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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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Bahá'u'lláh forbids:
