General Beliefs

The Baha'i Faith is a monotheistic religion with its basis in the teachings of Baha'u'llah. Its followers take a very Universalist view, seeing all religions as a representation of the same religious faith. They see all religions as worshiping the same God, just calling it different names (Allah, God, Jehovah, Vishnu, Zeus, etc.). One of the central beliefs is that there have been several Prophets of God or Manifestations of God (including Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus of Nazereth, Muhammad, and Baha'u'llah) who have revealed and taught the same religion to the world little by little throughout time, "developing and adapting it to meet historical and cultural demands" (Rice 138). Baha'u'llah is Manifestation of God for our time. The Baha'i Faith teaches equality for all humankind, no one person or nation being superior to any other.

Baha'i History

In Persia in the 1840's, a man by the name of Ali Muhammad began preaching a new form of Islam in his home city of Shiraz, Persia. He took on the title of Bab, meaning the Gateway of Divine Revelation, and began to draw followers from the Shi'a Muslim population of his city. He also claimed himself to be the Mahdi, "whose coming the Prophet Muhammad had foretold" (Rice 135), and took the title Nuqtiiula, or "Primal Point," which is a title that is applied to Muhammad himself and bestowed the rank of Prophet. At this point, the Shi'a mullahs (high clergy) declared him a fake and a long running persecution of himself and his followers ensued. The Bab and approximately 20,000 of his followers were massacred by the Persian government.

Enter Baha'u'llah, a charismatic follower of the Bab, vowed to continuing his work. He drew upon many sources, including Zoroastrianism and Islam to create "a new universalist faith, independent of Islam and open to all people of whatever social class" (Rice 137). He then left Persia to escape the threat to his life made by the mullahs and toured the Middle East, gaining many convert until his death in a prison in Acre in 1892.

Baha'u'llah's son, one Abdul Baha, was released from the same prison his father died in in 1908, then traveled to Europe and the Americas, introducing the Baha'i faith to the Western World. When Abdul Baha died in 1921, he passed on "the mantle of leadership to his eldest grandson, Shogi Effendi, as First Guardian of the Faith and interpreter of the teachings" (Rice 138).