1957) as Guardian of the Faith. Shoghi Effendi translated major texts into English, wrote the history God Passes By (1944), developed the administrative institutions and organised systematic plans for worldwide expansion. He died without appointing a successor, and in 1963 Bahá'ís elected the Universal House of Justice, a body of nine members foreseen by Bahá'u'lláh, which sits on Mount Carmel in Haifa and is elected every five years. Bahá'ís regard it as divinely guided. Those who challenged this succession were declared "covenant-breakers", and small dissident groups exist.

Teachings: One God, One Religion, One Humanity§

At the heart of Bahá'í belief is the unknowable God, who makes himself known through Manifestations of God, messengers who reflect divine attributes as a mirror reflects the sun. Each revelation renews the eternal spiritual truths and brings social laws suited to its age. Bahá'ís accept the Qur'an as revealed and read its description of Muhammad as the "Seal of the Prophets" (Qur'an 33:40) as closing one prophetic cycle rather than ending revelation, an interpretation that mainstream Muslims reject.

Bahá'u'lláh's social teachings, elaborated by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, include:

• the oneness of humanity and the abandonment of racial, national, religious and class prejudice;
• the equality of women and men;
• the harmony of science and religion, both of which must agree with reason;
• universal compulsory education;
• the adoption of a universal auxiliary language alongside mother tongues;
• the elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty;
• a world commonwealth with collective security and lasting peace.

The soul, Bahá'ís believe, is created at conception and progresses through the spiritual worlds after death; heaven and hell are understood as states of nearness to or distance from God rather than places.

Worship, Calendar and Community Life§

Bahá'ís recite one of three daily obligatory prayers revealed by Bahá'u'lláh, read scripture morning and evening, and observe a fast from sunrise to sunset during the nineteen days before the new year, the month of ʻAlá, usually 2 to 20 March. They abstain from alcohol and drugs, avoid partisan politics and gossip, and require parental consent for marriage.

The Badíʻ calendar has nineteen months of nineteen days, plus intercalary days; the new year, Naw-Rúz, falls at the spring equinox. Communities gather every nineteen days for the Nineteen Day Feast, combining devotion, consultation and fellowship. There is no priesthood or sermon; worship consists of readings from scripture of all religions as well as Bahá'í texts. Local and National Spiritual Assemblies of nine members are elected annually by secret ballot without candidates or campaigning. Houses of Worship, nine-sided domed buildings open to all, stand on every continent, including the Lotus Temple in New Delhi, dedicated in 1986.

Persecution in Iran and Global Spread§

In Iran, where it began, the Bahá'í Faith has never been recognised. Bahá'ís are regarded by many Shiʻi clerics as apostates. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, more than two hundred Bahá'ís have been executed or killed, the elected national leadership was arrested and several of its members executed in the early 1980s, Bahá'ís have been barred from universities and public employment, and cemeteries and holy sites, including the House of the Báb in Shiraz, have been destroyed. These measures have been condemned repeatedly by the United Nations and human rights organisations.

Outside Iran the community has grown largely through conversion, especially since the mid-twentieth century in India, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific. Scholars such as Peter Smith and Moojan Momen have written its history, and Juan Cole has studied Bahá'u'lláh's thought in the context of nineteenth-century Middle Eastern modernity. For other religions that emerged from the Islamic world's mystical currents, see Sufism.

Frequently asked questions§

Is the Bahá'í Faith part of Islam?§

No. It arose from a Shiʻi Islamic background, much as Christianity arose from Judaism, but Bahá'ís regard it as an independent religion with its own scriptures and laws. Most Muslim authorities do not accept it as Islamic.

Who are the central figures of the Bahá'í Faith?§

The Báb (1819–1850), regarded as the forerunner and an independent messenger; Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892), the founder; and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (1844–1921), his son and appointed interpreter. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian, and the Universal House of Justice followed as heads of the community.

What are the main Bahá'í scriptures?§

The writings of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh are regarded as revelation, chief among them the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Kitáb-i-Íqán and the Hidden Words. The interpretations of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi are authoritative but not revelation.

Sources and further reading§

• The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book — Bahá'u'lláh, 1992
• The Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book of Certitude — Bahá'u'lláh, 1931
• God Passes By — Shoghi Effendi, 1944
• An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith — Peter Smith, 2008
• Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844–1850 — Abbas Amanat, 1989
• Modernity and the Millennium: The Genesis of the Baha'i Faith in the Nineteenth-Century Middle East — Juan R. I. Cole, 1998
• The Baha'i Faith: A Beginner's Guide — Moojan Momen, 2007