The Bahá'í Faith

Prayers 
Bahai Quotes

 

 

The Bahá'í faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. It was founded on the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh (1817 - 1892). His followers believe He was a messenger of God in the tradition of Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Christ, and Muhammad. The central teaching of the Bahá'í faith is that mankind, with God's help, should break down the barriers of race, class, and gender, uniting as one race in a global society.

 

Bahá'í holidays:

Ayyam-i-Há - February 26 through March 1
Naw Rúz (the Bahá'í New Year) - March 21
Ridván - April 21 through May 2
Declaration of the Báb - May 23
Ascension of the Bahá'u'lláh - May 29
Race Unity Day - June 13
Martyrdom of the Báb - July 9
Birth of the Báb - October 20
Birth of the Bahá'u'lláh - November 12
Day of the Covenant - November 26

History of Baha’i

Baha'i is a religious faith founded in the late 19th century by Mirza Hoseyn Ali Nuri, born in Persia and later known as Bahaullah. Bahaullah was a follower of Mirza Ali Muhammad of Shiraz, known as the Bab. Upon establishing the Babi faith in 1844, the Bab had foretold the appearance of a divine figure in 19 years. In 1850, upon the martyrdom of the Bab, Bahaullah became the leader of one of the Babi factions. In 1852 the Persian government massacred an estimated 20,000 Babists. Bahaullah was imprisoned, tortured, and then exiled, remaining a political prisoner for the rest of his life. In 1863, he proclaimed himself to be the manifestation prophesied by the Bab in 1844.

Bahaullah sought above all to establish a universal religion; his teachings were spread mainly by his son Abbas, later called Abd ul-Baha. Like his father, he was a political prisoner until freed in 1908, when parts of the Ottoman Empire were overthrown. Abd ul-Baha summarized the Bahai faith in a set of principles that included among its concrete social aims the abolition of racial and religious prejudice, equality of the sexes, universal education, a universal faith founded on the assumption of the essential identity of the great religions, and a universal representative government. By 1920, Bahai had its greatest following in the United States. There are an estimated 5.3 million Bahais worldwide.

The Bahá'í Faith upholds the unity of God, recognizes the unity of His Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the entire human race.

The Bahá'í Faith revolves around three central Figures, the first of whom was a youth, a native of Shíráz, named Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad, known as the Báb (Gate), who in May 1844, at the age of twenty-five, advanced the claim of being the Herald Who according to the sacred Scriptures of previous Dispensations, must needs announce and prepare the way for the advent of One greater than Himself, Whose mission would be, according to those same Scriptures, to inaugurate an era of righteousness and peace, an era that would be hailed as the consummation of all previous Dispensations, and initiate a new cycle in the religious history of mankind. Swift and severe persecution, launched by the organized forces of Church and State in His native land, precipitated successively His arrest, His exile to the mountains of Ádhirbáyján, His imprisonment in the fortresses of Máh-Kú and Chihríq, and His execution, in July 1850, by a firing squad in the public square of Tabríz...

Mírzá Husayn-'Alí, surnamed Bahá'u'lláh (the Glory of God), a native of Mazindarán, Whose advent the Báb [Herald and Forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh] had foretold, ... was imprisoned in Tihrán, was banished, in 1852, from His native land to Baghdád, and thence to Constantinople and Adrianople, and finally to the prison city of Akká, where He remained incarcerated for no less than twenty-four years, and in whose neighborhood He passed away in 1892. In the course of His banishment, and particularly in Adrianople and Akká, He formulated the laws and ordinances of His Dispensation, expounded, in over a hundred volumes, the principles of His Faith, proclaimed His Message to the kings and rulers of both the East and the West, both Christian and Muslim, addressed the Pope, the Caliph of Islam, the Chief Magistrates of the Republics of the American continent, the entire Christian sacerdotal order, the leaders of Shí'ih and Sunní Islam, and the high priests of the Zoroastrian religion.

His eldest son, 'Abbás Effendi, known as 'Abdu'l-Bahá (the Servant of Bahá), appointed by Him as His lawful successor and the authorized interpreter of His teachings, Who since early childhood had been closely associated with His Father, and shared His exile and tribulations, remained a prisoner until 1908, when, as a result of the Young Turk Revolution, He was released from His confinement. Establishing His residence in Haifa, He embarked soon after on His three-year journey to Egypt, Europe and North America, in the course of which He expounded before vast audiences, the teachings of His Father and predicted the approach of that catastrophe that was soon to befall mankind. He returned to His home on the eve of the first World War, in the course of which He was exposed to constant danger, until the liberation of Palestine by the forces under the command of General Allenby, who extended the utmost consideration to Him and to the small band of His fellow-exiles in Akká and Haifa... 1921 saw the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

Bahai Principles

  • The oneness of God, mankind and religion.
  • The independent investigation of truth.
  • The equality of women and men.
  • Harmony of science and religion.
  • Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty.
  • Universal peace.
  • A world common-wealth of nations.
  • A universal auxiliary language.
  • Spiritual solutions to economic problems.
  • Universal education.