Baha'i Faith
Overview:
For every era hath a spirit; the spirit of this illumined era lieth in
the teachings of Baha'u'llah. For these lay the foundation of the
oneness of the world of humanity and promulgate universal brotherhood.
They are founded upon the unity of science and religion and upon
investigation of truth. They uphold the principle that religion
must be the cause of amity, union and harmony among men. They
establish the equality of both sexes and propound economic principles
which are for the happiness of individuals. They diffuse
universal education, that every soul may as much as possible have a
share of knowledge. They abrogate and nullify religious, racial,
political, patriotic and economic prejudices and the like. Those
teachings that are scattered throughout the Epistles and Tablets are
the cause of the illumination and the life of the world of
humanity. Whoever promulgateth them will verily be assisted by
the Kingdom of God.
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Selections ... `Abdu'l-Baha, p. 109)
The Baha'i 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....
(Shoghi Effendi: The Promised Day is Come, pp. v-vi)
It [the Baha'i Faith] 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 Baha'i 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....
(Shoghi Effendi: The Promised Day is Come, pp. vi-vii)
The Oneness of Mankind:
Of the principles enshrined in these Tablets the most vital of them all
is the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the human race, which
may well be regarded as the hall-mark of Baha'u'llah's Revelation and
the pivot of His teachings. Of such cardinal importance is this
principle of unity that it is expressly referred to in the Book of His
Covenant, and He unreservedly proclaims it as the central purpose of
His Faith.
(Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, pp. 216-217)
The principle of the Oneness of Mankind - the pivot round which all the
teachings of Baha'u'llah revolve - is no mere outburst of ignorant
emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal
is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of
brotherhood and good-will among men, nor does it aim solely at the
fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peoples and
nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any
which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is
applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily
with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the
states and nations as members of one human family. It does not
constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably
associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth,
demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence. It
implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a
change such as the world has not yet experienced. It constitutes
a challenge, at once bold and universal, to outworn shibboleths of
national creeds - creeds that have had their day and which must, in the
ordinary course of events as shaped and controlled by Providence, give
way to a new gospel, fundamentally different from, and infinitely
superior to, what the world has already conceived. It calls for no less
than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized
world - a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its
life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and
finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of
the national characteristics of its federated units.
It represents the consummation of human
evolution - an evolution that has had its earliest beginnings in the
birth of family life, its subsequent development in the achievement of
tribal solidarity, leading in turn to the constitution of the
city-state, and expanding later into the institution of independent and
sovereign nations.
The principle of the Oneness of Mankind, as
proclaimed by Baha'u'llah, carries with it no more and no less than a
solemn assertion that attainment to this final stage in this stupendous
evolution is not only necessary but inevitable, that its realization is
fast approaching, and that nothing short of a power that is born of God
can succeed in establishing it.
(Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Baha'u'llah, pp. 42-43)
Let there be no misgivings as to the animating purpose of the
world-wide Law of Baha'u'llah. Far from aiming at the subversion
of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis,
to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an
ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate
allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its
purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent
patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of national
autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to
be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress,
the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language
and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and
nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger
aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists
upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the
imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive
centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on
the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity...
(Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Baha'u'llah, pp. 41-42)
The Oneness of Religion:
The fundamental principle enunciated by Baha'u'llah ... is that
religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is
a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of
the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in
complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same,
that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions
are complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of
their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in
the spiritual evolution of human society....
(Shoghi Effendi: The Promised Day is Come, p. v)
Indeed, the essential prerequisites of admittance into the Baha'i fold
of Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists, and the followers of other
ancient faiths, as well as of agnostics and even atheists, is the
wholehearted and unqualified acceptance by them all of the divine
origin of both Islam and Christianity, of the Prophetic functions of
both Muhammad and Jesus Christ, of the legitimacy of the institution of
the Imamate, and of the primacy of St. Peter, the Prince of the
Apostles. Such are the central, the solid, the incontrovertible
principles that constitute the bedrock of Baha'i belief, which the
Faith of Baha'u'llah is proud to acknowledge, which its teachers
proclaim, which its apologists defend, which its literature
disseminates, which its summer schools expound, and which the rank and
file of its followers attest by both word and deed.
(Shoghi Effendi: The Promised Day is Come, p. 110)
The Oneness of God:
He [God] is, and hath from everlasting been, one and alone, without
peer or equal, eternal in the past, eternal in the future, detached
from all things, ever-abiding, unchangeable, and self-subsisting.
He hath assigned no associate unto Himself in His Kingdom, no
counsellor to counsel Him, none to compare unto Him, none to rival His
glory.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, p. 192)
Baha'u'llah appeared upon the horizon of the East, proclaiming the
oneness of God and the unity of the world of humanity. He
promulgated the teaching that all mankind are the servants of one God;
that all have come into being through the bestowal of the one Creator;
that God is kind to all, nurtures, rears and protects all, provides for
all and extends His love and mercy to all races and people.
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 174)
The reality of Divinity is sanctified above this degree of knowing and
realization. It has ever been hidden and secluded in its own
holiness and sanctity above our comprehending. Although it
transcends our realization, its lights, bestowals, traces and virtues
have become manifest in the realities of the Prophets, even as the sun
becomes resplendent in various mirrors. These holy realities are
as reflectors, and the reality of Divinity is as the sun, which,
although it is reflected from the mirrors, and its virtues and
perfections become resplendent therein, does not stoop from its own
station of majesty and glory and seek abode in the mirrors; it remains
in its heaven of sanctity. At most it is this: that its
lights become manifest and evident in its mirrors or manifestations.
Therefore, its bounty proceeding from them is one bounty, but the
recipients of that bounty are many. This is the unity of God;
this is oneness - unity of Divinity, holy above ascent or descent,
embodiment, comprehension or idealization - divine unity. The
Prophets are its mirrors; its lights are revealed through Them; its
virtues become resplendent in Them, but the Sun of Reality never
descends from its own highest point and station. This is unity,
oneness, sanctity;...
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 193)
Place in History:
The Faith of Baha'u'llah should indeed be regarded, if we wish to be
faithful to the tremendous implications of its message, as the
culmination of a cycle, the final stage in a series of successive, of
preliminary and progressive revelations. These, beginning with
Adam and ending with the Bab, have paved the way and anticipated with
an ever-increasing emphasis the advent of that Day of Days in which He
Who is the Promise of All Ages should be made manifest.
(Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 103)
The Revelation of Baha'u'llah, whose supreme mission is none other but
the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole body
of nations, should, if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded
as signalizing through its advent the coming of age of the entire human
race. It should be viewed not merely as yet another spiritual
revival in the ever-changing fortunes of mankind, not only as a further
stage in a chain of progressive Revelations, nor even as the
culmination of one of a series of recurrent prophetic cycles, but
rather as marking the last and highest stage in the stupendous
evolution of man's collective life on this planet. The emergence
of a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the
founding of a world civilization and culture - all of which must
synchronize with the initial stages in the unfoldment of the Golden Age
of the Baha'i Era - should, by their very nature, be regarded, as far
as this planetary life is concerned, as the furthermost limits in the
organization of human society, though man, as an individual, will, nay
must indeed as a result of such a consummation, continue indefinitely
to progress and develop.
(Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 163)
Prophets of God in the Future:
After Baha'u'llah many Prophets will, no doubt, appear but they will be
under His Shadow. Although they may abrogate the laws of this
Dispensation in accordance with the needs and requirements of the age
in which they appear, they nevertheless draw their spiritual force from
this mighty Revelation. The Faith of Baha'u'llah constitutes, indeed,
the stage of maturity in the development of mankind.
(Shoghi Effendi: Directives of the Guardian, p. 61)
The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah will last until the coming of the next
Manifestation of God, Whose advent will not take place before at least
"a full thousand years" will have elapsed.
(The Universal House of Justice: Aqdas: Notes, p. 195)
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