Bahá’í World/Volume 24/Introduction to the Bahá’í Community
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INTRODUCTIQN
TO THE AHA’I 0 COMMUNITY
A young man of high caste in Bangladesh volunteers to live amongst the Poschima people, Who are of a much lower caste, in the course of his efforts to promote the beliefs of a Faith that teaches the oneness of humankind. In Tasiilaq, Greenland, a small group gathering to study and enj 0y fellowship welcomes two determined people Who fly in to the remote settlement by helicopter. A princess from Western Samoa travels to Fiji in order to offer tribal chiefs and elders a document outlining a process of development that respects the dignity of all peoples. One hundred and sixty-five people come together in Recife, Brazil, and, in an atmosphere of reverence, mark the launching of the Portuguese translation of a holy book. A young Mongolian woman who has never before left her province walks 70 kilometers in the snow, then travels by truck, and finally catches a plane to Ulaan Baatar, Where she participates in the election of her religion’s national administrative body. In Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States, organizers of “Color Me Human Week” devote their energies to the theme of “raising the first
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generation free of prejudice”; their efforts attract the hearts of many people with a parade, music, performances of dance workshops, and seminars on the elimination of racism. After two weeks of training in basic health care, a woman in Zambia returns to her Village and shares What she has learned With her neighbors. A group of youth travels fiom Alberta to the Northwest Territories in Canada and offers performances depicting positive social values in various community centers. These people, though they have in a11probabi1ity 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, new numbers some five million souls. They represent 2,112 ethnic and tribal groups and 1ive in over 121,000 localities in 190 independent countries and 45 dependent territories or overseas departments. What was once regarded by some as an obscure, tiny sect is now reported by the Encyclopedia Britannica to be the second-most Widely spread independent religion in the W0rld, after Christianity. Its membership cuts across all boundaries of class and race, governing itse1f through the establishment of local and national elected bodies known as Spiritual Assembhes. Its international center and the seat of its world—goveming council, known as the Universal House of Justice, are located in the Holy Land, in Haifa, Israel.
From what source do the members of the Bahá’í Faith draw their spiritual strength and their organizational structure? What are the tenets of faith that can so attract and unify such a diverse group of people? How do they see the future? This brief introduction to the Bahá’í community, its history, its spiritual teachings, its aims, and its obj ectives, provides information in response to these questions.
Origins In 1844 in Persia, a young siyyid (descendant of the Prophet Muhammad) named Mirza ‘Ali—Muharmnad declared Himself to be the Promised Qa’im awaited by Shi‘ih Muslims. He adopted
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the title “the Bab,” 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. Several thousand Babis were persecuted, tortured, and killed over the next number of years, but the growth of this new religion continued, even after the Bab Himself was imprisoned and subsequently publicly executed by a firing squad in July 1850. The horrific treatment of the Babis at the hands of 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 the Victims of the persecution.
The Babi Faith sprang from Islam in the same manner that Christianity sprang from Judaism or Buddhism from Hinduism. It was apparent from early in the Bab’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 Bab’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 Bab’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 rulers of the rival Ottoman empire 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 Bab 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.
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Baha’u’llah was still nominally a prisoner when He passed away some forty years later in Acre, in November 1892, although the authorities had gradually loosened their restrictions as they became acquainted with Him and the nature of His teachings. During the long years of His exile and imprisonment, Baha’u’llah revealed the equivalent of 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 Servant of Baha), as His successor and sole authoritative interpreter of His teachings. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had shared the long years of exile and imprisonment of His Father, being freed only after a new regime was installed by the “Young Turk” movement in 1908. Shortly thereafter, at an advanced age, He embarked on an arduous journey to Europe and America where, from 1911 to 1913, He proclaimed Bahá’u’lláh’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 and promotion of intercultural harmony were recognized by the British government, which, at the end of the war, conferred upon Him a knighthood, a title He acknowledged, although He declined to use it. He passed away in 1921 and is buried on Mount Carmel in a vault near where the remains of the Bab were interred by Him some years before.
Among the significant legacies bequeathed to history by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was a series of letters, called the 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
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their populations the teachings of Baha’u’llah—a mandate that led to the global expansion of the Bahá’í 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 rise and consolidation of the institutions of the administrative order of the Bahá’í Faith; and the implementation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s plan for 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 Bab, which had been brought from Persia to the Holy Land and been interred by ‘Abdu’l-B aha 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 striking beauty, and he also initiated the construction of the International Bahá’í Archives building to house and preserve artifacts from the early days of the Bahá’í Faith. The International Archives building was the first structure built on the arc—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 he took 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 writings of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and translating them from the original Persian and Arabic into English. The Guardian had served as secretary for a
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number of years to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and at the time of the latter’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, and 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 one of the most dramatic legacies 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 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 Baha’u’llah’s declaration of His mission in the Garden of Riḍván in Baghdad——the goal was to open 132 new countries and maj or 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
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he have them, or other direct descendants of Baha’u’flah. Such a designation was dependent upon the decision of Shoghi Effendi Whether an individual could be named Who met the demanding spiritual qualifications specified by Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-B aha. Shoghi Effendi had no children and died Without designating such a Guardian to follow him. 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, With him, as one of the two authorized successors provided for in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He had also appointed a number of individual Bahá’ís to an auxiliary institution of the Guardianship ca11ed “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, these persons gathered to gether 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 Aprfl 1963.
Conceived by Baha’u’llah Himself, the institution of the Universa1 House of Justice is established on principles laid down in the Bahá’í sacred writings. Its e1eotion, 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 acknowledged central authority in the worldwide Bahá’í community since 1963. During the 1ast 32 years, the Universal House of Justice has launched six global plans for the advancement of the Faith. From a worldwide population of 408,000 in 1963, the Bahá’í community has grown to approximate1y five million members; the number of National and
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Regional Spiritual Assemblies has grown from 56 to 174; and the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies has increased from 3,555 to over 17,000. Bahá’ís live in some 235 countries and territories around the planet.
Spiritual and Moral Teachings and Bahá’í Community Life The force that unites this Widely diverse body 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 only one God and that the maj or religions of the world have been established by Messengers or 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 humanity has 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 fiom humanity and its accretions to the essential religious 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 writings say that we have passed through the stages analogous to infancy and childhood and are now enduring a tumultuous adolescence, on 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
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ideals can be fully realized, Baha’u’llah established laws and moral teachings that Bahá’ís are called upon to follow. Central to these is daily obligatory prayer. Study and meditation upon the Bahá’í sacred writings is also enj oined upon believers each morning and evening. Bahá’ís between the ages of 15 and 70,” With the exception of women Who are pregnant or menstruating, as wellas nursing mothers and the sick, observe a nineteen—day, dawn-to—dusk fast each year. Baha’u’llah 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 Kitab-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 affect the mind and 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.
Bahá’ís often gather together in their communities to study the sacred writings of their faith and to pray, but a central feature in Bahá’í community life is a meeting called “the Nineteen Day 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 a beautifully designed House of Worship, set in exquisite gardens and functioning as a spiritual center of activity. A variety of social and humanitarian institutions are also to be established around it. A Bahá’í House of Worship presently exists on each continent, and sites have been purchased around the world for construction of many more in the
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future. They are open to people of all faiths—or those professing no particular faith—for prayer and meditation. Services are nondenominational. There are no sermons, only readings and prayers from the Bahá’í writings and scriptures of other world faiths and music by an a capella choir. This preserves for worshippers the sacredness of the experience of hearing and meditating upon the Holy Word Without the interference of man-made concepts.
Aims, Obj ectives, 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) Which represents the collective voice of the national Bahá’í communities around the world, enj oys consultative status With the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It is particularly involved in addressing 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 Community’s United Nations Office and Office of Public Information, as well as Offices of the Environment and for the Advancement of Women, 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. Its national and international representatives have taken active roles in maj or international events such as the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in June 1993, the World Summit for Social
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Development in Copenhagen in March 1995, and the Fourth
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World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995.
Beyond the scope of the United Nations, Baha’ is 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 1936,
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:
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
1.
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order ofBahd ’u 'lláh: Selected Letters, 2d rev.
ed. (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974), pp. 203—04.
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To make its aims and obj eetives widely known and to promote its perspective on various issues, the Bahá’í International Community has been active not only in collaborating with like-minded organizations in and out of the United Nations but has also been engaged in public relations efforts designed to bring 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 Iran—«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 public education proj ects that lasted throughout the International Year of Peace and beyond and encompassed government figures and leaders of thought, as well as the general population. To mark the centenary of Baha’u’llah’s passing in 1992, the Bahá’í International Community’s Office of Public Information published Bahd ’u ’Zldh, a statement about the Faith’s Founder, detailing His life, His teachings, and His mission. Events of the year itself, notably the commemoration in the Ho1y 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. In J anuary 1995, the Office of Public
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Information released another maj or statement on social development, entitled The Prosperity ofHuman/cind. 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. Most recently, a statement entitled T uming Pointfor All Nations was released to contribute to the discussions on the future of the United Nations that marked the organization’s fiftieth anniversary.2
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 Europe and the former Soviet Union, where national Bahá’í communities have been established in recent years following the co11apse of long—standing political barriers. Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the former US SR 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. In 1994 five National Assemblies, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, were established where the single community of Central Asia had existed before. Slovenia and Croatia also elected their first Regional Spiritual Assembly, and National Spiritual Assemblies came into existence in Cambodia and Mongolia. Five National Assemblies were formed in 1995 as well—-—Armenia, Georgia, and Belarus each formed its own National Assembly, as did Eritrea and Sici1y.
The existence and growth of the Bahá’í community offers irrefutable evidence that humanity, in a11 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:
2. See pp. 241—83 for the full text of this statement.
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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.
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