Who are the Baha'is?

Founded a century and a half ago, the Baha'i Faith is today among the fastest growing of world religions.  With more than five million followers in at least 233 countries and dependent territories, it has already become the second-most widespread faith, surpassing every religion but Christianity in its reach.  Baha'is reside in more than 120,000 localities around the world, an expansion that reflects their dedication to the ideal of world citizenship.

The Baha'i Faith comprises what is very likely the most diverse and widespread organized body of people on earth.  The Faith's Founder was Baha'u'llah, a Persian nobleman from Teheran who, in the mid-nineteenth century, gave up a princely existence of comfort and security for a life of persecution and deprivation. 

Baha'u'llah claimed to be nothing less than a new and independent Messenger from God.  His life, work and influence parallel that of Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Christ, and Muhammad.  Baha'is view Baha'u'llah as the most recent in this succession of Divine Messengers.

The essential message of Baha'u'llah is that of unity.  He taught that there is only one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world's religions have been stages in the revelation of God's will and purpose for humanity.  In this day, Baha'u'llah said, Humanity has collectively come of age.  As foretold in all of the world's scriptures, the time has arrived for the uniting of all peoples into a peaceful and integrated global society.  "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens," He wrote.

(Excerpted from the magazine  The Baha'is: A Profile of the Baha'i Faith and Its Worldwide Community.)