Iranian Religions: The Bahá'í Faith


Figure 1.--This is a Bahá'í class in Persia durin 1912. Note the fezes and the women in estern dress. The equality of men and women was one of the social tennents of the Bahá'í Faith. The photographs thet are holding are presumably of the faith's founder, Bahá'u'lláh.

The Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths were founded in Persia (19th century). The initial Bahá'í community was thus largely Persian. And until the Iranian Islamic Revolution, the Iranian Bahá'í community was the largest in the world. Many of the key historical events in Bahá'í history have occurred in Persia. And many of the organizational and structural developments in the Bahá'í community originated in Persia. The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in Persia (19th century). The religion maintains the the spiritual unity of all mankind. Current estimates suggest that there are 5-6 million Bahá'ís scatered around the world. The Bahá'í Faith unfolded through a series of divine messengers associated with the major world religions. The differences in these religions stems from the fact that the various religions were suited to the needs of the time and the capacity of the people at the time to understand. The religious messengers have included Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and others. For the Baha'is, the most recent messengers are the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. The Bahá'í believe that each consecutive messenger prophesied messengers to follow. Bahá'u'lláh's life and teachings fulfilled the end-time promises of earlier messengers and scriptures. The Bahá'í see humanity to be in the proces of collective evolution. The modern need is for establishment of peace, justice and unity on a global scale. In addition to religious faith, there is a strong socialist theme to the Bahá'í Faith, presumably because of the time in which the religion was founded that Socialist ideas were articulated and began spreading around the world. One of social tennants of the Bahá'í Faith is the 'elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty'. They also believe in the equality of men and women. The Iranian Bahá'í community remains one of the largest, but because of Islamic persecution, many Bahá'í have been forced to flee the country. Iran has thus been an important source of large numbers of individuals who have migrated to other parts of the world and have played and continue to play an important part in the spread of the religion. Today there are important Bahá'í teaching and learning facilities in Israel because of that country's toleration of religious diversity.






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Created: 7:51 PM 12/2/2012
Last updated: 7:51 PM 12/2/2012