The Bahá'í Faith

The Bahá'í Faith was founded by Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892) in  the 19th century AD and considered the world's youngest independent religion. Its founder is regarded by its congregation as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God which includes such prophets as Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster,  Jesus and Muhammad. Bahá'u'lláh claimed to be the prophetic fulfillment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism; but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and other major religions.

 

The central theme of the Bahá'í Faith is that mankind is one single race and humanity must accomplish unification in becoming a global society to acheive peace in an universal civilization. The major beliefs of the Bahá'ís are as follows:

• All humanity is one family
• Men and women are equal
• All prejudice - racial, religious, national, or economic - is destructive and must be overcome
• We must investigate truth for ourselves, without preconceptions
• Science and religion are in harmony
• Our economic problems are linked to spiritual problems
• The family and its unity are very important
• There is one God
• All major religions come from God
• World peace is the crying need of our time.

Bahá'u'lláh taught that there is one God whose successive revelations of His will to mankind have been the chief civilizing force in history. The agents of this process have been the Divine Messengers whom people have seen chiefly as the founders of separate religious systems; whose common purpose has been to bring the human race to spiritual and moral maturity.

According to the Bahá'í Faith, humanity is now coming of age. The time is right for a possible unification of mankind to build a peaceful, global world. Among the principles which the Bahá'í Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of this goal are:

• the abandonment of all forms of prejudice
• assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men
• recognition of the unity and relativity of religious truth
• the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth
• the realization of universal education
• the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth
• the establishment of a global commonwealth of nations
• recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge 

Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh

The Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh

The apostles were nineteen prominent followers of Bahá'u'lláh that help to spread the word of the Bahá'í Faith and were designated as such by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith; an appointment he acquired at the young age of 24 in 1921 and remained head of the church until his death in 1957.

The followers of Bahá'u'lláh were:

 

1) Ali-Muhammad Varqa 2) Badí‘ 3) Hají Ákhúnd 4) Hájí Amín 5) Ibn-i-Abhar  6) Ibn-i-Asdaq 7)  Kázim-i-Samandar 8) Mishkín-Qalam 9) Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl 10) Mírzá Mahmúd 11) Mírzá Músá 12) Mírzá Mustafá 13) Mishkín-Qalam  14)Nabíl-i-Akbar 15) Nabíl-i-A`zam 16) Núrayn-i-Nayyirayn 17) Sultánu'sh-Shuhada' 18) Vakílu'd-Dawlih; 19) Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín.

 

Many of the stories of the Apostles are well known to Bahá'ís. Prominent among them are:

• Badí‘ - The 17 year old who delivered Bahá'u'lláh's tablet to Nassiru'd-Din Shah and was subsequently killed.
• Sultánu'sh-Shuhada' - The 'King of Martyrs' of Isfahan who was beheaded with his brother.
• Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl - The famous scholar who travelled as far as America and wrote several notable books about the Bahá'í Faith.
• Varqá - The father of Rúhu'lláh. The two were killed at the same time for their adherence.
• Nabíl-i-Akbar - Famous teacher, and recipient of several tablets from Bahá'u'lláh.
• Nabíl-i-A`zam - The author of the historical narrative called The Dawn-breakers.
• Mishkín-Qalam - Noteworthy calligrapher of his time and designer of the Greatest Name.
• Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín - Doctor of Islamic law. He is the one who submitted questions to Bahá'u'lláh regarding the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Bahá'í book of laws, which have been published in an appendix to the book.
• Kázim-i-Samandar- The favourite Apostle of Bahá’u’lláh. He travelled teaching the faith in Persia, the Lawh-i-Fu'ád is addressed to him.

The apostles of the Bahá'í Faith played a vital role in the development of Bahá'u'lláh's religion by consolidating its adherents and bringing forth its teachings around the world. To Bahá'ís, they filled a similar role as the sons of Jacob, the apostles of Jesus, Muhammad's companions, or the Báb's Letters of the Living.

 

Bahá'u'lláh wrote many religious works [such as Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Kitáb-i-Íqán] while imprisoned by the Persian and Ottoman authoritites.  His divine revelations resulted from the persecution he endured during his 24 year confinement. Bahá'u'lláh died in the prison city of Akka, Palestine (present day Israel) in 1892.

For more information about the Bahá'í Faith, please visit the following websites:  

http://www.bahai.org/ & http://bahai-library.com/

There are two known photographs of Bahá'u'lláh. Outside of pilgrimage, Bahá'ís prefer not to view his photo in public, or even to display it in their private homes. Out of respect to the Bahá'í Faith, Who's ? Right chooses not to post them.