The Baha’i faith came from the messenger of god know as Baha’u’llah. It was a long process. He was thrown into exile into various countries such as Istanbul and Egypt. This was very hard for him to keep the people who believed in his teachings together so that the faith could progress. Baha’u’llah is the most recent of messengers to come to earth. His predecessors, Buddha, Abraham, Mohamed and Jesus to name a few have all taught each other and lead to one another which has now lead to the Baha’i faith. Therefore the Baha’i faith embraces all religions of all people. It is important to know the founder of a religion, for the reason of questioning. By knowing the life of a founder, one can know the true reason for rituals and other parts of the religion so as to make certain that the religion is the right choice for them.
To be clear that is a picture of Baha'u'llah's son, Abdu'l-Baha, who was appointed head of the religion by Baha'u'llah after his passing. Abdu'l-Baha was eventually freed from prison and traveled to Egypt and from there many countries in Europe as well as the US and Canada. Baha'u'llah passed form this world into the next in 1892 while Abdu'l-Baha followed him in 1921. Never the less such teachings as interracial harmony, equality of the sexes, interfaith understanding, and building World Peace, are among the teachings from this other age we are slowing growing into. It feels far to us today but it was immeasurably farther away before the World Wars and other devastating changes we've been through.
ReplyDeleteBaha'u'llah was one of the sons of a Persian nobleman who had served in the court of the Shah and was even a provincial governor for a time. As such he was raised in privilege. But Baha'u'llah, known as Mirza Husyan Ali at the time, became distinguished for his service to the poor and declined political appointments normal for his position. Eventually he took up the cause of such work to the point that he became a threat to the establishment and was thrown in jail. Time and and again he would either be moved from place to place through banishments or he would so impress the guards and wardens that they wished to release him. Finally late in life he had been banished far away from Persia in the 1800's - to Palestine. And there the warden and muslim leader of the city begged him to retire to the countryside that he might be free. Abdu'l-Baha arranged for a house and then an abandoned mansion (during a local outbreak of colera) where Baha'u'llah ended his days on Earth. From about 1850 through 1892 he wrote innumerable tablets calling for virtues to be widespread and peace to be developed from lessoning the needs and wants of war and disagreement. His son took up the call and when freed as well he promulgated these teachings around the planet at a time when only a few thousand considered themselves members of this young religion. But from his efforts a community ever widening was born until today we are found in most every country, albeit sometimes severely oppressed and other places just unpopular but we now number near 10 million across most of the 200 odd countries of the world.
There are several books about Baha'u'llah and these times - a couple of them available on the internet for free. I hope your inquiry goes well.