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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. It proclaims the necessity and
the inevitability of the unification of mankind, asserts that it is gradually
approaching, and claims that nothing short of the transmuting spirit of God,
working through His chosen Mouthpiece in this day, can ultimately succeed in
bringing it about. It, moreover, enjoins upon its followers the primary duty of
an unfettered search after truth, condemns all manner of prejudice and
superstition, declares the purpose of religion to be the promotion of amity and
concord, proclaims its essential harmony with science, and recognizes it as the
foremost agency for the pacification and the orderly progress of human society.
It unequivocally maintains the principle of equal rights, opportunities and
privileges for men and women, insists on compulsory education, eliminates
extremes of poverty and wealth, abolishes the institution of priesthood,
prohibits slavery, asceticism, mendicancy and monasticism, prescribes monogamy,
discourages divorce, emphasizes the necessity of strict obedience to one's
government, exalts any work performed in the spirit of service to the level of
worship, urges either the creation or the selection of an auxiliary
international language, and delineates the outlines of those institutions that
must establish and perpetuate the general peace of mankind.
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. In these writings He proclaimed His Revelation,
summoned those whom He addressed to heed His call and espouse His Faith, warned
them of the consequences of their refusal, and denounced, in some cases, their
arrogance and tyranny.
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...
The passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá [in 1921]
marked the termination of the first and Heroic Age of the Bahá'í Faith and
signalized the opening of the Formative Age destined to witness the gradual
emergence of its Administrative Order, whose establishment had been foretold by
the Báb, whose laws were revealed by Bahá'u'lláh, whose outlines were delineated
by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will and Testament, and whose foundations are now being
laid by the national and local coucils which are elected by the professed
adherents of the Faith...
This Administrative Order, unlike the
systems evolved after the death of the Founders of the various religions, is
divine in origin, rests securely on the laws, the precepts, the ordinances and
institutions which the Founder of the Faith has Himself specifically laid down
and unequivocally established, and functions in strict accordance with the
interpretations of the authorized Interpreters of its holy scriptures...
The Faith which this order serves,
safeguards and promotes is, it should be noted in this connection, essentially
supernatural, supranational, entirely non-political, non-partisan, and
diametrically opposed to any policy or school of thought that seeks to exalt any
particular race, class or nation. It is free from any form of ecclesiasticism,
has neither priesthood nor rituals, and is supported exclusively by voluntary
contributions made by its avowed adherents. Though loyal to their respective
governments, though imbued with the love of their own country, and anxious to
promote at all times, its best interests, the followers of the Bahá'í Faith,
nevertheless, viewing mankind as one entity, and profoundly attached to its
vital interests, will not hesitate to subordinate every particular interest, be
it personal, regional or national, to the over-riding interests of the
generality of mankind, knowing full well that in a world of interdependent
peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the
advantage of the whole, and that no lasting result can be achieved by any of the
component parts if the general interests of the entity itself are neglected....
Selections quoted in
Remembrance of God: A Selection of Bahá'í Prayers and Holy Writings
(India: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1990)
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