Bahá’í World/Volume 23/Introduction to the Bahá’í Community
 | The text below this notice was generated by a computer, it still needs to be checked for errors and corrected. If you would like to help, view the original document by clicking the PDF scans along the right side of the page. Click the edit button at the top of this page (notepad and pencil icon) or press Alt+Shift+E to begin making changes. When you are done press "Save changes" at the bottom of the page. |
INTRQDUCTIQN TO THE AHA’I COMMUNITY
Women and men gather in Garoua Boulai, a rural region of eastern Cameroon, to discuss how they can work together to alleviate some of the burdens placed on the women With regard to child care. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, scholars come together to exchange ideas on the topic “Anarchy into Order: Understanding Humanity’s Role and Destiny.” People on Goodenough Island, Papua New Guinea, escort a flowerstrewn platform carrying a new Book of Laws to their Village, ushering it in with respect and joyful songs. In Panchgani, India, a group of young boys is learning how to plant and tend tree seedlings in a course of studies on sustainable development at a locally run institute. A youth group performs a dance about the terrible consequences of racism to a rapt audience of children in a school auditorium on Vancouver Island, Canada. In Colombia, South America, a conga musical group imbues its traditional Latin rhythms with a spiritual message about the unity Of humanity, to the delight of listeners at open-air venues. A team of medical specialists from the United Kingdom “twins” efforts With doctors at a hospital in Bulgaria, offering assistance in
TEE BAHA’t WORLD
training local practitioners. These people, though they have in all probability never met one another, share a united View of the world and its future, as well as their own role in shaping that future. They are members of the Bahá’í International Community.
The Bahá’í International Community, comprising members of the Bahá’í Faith from all over the globe, now numbers some five million souls. They represent 2,112 ethnic and tribal groups and live in over 116,000 localities in 188 independent countries and 45 dependent territories or overseas departments. What was once regarded by some as an obscure, tiny sect is now the seeond—most widely spread independent religion in the world, after Christianity, as documented by the Encyclopedia Britannica. Its membership cuts across all boundaries of class and race, governing itself through the establishment of local and national elected bodies known as Spiritual Assemblies. Haifa, Israel, is the site of its international center and the seat of its world—governing council, known as the Universal House of Justice.
From what source do the members of the Bahá’í Faith draw their spiritual strength and their organizational stmcture? What are the tenets of faith that can so attract and unify such a diverse group of people? With what Vision do they face the future? To answer such questions, there follows a brief introduction to the Bahá’í community, its history, its spiritual teachings, its aims and objectives, and its Vision of the future.
Origins
In 1844 in Persia, a young siyyid (descendant of the Prophet Muhammad) named Mirza ‘Ali-Muhammad declared Himself to be the Promised Qa’im awaited by Shi‘ih Muslims. He adopted the title “the Báb,” which means “the Gate,” and His teachings quickly attracted a large following. Alarmed by the growing numbers of “Babis,” as His followers were known, the Muslim clergy allied themselves with ministers of the Shah in an effort to destroy the infant Faith. Some 20,000 Babis were persecuted, tortured, and killed over the next number of years, but the growth of this new religion continued, even after the Báb Himself was imprisoned and subsequently publicly executed by a firing squad in July 1850. The horrific treatment of the Babis at the hands of
4
TEE Bahá’í COMMUNITY
the secular and religious authorities was recorded by a number of Western diplomats, scholars, and travelers, who expressed their admiration for the character and fortitude of those suffering persecution.
The Babi Faith sprang from Islam in the same way that Christianity sprang from Judaism. It was apparent, however, from early in the Báb’s ministry that the religion established by Him represented not merely a sect or a movement within Islam but possessed the character of an independent faith. Furthermore, one of the main tenets of Babi belief was the Báb’s statement that He had been sent by God to prepare the way for One greater than Himself, who would inaugurate an era of peace and righteousness throughout the world, representing the culmination of all the religious dispensations of the past.
Mirza Husayn—‘Ali, known to history as Baha’u’llah, was one of the leading adherents of the Babi Faith who was arrested and imprisoned during the tumultuous years of the Báb’s brief ministry. He was spared from execution but was banished from Persia to Baghdad, thence to Constantinople, Adrianople, and finally to the penal colony of Acre in Palestine. Thus, the Persian government, which had secured the support of the Ottoman Turkish authorities in suppressing the new movement, expected that His sphere of influence would be severely limited. During His imprisonment Mirza Husayn—‘Ali had received the first divine intimations that He was the Promised One of whom the Báb had spoken. He adopted the title Baha’u’llah, which means “the Glory of God,” and publicly declared His mission on the eve of His exile from Baghdad, in April 1863.
After some forty years of exile, Baha’u’llah passed away in the Vicinity of Acre in 1892, still nominally a prisoner, though the authorities had loosened their restrictions as they had become acquainted with Him and the nature of His teachings. During the long years of His exile and imprisonment, He revealed over 100 volumes of writings, consisting of the laws and ordinances of His dispensation, letters to the kings and rulers of the East and the West, mystical teachings, and other divinely—inspired writings.
In His will and testament, Baha’u’llah appointed His eldest son, ‘Abbas Effendi, who adopted the title ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (the
5
THE Bahá’í WORLD
Servant of Baha), as His successor and sole authoritative interpreter of His teachings. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had shared the long years of exile and imprisonments of His Father, being eventually freed only in 1908, after the Young Turk Revolution. Shortly thereafter, now at an advanced age, He embarked on an arduous journey to Europe and America where, from 1911 to 1913, He proclaimed Baha’u’llah’s message of universal brotherhood and peace to large audiences, consolidated fledgling Bahá’í communities, and warned of the potential catastrophe looming on Europe’s darkening horizon. By the time World War I erupted in 1914, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had returned to His home in Haifa, just across the bay from Acre in Palestine, and devoted Himself to caring 'for the people of that city, fending off famine by feeding them from stores of grain He had safeguarded for just such an eventuality. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s humanitarian services were recognized by the British government which, at the end of the war, conferred upon Him a knighthood, a title He declined to use. He passed away in 1921 and is buried on Mount Carmel in a vault near where the remains of the Báb were interred by Him some years before.
Among the significant legacies bequeathed to history by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was a series of letters, called Tablets of the Divine Plan, addressed to the Bahá’ís of North America during the years of World War I. These fourteen letters directed the recipients to scatter to countries on all continents and share with their populations the teachings of Baha’u’llah—a mandate that led to the global expansion of the Bahá’í International Community.
Another legacy of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was His will and testament, which Bahá’ís regard as the charter of the administrative order conceived by Baha’u’llah. In this document, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, to succeed Him after His passing as Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith and authorized interpreter of its teachings.
During the period of his Guardianship, from 1921 to 1957, Shoghi Effendi concentrated his attention on four main areas: the development of the Bahá’í World Centre in the environs of Haifa, Israel; the translation and interpretation of the Bahá’í sacred writings; the unfoldment of the administrative order of the Bahá’í Faith; and the implementation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s divine plan for
Tag BAHA’l COMMUNITY
the propagation of the Bahá’í Faith around the world.
At the Bahá’í World Centre, Shoghi Effendi effected the construction of a superstructure for the mausoleum containing the remains of the Báb, which had been brought from Persia to the Holy Land and been interred by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in a tomb on Mount Carmel in a spot designated by Baha’u’llah. Shoghi Effendi beautified and expanded the simple native stone structure, which is today a site of pilgrimage for Bahá’ís from all over the world. He enhanced the Bahá’í properties, particularly the site of Baha’u’llah’s grave at Bahjí, with gardens of strikingbeauty, and he also initiated the construction of the International Bahá’í Archives Building, designated to house and preserve artifacts from the early days of the Bahá’í Faith. The International Archives Building was also the first structure built on the aro-shaped path on the site designated as the world administrative center of the Bahá’í community. It was completed in 1957.
In concert with the actions taken to develop the Bahá’í World Centre and lay the foundations, literally and figuratively, for the further course of that development, Shoghi Effendi was also instrumental in interpreting the Persian and Arabic writings of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and translating them into English. The Guardian had served his Grandfather as secretary for a number of years and at the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing was a student at Oxford University. His mastery of Persian, Arabic, and English, coupled with the authority conferred upon him by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the appointed interpreter of those writings, made him uniquely qualified to undertake their translation. He also translated a history of the Babi Faith, authored a history of the first century of the Bahá’í Faith, called God Passes By, and wrote thousands of letters to communities and individuals around the world, elucidating passages from the writings, thus giving direction and impetus to Bahá’í activities.
Development of the Administrative Order
Shoghi Effendi’s work in developing the Bahá’í administrative order is perhaps the most dramatic legacy of his years as Guardian. The first step in this development was to encourage the organized, planned expansion of Bahá’í communities in places where
7
TH_E Bahá’í WORLD
local and national Bahá’í councils, known as Spiritual Assemblies, would eventually be established. The Guardian effected this global expansion of Bahá’í communities through a series of international plans that ran for varying numbers of years and during which twelve National Spiritual Assemblies were founded.
At the time of Shoghi Effendi’s sudden passing in 1957, the Bahá’í community was in the middle of a global plan of eXpansion and consolidation called “The Ten Year Crusade.” During this period, which concluded in 1963—the centenary of Bahá’u’lláh’s declaration of His mission in the Garden of Riḍván in Baghdad-w—the goal was to open 132 new countries and major territories to the Faith and expand existing communities in 120 countries and territories previously opened to the Faith. These ambitious targets were actually exceeded by the end of the plan, in spite of the difficulties posed by the Guardian’s death.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in His will and testament, had authorized the continuation of the Guardianship through the appointment by the Guardian of a successor from among his own sons, should he have them, or other direct descendants of Baha’u’llah. Such a designation was dependent upon the choice by the Guardian of someone who met the demanding spiritual requirements necessary for such a position. Shoghi Effendi had no children and died without designating such an heir. He had, however, taken steps toward the election of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá’í Faith which was to function as one of the successors of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He had also appointed a number of individual Bahá’ís to an auxiliary institution of the Guardianship called “Hands of the Cause of God.” These individuals had been charged with the duty of protecting the unity of the faith and collaborating with the National Spiritual Assemblies around the world to ensure that the goals of the Ten Year Crusade were won. Upon the passing of Shoghi Effendi, they gathered together to guide the Bahá’í community to the completion of the plan initiated by the Guardian and towards the first election of the Universal House of Justice, which took place in April 1963.
Conceived by Bahá’u’lláh Himself, the institution of the Universal House of Justice is established on principles laid
TH_E BAHM COMMUNITY
down in the Bahá’í sacred writings. Its election, by the members of the 56 National Spiritual Assemblies that existed in April 1963, clearly demonstrated the principle of unity so central to the Bahá’í Faith, with the nine elected members coming from four continents and representing a variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds.
Basing itself on the authority conferred on it by the Founder of the Faith, the Universal House of Justice has stood as the unchallenged authority in the worldwide Bahá’í community since 1963. During the last 31 years, the Universal House of Justice has launched five global plans for the advancement of the Faith. From a worldwide population of 408,000 in 1963, the Bahá’í community has grown to approximately five million; the number of National and Regional SpiritualAssemb1ies has grown from 56 to 172; and the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies has increased from 3,555 to approximately 18,000. Bahá’ís live in some 225 countries and territories around the planet.
Spiritual and Moral Teachings and Bahá’í' Community Life
The force that unites this Widely diverse group of people is a unity of Vision gained from belief in Baha’u’llah as a Manifestation of God, in the social and administrative structures He established, and in the spiritual and moral teachings He propagated. Central to these spiritual teachings is the concept that there is on1y one God and that the maj 0r religions of the world have been established by Messengers 0r Manifestations of this one Divine Reality: Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, J esus, and Muhammad, Who have been sent by the Creator progressively throughout history to deliver a divine message commensurate With humanity’s stage of development. The spiritual essence of all the major religions, in the Bahá’í View, is the same: that we have been created to know and to worship God. Only the religions’ social teachings Change through the process of this progressive revelation. The Bahá’í perspective is Optimistic, seeing the cumulative benefits of progressively revealed religions as fundamental to an “ever—advancing civilization.” What divides various religious communities, Bahá’ís believe, comes not from God but from humanity and its accretions t0 the essentia1re1igious
9
TEE Bahá’í WORLD
teachings brought by each divine Messenger.
In this new stage of humanity’s development, the time has come for the recognition of the unity of the human race, for the establishment of the equality of women and men, for the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty, and for the realization of the age—old promise of universal peace. Likening the development of the human race to that of a child, the Bahá’í belief is that we have passed through the stages analogous to infancy and childhood and are now enduring a tumultuous adolescence, 0n the threshold of maturity. Baha’u’llah taught that humanity is deStined to come of age, but the course it takes to achieve that goal is entirely in its own hands.
To promote the development of a society in which Bahá’í ideals can be fully realized, Baha’u’llah established laws and moral teachings that Bahá’ís are enjoined to follow. Central to these is daily obligatory prayer. Study and meditation upon the Bahá’í sacred writings is also enjoined upon believers each morning and evening. Bahá’ís between the ages of 15 and 70, with the exception of the sick, pregnant women, and nursing mothers, observe a nineteen-day, dawn—tO—dusk fast each year. Bahá’u’lláh referred to prayer and fasting as the “twin pillars” of faith, an indication of their importance and the benefits to be gained from them. He also raised work to the level of worship. The main repository of Baha’u’llah’s laws is a volume entitled the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, or “the Most Holy Book.”
There are no dietary restrictions in the Bahá’í Faith, but the consumption of alcohol and the use of narcotic and hallucinogenic drugs are forbidden, as they interfere with spiritual growth. Baha’u’llah counselled Bahá’ís to be honest and trustworthy, to render service to humanity with an abundance of deeds rather than mere words, to be chaste in their relationships with others, and to avoid gossip and backbiting. He forbade lying, stealing, adultery, sodomy, and promiseuity. The importance of the family is central to Bahá’í community life, as is the moral and spiritual education of children. A
Bahá’ís often gather to gether in their communities to study the sacred writings of their faith and to pray, but a main pillar in Bahá’í community life is a meeting called “the Nineteen Day
10
TH__E BAHA’l COMMUNITY
Feast,” at which all members join in worship, consult about community affairs, and socialize. For the time being, pending the further development of Bahá’í communities, these meetings often occur in rented facilities, people’s homes, or, in some locations, in the local Bahá’í center. The Bahá’í writings call for the erection in each community of beautifully designed Houses of Worship set in exquisite gardens as spiritual centers of activity, and for a variety of social and humanitarian institutions to be established around them. Bahá’í Houses of Worship presently exist on each continent, and sites have been purchased around the world for construction of many more in the future. They are open to people of all faiths (or those professing no particular faith) for prayer and meditation. Services are non—denominational, consisting of readings and prayers from the Bahá’í writings and scriptures of other world faiths, With no sermons, and including music by an a capella choir. The idea is to preserve for worshippers the sacredness of the experience of hearing and meditating upon the Holy Word without the interference of manmade concepts.
Aims, Objectives, and Activities
As the Universal House of Justice stated in a message addressed to the peoples of the world, written in October 1985 on the eve of the United Nations International Year of Peace, “Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite for reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind.” The ultimate aim of the Bahá’í Faith is the establishment of unity among all the peoples of the world, and it is because of its orientation towards unity on an international scale that the Bahá’í community has been active at the United Nations since that organization’s inception. Today the Bahá’í International Community, an extremely active nongovernmental organization (NGO), enjoys consultative status With the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and is particularly involved in addiessing human rights issues, the needs of women and children, and environmental concerns, as well as pursuing sound sustainable development policies. To coordinate its international efforts in these areas, the Bahá’í International
11
Tag Bahá’í WORLD
Community’s United Nations Office, Office of the Environment, Office for the Advancement of Women, and Office of Public Information collaborate with National Spiritual Assemblies around the world in various proj ects and representations at international gatherings.
The activities of the Bahá’í International Community at the United Nations have earned it a reputation as one of the most effective religious NGOs in the UN system, and it has played an active role in maj or international events such as the Earth Summit in Rio de J aneiro in June 1992, the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in June 1993, and the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in March 1995. It will also send a delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995.
Beyond the scope of the United Nations, Bahá’ís look towards a day when a new international order will be established, a commonwealth to which all the nations of the world will belong. As Shoghi Effendi wrote in 1 93 6 ,
The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Baha’u’llah, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded. This commonwealth must, as far as we can Visualize it, consist of a world legislature, Whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind,. . .enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples. A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise between the various elements constituting this universal system.
Shoghi Effendi went on to describe the tremendous benefits to humanity resulting from such a world order:
12
THE. BAHA’l COMMUNITY
...The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, Whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standard of physical health, to the sharpening and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of human life, and to the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race.1
To make its aims and obj ectives widely known and to promote its perspective on various issues, the Bahá’í International Community has been active not only in collaborating with likeminded organizations such as the United Nations but has also been engaged in public relations efforts for many years, bringing spiritual and social principles of the Faith to the attention of the generality of humankind. Information about the Bahá’í Faith became much more widely disseminated than it had been as international news media reported the persecution of the Bahá’ís of Iran which came in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution. More than 200 members of the Faith were executed for their belief, considered as heresy by the regime, and thousands more were imprisoned, fired from their jobs, or had their homes confiscated or their pensions cut off as a result of government orders. Bahá’ís around the world responded in unity to the situation in lran—the land in which their religion was born—by petitioning their governments to take action against this treatment; and it is, to some degree, as a result of these efforts that the persecutions were not more extreme. Executions have ceased, although Iran’s Bahá’ís are still denied fundamental rights and freedoms.
The Bahá’í community has also taken a proactive approach in promulgating its Views. The statement on peace issued by the Universal House of Justice in 1985, entitled The Promise of World Peace, sparked a worldwide campaign of presentations and
l. Shoghi Effendi, The World Order ofBahd ’u ’Zldh: Selected Letters, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974), pp. 203—204.
13
Trig Bahá’í WORLD
public education that lasted throughout the International Year of Peace and beyond and encompassed government figures and leaders of thought, as well as the general population. Then, to mark the centenary of Baha’u’llah’s passing in 1992, the Bahá’í International Community Office of Public Information published Bahd ’u 715%, a statement about the Faith’s F Dunder, detailing His life, His teachings, and His mission. Events of the year itself, notably the commemoration in the Holy Land in May 1992 of the centenary of the passing of Baha’u’llah, involving some 3,000 participants from all over the world, and the Bahá’í World Congress held in New York City in November 1992, which attracted some 27,000 Bahá’ís from around the globe, caused much publicity for the Faith. Most recently, in January 1995, the Office of Public Information released another major statement on social development, entitled The Prosperity ofHuman/cz'nd. Widely disseminated at the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in March 1995, the statement promises to lead to further engagement of the Bahá’í community with leaders of thought in this field.
Aside from large—scale public relations activities and the publication of statements on different themes, the Bahá’í community has been continually engaged in a series of international teaching plans, and it has seen rapid expansion in different parts of the world, most notably in Eastern Eurepe and the former Soviet Union, where national Bahá’í communities have been established in recent years following the collapse of longstanding political barriers. Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the former USSR were the first, in 1991; Albania, Azerbaij an, the Baltic States, Central Asia, Hungary, Poland, and Russia, Georgia, and Armenia, as well as the Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova followed in 1992. The further dramatic expansion in the numbers of Local Spiritual Assemblies throughout Central Asia led to the announcement by the Universal House of Justice that at Riḍván 1994 five new National Assemblies would be established where the single community of Central Asia had existed before. The Regional Spiritual Assembly of Central Asia having outlived its usefulness, the National Spiritual Assembly of Turkmenistan came into its own, and new National Spiritual
l4
THE Bahá’í COMMUNITY
Assemblies were formed in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Slovenia and Croatia also elected their first Regional Spiritual Assembly, and National Spiritual Assemblies came into existence in Cambodia and Mongolia. The establishment of more National and Regional Assemblies is expected in 1995 as well. '
The existence and growth of the Bahá’í community offers irrefutable evidence that humanity, in all its diversity, can learn to live and work together in harmony. While Bahá’ís are not unaware of the turmoil in the world surrounding them, their View is succinctly depicted in the following words, taken from The Prosperity ofHumankind:
A world is passing away and a new one is struggling to be born. The habits, attitudes, and institutions that have accumulated over the centuries are being subjected to tests that are as necessary to human development as they are inescapable. What is required of the peoples of the world is a measure of faith and resolve to match the enormous energies With Which the Creator of all things has endowed this spiritual springtime Of the race.
The source of this faith and resolve is the message of hope Offered to humanity by the teachings of Baha’u’llah. It is a message that deserves the thoughtful consideration of all those Who yearn for peace and justice in the world.
15
