Bahá'í Faith

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For the publicly editable wiki article, see WikiPedia:Bahá'í Faith (see also Wikipedia:Category:Baha'i and Wikipedia:Category:Baha'i Practices)

See Central Figures and Institutions.

Bahá'í Faith, Designation of

"In reply to your letter of January 26th, we realize that there are occasions on which the use of the term 'Bahá'í World Faith' may be justified and useful. However, it is our hope that the friends will gradually lose the habit of using this term as widely as they do now. The designation 'The Bahá'í Faith' is more dignified and preferable. Any adjective added to this name tends to a diminution of its stature and might be taken to mean that there are other 'Bahá'í Faiths'."

(From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles, February 5, 1967: Copies to various National Spiritual Assemblies, in Lights of Guidance, no. 374)

"We constantly used the words Cause and Movement and Shoghi Effendi asked us to try and eliminate these words as they did not convey the deep significance of the Bahá'í Faith or World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, and advised us to teach new believers to use these two expressions and never to permit anyone to use the name Bahá'ísm"This content belongs to Pilgrim's notes, notes known not to have an original language text or transcript and which "may be interesting but not authoritative" to Bahá'ís

(From Haifa Talks, pilgrim's notes quoting Shoghi Effendi by Keith Ransom-Kehler and Lorol Schopflocher, 1932.)

Symbol of Bahá'í Faith--Five-Pointed Star

"...Strictly speaking the five-pointed star is the symbol of our Faith, as used by the Bab and explained by Him. But the Guardian does not feel it is wise or necessary to complicate our explanation of the Temple by adding this."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, October 28, 1949: U.S. Supplement to Bahá'í News, No. 50, p. 4, April 1962, in Lights of Guidance, no. 375)

Unique aspects of

Summary from Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 453-457

"All the divine principles announced by the tongue of the Prophets of the past are to be found in the words of Bahá'u'lláh; but in addition to these He has revealed certain new teachings which are not found in any of the sacred Books of former times. I shall mention some of them..." (see Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 453-457)

1. "Oneness of the world of humanity"
2. "injunction to investigate Truth"
3. "the foundation of all the Religions of God is One"
4. "religion must be the cause of unity, harmony and accord amongst men"
5. "religion must be in accord with science and reason"
6. "equality between men and women"
7. "prejudice and fanaticism-, whether religious, sectarian, sectional, denominational or patriotic,--are destructive to the foundation of the human solidarity"
8. "there shall be Universal Peace amongst governments, Universal Peace amongst religions, Universal Peace amongst races, Universal Peace amongst the denizens of all regions"
9. "all mankind should partake of both knowledge and education"
10. "solution of the economic question"
11. "The House of Justice, which is endowed with a political as well as a religious aspect. It embodies both aspects, and it is protected by the Preserving Power of BAHA'O'LLAH Himself."
12. "most Great Characteristic,—and it is a specific teaching of the Revelation of BAHA'O'LLAH and not given by any of the Prophets of the past,—it is the teaching concerning The Center of The Covenant"

See also

• Twelve principles

From Mirza Abu Fadl's book, Brilliant Proof (which 'Abdu'l-Baha recommended), under "New Bahá'í Teachings"

1. "abstaining from crediting verbal traditions."
2. "law prohibiting the interpreting of the Word of God"
3. "if those having two points of view engage in conflict and strife while expressing their views, both of them are rejected."
4. "law prohibiting slavery"
5. "obligatory upon all to engage in allowable professions as a means of support, and obedience to this law is accepted as an act of worship"
6. "law making the education of children of both sexes compulsory"
7. "command prohibiting cursing and execration and making it obligatory upon all to abstain from uttering that which may offend men"
8. "Relative to the carrying of arms except in time of necessity"
9. "the necessity of the creation of the House of Justice and institution of the National Assemblies [i.e., parliaments] and Constitutional Governments"

also:

1. "ethics and conditions requisite for a wife's knowledge of her traveling or absent husband"
2. "prohibition of haughtiness and egoism"
3. "command as to purity of all things, with recommendation and encouragement to observe sanitary measures and cleanliness, and to shun utterly all that tends to filth and uncleanness"
4. "command directing the agreement of nations in the abolition of warfare and battles, and the conservation of conditions of security and peace."
5. "question of inheritance and the modus operandi of the distribution of legacies among heirs according to the laws of this Dispensation"

Distinguishing character of Bahá'í character consists not only of validity of this Dispensation and its teachings but also in its suppression of unwarranted practices and rigid/rigorous observances abated

"We should also bear in mind that the distinguishing character of the Bahá'í Revelation does not solely consist in the completeness and unquestionable validity of the Dispensation which the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá have established. Its excellence lies also in the fact that those elements which in past Dispensations have, without the least authority from their Founders, been a source of corruption and of incalculable harm to the Faith of God, have been strictly excluded by the clear text of Bahá'u'lláh's writings. Those unwarranted practices, in connection with the sacrament of baptism, of communion, of confession of sins, of asceticism, of priestly domination, of elaborate ceremonials, of holy war and of polygamy, have one and all been rigidly suppressed by the Pen of Bahá'u'lláh; whilst the rigidity and rigor of certain observances, such as fasting, which are necessary to the devotional life of the individual, have been considerably abated."

(Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 22)

Aim of Bahá'ís is to raise the banner of Peace, eradicate foundations of war, gather diverse nations beneath Tabernacle of God, and eliminate prejudices

"The aim of the Bahá’ís is to raise aloft the banner of the world’s Great Peace, to eradicate the foundations of war and conflict throughout all regions, to gather together all the divers nations and peoples beneath the single-hued Tabernacle of God, and to eliminate prejudice—whether racial, national, religious, sectarian, or political—from the face of the earth, so that all countries may become as one country, all races as one race, and all nations as one nation. Thus may the world of creation attain unto peace and tranquillity."

('Abdu'l-Bahá, Additional Extracts, Tablets and Talks)

See also

• Cause of God