The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent
religions. Its founder, Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892),
is regarded by Bahá'ís as the most recent in
the line of Messengers
of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes
Abraham, Moses, Buddha,
Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad.
The central theme of Bahá'u'lláh's message is that
humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification
in one global society. God, Bahá'u'lláh said,
has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down
traditional
barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will,
in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The principal
challenge
facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their
oneness and to assist the processes of unification.
One of the purposes of the Bahá'í Faith is to help
make this possible. A worldwide community of some six million
Bahá'ís, representative of most of the nations, races
and cultures on earth, is working to give Bahá'u'lláh's
teachings practical effect. Their experience will be a source
of encouragement to all who share their vision of humanity
as one
global family and the earth as one homeland.
Bahá'u'lláh taught that there is one God, Whose
successive revelations of His
Will to humanity have been the chief civilizing force in history.
The agents of this process have been the Divine Messengers
whom people
have seen chiefly as the founders of separate religious systems
but whose common purpose has been to bring the human race
to spiritual
and moral maturity.
Humanity is now coming of age. It is this that makes possible the
unification of the
human family and the building of a peaceful, global society. Among
the principles which the Baha'i Faith promotes
as vital to the achievement
of this goal are:
- the abandonment of all forms
of prejudice
- assurance to women
of full equality of opportunity
with men
- recognition
of the unity and relativity
of religious
truth
- the
elimination of extremes of poverty
and wealth
- the
realization of universal education
- the
responsibility of each person
to independently
search
for
truth
- the
establishment of a global commonwealth
of
nations
- recognition
that true religion is in harmony
with
reason
and the
pursuit of scientific
knowledge
When
Bahá'ís
say that the
various religions
are one, they do
not mean that
the various
religious creeds
and organizations
are the same.
Rather, they
believe
that there is only
one religion
and all of the
Messengers of
God have progressively
revealed its
nature. Together,
the world's great
religions are
expressions
of a single
unfolding Divine
Plan, "the
changeless Faith
of God, eternal
in the
past, eternal in
the future."
People from all
of the major
religious backgrounds
have found that
the promises
and expectations
of their own
beliefs are fulfilled
in the Bahá'í Faith.
Bahá'ís from Native American, African and
other indigenous backgrounds, similarly, find in the
Bahá'í teachings fulfillment of prophetic
visions.
For Bahá'ís of Jewish background, Bahá'u'lláh
is the appearance of the promised "Lord of Hosts" come
down "with ten thousands of saints." A descendent
of Abraham and a "scion from the root of Jesse," Bahá'u'lláh
has come to lead the way for nations to "beat their
swords into plowshares." Many features of Bahá'u'lláh's
involuntary exile to the Land of Israel, along with other
historical events during Bahá'u'lláh's
life and since are
seen as fulfilling numerous prophecies in the Bible.
For Bahá'ís of Buddhist background, Bahá'u'lláh
fulfils the prophecies for the coming of "a Buddha
named Maitreye, the Buddha of universal fellowship" who
will, according to Buddhist traditions, bring peace and
enlightenment for all humanity. They see the fulfillment
of numerous prophecies, such as the fact that the Buddha
Maitreye is to come from "the West", noting
the fact that Iran
is West of India.
For Bahá'ís of Hindu background, Bahá'u'lláh
comes as the new incarnation of Krishna, the "Tenth
Avatar" and the "Most Great Spirit." He
is "the birthless, the deathless," the One
who, "when goodness grows weak," returns "in
every age" to "establish righteousness" as
promised in the Bhagavad-Gita.
For Bahá'ís of Christian background, Bahá'u'lláh
fulfils the paradoxical promises of Christ's return "in
the Glory of the Father" and as a "thief in
the night." That the Faith was founded in 1844 relates
to numerous Christian prophecies. Bahá'ís
note, for example, that central Africa was finally opened
to Christianity in the 1840s, and that event was widely
seen as fulfilling the promise that Christ would return
after "the Gospel had been preached 'to all nations.'" In
Bahá'u'lláh's teachings Bahá'ís
see fulfillment of Christ's promise to bring all people
together so that "there shall be one fold, and one
shepherd."
For Bahá'ís of Muslim background, Bahá'u'lláh
fulfils the promise of the Qur'an for the "Day of
God" and the "Great Announcement," when "God" will
come down "overshadowed with clouds." They
see in the dramatic events of the Bábí and
Bahá'í movements the fulfillment of many
traditional statements
of Muhammad, which have long been a puzzle.
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