Welcome, Bahai.works is a digitization project that seeks to present a collection of documents that are related to the Bahá’í Faith and its history. We host documents that were originally published and distributed in print, and released through one of the Bahá’í institutions or publishers. Documents are available in English and German. We display documents in their original format and also display a text layer for search purposes. As time and resources allow, we proofread these text copies. If you would like to help please consider proofreading text or sending us documents for digitization.
The Bahá’í Faith is an independent world religion founded in the mid 1800's by Bahá’u’lláh that offers teachings meant to unify mankind and renew the spiritual character of the individual and society. The early history of the Bahá’í Faith has been recorded in a variety of mediums from books to periodicals to audio talks. Bahai.works is not an official website of the Bahá’í community, it is run independently along with its sister projects Bahaipedia.org and Bahai.media.
Periodicals have been used in most regions of the world as a tool to share newsworthy articles, letters from the institutions of the Faith, new translations of Bahá’í sacred writings, information about Bahá’í construction projects throughout the world and a host of other information. For many years they represented to Bahá’ís one of the only means of receiving this type of communication, and therefore their content is invaluable to historians and those investigating notable individuals or events in Bahá’í history.
Star of the West was a U.S. Bahá’í newsletter published between 1910 and 1935. It was one of the only ways for the western friends to receive Tablets and news about the Bahá’í Faith at that time and contains many translations of Tablets and communications which have to date not been published elsewhere.
Bahá’í News was a widely circulated publication that ran from December of 1924 until October of 1990. The first 40 issues were titled Baha'i News Letter which was shortened to Bahá’í News in 1930. The images, personal histories and record of significant events and milestones make this a unique collection of historical documents.
World Order was a multi-volume publication running from 1935-1949 and 1966-2008. World Order continued the format of the later volumes of Star of the West by presenting articles written by various authors on a wide range of subjects.
The Bahá’í World is a multi-volume publication that surveys the activities and major achievements of the Faith. The publication began in 1925 as a periodic record of activity and therefore volumes varied significantly in length and number of years covered.
Booklets and pamphlets were used both as a supplement to books and also a means to share articles, summaries of Bahá’í teachings, and to discuss issues of the day. Click expand to see an example of the pamphlets available.
"Above All Barriers" is the story of Louis Gregory written by Elsie Austin. Louis Gregory was appointed posthumously a Hand of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi.
"The Bahá’í House of Worship" is a pamphlet written by W. Kenneth Christian that discusses the history, meaning and purpose of the North American House of Worship in Wilmette Illinois.
"Questions About the Second Coming" is a booklet by George Townshend. It presents in a question and answer format based on a meeting that took place in Kampala, Uganda. Questions cover a variety of topics, one example is "What is the Bahá’í conception of the Trinity?"
In this section we provide transcripts to talks published on the web in audio or video format, so that a wider audience may benefit from these resources. Talks are given by notable Bahá’ís on a wide variety of subjects.
Hand of the Cause William Sears addresses believers gathered at the World Centre for the international convention in 1983. His vitality, love for God, and love for the friends is felt in his impassioned speech that we not miss the opportunity to rise up in service to mankind.
Former member of the Universal House of Justice Dr. Farzam Arbab addresses a conference of believers about the topic of teaching, using as a foundation the messages concerning the goals of the second phase of the Seven Year Plan (1979-1986). Dr. Arbab discusses how teaching is a natural expression of faith and love in this 43 minute talk.
