Bahá'í Faith

Overview

The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion that grew out of the Bábí movement in mid-19th-century Iran. Its founder, Bahá'u'lláh, proclaimed in 1863 that the Báb had foretold his coming. Bahá'ís believe that one God, whose essence cannot be known, has sent a series of messengers, among them Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad, and that Bahá'u'lláh is the most recent. Its teachings are often summed up as the oneness of God, of religion and of humanity, with stress on ending prejudice, the equality of women and men, universal education and world peace. There is no clergy: elected councils run the community, headed since 1963 by the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, Israel. Bahá'ís live in almost every country, while in Iran, the faith's birthplace, they have been persecuted, most severely since 1979.^{[5, 10–15]}

History

The Báb and the Bábí upheaval 1844–1850

Many Shiʿi Muslims in Iran expected the hidden Twelfth Imam to return around 1844. On the evening of 22 May that year in Shiraz, a young merchant, Sayyid ʿAlí-Muḥammad, told a visiting scholar that he was the Báb, the "gate" to the Imam; he later claimed to be the Mahdi himself, bringing a new religious law. His movement spread fast and met fierce opposition from clergy and state. At Badasht in 1848 his followers proclaimed a break with Islamic law. Government troops crushed the Bábís, killing most of their leaders, and the Báb was shot by a firing squad in Tabriz in July 1850.^[16–19]

Bahá'u'lláh in exile 1852–1892

After Bábís tried to kill the shah in 1852, a wave of executions followed. Among those jailed was Mírzá Ḥusayn-ʿAlí Núrí, a Bábí noble known as Bahá'u'lláh, who by his own account first sensed a divine mission in a Tehran dungeon. Exiled to Ottoman Baghdad in 1853, he revived the Bábí community. In April 1863, before being sent on to Constantinople, he told companions in a Baghdad garden that he was the one the Báb had promised. From Edirne he wrote to rulers proclaiming his claim and broke with his half-brother Ṣubḥ-i Azal; most Bábís followed Bahá'u'lláh. Sent in 1868 to the prison city of Acre, he died at nearby Bahjí in 1892.^[20–23]

ʿAbdu'l-Bahá and the move West 1892–1921

Bahá'u'lláh's will named his eldest son, ʿAbdu'l-Bahá, head of the faith and interpreter of his writings. The religion now reached the West: the first American converts joined in Chicago in 1894. In 1909 ʿAbdu'l-Bahá laid the Báb's remains, smuggled out of Iran years before, in a shrine on Mount Carmel. Freed after the Young Turk revolution of 1908, he visited Egypt and Europe and in 1912 spent eight months in North America, laying the cornerstone of a temple near Chicago. He died in Haifa in 1921.^[24–26]

Shoghi Effendi and the administrative order 1921–1963

ʿAbdu'l-Bahá's will made his grandson Shoghi Effendi, then an Oxford student, Guardian and interpreter of the faith. Shoghi Effendi built up elected local and national assemblies and ran planned campaigns through them, sending settlers through Latin America from 1937 and worldwide in a Ten Year Crusade from 1953. He also translated Bahá'u'lláh's main works into English. He died in 1957 with no successor; the Hands of the Cause he had appointed led until April 1963, when the national assemblies elected the first Universal House of Justice. Only a few hundred Bahá'ís followed Mason Remey's rival claim to the Guardianship.^[27–29]

Persecution in Iran 1979–present

Bahá'ís in Iran faced recurrent violence from the 19th century on, but after the 1979 revolution persecution became state policy. In the Islamic Republic's first years some 200 Bahá'ís, many of them community leaders, were executed. Bahá'í assemblies were dissolved, property and holy places seized and the house of the Báb in Shiraz demolished. Bahá'ís have been dismissed from public jobs and barred from universities, and seven members of an informal leadership group were jailed in 2008. In 2024 and 2026 UN human-rights experts reported a rise in arrests, with allegations of torture and enforced disappearance.^[30–32]

A worldwide community 1963–present

Since 1963 the Universal House of Justice, elected every five years, has guided the faith through multi-year plans. From the 1960s many joined in rural India, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific, and most Bahá'ís now live in the developing world. The community reports more than 5 million members and 188 national councils. Houses of worship stand on every inhabited continent, among them Wilmette (1953), New Delhi's Lotus Temple (1986) and Santiago, Chile. In 2008 UNESCO inscribed the Haifa and Western Galilee holy places as a World Heritage site.^[33–36]

Key moments

1. 1863 CEThe Bahá'í Faith begins · Garden of Riḍván, Baghdad

Beliefs

The unknowable God

Bahá'ís believe in one Creator whose essence is beyond human understanding and who is known through the attributes shown in creation and, above all, in the messengers God sends. They hold that the soul is immortal and continues to progress after death, and they read heaven and hell as symbols of nearness to God or distance from God.^[37]

Manifestations of God · Maẓhar-i-Iláhí

a messenger who perfectly reflects God's attributes

God, in Bahá'í teaching, educates humanity through a line of messengers, each bringing teachings fitted to his age. Bahá'u'lláh named Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Jesus, Muhammad and the Báb, and his successors added the Buddha and Krishna. Bahá'ís call this progressive revelation. Bahá'u'lláh is the latest messenger but not the last: another is expected after at least a thousand years.^{[11, 38]}

The oneness of humanity

Bahá'u'lláh taught that humankind is one family whose unity is the great task of this age. Bahá'ís work to abolish prejudice of race, class, nation and religion as a spiritual duty. In his Western talks ʿAbdu'l-Bahá called such prejudice destructive of society and pressed American Bahá'ís to overcome the racial divide.^[39]

Equality of women and men

Bahá'í writings treat the equality of women and men as part of that oneness. Parents must educate daughters as well as sons. Women serve on local and national assemblies, though the Universal House of Justice is limited to men.^[40–41]

Reason, science and education

Among the principles ʿAbdu'l-Bahá taught in the West, Bahá'ís stress that each person should investigate truth independently, that true religion and science agree, and that religion causing conflict is worse than none. The writings also call for universal education, so that all can read scripture without intermediaries.^[42]

World peace and consultation

Bahá'u'lláh urged rulers to cut armaments, act together against aggression and adopt an auxiliary world language. Bahá'ís pursue this vision of world peace without partisanship and may not join political parties. Their own decisions are made by consultation, a frank group discussion that seeks the truth together.^[43]

Practice

Daily obligatory prayer

Each Bahá'í says one of three obligatory prayers daily: a short one between noon and sunset, a medium one three times a day, or a long one once in 24 hours. It is said privately, after ablutions, facing the shrine of Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'ís also repeat Alláh-u-Abhá, "God is most glorious", 95 times a day.^[44]

The Nineteen-Day Feast

At the start of each Bahá'í month the local community meets for the Feast, which joins devotional readings by lay members, consultation on community business and shared food. As it is partly a business meeting, it is for enrolled Bahá'ís; most other Bahá'í gatherings are open to all.^[45]

The Fast

In the last month of the year, the nineteen days before the March new year, Bahá'ís aged 15 to 70 go without food and drink from sunrise to sunset unless ill, travelling or otherwise unable. The Fast is a time of prayer and detachment and ends at Naw-Rúz.^[46]

Elections without candidates

Each year at Riḍván, adult Bahá'ís in a locality elect a nine-member Local Spiritual Assembly by secret ballot, with no nominations, candidates or campaigning. Delegates elect each National Spiritual Assembly, and every five years the members of all national assemblies elect the Universal House of Justice.^[47]

Laws of daily life

Bahá'í law forbids alcohol and non-medical mind-altering drugs, gambling and backbiting. Marriage is monogamous and requires the consent of the couple and of all living parents. Believers pay Ḥuqúqu'lláh, 19 percent on wealth beyond their needs, and only Bahá'ís may give to Bahá'í funds.^[48]

Pilgrimage and houses of worship

Bahá'ís who can are encouraged to make a nine-day pilgrimage to the holy places in Haifa and Acre. Their houses of worship are nine-sided and open to all; services consist of readings and unaccompanied singing of scripture, with no sermons or rituals. Most local worship happens in homes and community centres.^[49]

Holy days

Naw-Rúz

1 Bahá; the March equinox (20 or 21 March)

The new year falls at the spring equinox, reckoned since 2015 by its timing in Tehran, and ends the Fast. It is one of nine holy days on which Bahá'ís suspend work.^[50]

Festival of Riḍván · رضوان

13 Jalál – 5 Jamál (21 April – 2 May)

Twelve days marking Bahá'u'lláh's declaration in a Baghdad garden in 1863, the most important event in the Bahá'í year. The first, ninth and twelfth days are holy days, and local and national assemblies are elected during the festival.^{[47, 51]}

Declaration of the Báb

8 ʿAẓamat (23 or 24 May, from the previous sunset)

Marks the evening of 22 May 1844 when the Báb declared his mission in Shiraz; as Bahá'í days begin at sunset, it is kept from the evening before. By Bahá'í tradition ʿAbdu'l-Bahá was born that night.^[52]

Twin Holy Birthdays

Moves; mid-October to mid-November

The births of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh were long celebrated in the West on 20 October and 12 November, and in the Middle East on 1 and 2 Muḥarram. Since 2015, by decision of the Universal House of Justice, they fall on the two days after the eighth new moon following Naw-Rúz.^[53]

People

The Báb · باب

prophet · 1819–1850

Sayyid ʿAlí-Muḥammad of Shiraz, from a merchant family of sayyids, founded the Bábí religion and wrote the Bayán. Bahá'ís regard him as a Manifestation of God in his own right and as Bahá'u'lláh's herald. Executed in 1850, he is buried on Mount Carmel.^{[19, 25, 54]}

Bahá'u'lláh · بهاءالله

founder · 1817–1892

Mírzá Ḥusayn-ʿAlí Núrí, born in Tehran to a family serving the Qajar court, took the title Bahá'u'lláh, the Glory of God, around 1848. Bahá'ís regard him as the Manifestation of God for this age. He spent four decades in exile and prison and left a vast body of writings in Arabic and Persian.^[55–56]

ʿAbdu'l-Bahá · عبدالبهاء

teacher · 1844–1921

ʿAbbás Effendi, Bahá'u'lláh's eldest son, took a name meaning servant of Bahá and shared his father's exiles from childhood. Bahá'ís see him as the perfect exemplar and authorised interpreter of the teachings, not as a prophet. Britain knighted him in 1920 for his humanitarian work.^[57–58]

Shoghi Effendi · شوقی افندی

other · 1897–1957

ʿAbdu'l-Bahá's eldest grandson led the faith as Guardian from 1921 until his death. Educated in Beirut and at Balliol College, Oxford, he wrote thousands of letters and a history of the faith's first century, God Passes By (1944). He shunned personal prominence, meeting Bahá'ís mostly in small groups of pilgrims.^[59–60]

Ṭáhirih · طاهره

other · c. 1814/1818–1852

A poet and theologian from a Qazvin clerical family, also called Qurratu'l-ʿAyn, she was one of the Báb's first disciples. Her unveiling at Badasht in 1848 signalled the break with Islamic law. Executed in Tehran in 1852, she is often called the first Iranian woman to speak out for the equality of the sexes.^[61–62]

Scripture

Kitáb-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book) · کتاب اقدس

1873

Bahá'u'lláh's book of laws, written in Arabic in Acre. It sets out prayer, fasting, marriage and other laws, provides for houses of justice to run the community, and replaces the laws of the Báb's Bayán.^[63]

Kitáb-i-Íqán (The Book of Certitude) · کتاب ایقان

1862

Bahá'u'lláh's main theological work, written in Baghdad. It reads images such as the Day of Resurrection as symbols of a new messenger's coming, grounding the idea of progressive revelation.^[64]

The Bayán · بیان

late 1840s

The Báb's chief work, in Persian and Arabic versions, written in prison. It laid out a new religious law and promised “he whom God shall make manifest”, a figure Bahá'ís identify with Bahá'u'lláh.^[65]

Places

Shrine of the Báb, Haifa

ISR · UNESCO World Heritage, 2008

Halfway up Mount Carmel, this gold-domed shrine holds the remains of the Báb, interred in 1909, and of ʿAbdu'l-Bahá. Shoghi Effendi added its marble arcade and dome in 1948–53.^[66–67]

Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, Bahjí

ISR · UNESCO World Heritage, 2008

Beside the mansion of Bahjí near Acre, where Bahá'u'lláh spent his last years. It is the Qiblih Bahá'ís face in obligatory prayer and, with the Shrine of the Báb, one of the faith's two holiest places.^[67–68]

Lotus Temple, New Delhi

IND

India's Bahá'í house of worship, dedicated in December 1986 and designed by Fariborz Sahba. Its 27 white marble petals, clustered in threes, form nine sides around a hall open to all.^[69]

House of Worship, Wilmette

USA

North America's Bahá'í house of worship, near Chicago. ʿAbdu'l-Bahá laid its cornerstone on 1 May 1912, and it was dedicated in 1953 after four decades of building.^[70]

Where it spread

Numbers

Bahá'ís worldwide

c. 5–7.3 million (community figure; WRD, 2010)^[8]

Community figure: more than 5 million (BWNS, self-reported). World Religion Database: 7.3 million for 2010 (Johnson and Grim).

Bahá'ís in Iran

c. 300,000 (estimate)^[71]

Britannica and the Bahá'í community give 300,000; the World Religion Database gave 251,000 for 2010 (Johnson and Grim).

Bahá'ís in India's 2011 census

4,572^[72]

National censuses

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2021, 'Religious affiliation in Australia' (Table 4), CC BY 4.0. Source: Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, Census of India 2011, Table C-01 Population by religious community and its appendix, under the Government Open Data License – India. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0 Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0342-01 Religion by visible minority and generation status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts, released 2022-10-26. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. Source: Stats NZ, 2018 Census, licensed by Stats NZ for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

How we know

How many Bahá'ís are there?

Counts differ widely. The Bahá'í community, which keeps membership rolls, reports more than 5 million members. The World Religion Database estimated 7.3 million for 2010, with India the largest community. Censuses, which record self-description, find far fewer: India's 2011 census counted 4,572 Bahá'ís. Much of the gap lies in areas of mass enrolment since the 1960s, so every figure here is an estimate.^{[8, 33, 72–73]}

Common misconceptions

Glossary

Manifestation of God · Maẓhar-i-Iláhí

A messenger, such as Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb or Bahá'u'lláh, who in Bahá'í belief reveals God's will and founds a religion.^[77]

Local Spiritual Assembly

The nine-member council elected each year by the adult Bahá'ís of a town or district to run local community affairs; a National Spiritual Assembly does the same for a country.^[78]

Universal House of Justice

The faith's nine-member supreme governing body, first elected in 1963 and seated in Haifa. It legislates on matters the scriptures leave open but does not interpret scripture.^[79]

Guardian · Valíy-i-Amru'lláh

The office of head and interpreter of the faith that ʿAbdu'l-Bahá created for Shoghi Effendi. It lapsed at his death in 1957, as he left no eligible successor.^[80]

Covenant · ʿAhd

The line of authority Bahá'u'lláh set out in his will, passing to ʿAbdu'l-Bahá as Centre of the Covenant, and on to Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice.^[81]

Mashriqu'l-Adhkár

Literally, the dawning place of God's remembrance: a Bahá'í house of worship, nine-sided and open to all, meant to be the centre of schools, hospitals and other services.^[82]

Ḥuqúqu'lláh

Literally, the right of God: a payment of 19 percent on wealth beyond a believer's necessary expenses, paid to the Bahá'í Faith.^[83]