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ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá The Baha\'i Leader Knighting Ceremony 1920 Large Photo Haifa Israel For Sale
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ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá The Baha\'i Leader Knighting Ceremony 1920 Large Photo Haifa Israel:
$5699.54
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá The Baha\'i Leader Knighting Ceremony 1920 Large Photo Haifa Israel ʻAbdu\'l-BaháVintage LargePhotograph A Rare 1920 Large Photo in Haifa of the Leader of the Baha\'i Community, with the High Commissioner in Eretz Israel. Handwritten dedication in Arabic : The photograph from 1920 isdedicated in handwriting on the occasion of the community party from Abu Salim to Abdu\'l-Bahá dedicated to him a year before his death. Abdu\'l-BaháBorn in 1844 Died in 1921. The Ceremony of awarding the British Knighthood to \'Abdu\'l-Bahá(April 27, 1920). In the PhotoMirza Badie Bushruiholdingthe Knighthood, Mirza served Abdul Baha throughout his life and served as a senior administrative official in the Mandate government. Measurements : Photo 28.5 X 22 cm.
with the frame : 42 X 38 cm. Condition:The photograph is a bit wavy at the edges, otherwise Very Fine. The photo attached to Bristol with a Passe-partout thatslight stained / browned by time. Please see photos for details and condition,
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá (/əbˈdʊl bəˈhɑː/; Persian: عبد البهاء, 1844 – 1921), born ʻAbbás (Persian: عباس),
was the eldest son of Baháʼu\'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 until 1921.
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was later canonized as the last of three \"central figures\" of the religion,
along with Baháʼu\'lláh and the Báb, and his writings and authenticated talks are regarded
as a source of Baháʼí sacred literature.
He was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family. At the age of eight his father was imprisoned
during a government crackdown on the Bábí Faith and the family\'s possessions were looted,
leaving them in virtual poverty. His father was exiled from their native Iran, and the family went
to live in Baghdad, where they stayed for nine years. They were later called by the Ottoman state
to Istanbul before going into another period of confinement in Edirne and finally the prison-city of
ʻAkká (Acre). ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá remained a political prisoner there until theYoung Turk Revolution freed
him in 1908 at the age of 64. He then made several journeys to the west to spread the Baháʼí message
beyond its middle-eastern roots, but the onset of World War I left him largely confined to Haifa from
1914 to 1918. The war replaced the openly hostile Ottoman authorities with the British Mandate,
whok nighted him for his help in averting famine following the war.
In 1892 ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was appointed in his father\'s will to be his successor and head of the Baháʼí Faith.
He faced opposition from virtually all his family members, but held the loyalty of the great majority
of Baháʼís around the world. His Tablets of the Divine Plan helped galvanize Baháʼís in North America
into spreading the Baháʼí teachings to new territories, and his Will and Testament laid the foundation
for the current Baháʼí administrative order. Many of his writings, prayers and letters are extant,
and his discourses with the Western Baháʼís emphasize the growth of the faith by the late 1890s.
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s given name was ʻAbbás. Depending on context, he would have gone by either Mírzá ʻAbbás
(Persian) or ʻAbbás Effendi (Turkish), both of which are equivalent to the English Sir ʻAbbás.
He preferred the title of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá (\"servant of Bahá\", a reference to his father).
He is commonly referred to in Baháʼí texts as \"The Master\".
During World War I when a blockade threatened the lives of many civilians in Haifa, ‘Abdu’l-Baha saved them from starvation. ‘He personally organized extensive agricultural operations near Tiberias, thus securing a great supply of wheat…’ Food was stored in underground pits and elsewhere. This He distributed to inhabitants, regardless of religion or nationality. The food was systematically rationed. Having started His preparations as early as 1912, He averted tragedy in the dark days of 1917 and 1918.
At war’s end the British were quick to recognize His painstaking accomplishments. He was to be knighted on 27 April 1920, at the residence of the British Governor in Haifa at a ceremony held especially for Him. British and religious dignitaries came to honour Him on this auspicious occasion. His unselfish acts had won Him the love and respect of high and low alike. ‘Abdu’l-Baha consented to accept the knighthood – but He was not impressed with worldly honour or ceremony. Even a formality must be simplified. An elegant car was sent to bring Him to the Governor’s residence, but the chauffeur did not find the Master at His home. People scurried in every direction to find Him. Suddenly He appeared ‘… alone, walking His kingly walk, with that simplicity of greatness which always enfolded Him.’ Isfandiyar, His long-time faithful servant, stood near at hand. Many were the times when he had accompanied the Master on His labours of love. Now, suddenly, with this elegant car ready to convey his Master to the Governor, he felt sad and unneeded. Intuitively, ‘Abdu’l-Baha must have sensed this – He gave him a sign. Isfandiyar dashed off – the horse was harnessed, the carriage brought to the lower gate and the Master was driven to a side entrance of the garden of the Governor. Isfandiyar was joyous he was needed even yet. Quietly, without pomp, ‘Abbas Effendi arrived at the right time at the right place and did honour to those who would honour Him when He was made Sir ‘Abdu’l-Baha Abbas, K.B.E. – a title which He almost never knighthood ceremonyShoghi Effendi, recalled in God Passes By, that the British authorities wanted to express “their appreciation of the role which ‘Abdu’l-Baha had played in allaying the burden of suffering that had oppressed the inhabitants of the Holy Land during the dark days of that distressing conflict.”
Further stating that ‘Abdu’l-Baha reasoning for accepting the title was to allow “the influx of pilgrims who, from East and West [to travel to] the Holy Land in comparative ease and safety to visit the Holy Tombs in ‘Akka and Haifa” as well as “to heighten the prestige which the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh had been steadily and gradually acquiring.”
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá[1] (/əbˈdʊl bəˈhɑː/; Persian: عبد البهاء, 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás (Persian: عباس), was the eldest son of Baháʼu\'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 until 1921.[2] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was later canonized as the last of three \"central figures\" of the religion, along with Baháʼu\'lláh and the Báb, and his writings and authenticated talks are regarded as sources of Baháʼí sacred literature.[3]
He was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family. At the age of eight his father was imprisoned during a government crackdown on the Bábí Faith and the family\'s possessions were looted, leaving them in virtual poverty. His father was exiled from their native Iran, and the family went to live in Baghdad, where they stayed for nine years. They were later called by the Ottoman state to Istanbul before going into another period of confinement in Edirne and finally the prison-city of ʻAkká (Acre). ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá remained a political prisoner there until the Young Turk Revolution freed him in 1908 at the age of 64. He then made several journeys to the West to spread the Baháʼí message beyond its middle-eastern roots, but the onset of World War I left him largely confined to Haifa from 1914 to 1918. The war replaced the openly hostile Ottoman authorities with the British Mandate, who appointed him a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his help in averting famine following the war.
In 1892, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was appointed in his father\'s will to be his successor and head of the Baháʼí Faith. He faced opposition from virtually all his family members, but held the loyalty of the great majority of Baháʼís around the world. His Tablets of the Divine Plan helped galvanize Baháʼís in North America into spreading the Baháʼí teachings to new territories, and his Will and Testament laid the foundation for the current Baháʼí administrative order. Many of his writings, prayers and letters are extant, and his discourses with the Western Baháʼís emphasize the growth of the religion by the late 1890s.
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s given name was ʻAbbás. Depending on context, he would have gone by either Mírzá ʻAbbás (Persian) or ʻAbbás Effendi (Turkish), both of which are equivalent to the English Sir ʻAbbás. He preferred the title of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá (\"servant of Bahá\", a reference to his father). He is commonly referred to in Baháʼí texts as \"The Master\".
Early lifeʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was born in Tehran, Persia (now Iran) on 23 May 1844 (5th of Jamadiyu\'l-Avval, 1260 AH),[4] the eldest son of Baháʼu\'lláh and Navváb. He was born on the very same night on which the Báb declared his mission.[5] Born with the given name of ʻAbbás,[3] he was named after his grandfather Mírzá ʻAbbás Núrí, a prominent and powerful nobleman.[6] As a child, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was shaped by his father\'s position as a prominent Bábí. He recalled how he met the Bábí Táhirih and how she would take \"me on to her knee, caress me, and talk to me. I admired her most deeply\".[7] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá had a happy and carefree childhood. The family\'s Tehran home and country houses were comfortable and beautifully decorated. ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá enjoyed playing in the gardens with his younger sister with whom he was very close.[8] Along with his younger siblings – a sister, Bahíyyih, and a brother, Mihdí – the three lived in an environment of privilege, happiness and comfort.[6] During his young childhood ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá witnessed his parents\' various charitable endeavours,[9] which included converting part of the home to a hospital ward for women and children.[8]
With most of his life was spent in exile and prison, there was little chance for normal schooling. Even when younger, it was customary not to send children of nobility to schools. Most noblemen were educated at home briefly in scripture, rhetoric, calligraphy and basic mathematics. Many were educated to prepare themselves for life in the royal court. Despite a brief spell at a traditional preparatory school at the age of seven for one year,[10] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá received no formal education. As he grew he was educated by his mother, and uncle.[11] Most of his education however, came from his father.[12] Years later in 1890 Edward Granville Browne described how ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was \"one more eloquent of speech, more ready of argument, more apt of illustration, more intimately acquainted with the sacred books of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muhammadans...scarcely be found even amongst the eloquent.\"[13]
According to contemporary accounts,[14] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was an eloquent and charming child. When ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was seven, he contracted tuberculosis and was expected to die.[15] Though the malady faded away,[16] he would be plagued with bouts of illness for the rest of his life.[17]
One event that affected ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá greatly during his childhood was the imprisonment of his father when ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was eight years old; the imprisonment led to his family being reduced to poverty and being attacked in the streets by other children.[5] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá accompanied his mother to visit Baháʼu\'lláh who was then imprisoned in the infamous subterranean dungeon the Síyáh-Chál.[6] He described how \"I saw a dark, steep place. We entered a small, narrow doorway, and went down two steps, but beyond those one could see nothing. In the middle of the stairway, all of a sudden we heard His [Baháʼu\'lláh\'s]…voice: \'Do not bring him in here\', and so they took me back\".[16]
BaghdadBaháʼu\'lláh was eventually released from prison, but ordered into exile, and ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, then eight years old, joined his father on the journey to Baghdad in the winter (January to April)[18] of 1853.[16] During the journey ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá suffered from frost-bite. After a year of difficulties Baháʼu\'lláh absented himself rather than continue to face the conflict with Mirza Yahya and secretly secluded himself in the mountains of Sulaymaniyah in April 1854 a month before ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s tenth birthday.[18] Mutual sorrow resulted in him, his mother and sister becoming constant companions.[19] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was particularly close to both, and his mother took active participation in his education and upbringing.[20] During the two-year absence of his father ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá took up the duty of managing the affairs of the family,[21] before his age of maturity (14 in middle-eastern society)[22] and was known to be occupied with reading and, at a time of hand-copied scriptures being the primary means of publishing, was also engaged in copying the writings of the Báb.[23] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá also took an interest in the art of horse riding and, as he grew, became a renowned rider.[24]
In 1856, news of an ascetic carrying on discourses with local Súfí leaders that seemed to possibly be Baháʼu\'lláh reached the family and friends. Immediately, family members and friends went to search for the elusive dervish – and in March[18] brought Baháʼu\'lláh back to Baghdad.[25] On seeing his father, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá fell to his knees and wept loudly \"Why did you leave us?\", and this followed with his mother and sister doing the same.[24][26] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá soon became his father\'s secretary and shield.[5] During the sojourn in the city ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá grew from a boy into a young man. He was noted as a \"remarkably fine looking youth\",[24] and remembered for his charity.[5] Having passed the age of maturity ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was regularly seen in the mosques of Baghdad discussing religious topics and the scripture as a young man. Whilst in Baghdad, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá composed a commentary at the request of his father on the Muslim tradition of \"I was a Hidden Treasure\" for a Súfí leader named ʻAlí Shawkat Páshá.[5][27] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was fifteen or sixteen at the time and ʻAlí Shawkat Páshá regarded the more than 11,000-word essay as a remarkable feat for somebody of his age.[5] In 1863, in what became known as the Garden of Ridván, his father Baháʼu\'lláh announced to a few that he was the manifestation of God and He whom God shall make manifest whose coming had been foretold by the Báb. On day eight of the twelve days, it is believed ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was the first person Baháʼu\'lláh revealed his claim (right) with his brother Mírzá MihdíIn 1863, Baháʼu\'lláh was summoned to Istanbul, and thus his family, including ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, then eighteen, accompanied him on his 110-day journey.[30] The journey to Constantinople was another wearisome journey,[24] and ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá helped feed the exiles.[31] It was here that his position became more prominent amongst the Baháʼís.[3] This was further solidified by Baháʼu\'lláh\'s tablet of the Branch in which he constantly exalts his son\'s virtues and station.[32] The family were soon exiled to Adrianople and ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá went with the family.[3] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá again suffered from frostbite.[24]
In Adrianople ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was regarded as the sole comforter of his family – in particular to his mother.[24] At this point ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was known by the Baháʼís as \"the Master\", and by non-Baháʼís as ʻAbbás Effendi (\"Effendi\" signifies \"Sir\"). It was in Adrianople that Baháʼu\'lláh referred to his son as \"the Mystery of God\".[24] The title of \"Mystery of God\" symbolises, according to Baháʼís, that ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá is not a manifestation of God but how a \"person of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá the incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended and are completely harmonized\".[33][34] Baháʼu\'lláh gave his son many other titles such as G͟husn-i-Aʻzam (meaning \"Mightiest Branch\" or \"Mightier Branch\"),[a] the \"Branch of Holiness\", \"the Center of the Covenant\" and the apple of his eye.[3] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá (\"the Master\") was devastated when hearing the news that he and his family were to be exiled separately from Baháʼu\'lláh. It was, according to Baháʼís, through his intercession that the idea was reverted and the family were allowed to be exiled together.[24]
ʻAkká
Prison in ʻAkká where Baháʼu\'lláh and his family were housedAt the age of 24, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was clearly chief-steward to his father and an outstanding member of the Baháʼí community.[30] Baháʼu\'lláh and his family were – in 1868 – exiled to the penal colony of Acre, Palestine where it was expected that the family would perish.[35] Arrival in ʻAkká was distressing for the family and exiles.[3] They were greeted in a hostile manner by the surrounding population and his sister and father fell dangerously ill.[5] When told that the women were to sit on the shoulders of the men to reach the shore, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá took a chair and carried the women to the bay of ʻAkká.[24] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was able to procure some anesthetic and nursed the sick.[24] The Baháʼís were imprisoned under horrendous conditions in a cluster of cells covered in excrement and dirt.[5] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá himself fell dangerously ill with dysentery,[5] however a sympathetic soldier permitted a physician to help cure him.[24] The population shunned them, the soldiers treated them the same, and the behaviour of Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahani (an Azali) did not help matters.[6][36] Morale was further destroyed with the accidental death of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s youngest brother Mírzá Mihdí at the age of 22.[24] The grieving ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá kept a night-long vigil beside his brother\'s body.[6][24]
Later in ʻAkkáOver time, he gradually took over responsibility for the relationships between the small Baháʼí exile community and the outside world. It was through his interaction with the people of ʻAkká (Acre) that, according to the Baháʼís, they recognized the innocence of the Baháʼís, and thus the conditions of imprisonment were eased.[37] Four months after the death of Mihdí the family moved from the prison to the House of ʻAbbúd.[38] The people of ʻAkká started to respect the Baháʼís and in particular, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá. ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was able to arrange for houses to be rented for the family, the family later moved to the Mansion of Bahjí around 1879 when an epidemic caused the inhabitants to flee.
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá soon became very popular in the penal colony and Myron Henry Phelps a wealthy New York lawyer described how \"a crowd of human beings...Syrians, Arabs, Ethiopians, and many others\",[39] all waited to talk and receive ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá.[40] He undertook a history of the Bábí religion through publication of A Traveller\'s Narrative (Makála-i-Shakhsí Sayyáh) in 1886,[41] later translated and published in translation in 1891 through Cambridge University by the agency of Edward Granville Browne.
Marriage and family lifeWhen ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was a young man, speculation was rife amongst the Baháʼís to whom he would marry.[5][42] Several young girls were seen as marriage prospects but ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá seemed disinclined to marriage.[5] On 8 March 1873, at the urging of his father,[6][43] the twenty-eight-year-old ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá married Fátimih Nahrí of Isfahán (1847–1938) a twenty-five-year-old from an upper-class family of the city.[44] Her father was Mírzá Muḥammad ʻAlí Nahrí of Isfahan an eminent Baháʼí with prominent connections.[b][5][42] Fátimih was brought from Persia to ʻAkká after both Baháʼu\'lláh and his wife Navváb expressed an interest in her to marry ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá.[5][44][45] After a wearisome journey from Isfahán to Akka she finally arrived accompanied by her brother in 1872.[5][45] The young couple were betrothed for about five months before the marriage itself commenced. In the meantime, Fátimih lived in the home of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s uncle Mírzá Músá. According to her later memoirs, Fátimih fell in love with ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá on seeing him. ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá himself had showed little inkling to marriage until meeting Fátimih;[45] who was entitled Munírih by Baháʼu\'lláh.[6] Munírih is a title meaning \"Luminous\".[46]
The marriage resulted in nine children. The first born was a son Mihdí Effendi who died aged about 3. He was followed by Ḍíyáʼíyyih K͟hánum, Fuʼádíyyih K͟hánum (d. few years old), Rúhangíz Khánum (d. 1893), Túbá Khánum, Husayn Effendi (d.1887 aged 5), Túbá K͟hánum, Rúhá K͟hánum (mother of Munib Shahid), and Munnavar K͟hánum. The death of his children caused ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá immense grief – in particular the death of his son Husayn Effendi came at a difficult time following the death of his mother and uncle.[47] The surviving children (all daughters) were; Ḍíyáʼíyyih K͟hánum (mother of Shoghi Effendi) (d. 1951) Túbá K͟hánum (1880–1959) Rúḥá K͟hánum and Munavvar K͟hánum (d. 1971).[5] Baháʼu\'lláh wished that the Baháʼís follow the example of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá and gradually move away from polygamy.[45][46][48] The marriage of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá to one woman and his choice to remain monogamous,[45] from advice of his father and his own wish,[45][46] legitimised the practice of monogamy[46] to a people who hitherto had regarded polygamy as a righteous way of life.[45][46]
Early years of his ministryAfter Baháʼu\'lláh died on 29 May 1892, the Will and Testament of Baháʼu\'lláh named ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá as Centre of the Covenant, successor and interpreter of Baháʼu\'lláh\'s writings.[c][49][2]
Baháʼu\'lláh designates his successor with the following verses:
The Will of the divine Testator is this: It is incumbent upon the Aghsán, the Afnán and My Kindred to turn, one and all, their faces towards the Most Mighty Branch. Consider that which We have revealed in Our Most Holy Book: \'When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root.\' The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most Mighty Branch [ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá]. Thus have We graciously revealed unto you Our potent Will, and I am verily the Gracious, the All-Powerful. Verily God hath ordained the station of the Greater Branch [Muḥammad ʻAlí] to be beneath that of the Most Great Branch [ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá]. He is in truth the Ordainer, the All-Wise. We have chosen \'the Greater\' after \'the Most Great\', as decreed by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.
— Baháʼu\'lláh (1873–1892)This translation of the Kitáb-i-ʻAhd is based on a solecism, however, as the terms Akbar and Aʻzam do not mean, respectively, \'Greater\' and \'Most Great\'. Not only do the two words derive from entirely separate triconsonantal roots (Akbar from k-b-r and Aʻzam from ʻ-z-m), but the Arabic language possesses the elative, a stage of gradation, with no clear distinction between the comparative and superlative.[50] In the Will and Testament ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s half-brother, Muhammad ʻAlí, was mentioned by name as being subordinate to ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá. Muhammad ʻAlí became jealous of his half-brother and set out to establish authority for himself as an alternative leader with the support of his brothers Badiʻu\'llah and Ḍíyáʼu\'llah.[4] He began correspondence with Baháʼís in Iran, initially in secret, casting doubts in others\' minds about ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá.[51] While most Baháʼís followed ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, a handful followed Muhammad ʻAlí including such leaders as Mirza Javad and Ibrahim George Kheiralla, an early Baháʼí missionary to America.[52]
Muhammad ʻAlí and Mirza Javad began to openly accuse ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá of taking on too much authority, suggesting that he believed himself to be a Manifestation of God, equal in status to Baháʼu\'lláh.[53] It was at this time that ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, to provide proof of the falsity of the accusations leveled against him, in tablets to the West, stated that he was to be known as \"ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\" an Arabic phrase meaning the Servant of Bahá to make it clear that he was not a Manifestation of God, and that his station was only servitude.[54][55] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá left a Will and Testament that set up the framework of administration. The two highest institutions were the Universal House of Justice, and the Guardianship, for which he appointed Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian.[2] With the exception of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, Muhammad ʻAlí was supported by all of the remaining male relatives of Baháʼu\'lláh, including Shoghi Effendi\'s father, Mírzá Hádí Shírází.[56] However Muhammad ʻAlí\'s and his families statements had very little effect on the Baháʼís in general – in the ʻAkká area, the followers of Muhammad ʻAlí represented six families at most, they had no common religious activities,[57] and were almost wholly assimilated into Muslim society.[58]
First Western pilgrims
Early Western Baháʼí pilgrims. Standing left to right: Charles Mason Remey, Sigurd Russell, Edward Getsinger and Laura Clifford Barney; Seated left to right: Ethel Jenner Rosenberg, Madam Jackson, Shoghi Effendi, Helen Ellis Cole, Lua Getsinger, Emogene HoaggBy the end of 1898, Western pilgrims started coming to Akka on pilgrimage to visit ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá; this group of pilgrims, including Phoebe Hearst, was the first time that Baháʼís raised up in the West had met ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá.[59] The first group arrived in 1898 and throughout late 1898 to early 1899 Western Baháʼís sporadically visited ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá. The group was relatively young containing mainly women from high American society in their 20s.[60] The group of Westerners aroused suspicion for the authorities, and consequently ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s confinement was tightened.[61] During the next decade ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá would be in constant communication with Baháʼís around the world, helping them to teach the religion; the group included May Ellis Bolles in Paris, Englishman Thomas Breakwell, American Herbert Hopper, French Hippolyte Dreyfus [fr], Susan Moody, Lua Getsinger, and American Laura Clifford Barney.[62] It was Laura Clifford Barney who, by asking questions of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá over many years and many visits to Haifa, compiled what later became the book Some Answered Questions.[63]
Ministry, 1901–1912During the final years of the 19th century, while ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was still officially a prisoner and confined to ʻAkka, he organized the transfer of the remains of the Báb from Iran to Palestine. He then organized the purchase of land on Mount Carmel that Baháʼu\'lláh had instructed should be used to lay the remains of the Báb, and organized for the construction of the Shrine of the Báb. This process took another 10 years.[64] With the increase of pilgrims visiting ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, Muhammad ʻAlí worked with the Ottoman authorities to re-introduce stricter terms on ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s imprisonment in August 1901.[2][65] By 1902, however, due to the Governor of ʻAkka being supportive of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, the situation was greatly eased; while pilgrims were able to once again visit ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, he was confined to the city.[65] In February 1903, two followers of Muhammad ʻAlí, including Badiʻu\'llah and Siyyid ʻAliy-i-Afnan, broke with Muhammad ʻAli and wrote books and letters giving details of Muhammad ʻAli\'s plots and noting that what was circulating about ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was fabrication.[66][67]
From 1902 to 1904, in addition to the building of the Shrine of the Báb that ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was directing, he started to put into execution two different projects; the restoration of the House of the Báb in Shiraz, Iran and the construction of the first Baháʼí House of Worship in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.[68] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá asked Aqa Mirza Aqa to coordinate the work so that the house of the Báb would be restored to the state that it was at the time of the Báb\'s declaration to Mulla Husayn in 1844;[68] he also entrusted the work on the House of Worship to Vakil-u\'d-Dawlih.[69]
During this period, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá communicated with a number of Young Turks, opposed to the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, including Namık Kemal, Ziya Pasha and Midhat Pasha, in an attempt to disseminate Baháʼí thought into their political ideology.[70] He emphasized Baháʼís \"seek freedom and love liberty, hope for equality, are well-wishers of humanity and ready to sacrifice their lives to unite humanity\" but on a more broad approach than the Young Turks. Abdullah Cevdet, one of the founders of the Committee of Union and Progress who considered the Baháʼí Faith an intermediary step between Islam and the ultimate abandonment of religious belief, would go on trial for defense of Baháʼís in a periodical he founded.[71][72]
‛Abdu\'l-Bahá also had contact with military leaders as well, including such individuals as Bursalı Mehmet Tahir Bey and Hasan Bedreddin. The latter, who was involved in the overthrow of Sultan Abdülaziz, is commonly known as Bedri Paşa or Bedri Pasha and is referred to in Persian Baháʼí sources as Bedri Bey (Badri Beg). He was a Baháʼí who translated ‛Abdu\'l-Baha\'s works into French.[73]
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá also met Muhammad Abduh, one of the key figures of Islamic Modernism and the Salafi movement, in Beirut, at a time when the two men were both opposed to the Ottoman ulama and shared similar goals of religious reform.[74][75] Rashid Rida asserts that during his visits to Beirut, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá would attend Abduh\'s study sessions.[76] Regarding the meetings of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá and Muhammad ʻAbduh, Shoghi Effendi asserts that \"His several interviews with the well-known Shaykh Muhammad ʻAbdu served to enhance immensely the growing prestige of the community and spread abroad the fame of its most distinguished member.\"[77]
Due to ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s political activities and alleged accusation against him by Muhammad ʻAli, a Commission of Inquiry interviewed ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá in 1905, with the result that he was almost exiled to Fezzan.[78][79][80] In response, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá wrote the sultan a letter protesting that his followers refrain from involvement in partisan politics and that his tariqa had guided many Americans to Islam.[81] The next few years in ʻAkka were relatively free of pressures and pilgrims were able to come and visit ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá. By 1909 the mausoleum of the Shrine of the Báb was completed.[69]
Journeys to the West
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, during his trip to the United StatesMain article: ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s journeys to the WestThe 1908 Young Turks revolution freed all political prisoners in the Ottoman Empire, and ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was freed from imprisonment. His first action after his freedom was to visit the Shrine of Baháʼu\'lláh in Bahji.[82] While ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá continued to live in ʻAkka immediately following the revolution, he soon moved to live in Haifa near the Shrine of the Báb.[82] In 1910, with the freedom to leave the country, he embarked on a three-year journey to Egypt, Europe, and North America, spreading the Baháʼí message.[2]
From August to December 1911, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá visited cities in Europe, including London, Bristol, and Paris. The purpose of these trips was to support the Baháʼí communities in the west and to further spread his father\'s teachings.[83]
In the following year, he undertook a much more extensive journey to the United States and Canada to once again spread his father\'s teachings. He arrived in New York City on 11 April 1912, after declining an offer of passage on the RMS Titanic, telling the Baháʼí believers, instead, to \"Donate this to charity.\"[84] He instead travelled on a slower craft, the RMS Cedric, and cited preference of a longer sea journey as the reason.[85] After hearing of the Titanic\'s sinking on 16 April he was quoted as saying \"I was asked to sail upon the Titanic, but my heart did not prompt me to do so.\"[84] While he spent most of his time in New York, he visited Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Boston and Philadelphia. In August of the same year he started a more extensive journey to places including New Hampshire, the Green Acre school in Maine, and Montreal (his only visit to Canada). He then travelled west to Minneapolis, San Francisco, Stanford, and Los Angeles before starting to return east at the end of October. On 5 December 1912 he set sail back to Europe.[83]
During his visit to North America he visited many missions, churches, and groups, as well as having scores of meetings in Baháʼís\' homes, and offering innumerable personal meetings with hundreds of people.[86] During his talks he proclaimed Baháʼí principles such as the unity of God, unity of the religions, oneness of humanity, equality of women and men, world peace and economic justice.[86] He also insisted that all his meetings be open to all races.[86]
His visit and talks were the subject of hundreds of newspaper articles.[86] In Boston newspaper reporters asked ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá why he had come to America, and he stated that he had come to participate in conferences on peace and that just giving warning messages is not enough.[87] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s visit to Montreal provided notable newspaper coverage; on the night of his arrival the editor of the Montreal Daily Star met with him and that newspaper along with The Montreal Gazette, Montreal Standard, Le Devoir and La Presse among others reported on ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s activities.[88][89] The headlines in those papers included \"Persian Teacher to Preach Peace\", \"Racialism Wrong, Says Eastern Sage, Strife and War Caused by Religious and National Prejudices\", and \"Apostle of Peace Meets Socialists, Abdul Baha\'s Novel Scheme for Distribution of Surplus Wealth.\"[89] The Montreal Standard, which was distributed across Canada, took so much interest that it republished the articles a week later; the Gazette published six articles and Montreal\'s largest French language newspaper published two articles about him.[88] His 1912 visit to Montreal also inspired humourist Stephen Leacock to parody him in his bestselling 1914 book Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich.[90] In Chicago one newspaper headline included \"His Holiness Visits Us, Not Pius X but A. Baha,\"[89] and ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s visit to California was reported in the Palo Altan.[91]
Back in Europe, he visited London, Edinburgh, Paris (where he stayed for two months), Stuttgart, Budapest, and Vienna. Finally, on 12 June 1913, he returned to Egypt, where he stayed for six months before returning to Haifa.[83]
On 23 February 1914, at the eve of World War I, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá hosted Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild banking family who was a leading advocate and financier of the Zionist movement, during one of his early trips to Palestine.[92]
Final years (1914–1921)
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá on Mount Carmel with pilgrims in 1919During World War I (1914–1918) ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá stayed in Palestine and was unable to travel. He carried on a limited correspondence, which included the Tablets of the Divine Plan, a collection of 14 letters addressed to the Baháʼís of North America, later described as one of three \"charters\" of the Baháʼí Faith. The letters assign a leadership role for the North American Baháʼís in spreading the religion around the planet.
Haifa was under real threat of Allied bombardment, enough that ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá and other Baháʼís temporarily retreated to the hills east of ʻAkka.[93]
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was also under threats from Cemal Paşa, the Ottoman military chief who at one point expressed his desire to crucify him and destroy Baháʼí properties in Palestine.[94] The surprisingly swift Megiddo offensive of the British General Allenby swept away the Turkish forces in Palestine before harm was done to the Baháʼís, and the war was over less than two months later.
Post-war period
The elderly ʻAbdu\'l-BaháThe conclusion of World War I led to the openly hostile Ottoman authorities being replaced by the more friendly British Mandate, allowing for a renewal of correspondence, pilgrims, and development of the Baháʼí World Centre properties.[95] It was during this revival of activity that the Baháʼí Faith saw an expansion and consolidation in places like Egypt, the Caucasus, Iran, Turkmenistan, North America and South Asia under the leadership of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá.
The end of the war brought about several political developments that ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá commented on. The League of Nations formed in January 1920, representing the first instance of collective security through a worldwide organization. ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá had written in 1875 for the need to establish a \"Union of the nations of the world\", and he praised the attempt through the League of Nations as an important step towards the goal. He also said that it was \"incapable of establishing Universal Peace\" because it did not represent all nations and had only trivial power over its member states.[96][97] Around the same time, the British Mandate supported the ongoing immigration of Jews to Palestine. ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá mentioned the immigration as a fulfillment of prophecy, and encouraged the Zionists to develop the land and \"elevate the country for all its inhabitants... They must not work to separate the Jews from the other Palestinians.\"[98]ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá at his investiture ceremony as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, April 1920The war also left the region in famine. In 1901, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá had purchased about 1704 acres of scrubland near the Jordan river and by 1907 many Baháʼís from Iran had begun sharecropping on the land. ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá received between 20 and 33% of their harvest (or cash equivalent), which was shipped to Haifa. With the war still raging in 1917, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá received a large amount of wheat from the crops, and also bought other available wheat and shipped it all back to Haifa. The wheat arrived just after the British captured Palestine, and as such was allowed to be widely distributed to allay the famine.[99][100] For this service in averting a famine in Northern Palestine he received the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire at a ceremony held in his honor at the home of the British Governor on 27 April 1920.[101][102] He was later visited by General Allenby, King Faisal (later King of Iraq), Herbert Samuel (High Commissioner for Palestine), and Ronald Storrs (Military Governor of Jerusalem).[103]
Death and funeral
Funeral of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá in Haifa, British Mandate-PalestineʻAbdu\'l-Bahá died on Monday, 28 November 1921, sometime after 1:15 a.m. (27th of Rabi\' al-awwal, 1340 AH).[104]
Then Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill telegraphed the High Commissioner for Palestine, \"convey to the Baháʼí Community, on behalf of His Majesty\'s Government, their sympathy and condolescence.\" Similar messages came from Viscount Allenby, the Council of Ministers of Iraq, and others.[105]
On his funeral, which was held the next day, Esslemont notes:
... a funeral the like of which Haifa, nay Palestine itself, had surely never seen... so deep was the feeling that brought so many thousands of mourners together, representative of so many religions, races and tongues.[106]
Among the talks delivered at the funeral, Shoghi Effendi records Stewart Symes giving the following tribute:
Most of us here have, I think, a clear picture of Sir ʻAbdu\'l‑Bahá ʻAbbás, of His dignified figure walking thoughtfully in our streets, of His courteous and gracious manner, of His kindness, of His love for little children and flowers, of His generosity and care for the poor and suffering. So gentle was He, and so simple, that in His presence one almost forgot that He was also a great teacher, and that His writings and His conversations have been a solace and an inspiration to hundreds and thousands of people in the East and in the West.[107]
He was buried in the front room of the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel. His interment there is meant to be temporary, until his own mausoleum can be built in the vicinity of Riḍván Garden, known as the Shrine of left a Will and Testament that was originally written between 1901 and 1908 and addressed to Shoghi Effendi, who at that time was only 4–11 years old. The will appoints Shoghi Effendi as the first in a line of Guardians of the religion, a hereditary executive role that may provide authoritative interpretations of scripture. ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá directed all Baháʼís to turn to him and obey him, and assured him of divine protection and guidance. The will also provided a formal reiteration of his teachings, such as the instructions to teach, manifest spiritual qualities, associate with all people, and shun Covenant-breakers. Many obligations of the Universal House of Justice and the Hands of the Cause were also elaborated.[109][2] Shoghi Effendi later described the document as one of three \"charters\" of the Baháʼí Faith.
The authenticity and provisions of the will were almost universally accepted by Baháʼís around the world, with the exception of Ruth White and a few other Americans who tried to protest Shoghi Effendi\'s leadership.
In volumes of The Baháʼí World published in 1930 and 1933, Shoghi Effendi named nineteen Baháʼís as disciples of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá and heralds of the Covenant, including Thornton Chase, Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney [fr], John Esslemont, Lua Getsinger, and Robert Turner.[110][111][112] No other statements about them have been found in Shoghi Effendi\'s writings.[113]
During his lifetime there was some ambiguity among Baháʼís as to his station relative to Baháʼu\'lláh, and later to Shoghi Effendi. Some American newspapers reported him to be a Baháʼí prophet or the return of Christ. Shoghi Effendi later formalized his legacy as the last of three \"Central Figures\" of the Baháʼí Faith and the \"Perfect exemplar\" of the teachings, also claiming that holding him on an equal status to Baháʼu\'lláh or Jesus was heretical. Shoghi Effendi also wrote that during the anticipated Baháʼí dispensation of 1000 years there will be no equal to ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá.[114]
Appearance and personality
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá in 1868ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was described as handsome,[12] and bore striking resemblance to his mother. As an adult he reached medium height but he gave the impression of being taller.[115] He had dark hair that flowed to his shoulders, grey coloured eyes, a fair complexion and an aquiline nose.[116] In 1890, Orientalist Edward Granville Browne met him and wrote:
Seldom have I seen one whose appearance impressed me more. A tall strongly built man holding himself straight as an arrow, with white turban and raiment, long black locks reaching almost to the shoulder, broad powerful forehead indicating a strong intellect combined with an unswerving will, eyes keen as a hawk\'s, and strongly marked but pleasing features – such was my first impression of \'Abbás Efendí, \"the master\".[117]
After the death of Bahá’u’lláh, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá began to visibly age. By the late 1890s his hair had turned snow-white and deep lines set on his face.[118] As a young man he was athletic and enjoyed archery, horseback riding and swimming.[119] Even later in his life ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá remained active going for long walks in Haifa and Acre.
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was a major presence for the Bahá’ís during his lifetime, and he continues to influence the Bahá’í community today.[120] Bahá’ís regard ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the perfect example of the teachings of his father and therefore strive to emulate him. Anecdotes about him are frequently used to illustrate particular points about morality and interpersonal relations. He was remembered for his charisma, compassion,[121] philanthropy and strength in the face of suffering. John Esslemont reflected that \"[‘Abdu’l-Bahá] showed that it is still possible, amid the whirl and rush of modern life, amid the self-love and struggle for material prosperity that everywhere prevail, to live the life of entire devotion to God and to the service of one\'s fellows.\"[5]
Even ardent enemies of the Bahá’í Faith were on occasion taken by meeting him. Mírzá \'Abdu\'l-Muḥammad Írání Mu\'addibu\'s-Sulṭán, an Iranian, and Shaykh \'Alí Yúsuf, an Arab, were both newspaper editors in Egypt who had published harsh attacks on the Bahá’í Faith in their papers. They called on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá when he was in Egypt and their attitude changed. Similarly, a Christian clergyman, Rev. J.T. Bixby, who was the author of a hostile article on the Bahá’í Faith in the United States, felt compelled to witness Abdu\'l-Bahá\'s personal qualities. The effect of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on those who were already committed Bahá’ís was greater still.[122]
ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá was widely known for his encounters with the poor and dying.[122] His generosity resulted in his own family complaining that they were left with nothing. He was sensitive to people’s feelings,[115][122] and later expressed his wish to be a beloved figure of the Bahá’ís saying “I am your father...and you must be glad and rejoice, for I love you exceedingly.” According to historical accounts, he had a keen sense of humour and was relaxed and informal.[121] He was open about personal tragedies such as the loss of his children and the sufferings he\'d endured as a prisoner,[115] further enhancing his popularity.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá directed the affairs of the Bahá’í community with care. He was inclined to allow a large range of personal interpretations of the Bahá’í teachings as long as these did not obviously contradict fundamental principles. He did, however, expel members of the religion he felt were challenging his leadership and deliberately causing disunity in the community. Outbreaks of persecution of the Bahá’ís affected him deeply. He wrote personally to the families of those who had been martyred.
WorksThe total estimated number of tablets that ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá wrote are over 27,000 of which only a fraction have been translated into English.[123] His works fall into two groups including first his direct writings and second his lectures and speeches as noted by others.[2] The first group includes The Secret of Divine Civilization written before 1875, A Traveller\'s Narrative written around 1886, the Resāla-ye sīāsīya or Sermon on the Art of Governance written in 1893, the Memorials of the Faithful, and a large number of tablets written to various people;[2] including various Western intellectuals such as Auguste Forel which has been translated and published as the Tablet to Auguste-Henri Forel. The Secret of Divine Civilization and the Sermon on the Art of Governance were widely circulated anonymously.
The second group includes Some Answered Questions, which is an English translation of a series of table talks with Laura Barney, and Paris Talks, ʻAbdu\'l-Baha in London and Promulgation of Universal Peace which are respectively addresses given by ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá in Paris, London and the United States.[2]
The following is a list of some of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s many books, tablets, and talks:
Foundations of World UnityLight of the World: Selected Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.Memorials of the FaithfulParis TalksSecret of Divine CivilizationSome Answered QuestionsTablets of the Divine PlanTablet to Auguste-Henri ForelTablet to The HagueWill and Testament of ʻAbdu\'l-BaháPromulgation of Universal PeaceSelections from the Writings of ʻAbdu\'l-BaháDivine PhilosophyTreatise on Politics / Sermon on the Art of Governance[124]See alsoBaháʼu\'lláh\'s familyMírzá MihdíÁsíyih KhánumBahíyyih KhánumMunirih KhánumShoghi EffendiHouse of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion[a] founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people.[b] Established by Baháʼu\'lláh, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the Middle East, where it has faced ongoing persecution since its inception[13] The religion is estimated to have 5–8 million adherents, known as Baháʼís, spread throughout most of the world\'s countries and territories.
The Baháʼí Faith has three central figures: the Báb (1819–1850), considered a herald who taught his followers that God would soon send a prophet who would be similar to Jesus or Muhammad and was executed by the Iranian authorities in 1850; Baháʼu\'lláh (1817–1892), who claimed to be that prophet in 1863 and faced exile and imprisonment for most of his life; and his son, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá (1844–1921), who was released from confinement in 1908 and made teaching trips to Europe and the United States. After ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s death in 1921, the leadership of the religion fell to his grandson Shoghi Effendi (1897–1957). Baháʼís annually elect local, regional, and national Spiritual Assemblies that govern the religion\'s affairs, and every five years an election is held for the Universal House of Justice, the nine-member supreme governing institution of the worldwide Baháʼí community that is located in Haifa, Israel, near the Shrine of the Báb.
According to Baháʼí teachings, religion is revealed in an orderly and progressive way by a single God through Manifestations of God, who are the founders of major world religions throughout human history; Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad are noted as the most recent of these before the Báb and Baháʼu\'lláh. Baháʼís regard the world\'s major religions as fundamentally unified in purpose, but diverging in terms of social practices and interpretations. The Baháʼí Faith stresses the unity of all people as its core teaching and explicitly rejects notions of racism, sexism, and nationalism. At the heart of Baháʼí teachings is the goal of a unified world order that ensures the prosperity of all nations, races, creeds, and classes.[14][15]
Letters and epistles by Baháʼu\'lláh, along with writings and talks by his son ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, have been collected and assembled into a canon of Baháʼí scriptures. This collection includes works by the Báb, who is regarded as Baháʼu\'lláh\'s forerunner. Prominent among the works of Baháʼí literature are the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Kitáb-i-Íqán, Some Answered Questions, and The Dawn-Breakers.
EtymologyMain article: Baháʼí orthographyThe word Baháʼí (بهائی) is used either as an adjective to refer to the Baháʼí Faith or as a term for a follower of Baháʼu\'lláh. The proper name of the religion is the Baháʼí Faith, not Baháʼí or Baha\'ism (the latter, once common among academics, is regarded as derogatory by the Baháʼís).[16][17] It is derived from the Arabic Baháʼ (بهاء), a name Baháʼu\'lláh chose for himself, referring to the \'glory\' or \'splendor\' of God. In English, the word is commonly pronounced bə-HYE (/bəˈhaɪ/), but the more accurate rendering of the Arabic is bə-HAH-ee (/bəˈhɑːʔiː/).
The accent marks above the letters, representing long vowels, derive from a system of transliterating Arabic and Persian script that was adopted by Baháʼís in 1923, and which has been used in almost all Baháʼí publications since.[16] Baháʼís prefer the orthographies Baháʼí, the Báb, Baháʼu\'lláh, and ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá. \"Bahai\", \"Bahais\", \"Bahaʼi\", \"the Bab\", \"Bahaullah\" and \"Bahaʼullah\" are often used when accent marks are unavailable.
BeliefsMain article: Baháʼí teachingsA white domed buildingBaháʼí House of Worship in Ingleside, Sydney, AustraliaThe teachings of Baháʼu\'lláh form the foundation of Baháʼí beliefs. Three principles are central to these teachings: the unity of God, the unity of religion, and the unity of humanity.[18] Baha\'is believe that God periodically reveals his will through divine messengers, whose purpose is to transform the character of humankind and to develop, within those who respond, moral and spiritual qualities. Religion is thus seen as orderly, unified, and progressive from age to age.[19]
GodMain article: God in the Baháʼí FaithBaháʼí writings describe a single, personal, inaccessible, omniscient, omnipresent, imperishable, and almighty God who is the creator of all things in the universe.[20] The existence of God and the universe is thought to be eternal, with no beginning or end.[21] Even though God is not directly accessible, he is seen as being conscious of creation, with a will and a purpose which is expressed through messengers who are called Manifestations of God.[22]
Baháʼí teachings state that God is too great for humans to fully comprehend, and based on them, humans cannot create a complete and accurate image of God by themselves. Therefore, human understanding of God is achieved through his revelations via his Manifestations.[23][24][better source needed] In the Baháʼí Faith, God is often referred to by titles and attributes (for example, the All-Powerful, or the All-Loving), and there is a substantial emphasis on monotheism. Baháʼí teachings state that the attributes applied to God are used to translate Godliness into human terms and to help people concentrate on their own attributes in worshipping God to develop their potentialities on their spiritual path.[23][24][better source needed] According to the Baháʼí teachings the human purpose is to learn to know and love God through such methods as prayer, reflection, and being of service to others.[23][better source needed]
ReligionMain article: Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religionSee also: Progressive revelation (Baháʼí)A white column with ornate designs carved into it, including a Star of DavidSymbols of many religions on a pillar of the Baháʼí House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.Baháʼí notions of progressive religious revelation result in their accepting the validity of the well known religions of the world, whose founders and central figures are seen as Manifestations of God.[25] Religious history is interpreted as a series of dispensations, where each manifestation brings a somewhat broader and more advanced revelation that is rendered as a text of scripture and passed on through history with greater or lesser reliability but at least true in substance,[26] suited for the time and place in which it was expressed.[21] Specific religious social teachings (for example, the direction of prayer, or dietary restrictions) may be revoked by a subsequent manifestation so that a more appropriate requirement for the time and place may be established. Conversely, certain general principles (for example, neighbourliness, or charity) are seen to be universal and consistent. In Baháʼí belief, this process of progressive revelation will not end; it is, however, believed to be cyclical. Baháʼís do not expect a new manifestation of God to appear within 1000 years of Baháʼu\'lláh\'s revelation.[27]
Baháʼís assert that their religion is a distinct tradition with its own scriptures and laws, and not a sect of another religion.[28] The religion was initially seen as a sect of Islam because of its origins. Most religious specialists now see it as an independent religion, with its religious background in Shiʻa Islam being seen as analogous to the Jewish context in which Christianity was established.[29] Baháʼís describe their faith as an independent world religion, differing from the other traditions in its relative age and in the appropriateness of Baháʼu\'lláh\'s teachings to the modern context.[30][better source needed] Baháʼu\'lláh is believed to have fulfilled the messianic expectations of these precursor faiths.[31]
Human beingsSee also: Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity and Baháʼí Faith on life after deathA stylized Arabic figure which has intersecting lines that lock around rings and five-pointed stars to either sideThe ringstone symbol, representing humanity\'s connection to God.The Baháʼí writings state that human beings have a \"rational soul\", and that this provides the species with a unique capacity to recognize God\'s status and humanity\'s relationship with its creator. Every human is seen to have a duty to recognize God through his Messengers, and to conform to their teachings.[32] Through recognition and obedience, service to humanity and regular prayer and spiritual practice, the Baháʼí writings state that the soul becomes closer to God, the spiritual ideal in Baháʼí belief. According to Baháʼí belief when a human dies the soul is permanently separated from the body and carries on in the next world where it is judged based on the person\'s actions in the physical world. Heaven and Hell are taught to be spiritual states of nearness or distance from God that describe relationships in this world and the next, and not physical places of reward and punishment achieved after death.[33]
The Baháʼí writings emphasize the essential equality of human beings, and the abolition of prejudice. Humanity is seen as essentially one, though highly varied; its diversity of race and culture are seen as worthy of appreciation and acceptance. Doctrines of racism, nationalism, caste, social class, and gender-based hierarchy are seen as artificial impediments to unity.[18] The Baháʼí teachings state that the unification of humanity is the paramount issue in the religious and political conditions of the present world.[21]
Social principles
The Baháʼí gardens in HaifaWhen ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá first traveled to Europe and America in 1911–1912, he gave public talks that articulated the basic principles of the Baháʼí Faith.[34] These included preaching on the equality of men and women, race unity, the need for world peace, and other progressive ideas for the early 20th century. Published summaries of the Baháʼí teachings often include a list of these principles, and lists vary on wording and what is included.[35]
The concept of the unity of mankind, seen by Baháʼís as an ancient truth, is the starting point for many of the ideas. The equality of races and the elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty, for example, are implications of that unity.[36] Another outgrowth of the concept is the need for a united world federation, and some practical recommendations to encourage its realization involve the establishment of a universal language, a standard economy and system of measurement, universal compulsory education, and an international court of arbitration to settle disputes between nations.[37] Nationalism, according to this viewpoint, should be abandoned in favor of allegiance to the whole of mankind. With regard to the pursuit of world peace, Baháʼu\'lláh prescribed a world-embracing collective security arrangement.[38]
Other Baháʼí social principles revolve around spiritual unity. Religion is viewed as progressive from age to age, but to recognize a newer revelation one has to abandon tradition and independently investigate. Baháʼís are taught to view religion as a source of unity, and religious prejudice as destructive. Science is also viewed in harmony with true religion.[35] Though Baháʼu\'lláh and ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá called for a united world that is free of war, they also anticipate that over the long term, the establishment of a lasting peace (The Most Great Peace) and the purging of the \"overwhelming Corruptions\" requires that the people of the world unite under a universal faith with spiritual virtues and ethics to complement material civilization.[38]
Shoghi Effendi, the head of the religion from 1921 to 1957, wrote the following summary of what he considered to be the distinguishing principles of Baháʼu\'lláh\'s teachings, which, he said, together with the laws and ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas constitute the bedrock of the Baháʼí Faith:
The independent search after truth, unfettered by superstition or tradition; the oneness of the entire human race, the pivotal principle and fundamental doctrine of the Faith; the basic unity of all religions; the condemnation of all forms of prejudice, whether religious, racial, class or national; the harmony which must exist between religion and science; the equality of men and women, the two wings on which the bird of human kind is able to soar; the introduction of compulsory education; the adoption of a universal auxiliary language; the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty; the institution of a world tribunal for the adjudication of disputes between nations; the exaltation of work, performed in the spirit of service, to the rank of worship; the glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society, and of religion as a bulwark for the protection of all peoples and nations; and the establishment of a permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of all mankind—these stand out as the essential elements [which Baháʼu\'lláh proclaimed].[39][40]
CovenantMain article: Covenant of Baháʼu\'lláhBaháʼís highly value unity, and Baháʼu\'lláh clearly established rules for holding the community together and resolving disagreements. Within this framework no individual follower may propose \'inspired\' or \'authoritative\' interpretations of scripture, and individuals agree to support the line of authority established in Baháʼí scriptures.[41] This practice has left the Baháʼí community unified and avoided any serious fracturing.[42] The Universal House of Justice is the final authority to resolve any disagreements among Baháʼís, and the dozen or so attempts at schism[43] have all either become extinct or remained extremely small, numbering a few hundred collectively.[44][45] The followers of such divisions are regarded as Covenant-breakers and shunned.[46]
Sacred textsTexts and scripturesof the Baháʼí FaithBahai star.svgFrom Baháʼu\'lláhDays of RemembranceEpistle to the Son of the WolfThe Four ValleysGems of Divine Hidden WordsThe Seven ValleysSummons of the Lord of HostsTabernacle of UnityTablets of Baháʼu\'lláhList of writings of Baháʼu\'lláhFrom the BábPersian BayánArabic BayánWritings of the BábFrom ʻAbdu\'l-BaháParis TalksThe Secret of Divine CivilizationSome Answered QuestionsTablets of the Divine PlanTablet to Dr. ForelTablet to The HagueWill and TestamentFrom Shoghi EffendiGod Passes ByAdvent of Divine JusticePromised Day is ComevteMain article: Baháʼí literatureThe canonical texts of the Baháʼí Faith are the writings of the Báb, Baháʼu\'lláh, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice, and the authenticated talks of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá. The writings of the Báb and Baháʼu\'lláh are considered as divine revelation, the writings and talks of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá and the writings of Shoghi Effendi as authoritative interpretation, and those of the Universal House of Justice as authoritative legislation and elucidation. Some measure of divine guidance is assumed for all of these texts.[47]
Some of Baháʼu\'lláh\'s most important writings include the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (\"Most Holy Book\"), which defines many laws and practices for individuals and society,[48] the Kitáb-i-Íqán (\"Book of Certitude\"), which became the foundation of much of Baháʼí belief,[49] and Gems of Divine Mysteries, which includes further doctrinal foundations. Although the Baháʼí teachings have a strong emphasis on social and ethical issues, a number of foundational texts have been described as mystical.[21] These include the Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys.[50] The Seven Valleys was written to a follower of Sufism, in the style of ʻAttar, the Persian Muslim poet,[51] and sets forth the stages of the soul\'s journey towards God. It was first translated into English in 1906, becoming one of the earliest available books of Baháʼu\'lláh to the West. The Hidden Words is another book written by Baháʼu\'lláh during the same period, containing 153 short passages in which Baháʼu\'lláh claims to have taken the basic essence of certain spiritual truths and written them in brief form.[52]
HistoryMain article: History of the Baháʼí FaithA domed buildingShrine of the Báb in Haifa, IsraelBaháʼí timeline1817 Baháʼu\'lláh was born in Tehran, Iran1819 The Báb was born in Shiraz, Iran1844 The Báb declares his mission in Shiraz, Iran1850 The Báb is publicly executed in Tabriz, Iran1852 Thousands of Bábís are executedBaháʼu\'lláh is imprisoned and forced into exile1863 Baháʼu\'lláh first announces his claim to divine revelation in Baghdad, Iraq.He is forced to leave Baghdad for Istanbul, then Adrianople1868 Baháʼu\'lláh is forced into harsher confinement in ʻAkká, in Palestine1892 Baháʼu\'lláh dies near ʻAkkáHis Will appointed ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá as successor1908 ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá is released from prison1921 ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá dies in HaifaHis Will appointed Shoghi Effendi as Guardian1957 Shoghi Effendi dies in England1963 The Universal House of Justice is first electedThe Baháʼí Faith traces its beginnings to the religion of the Báb and the Shaykhi movement that immediately preceded it. The Báb was a merchant who began preaching in 1844 that he was the bearer of a new revelation from God, but was rejected by the generality of Islamic clergy in Iran, ending in his public execution for the crime of heresy.[53] The Báb taught that God would soon send a new messenger, and Baháʼís consider Baháʼu\'lláh to be that person.[54] Although they are distinct movements, the Báb is so interwoven into Baháʼí theology and history that Baháʼís celebrate his birth, death, and declaration as holy days, consider him one of their three central figures (along with Baháʼu\'lláh and ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá), and a historical account of the Bábí movement (The Dawn-Breakers) is considered one of three books that every Baháʼí should \"master\" and read \"over and over again\".[55]
The Baháʼí community was mostly confined to the Iranian and Ottoman empires until after the death of Baháʼu\'lláh in 1892, at which time he had followers in 13 countries of Asia and Africa.[56] Under the leadership of his son, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, the religion gained a footing in Europe and America, and was consolidated in Iran, where it still suffers intense persecution.[13] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s death in 1921 marks the end of what Baháʼís call the \"heroic age\" of the religion.[57]
BábMain article: BábOn the evening of 22 May 1844, Siyyid ʻAlí-Muhammad of Shiraz gained his first convert and took on the title of \"the Báb\" (الباب \"Gate\"), referring to his later claim to the status of Mahdi of Shiʻa Islam.[13] His followers were therefore known as Bábís. As the Báb\'s teachings spread, which the Islamic clergy saw as blasphemous, his followers came under increased persecution and torture.[21] The conflicts escalated in several places to military sieges by the Shah\'s army. The Báb himself was imprisoned and eventually executed in 1850.[58]
Baháʼís see the Báb as the forerunner of the Baháʼí Faith, because the Báb\'s writings introduced the concept of \"He whom God shall make manifest\", a messianic figure whose coming, according to Baháʼís, was announced in the scriptures of all of the world\'s great religions, and whom Baháʼu\'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, claimed to be.[21] The Báb\'s tomb, located in Haifa, Israel, is an important place of pilgrimage for Baháʼís. The remains of the Báb were brought secretly from Iran to the Holy Land and eventually interred in the tomb built for them in a spot specifically designated by Baháʼu\'lláh.[59] The writings of the Báb are considered inspired scripture by Baháʼís, though having been superseded by the laws and teachings of Baháʼu\'lláh.[60] The main written works translated into English of the Báb are compiled in Selections from the Writings of the Báb (1976) out of the estimated 135 works.[61][62]
Baháʼu\'lláhMain article: Baháʼu\'lláh
Baháʼu\'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí FaithMírzá Husayn ʻAlí Núrí was one of the early followers of the Báb,[63] and later took the title of Baháʼu\'lláh.[64] In August 1852, a few Bábís[65] made a failed attempt to assassinate the Shah.[66] The Persian government responded by killing and in some cases torturing about 50 Bábís in Tehran initially,[66] further bloodshed was spread around the country: hundreds were reported in period newspapers by October, and tens of thousands by the end of December.[67] Baháʼu\'lláh was not involved in the assassination attempt but was imprisoned in Tehran until his release was arranged four months later by the Russian ambassador, after which he joined other Bábís in exile in Baghdad.[68]
Shortly thereafter he was expelled from Iran and traveled to Baghdad, in the Ottoman Empire.[18] In Baghdad, his leadership revived the persecuted followers of the Báb in Iran, so Iranian authorities requested his removal, which instigated a summons to Constantinople (now Istanbul) from the Ottoman Sultan. In 1863, at the time of his removal from Baghdad, Baháʼu\'lláh first announced his claim of prophethood to his family and followers, which he said came to him years earlier while in a dungeon of Tehran.[18] From the time of the initial exile from Iran, tensions grew between him and Subh-i-Azal, the appointed leader of the Bábís, who did not recognize Baháʼu\'lláh\'s claim. Throughout the rest of his life Baháʼu\'lláh gained the allegiance of almost all of the Bábís, who came to be known as Baháʼís, while a remnant of Bábís became known as Azalis.[69]
He spent less than four months in Constantinople. After receiving chastising letters from Baháʼu\'lláh, Ottoman authorities turned against him and put him under house arrest in Adrianople (now Edirne), where he remained for four years, until a royal decree of 1868 banished all Bábís to either Cyprus or ʻAkká.
It was in or near the Ottoman penal colony of ʻAkká, in present-day Israel, that Baháʼu\'lláh spent the remainder of his life. After initially strict and harsh confinement, he was allowed to live in a home near ʻAkká, while still officially a prisoner of that city.[70] He died there in 1892. Baháʼís regard his resting place at Bahjí as the Qiblih to which they turn in prayer each day.[71]
He produced over 18,000 works in his lifetime, in both Arabic and Persian, of which only 8% have been translated into English.[72] During the period in Adrianople, he began declaring his mission as a Messenger of God in letters to the world\'s religious and secular rulers, including Pope Pius IX, Napoleon III, and Queen Victoria.[73]
ʻAbdu\'l-BaháMain article: Effendi was Baháʼu\'lláh\'s eldest son, known by the title of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá (Servant of Bahá). His father left a will that appointed ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá as the leader of the Baháʼí community.[74] ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá had shared his father\'s long exile and imprisonment, which continued until ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá\'s own release as a result of the Young Turk Revolution in 1908. Following his release he led a life of travelling, speaking, teaching, and maintaining correspondence with communities of believers and individuals, expounding the principles of the Baháʼí Faith.[18]
As of 2020, there are over 38,000 extant documents containing the words of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, which are of widely varying lengths.[75] Only a fraction of these documents have been translated into English.[needs update][62] Among the more well known are The Secret of Divine Civilization, Some Answered Questions, the Tablet to Auguste-Henri Forel, the Tablets of the Divine Plan, and the Tablet to The Hague.[75] Additionally notes taken of a number of his talks were published in various volumes like Paris Talks during his journeys to the West.
Shoghi EffendiMain article: Shoghi EffendiBaháʼu\'lláh\'s Kitáb-i-Aqdas and The Will and Testament of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá are foundational documents of the Baháʼí administrative order. Baháʼu\'lláh established the elected Universal House of Justice, and ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá established the appointed hereditary Guardianship and clarified the relationship between the two institutions.[76] In his Will, ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá appointed Shoghi Effendi, his eldest grandson, as the first Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith. Shoghi Effendi served for 36 years as the head of the religion until his death.[77]
Throughout his lifetime, Shoghi Effendi translated Baháʼí texts; developed global plans for the expansion of the Baháʼí community; developed the Baháʼí World Centre; carried on a voluminous correspondence with communities and individuals around the world; and built the administrative structure of the religion, preparing the community for the election of the Universal House of Justice.[18] He unexpectedly died after a brief illness on 4 November 1957, in London, England, under conditions that did not allow for a successor to be appointed.[78][79]
In 1937, Shoghi Effendi launched a seven-year plan for the Baháʼís of North America, followed by another in 1946. In 1953, he launched the first international plan, the Ten Year World Crusade. This plan included extremely ambitious goals for the expansion of Baháʼí communities and institutions, the translation of Baháʼí texts into several new languages, and the sending of Baháʼí pioneers into previously unreached nations.[80] He announced in letters during the Ten Year Crusade that it would be followed by other plans under the direction of the Universal House of Justice, which was elected in 1963 at the culmination of the Crusade.[citation needed]
Universal House of JusticeMain article: Universal House of JusticeA white domed building with a large garden leading toward itThe Baháʼí House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois, is the oldest surviving Baháʼí House of Worship in the world.[81]Since 1963, the Universal House of Justice has been the elected head of the Baháʼí Faith. The general functions of this body are defined through the writings of Baháʼu\'lláh and clarified in the writings of Abdu\'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. These functions include teaching and education, implementing Baháʼí laws, addressing social issues, and caring for the weak and the poor.[82]
Starting with the Nine Year Plan that began in 1964, the Universal House of Justice has directed the work of the Baháʼí community through a series of multi-year international plans.[83][84] Starting with the Nine-Year Plan that began in 1964, the Baháʼí leadership sought to continue the expansion of the religion but also to \"consolidate\" new members, meaning increase their knowledge of the Baháʼí teachings.[85] In this vein, in the 1970s, the Ruhi Institute was founded by Baháʼís in Colombia to offer short courses on Baháʼí beliefs, ranging in length from a weekend to nine days.[85] The associated Ruhi Foundation, whose purpose was to systematically \"consolidate\" new Baháʼís, was registered in 1992, and since the late 1990s the courses of the Ruhi Institute have been the dominant way of teaching the Baháʼí Faith around the world.[85] By 2013 there were over 300 Baháʼí training institutes around the world and 100,000 people participating in courses.[86] The courses of the Ruhi Institute train communities to self-organize classes for the spiritual education of children and youth, among other activities.[86] Additional lines of action the Universal House of Justice has encouraged for the contemporary Baháʼí community include social action and participation in the prevalent discourses of society.[87]
Annually, on 21 April, the Universal House of Justice sends a \'Ridván\' message to the worldwide Baháʼí community,[88] that updates Baháʼís on current developments and provides further guidance for the year to come.[c]
At local, regional, and national levels, Baháʼís elect members to nine-person Spiritual Assemblies, which run the affairs of the religion. There are also appointed individuals working at various levels, including locally and internationally, which perform the function of propagating the teachings and protecting the community. The latter do not serve as clergy, which the Baháʼí Faith does not have.[21][89] The Universal House of Justice remains the supreme governing body of the Baháʼí Faith, and its 9 members are elected every five years by the members of all National Spiritual Assemblies.[90] Any male Baháʼí, 21 years or older, is eligible to be elected to the Universal House of Justice; all other positions are open to male and female Baháʼís.[91]
Malietoa Tanumafili II of Samoa, who became Baháʼí in 1968 and died in 2007, was the first serving head of state to embrace the Baháʼí Faith.[92]
DemographicsFurther information: Baháʼí Faith by countryA large temple in the shape of an open lotus flowerThe Lotus Temple, the first Baháʼí House of Worship of India, built in 1986. It attracts an estimated 4.5 million visitors a year.As of around 2020, there were about 8 million Bahá\'ís in the world.[93][94] In 2013, two scholars of demography wrote that, \"The Baha\'i Faith is the only religion to have grown faster in every United Nations region over the past 100 years than the general population; Bahaʼi [sic] was thus the fastest-growing religion between 1910 and 2010, growing at least twice as fast as the population of almost every UN region.\"[95] (See Growth of religion.)
The largest proportions of the total worldwide Bahá\'í population[96] were found in sub-Saharan Africa (29.9%) and South Asia (26.8%), followed by Southeast Asia (12.7%) and Latin America (12.2%). Lesser populations are found in North America (7.6%) and the Middle East/North Africa (6.2%), while the smallest populations in Europe (2.0%), Australasia (1.6%), and Northeast Asia (0.9%). In 2015, the internationally recognized religion was the second-largest international religion in Iran,[97] Panama,[98] Belize,[99] Bolivia,[100] Zambia,[101] and Papua New Guinea;[102] and the third-largest in Chad,[103] and Kenya.[104]
From the Bahá\'í Faith\'s origins in the 19th century until the 1950s, the vast majority of Baháʼís were found in Iran; converts from outside Iran were mostly found in India and the Western world.[105] From having roughly 200,000 Baháʼís in 1950,[106] the religion grew to having over 4 million by the late 1980s, with a widespread international distribution.[105][107] Most of the growth in the late 20th century was seeded out of North America by means of the planned migration of individuals.[108] Yet, rather than being a cultural spread from either Iran or North America, in 2001, sociologist David B. Barrett wrote that the Baháʼí Faith is, \"A world religion with no racial or national focus\".[109] However, the growth has not been even. From the late 1920s to the late 1980s, the religion was banned and adherents of it were harassed in the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc,[110][111][112] and then again from the 1970s into the 1990s across some countries in sub-Saharan Africa.[83][113] The most intense opposition has been in Iran and neighboring Shia-majority countries,[114] considered an attempted genocide by some scholars, watchdog agencies and human rights organizations.[13][115][116][117] Meanwhile, in other times and places, the religion has experienced surges in growth. Before it was banned in certain countries, the religion \"hugely increased\" in sub-Saharan Africa.[118] In 1989 the Universal House of Justice named Bolivia, Bangladesh, Haiti, India, Liberia, Peru, the Philippines, and Taiwan as countries where the growth of the religion had been notable in the previous decades.[119] Bahá\'í sources claimed \"more than five million\" Bahá\'ís in 1991-2.[120] However, since around 2001 the Universal House of Justice has prioritized statistics of the community by their levels of activity rather than simply their population of avowed adherents or numbers of local assemblies.[121][122][123]
Because Bahá\'ís do not represent the majority of the population in any country,[124] and most often represent only a tiny fraction of countries\' total populations,[125] there are problems of under-reporting.[126] In addition, there are examples where the adherents have their highest density among minorities in societies who face their own challenges.[127][128]
Social practicesSee also: Baháʼí lawsExhortationsThe following are a few examples from Baháʼu\'lláh\'s teachings on personal conduct that are required or encouraged of his followers:
Baháʼís over the age of 15 should individually recite an obligatory prayer each day, using fixed words and form.[129]In addition to the daily obligatory prayer, Baháʼís should offer daily devotional prayer and should meditate and study sacred scripture.[130]Adult Baháʼís should observe a Nineteen-Day Fast each year during daylight hours in March, with certain exemptions.[131]There are specific requirements for Baháʼí burial that include a specified prayer to be read at the interment. Embalming or cremating the body is strongly discouraged.[citation needed]Baháʼís should make a 19% voluntary payment on any wealth in excess of what is necessary to live comfortably, after the remittance of any outstanding debt. The payments go to the Universal House of Justice.[131]ProhibitionsElaborate gardens with several gates and a walkway leading to a domed building in the distanceBaháʼí gardens in Haifa, IsraelThe following are a few acts of personal conduct that are prohibited or discouraged by Baháʼu\'lláh\'s teachings:
Backbiting and gossipping are prohibited and denounced.[132]Drinking and selling alcohol are forofferden.[133]Sexual intercourse is only permitted between a husband and a wife, and as a result, premarital, extramarital, and homosexual intercourse are all forofferden.[134] (See also Homosexuality and the Baháʼí Faith)Participation in partisan politics is forofferden.[135]Begging is forofferden as a profession.[136]The observance of personal laws, such as prayer or fasting, is the sole responsibility of the individual.[137] There are, however, occasions when a Baháʼí might be administratively expelled from the community for a public disregard of the laws, or gross immorality. Such expulsions are administered by the National Spiritual Assembly and do not involve shunning.[138]
While some of the laws in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas are applicable at the present time, other laws are dependent upon the existence of a predominantly Baháʼí society, such as the punishments for arson and murder.[139] The laws, when not in direct conflict with the civil laws of the country of residence, are binding on every Baháʼí.[140][141]
MarriageMain article: Baháʼí marriageThe purpose of marriage in the Baháʼí Faith is mainly to foster spiritual harmony, fellowship and unity between a man and a woman and to provide a stable and loving environment for the rearing of children.[142] The Baháʼí teachings on marriage call it a fortress for well-being and salvation and place marriage and the family as the foundation of the structure of human society.[143] Baháʼu\'lláh highly praised marriage, discouraged divorce, and required chastity outside of marriage; Baháʼu\'lláh taught that a husband and wife should strive to improve the spiritual life of each other.[144] Interracial marriage is also highly praised throughout Baháʼí scripture.[143]
Baháʼís intending to marry are asked to obtain a thorough understanding of the other\'s character before deciding to marry.[143] Although parents should not choose partners for their children, once two individuals decide to marry, they must receive the consent of all living biological parents, whether they are Baháʼí or not. The Baháʼí marriage ceremony is simple; the only compulsory part of the wedding is the reading of the wedding vows prescribed by Baháʼu\'lláh which both the groom and the bride read, in the presence of two witnesses.[143] The vows are \"We will all, verily, aoffere by the Will of God.\"[143]
Transgender people can gain recognition of their gender in the Baháʼí Faith if they have medically transitioned and undergone sex reassignment surgery (SRS). After SRS, they are considered transitioned and may have a Baháʼí prohibited a mendicant and ascetic lifestyle.[136] Monasticism is forofferden, and Baháʼís are taught to practice spirituality while engaging in useful work.[21] The importance of self-exertion and service to humanity in one\'s spiritual life is emphasised further in Baháʼu\'lláh\'s writings, where he states that work done in the spirit of service to humanity enjoys a rank equal to that of prayer and worship in the sight of God.[21]
Places of worshipMain article: Baháʼí House of WorshipA white domed building with palm trees in front of itBaháʼí House of Worship, Langenhain, GermanyBahá\'í devotional meetings in most communities currently take place in people\'s homes or Bahá\'í centres, but in some communities Bahá\'í Houses of Worship (also known as Bahá\'í temples) have been built.[147] Bahá\'í Houses of Worship are places where both Baháʼís and non-Baháʼís can express devotion to God.[148] They are also known by the name Mashriqu\'l-Adhkár (Arabic for \"Dawning-place of the remembrance of God\").[149] Only the holy scriptures of the Bahá\'í Faith and other religions can be read or chanted inside, and while readings and prayers that have been set to music may be sung by choirs, no musical instruments may be played inside.[150] Furthermore, no sermons may be delivered, and no ritualistic ceremonies practiced.[150] All Bahá\'í Houses of Worship have a nine-sided shape (nonagon) as well as nine pathways leading outward and nine gardens surrounding them.[151] There are currently eight \"continental\" Bahá\'í Houses of Worship and some local Bahá\'í Houses of Worship completed or under construction.[79] The Bahá\'í writings also envision Bahá\'í Houses of Worship being surrounded by institutions for humanitarian, scientific, and educational pursuits,[149] though none has yet been built up to such an extent.[152]
CalendarMain article: Baháʼí calendarThe Baháʼí calendar is based upon the calendar established by the Báb. The year consists of 19 months, each having 19 days, with four or five intercalary days, to make a full solar year.[18] The Baháʼí New Year corresponds to the traditional Iranian New Year, called Naw Rúz, and occurs on the vernal equinox, near 21 March, at the end of the month of fasting. Once every Baháʼí month there is a gathering of the Baháʼí community called a Nineteen Day Feast with three parts: first, a devotional part for prayer and reading from Baháʼí scripture; second, an administrative part for consultation and community matters; and third, a social part for the community to interact freely.[147]
Each of the 19 months is given a name which is an attribute of God; some examples include Baháʼ (Splendour), ʻIlm (Knowledge), and Jamál (Beauty).[153] The Baháʼí week is familiar in that it consists of seven days, with each day of the week also named after an attribute of God. Baháʼís observe 11 Holy Days throughout the year, with work suspended on 9 of these. These days commemorate important anniversaries in the history of the religion.[154]
SymbolsMain article: Baháʼí symbolsArabic script inscribed on a metal plateThe calligraphy of the Greatest NameThe symbols of the religion are derived from the Arabic word Baháʼ (بهاء \"splendor\" or \"glory\"), with a numerical value of nine. This numerical connection to the name of Baháʼu\'lláh, as well as nine being the highest single-digit, symbolizing completeness, are why the most common symbol of the religion is a nine-pointed star, and Baháʼí temples are nine-sided.[155][25] The nine-pointed star is commonly set on Baháʼí gravestones.[156]
The ringstone symbol and calligraphy of the Greatest Name are also often encountered. The ringstone symbol consists of two five-pointed stars interspersed with a stylized Baháʼ whose shape is meant to recall God, the Manifestation of God, and the world of man;[156] the Greatest Name is a calligraphic rendering of the phrase Yá Baháʼu\'l-Abhá (يا بهاء الأبهى \"O Glory of the Most Glorious!\") and is commonly found in Baháʼí temples and homes.[156]
Socio-economic developmentMain article: Socioeconomic development and the Baháʼí FaithA black-and-white photograph of several dozen girls seated in front of a school buildingStudents of School for Girls, Tehran, 13 August 1933. This photograph may be of the students of Tarbiyat School for Girls which was established by the Baháʼí Community of Tehran in 1911; the school was closed by government decree in 1934.[157]Since its inception the Baháʼí Faith has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women,[158][better source needed] promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern,[159][better source needed] and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural co-ops, and clinics.[158][better source needed]
The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice dated 20 October 1983 was released. Baháʼís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Baháʼí teachings, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Baháʼí socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482.[83]
Current initiatives of social action include activities in areas like health, sanitation, education, gender equality, arts and media, agriculture, and the environment.[160][better source needed] Educational projects include schools, which range from village tutorial schools to large secondary schools, and some universities.[161] By 2017, the Baháʼí Office of Social and Economic Development estimated that there were 40,000 small-scale projects, 1,400 sustained projects, and 135 Baháʼí-inspired organizations.[160]
United NationsBaháʼu\'lláh wrote of the need for world government in this age of humanity\'s collective life. Because of this emphasis the international Baháʼí community has chosen to support efforts of improving international relations through organizations such as the League of Nations and the United Nations, with some reservations about the present structure and constitution of the UN.[161] The Baháʼí International Community is an agency under the direction of the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, and has consultative status with the following organizations:[162][163]
United Nations Children\'s Fund (UNICEF)United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)World Health Organization (WHO)The Baháʼí International Community has offices at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and representations to United Nations regional commissions and other offices in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Nairobi, Rome, Santiago, and Vienna.[163] In recent years, an Office of the Environment and an Office for the Advancement of Women were established as part of its United Nations Office. The Baháʼí Faith has also undertaken joint development programs with various other United Nations agencies. In the 2000 Millennium Forum of the United Nations a Baháʼí was invited as one of the only non-governmental speakers during the summit.[164][better source needed]
PersecutionMain article: Persecution of BaháʼísBroken cinder blocks and felled palm treesThe Baháʼí cemetery in Yazd after its desecration by the Iranian governmentBaháʼís continue to be persecuted in some majority-Islamic countries, whose leaders do not recognize the Baháʼí Faith as an independent religion, but rather as apostasy from Islam. The most severe persecutions have occurred in Iran, where more than 200 Baháʼís were executed between 1978 and 1998.[165] The rights of Baháʼís have been restricted to greater or lesser extents in numerous other countries, including Egypt, Afghanistan,[166][better source needed] Indonesia,[167] Iraq,[168] Morocco,[169] Yemen,[170] and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa.[83]
IranThe most enduring persecution of Baháʼís has been in Iran, the birthplace of the religion.[171] When the Báb started attracting a large following, the clergy hoped to stop the movement from spreading by stating that its followers were enemies of God. These clerical directives led to mob attacks and public executions.[13] Starting in the twentieth century, in addition to repression aimed at individual Baháʼís, centrally directed campaigns that targeted the entire Baháʼí community and its institutions were initiated.[172] In one case in Yazd in 1903 more than 100 Baháʼís were killed.[173] Baháʼí schools, such as the Tarbiyat boys\' and girls\' schools in Tehran, were closed in the 1930s and 1940s, Baháʼí marriages were not recognized and Baháʼí texts were censored.[172][174]
During the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to divert attention from economic difficulties in Iran and from a growing nationalist movement, a campaign of persecution against the Baháʼís was instituted.[d] An approved and coordinated anti-Baháʼí campaign (to incite public passion against the Baháʼís) started in 1955 and it included the spreading of anti-Baháʼí propaganda on national radio stations and in official newspapers.[172] During that campaign, initiated by Mulla Muhammad Taghi Falsafi, the Bahá\'í center in Tehran was demolished at the orders of Tehran military governor, General Teymur Bakhtiar.[176] In the late 1970s the Shah\'s regime consistently lost legitimacy due to criticism that it was pro-Western. As the anti-Shah movement gained ground and support, revolutionary propaganda was spread which alleged that some of the Shah\'s advisors were Baháʼís.[177] Baháʼís were portrayed as economic threats, and as supporters of Israel and the West, and societal hostility against the Baháʼís increased.[172][178]
Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 Iranian Baháʼís have regularly had their homes ransacked or have been banned from attending university or from holding government jobs, and several hundred have received prison sentences for their religious beliefs, most recently for participating in study circles.[165] Baháʼí cemeteries have been desecrated and property has been seized and occasionally demolished, including the House of Mírzá Buzurg, Baháʼu\'lláh\'s father.[13] The House of the Báb in Shiraz, one of three sites to which Baháʼís perform pilgrimage, has been destroyed twice.[13][179] In May 2018, the Iranian authorities expelled a young woman student from university of Isfahan because she was Baháʼí.[180] In March 2018, two more Baháʼí students were expelled from universities in the cities of Zanjan and Gilan because of their religion.
According to a US panel, attacks on Baháʼís in Iran increased under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad\'s presidency.[181][182] The United Nations Commission on Human Rights revealed an October 2005 confidential letter from Command Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Iran ordering its members to identify Baháʼís and to monitor their activities. Due to these actions, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights stated on 20 March 2006, that she \"also expresses concern that the information gained as a result of such monitoring will be used as a basis for the increased persecution of, and discrimination against, members of the Baháʼí faith, in violation of international standards. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that this latest development indicates that the situation with regard to religious minorities in Iran is, in fact, deteriorating.\"[183]
On 14 May 2008, members of an informal body known as the \"Friends\" that oversaw the needs of the Baháʼí community in Iran were arrested and taken to Evin prison.[181][184] The Friends court case has been postponed several times, but was finally underway on 12 January 2010.[185] Other observers were not allowed in the court. Even the defense lawyers, who for two years have had minimal access to the defendants, had difficulty entering the courtroom. The chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said that it seems that the government has already predetermined the outcome of the case and is violating international human rights law.[185] Further sessions were held on 7 February 2010,[186] 12 April 2010[187] and 12 June 2010.[188] On 11 August 2010 it became known that the court sentence was 20 years imprisonment for each of the seven prisoners[189] which was later reduced to ten years.[190] After the sentence, they were transferred to Gohardasht prison.[191] In March 2011 the sentences were reinstated to the original 20 years.[192] On 3 January 2010, Iranian authorities detained ten more members of the Baha\'i minority, reportedly including Leva Khanjani, granddaughter of Jamaloddin Khanjani, one of seven Baha\'i leaders jailed since 2008 and in February, they arrested his son, Niki Khanjani.[193]
The Iranian government claims that the Baháʼí Faith is not a religion, but is instead a political organization, and hence refuses to recognize it as a minority religion.[194] However, the government has never produced convincing evidence supporting its characterization of the Baháʼí community.[195] The Iranian government also accuses the Baháʼí Faith of being associated with Zionism.[196] These accusations against the Baháʼís appear to lack basis in historical fact,[e][178][197] with some arguing they were invented by the Iranian government in order to use the Baháʼís as \"scapegoats\".[198]
In 2019, the Iranian government made it impossible for the Baháʼís to legally register with the Iranian state. National identity card applications in Iran no longer include the “other religions” option effectively making the Baháʼí Faith unrecognized by the state.[199]
EgyptDuring the 1920s, Egypt\'s religious Tribunal recognized the Baha\'i Faith as a new, independent religion, totally separate from Islam, due to the nature of the \'laws, principles and beliefs\' of the Baha\'is.
Baháʼí institutions and community activities have been illegal under Egyptian law since 1960. All Baháʼí community properties, including Baháʼí centers, libraries, and cemeteries, have been confiscated by the government and fatwas have been issued charging Baháʼís with apostasy.[200]
The Egyptian identification card controversy began in the 1990s when the government modernized the electronic processing of identity documents, which introduced a de facto requirement that documents must list the person\'s religion as Muslim, Christian, or Jewish (the only three religions officially recognized by the government). Consequently, Baháʼís were unable to obtain government identification documents (such as national identification cards, birth certificates, death certificates, marriage or divorce certificates, or passports) necessary to exercise their rights in their country unless they lied about their religion, which conflicts with Baháʼí religious principle. Without documents, they could not be employed, educated, treated in hospitals, travel outside of the country, or vote, among other hardships.[201][better source needed] Following a protracted legal process culminating in a court ruling favorable to the Baháʼís, the interior minister of Egypt released a decree on 14 April 2009, amending the law to allow Egyptians who are not Muslim, Christian, or Jewish to obtain identification documents that list a dash in place of one of the three recognized religions.[202][better source needed] The first identification cards were issued to two Baháʼís under the new decree on 8 August 2009.[203][better source needed]
See alsoBaháʼí administrationBaháʼí–Azali splitBaháʼí cosmologyBaháʼí Faith and gender equalityBaháʼí Faith in fictionBaháʼí studiesBaháʼí timelineBaháʼí views on scienceBaháʼí World Centre buildingsCriticism of the Baháʼí FaithHuqúqu\'lláhList of BaháʼísList of writings of Baháʼu\'lláhOutline of the Baháʼí FaithTerraces (Baháʼí)World Religion DayNotesThe Baháʼí Faith is variously described as a \'religion\', \'sect\',[1] \'relatively new religion\',[2] \'world religion\',[3] \'major world religion\',[4] \'megareligion\',[5] \'independent world religion\',[6] \'new religious movement\',[7] \'alternative religion\',[8] and other attempts to convey that it is new (relative to well-established faiths), not mainstream, and with no racial or national focus.Sources summarize the Baháʼí Faith as teaching, \"the essential worth of all religions, the unity of all peoples, and the equality of the sexes\",[9] \"the essential unity of all religions and the unity of humanity\",[10] \"the spiritual unity of mankind and advocates peace and universal education\",[11] \"the unity of all peoples under God\",[4] or \"religious unity... the Oneness of Humanity... the equality of all human beings regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or social class\".[12]All Ridván messages can be found at Bahai.org.In line with this is the thinking that the government encouraged the campaign to distract attention from more serious problems, including acute economic difficulties. Beyond this lay the difficulty which the regime faced in harnessing the nationalist movement that had supported Musaddiq.[175]The Iranian leader Naser al-Din Shah Qajar banished Baháʼu\'lláh from Iran to the Ottoman Empire, from where he was later exiled by the Ottom
Baháʼu\'lláh (born Ḥusayn-ʻAlí; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was the founder of the Baháʼí Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Persia, and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Bábí Faith. In 1863, in Iraq, he first announced his claim to a revelation from God, and spent the rest of his life in further imprisonment in the Ottoman Empire. His teachings revolved around the principles of unity and religious renewal, ranging from moral and spiritual progress to world governance.[1]
Baháʼu\'lláh was raised with no formal education but was well-read and devoutly religious. His family was considerably wealthy, and at the age of 22 he turned down a position in the government, instead managing family properties and donating considerable time and money to charities.[2] At the age of 27 he accepted the claim of the Báb and became among the most outspoken supporters of the new religious movement that advocated, among other things, abrogation of Islamic law, which attracted heavy opposition.[3] At the age of 33, during a governmental attempt to exterminate the movement, Baháʼu\'lláh narrowly escaped death, his properties were confiscated, and he was banished from Iran. Just before leaving, while imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál dungeon, Baháʼu\'lláh claimed to receive revelations from God marking the beginning of his divine mission.[4] After settling in Iraq, Baháʼu\'lláh again attracted the ire of Iranian authorities, and they requested that the Ottoman government move him farther away. He spent months in Istanbul where the authorities became hostile to his religious claims and put him under house arrest in Edirne for four years, followed by two years of harsh confinement in the prison-city of ‘Akká. His restrictions were gradually eased until his final years were spent in relative freedom in the area surrounding ‘Akká.
Baháʼu\'lláh\'s wrote at least 1,500 letters, some book-length, that have been translated into at least 802 languages.[5] Some notable examples include The Hidden Words, the Book of Certitude, and the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Some teachings are mystical and address the nature of God and the progress of the soul, while others address the needs of society, religious obligations of his followers, or the structure of Bahá’í institutions that would propagate the religion.[6] He viewed humans as fundamentally spiritual beings, and called upon individuals to develop divine virtues and further the material and spiritual advancement of society.[7]
Baháʼu\'lláh died in 1892 near ‘Akká. His burial place is a destination for pilgrimage by his followers, known as Bahá’ís, who now reside in 236 countries and territories and number between 5 and 8 million.[a] Baháʼís regard Baháʼu\'lláh as a messenger or manifestation of God in succession to Buddha, Jesus, or Muhammad.[10]
Name, title, and pronunciationBaháʼu\'lláh (/bəˈhɑːʔʊlɑː/, Arabic: بَهاءُالله) is a title meaning \"Glory of God\". He was born Ḥusayn-ʻAlí, and as the son of a nobleman in the province of Núr, he was known as Mírzá Ḥusayn-ʻAlí Núrí (Persian: میرزا حسینعلی نوری). In 1848, at the Conference of Badasht, he took the title Baháʼ (بهاء), Arabic for \"glory\" or \"splendour\".[11]
Many symbols and phrases of the Baháʼí Faith derive their significance from the word Baháʼ. For example, a nine-pointed star or nine-sided temples are references to the numerical value of Baháʼ according to a system of numerology (b=2, h=5, á=1, ʼ=1), the word Baháʼí indicates a follower of Baháʼ, and his son ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá (Servant of Baháʼ) chose his title to demonstrate servitude toward Baháʼu\'lláh.[citation needed]
In the 1930s, Baháʼís adopted a standardized system of transliterating Arabic that renders Arabic faithfully into Roman script. The vowels without diacritical marks are short, and those with diacritical marks are long. His name is pronounced in four syllables: Ba, as in bat; há, as in hard; the apostrophe-like mark after \"Bahá\" is for the Arabic letter hamza which represents the glottal stop; u\'l as in old (the apostrophe represents a contraction and is not pronounced); and láh as in law.[citation needed]
Common transliterations of the name, with or without diacritical marks, include Baha\'u\'llah, Bahaullah, and Baháʼ Alláh.
Early life in Iran
A depiction of Mírzá Buzurg, the father of Baháʼu\'lláhBaháʼu\'lláh was born in Tehran, Iran on 12 November 1817. Baháʼí authors trace his ancestry to Abraham through both his wives Keturah[12] and Sarah,[b] to the prophet Zoroaster,[14] to King David\'s father Jesse,[15] and to Yazdigird III, the last king of the Sassanian Empire.[16] His mother was Khadíjih Khánum,[17][c] his father Mírzá ʻAbbás-i-Núrí, known as Mírzá Buzurg,[16] served as vizier to Imám-Virdi Mírzá, the twelfth son of Fath-ʻAli Shah Qajar.
Baháʼu\'lláh married Ásíyih Khánum, the daughter of a nobleman, in Tehran in 1835 when he was 18 and she was 15.[19][d] In his early twenties Baháʼu\'lláh declined the life of privilege offered by his aristocratic lineage, instead devoting his time and resources to a range of charitable works that earned him renown as \"the Father of the Poor\".[2]
Acknowledgment of the BábMain article: Bábí FaithIn May 1844, a 24-year-old merchant from Shiraz, Siyyid Mírzá ʻAlí-Muḥammad, stirred Persia with his claim to not only be the promised redeemer of Islam (the Qa’im or Mahdi [Mihdi]), but a new prophet of God similar to Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.[10][21] He assumed the title \"the Báb\" (Arabic for \"the gate\"), indicating his position as a spiritual \"gate to divine knowledge\", and to a still greater God-sent educator whose imminent appearance he was preparing the way for.[21][22]The Shrine of the Báb, set amidst 19 terraces on Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel
Evening view of the Shrine of the Báb, an important pilgrimage site for all Bahá’ísSoon after declaring his spiritual mission to Mullá Husayn,[e] the Báb sent him to Tehran to deliver a special tablet[f] to one whom God would guide him to. After learning about Baháʼu\'lláh through an acquaintance, Mullá Husayn felt compelled to arrange for Baháʼu\'lláh to receive the tablet—this news brought great joy to the Báb when Mullá Husayn wrote him about it.[24] Bahá’u’lláh received the tablet when he was 27, he immediately acknowledged the truth of the Báb’s message and arose to share it with others.[19] In his native province of Núr Bahá’u’lláh’s notability as a prominent local provided numerous opportunities to teach the Bábí Faith, and his trips attracted many to the new religion, including Muslim clerics.[25] His Tehran home became a center for activities, and he generously gave financial support for the religion.[26] In the summer of 1848, Bahá’u’lláh attended and hosted[27] a gathering at Badasht in the province of Khorasan, where 84[28] Bábí disciples met for 22 days. At that conference historic discussions took place between those who wanted to maintain Islamic law (the religious heritage of most early Bábís[g]) and those who believed the Báb had inaugurated a new religious dispensation. Baháʼu\'lláh influenced agreement around the latter point of view.[34] It was at Badasht that Mírzá Ḥusayn-ʻAlí Núrí assumed the name Bahá’[11] and also gave new spiritual names to all other attendees; thereafter the Báb addressed tablets to them by those names.[35][h] When Táhirih, the most prominent female disciple of the Báb, was arrested after the conference, Baháʼu\'lláh intervened to protect her. Subsequently he himself was temporarily confined and punished with bastinado.[36]
The Bábí Faith quickly spread across Persia, attracting large numbers of adherents. This provoked widespread opposition from both Islamic clerics fearful of losing congregants and associated benefits, and from civil authorities afraid of the growing influence of the Bábí community,[37] resulting in thousands of Bábís being killed in relentless campaigns of persecution. In July 1850 the Báb himself was executed by firing squad in Tabriz at the age of 30.[38]
In his teachings the Báb identifies himself as the first of two Manifestations of God whom the Creator was sending to usher in the enduring peace that is to signify humanity’s attainment of maturity—when all people will live in unity as one human family.[39] Baháʼís hold that the Báb\'s teachings lay the groundwork \"for the eventual establishment of a society characterized by the unity of nations, fellowship of religions, equal rights of all people, and a compassionate, consultative, tolerant, democratic, moral world order\".[40] Woven throughout the Báb\'s teachings are references to \"Him whom God shall make manifest\",[41] the great Promised One for whom he was preparing the way. In numerous prophesies the Báb stated that the next divine educator would appear shortly after his own expected martyrdom.[42] In one of his major works, the Báb stated: \"Well is it with him who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Baháʼu\'lláh, and rendereth thanks unto his Lord.\"[43]
Arrest and imprisonmentEvents leading up to and after the execution of the Báb were tumultuous for Bábís. As Muslim leaders incited fanatic mobs to violence against them, many Bábís—while refusing to take offensive steps against attackers—did take actions to defend themselves,[44] but commonly ended-up being slaughtered. On 15 August 1852, two Bábí youth—in deep despair over the killings of the Báb and his leading disciples—made an ill-conceived attempt to assassinate the Iranian king whom they blamed for these tragedies. As Nasiri\'d-Din Shah passed along a public road the two blocked the monarch to fire birdshot at him. The king escaped serious injury, but the incident led to an outburst of persecution against Bábís far exceeding past events.[45]
Though investigations found the offending pair acted alone, a \"reign of terror\"[46] was unleashed, killing at least 10,000 Bábís that same year[47] as government ministers vied with one another to collectively punish known or suspected Bábís, including Bahá’u’lláh. Well known for his support of the Bábí cause, Baháʼu\'lláh was arrested and incarcerated in the subterranean Síyáh-Chál of Tehran, where he was bound in heavy chains that left life-long scars. Baháʼu\'lláh was confined to that dungeon for four months, as the mother of the Shah and authorities seeking to curry favor with the king sought ways to justify executing him.[48]
RevelationBahá’u’lláh relates that during imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál he had several mystical experiences, in which he received his mission as a manifestation of God, the Promised One heralded by the Báb.[4] Bahá’ís view this dawning of Bahá’u\'lláh’s spiritual mission as the beginning of fulfillment of the Báb’s prophecies regarding \"Him whom God shall make manifest\".[49] The \"inseparable\" nature and unity of the twin revelations of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh[41][50] are why Bahá’ís consider both faiths as forming one complete religious entity, and the reason the 1844 declaration of the Báb is considered the starting date of the Bahá’í Faith.
Banishment from Persia
Baháʼu\'lláh\'s passport, dated January 1853When it was proven beyond any doubt that Baháʼu\'lláh was innocent of involvement with the attempt against the Shah’s life,[47] the Shah finally agreed to free him but decreed that Baháʼu\'lláh would be permanently banished from Persia.[51] Dispossessed of his extensive properties and wealth, in the exceptionally severe winter of January 1853 Baháʼu\'lláh with family members undertook a three-month journey to Baghdad, thus beginning what became exile for the rest of his life in territories of the Ottoman Empire.[52]
Life in exileBaghdadUpon settling in Baghdad, Baháʼu\'lláh began dispatching communications and teachers to encourage and revive flagging spirits of persecuted followers of the Báb in Persia. Over time, a number of Bábís moved to Baghdad to be close to Bahá’u’lláh. One of these was Mirza Yahya, later known as Subh-i-Azal, a half-brother 13 years younger than Bahá’u’lláh, who followed him into the Bábí Faith and even accompanied him on some early journeys on its behalf. After their father\'s death, Yahya’s education and care were largely overseen by Bahá’u’lláh.[53] During Baha’u’llah’s imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál Yahya went into hiding,[54] but after Bahá’u’lláh’s exile to Iraq Yahya left Iran in disguise and made his way to Baghdad.[55]
For a time Yahya served as Bahá’u’lláh’s secretary in Baghdad, but envy for the growing admiration Bábís showed Bahá’u’lláh led Yahya to seek leadership of the Bábí religion.[56][57] Attempting to elevate himself among Bábís, Yahya and a few supporters referenced a letter the Báb had written a few years earlier when Yahya was still a teenager,[53][58] naming Yahya to nominal leadership pending the appearance of \"Him whom God shall make manifest\". Yahya claimed the letter meant he was actually appointed the successor or vicegerent of the Báb. Knowledgeable Bábís promptly rejected Yahya’s bold claim, because the referenced letter indicated no such status, and due to the fact that other writings of the Báb specifically \"eliminated the institution of successorship, or vicegerency\"[59] from his religion. The Báb also decreed no one’s words would be binding upon believers until the advent of the Promised One.[59] Others questioned Yahya’s motives, considering he had never done anything to protect the Bábí Faith or the lives of Bábís over which he was now claiming a high position.[60][61] To bolster his effort, Yahya simultaneously sought to discredit Bahá’u’lláh by spreading false rumors and accusations about him, which stirred up feelings among Bábís in the Baghdad community.
Departure for KurdistanDeclining to dispute with Yahya or do anything to \"endanger the unity and survival of the already demoralized Bábí community\",[62] Bahá’u’lláh entrusted his family to the care of his brother Mirza Musa and without notice left Baghdad on 10 April 1854 for mountains in the north near Sulaymaniyyih in Kurdistan. He later wrote that he withdrew to avoid becoming a source of disagreement within the Bábí community.[63][64]
Initially living as a hermit in those mountains, Bahá’u’lláh dressed as a dervish and used the name Darvish Muhammad-i-Irani.[63][65] In Sulaymaniyyih the head of a noted theological seminary happened to meet Bahá’u’lláh and invited him to visit.[66] There a student noticed Bahá’u’lláh’s exquisite penmanship, which raised the curiosity of leading instructors. As he responded to their queries on complex religious themes, Bahá’u’lláh quickly gained admiration for his learning and wisdom.[54] Shaykh ʻUthmán, Shaykh ʻAbdu\'r-Rahmán, and Shaykh Ismáʼíl, leaders of the Naqshbandíyyih, Qádiríyyih, and Khálidíyyih Orders respectively, began to seek his advice.[67] It was to the second of these that Bahá’u’lláh’s book the Four Valleys was written.[68]
During Bahá’u’lláh’s absence from the Baghdad Bábí community, Mirza Yahya’s true nature became increasingly clear. The public respect and morale of Bábís soon disintegrated as Yahya failed to give spiritual guidance or to demonstrate in daily living the lofty standards taught by the Báb. His actions to discredit Bahá’u’lláh, and any who admired him, grew. At the same time Yahya used the Bábí Faith to benefit himself materially and to try to augment his delusory standing, employing means towards those ends which shamefully contradicted statements by the Báb.[69] He also engaged in criminal activities, including persuading several followers to murder other Bábís whom Yahya viewed as potential adversaries, or as supporters of such imagined rivals.[53] Yahya even took steps to initiate another attempt to assassinate the Shah of Persia.[70][71] Yahya’s utter failings as a religious leader led most Bábís to reject his claims.[62]
When rumors of a ‘saint’ living in Sulaymaniyyih reached Bábí friends in Baghdad they suspected it was Bahá’u’lláh and asked one of his relatives to locate and beg him to return to help the community.[72] Acceding to their urgent requests, to which Yahya even added an appeal,[72] Bahá’u’lláh returned to Baghdad on 19 March 1856.[63]
Return to BaghdadOver the next 7 years, Bahá’u’lláh undertook to transform the Bábí community. Through personal example, as well as encouragement and constant interaction with Bábís, Bahá’u’lláh \"restored the community to the moral and spiritual level it had attained during the Báb’s lifetime\".[73] Growing numbers were drawn to join the reinvigorated Bábí movement.[63] As Bahá’u’lláh’s renown as a spiritual guide and Bábí leader grew, Mirza Yahya remained withdrawn.[73] The spread of Bahá’u’lláh’s reputation in Baghdad and surrounding areas, along with increased dissemination of his writings, attracted \"[p]rinces, scholars, mystics, and government officials\" to meet him, many \"prominent in Persian public life.\"[73][66] This development unnerved antithetical elements among Iran’s Islamic clergy, and again raised the \"intense fear and suspicion\" of the Iranian monarch and his advisors.[73]
Invitation to ConstantinopleThe Persian government asked the Ottoman government to extradite Baháʼu\'lláh back to Persia, but the latter refused.[63] The Persians then pressed the Ottomans to remove Baháʼu\'lláh from Baghdad which was near Iran’s border. The result was an invitation in April 1863 from Sultan ʻAbdu\'l-ʻAzíz himself inviting Baháʼu\'lláh to reside in the Ottoman capital Constantinople (now Istanbul).[74]
First announcementOn 22 April 1863, Baháʼu\'lláh left his house in Baghdad for the banks of the Tigris river and crossed to enter the verdant Najibiyyih garden-park on the other side, which a Baghdad admirer[who?] had offered for his use.[i] There Baháʼu\'lláh stayed for twelve days with family members and a few close followers chosen to accompany him. Upon arrival in the garden Bahá’u’lláh declared to his companions that he was \"Him whom God shall make manifest\", the one promised by the Báb,[76] and announced that his mission as God’s latest manifestation in this world had commenced.[66][77][j]
Sojourn in ConstantinopleBahá’u’lláh left the Riḍván garden on 3 May 1863 and proceeded with his family to Constantinople as guests of the Ottoman government,[78][79] accompanied by a mounted government escort arranged for their protection by \'Ali Pasha, the Sultan’s prime minister.[80] Other travelers included at least two dozen companions who requested Bahá’u’lláh’s permission to accompany him. Though not included in the Sultan’s invitation, Mirza Yahya joined the group en route.[78][81] After fifteen weeks Bahá’u’lláh arrived in the Ottoman capital on 16 August 1863.[82] He was welcomed by various government ministers of the Sultan, and by prominent personalities who paid their respects. The Persian ambassador also sent emissaries to greet him the day after his arrival.[83]
At the time, it was customary for prominent government guests such as Bahá’u’lláh to \"call on the prime minister and other high-ranking officials\", during which the guests would seek favors, broker deals, and secure various forms of official support for themselves. When Bahá’u’lláh did not return any visits, Kamal Pasha, a former Ottoman prime minister, even reminded him of the custom. Bahá’u’lláh’s response was that he knew of the practice \"but had no demands to make of anyone nor did he require favors from them; therefore there was no reason\" for him to call upon independence and detachment from the situation was used by the Persian ambassador to maliciously misrepresent Bahá’u’lláh before the Ottoman court,[85] and to press for his banishment from the capital.[86] As a consequence, less than four months after arriving in Constantinople, the prime minister suggested the Sultan banish Baháʼu\'lláh and his companions to Adrianople (now Edirne), which the ruler promptly approved.[87]
Expulsion to AdrianopleOn 12 December 1863, Baháʼu\'lláh arrived in Adrianople with his family and other companions. His presence there, which lasted four and a half years, became a significant period for the further unfoldment of his mission among Bábís, and for the general proclamation of his cause.[88] Over the next two years, writings which flowed from Bahá’u’lláh were broadly shared with Bábís in Iran. Bahá’u’lláh dispatched several trusted followers to Iran, and most of the Bábís came to recognize him as the leader of their faith.[89][90]The house where Baháʼu\'lláh stayed in AdrianopleEmboldened by lack of persecution against Bábís, Mirza Yahya \"decided to emerge from his self-imposed seclusion\" to again pursue leadership ambitions which his envy of Bahá’u’lláh had kept burning.[k] Convinced that Bahá’u’lláh’s death was necessary for his own advancement, Yahya’s first effort towards that end involved personally poisoning Bahá’u’lláh when he invited him for tea.[78] His doing so caused a severe month-long illness that left Bahá’u’lláh with a tremor in his hand for the rest of his life.[92][93] Though Bahá’u’lláh advised those who knew not to speak of what had happened, awareness of the incident grew, giving rise to strong agitation among Bábís. However, it was Yahya’s subsequent attempt on Bahá’u’lláh’s life that brought about \"an unprecedented commotion in the community\".[94] It involved Ustad Muhammad-‘Aliy-i-Salmani, a traditional barber who served as Bahá’u’lláh’s bath attendant.[78][l] Salmani reported that Yahya suddenly began to show kindness to him, then one day insinuated it would be \"a great service\" to their religion if he assassinated Bahá’u’lláh while attending to him in the bath. Salmani was so outraged he said his immediate thought was to kill Yahya—he hesitated only because he knew doing that would displease Bahá’u’lláh. Agitated, he informed Bahá’u’lláh’s faithful brother Mirza Musa of the incident, who advised him to ignore it, saying Yahya had thought of this for years.[96] Still upset, Salmani told ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh’s eldest son, about the matter, who told him not to speak of it to others. Salmani finally informed Bahá’u’lláh, who likewise said he should not mention it to anyone. Until this incident, because Yahya was a half-brother whom Bahá’u’lláh always treated with kindness and care, most in the Bábí community also showed Yahya respect, even if they did not accept his claims to a special religious status. However, when Salmani was unable to keep silent and openly related to others what Yahya had asked of him,[97] Yahya’s actions and intentions—so contrary to the Báb’s teachings—incited great turmoil amidst the Bábís.[98]
Having given his younger sibling ample guidance and opportunities to live as a Bábí should, and having repeatedly forgiven him for things he had done in the past,[99] Bahá’u’lláh decided the time had come to formally declare to Mirza Yahya[92] that he was God’s latest manifestation, the Promised One of the Báb, \"Him whom God shall make manifest\"[78]—because doing so would require him to obey Bahá’u’lláh if Yahya were to remain faithful to the Báb.[m] Bahá’u’lláh made that declaration to Yahya in early March 1866[92] through a tablet penned in Bahá’u’lláh’s own handwriting, and read aloud to Yahya by Bahá’u’lláh’s amanuensis.[101] Besides unequivocally proclaiming his spiritual station, Bahá’u’lláh called upon Yahya \"to recognize and support him as the Báb had explicitly instructed him to do.\"[102] Mirza Yahya’s response was to counter that he, not Bahá’u’lláh, was the promised manifestation mentioned by the Báb. This step by Yahya promptly resulted in almost all Bábís in Adrianople, who were already devoted to Bahá’u’lláh, deciding to have nothing further to do with Yahya or his few supporters. As news of this development reached Bábís in Persia and Iraq, and surviving Bábí members of the Báb’s family, their response in support of Bahá’u’lláh was the same.[102] Mirza Yahya’s effort to claim a divine station thus effectively cleaved him from most Bábís, for it was against the Báb’s covenant with his followers which decreed that whensoever \"Him whom God shall make manifest\" announced himself all Bábís were required to accept him.[103] From this time onwards those who understood the Báb’s teachings about the Promised One began to call themselves \"Bahá’ís\" (meaning the people of Bahá’, followers of Bahá’u’lláh).[102][n]
Final exile and imprisonment in ‘Akká
Map tracing Baháʼu\'lláh\'s banishmentsHaving lost all respect or influence among Bábís who had become Bahá’ís, Mirza Yahya again sought to discredit Baháʼu’lláh with Ottoman authorities, accusing him of agitating against the Turkish government.[105][106] Yahya’s actions provoked a government investigation, which cleared Baháʼu’lláh—but fearing religious issues might stir up future disorder, the Ottomans decided to imprison both Baháʼu\'lláh and Mirza Yahya in far-flung outposts of their empire.[107][105] In July 1868 a royal decree condemned Bahá’u’lláh and his family to perpetual imprisonment in the pestilential penal colony of ʻAkká; banished with them were most Bahá’ís in Adrianople, and a handful of Azalis.[o][108] Mirza Yahya’s intrigue also resulted in his own captivity—because Turkish authorities suspected he was involved in some conspiracy, he was sent to prison in Famagusta, Cyprus with his family, some Azalis, and four Bahá’ís.[109][110][111][p]Prison in ‘Akká in which Bahá\'u’lláh was incarceratedLeaving Adrianople on 12 August 1868, Bahá’u’lláh and his companions arrived in ‘Akká on 31 August where they were incarcerated in the city\'s prison citadel.[105] Inhabitants of ‘Akká were told the new prisoners were enemies of the state, of God, and his religion, and association with them was strictly forofferden. The first years in ‘Akká were under very harsh conditions with many Bahá’ís becoming sick (three eventually died).[105] June 1870 witnessed the tragic death of Baháʼu\'lláh’s 22-year-old son Mirzá Mihdí who fell through an unguarded skylight as he paced on the roof of the prison one evening while engrossed in prayer and meditation.[112][113] After a while, relations between Bahá’í prisoners, officials, and the local community improved, so conditions of their imprisonment were eased. When visiting \'Akká in April 1871, Dr. Thomas Chaplin (director of a British-run hospital in Jerusalem) met with ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, on behalf of Baháʼu\'lláh, in a home the family was living in after being moved out of the citadel. Afterward, the physician sent a letter regarding Baháʼu\'lláh to the editor of The Times, which was printed on 5 October 1871.[114][115][q] Eventually, after the Sultan\'s death, Baháʼu\'lláh was allowed to leave the city to visit nearby places, and to then reside in areas outside ‘Akká. From 1877–1879 Baháʼu\'lláh lived in Mazra\'ih, a house a few miles north of the prison city.[117]Mansion of Bahjí near ‘Akká
Aerial view of gardens around the shrine of Bahá\'u\'lláh
Approach to the Shrine of Bahá\'u\'lláh, with Mansion of Bahjí to the left
Entrance to the Shrine of Bahá\'u\'lláhThough formally still a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire, the final years of Baháʼu\'lláh\'s life (1879–1892) were spent in the Mansion of Bahjí, just outside ‘Akká. Baháʼu\'lláh devoted his time to writing numerous volumes detailing his teachings, including his vision for a united world, the need for ethical actions, and many prayers.[118]
In 1890, Cambridge orientalist Edward Granville Browne was able to interview Baháʼu\'lláh in Bahji. After this meeting he wrote his famous pen-portrait of Baháʼu\'lláh:
In the corner where the divan met the wall sat a wondrous and venerable figure... The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one\'s very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow... No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain! A mild dignified voice bade me be seated, and then continued:— \"Praise be to God that thou hast attained!... Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile... We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment... That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled—what harm is there in this?... Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the \'Most great Peace\' shall come.... Is not this that which Christ foretold?... Yet do We see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind... These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family... Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.\"[119][120]
After a short illness, Baháʼu\'lláh died on 29 May 1892 in Bahji. He was buried adjacent to the mansion in an existing building which now serves as his shrine.[121] It is a place of pilgrimage for Bahá’ís from all over the world,[122] and is the Qiblih they face for daily obligatory prayers.[123] In 2008 the shrine of Bahá’u’lláh, along with other Baháʼí holy places in ‘Akká and Haifa, were added to UNESCO\'s list of World Heritage Sites.[124]
TeachingsMain article: Baháʼí teachingsGodMain article: God in the Baháʼí FaithThe Baháʼí concept of God is monotheistic. God is a single uncreated imperishable entity that is the absolute and ultimate source of all existence.[125][126] Baháʼu\'lláh unequivocally teaches \"the existence and oneness of a personal God,[r] unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty\".[128] Bahá’u’lláh asserted that the Creator cannot be grasped by creation—for anything made can never comprehend its maker.[129] Nevertheless, Baháʼu\'lláh said that the Creator bestowed upon humans capacity to recognize the maker\'s existence, and the ability to develop spiritually through awareness of God’s infinite superlative attributes and by striving to emulate those qualities as best as one can in life[130][131]—virtues such as love, mercy, kindness, generosity, justice, et al.
Manifestations of GodMain articles: Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith) and Progressive revelation (Baháʼí)Bahá’u’lláh explains human knowledge of God\'s existence and awareness of the Creator’s attributes have been—and will forever be—only possible to the extent that these are shared by special Beings he and the Báb describe as Manifestations of God.[132][133] Rather than simply being great thinkers with a better perspective on life than others, manifestations are spiritual entities especially created by God with capacities infinitely superior to ordinary humans. Existing in spiritual realms prior to birth in this physical life, each manifestation is sent by God to a particular period and place as an instrument of divine intervention to help the human race gradually develop its inherent capacities to realize God’s plan for humanity.[134]
Bahá’ís believe manifestations reflect the light of God\'s Will and Purpose in this world. Bahá’í writings liken manifestations to perfect mirrors reflecting one sun—though every mirror is distinct yet the reflection cast by each is of the same sun, varying only due to differences relating to time and position.[135] Bahá’u’lláh says the guidance of manifestations necessarily differ due to the particular situations and requirements of those they deal with:
\"The Prophets of God should be regarded as physicians whose task is to foster the well-being of the world and its peoples… Little wonder, then, if the treatment prescribed by the physician in this day should not be found to be identical with that which he prescribed before. How could it be otherwise when the ills affecting the sufferer necessitate at every stage of his sickness a special remedy? In like manner, every time the Prophets of God have illumined the world with the resplendent radiance of the Day Star of Divine knowledge, they have invariably summoned its peoples to embrace the light of God through such means as best befitted the exigencies of the age in which they appeared.\"[136][137]
Bahá’ís perceive each major world religion as part of one God-ordained holistic educational process[138] which has spiritually and socially enabled human civilization itself to progress—as people have learned to embrace ever-widening circles of unity which have successively involved ever more diverse families, tribes, city-states, and then nations.[139] Inevitably, the human race must, and will, embrace its final circle of unity, that of the planet itself.[140]
Bahá’u’lláh links this \"process of progressive Revelation\"[10][141][142] to God’s eternal covenant—the promise that every divine teacher makes with his followers regarding the next manifestation whom the Creator will send to guide them.[143] Prophecies pertaining to this great covenant are found in scriptures of all religions, with every manifestation prophesying about the next one, and even others, to come. As for their responsibility in this covenant, the followers of each religion have the duty to carefully investigate, with an open mind, whether a person claiming to be the promised new messenger of their faith does, or does not, spiritually fulfill relevant prophecies.[144]
Claims of prophetic fulfillmentIn announcing his claim to be the promised manifestation heralded by the Báb, Baháʼu\'lláh also declared his station as the Promised One prophesied in every major religion of the past—the divine teacher God vowed to send to usher in humanity\'s Golden Age.[145] Bahá’u’lláh’s claim to being several \'messiahs\' converging in one person is understood by Bahá’ís as being a spiritual symbolic fulfillment rather than a literal fulfilment of messianic and eschatological prophecies of past faiths.[146] This understanding is based upon Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings regarding the oneness of God\'s manifestations,[147] and the essential oneness of religion.[148][149] Thus, Bahá’ís see Bahá’u’lláh as fulfilling prophecies for Jews as the incarnation of the \"Everlasting Father\", the \"Lord of Hosts\", and the \"Prince of Peace\"; for Christendom he is the \"Spirit of Truth\", the \"Comforter\" spoken of by Jesus, as well as Christ returned \"in the glory of the Father\"; for Shí\'ah Islam he is the return of the Imam Husayn; for Sunni Islam the descent of the \"Spirit of God\" (Jesus); for Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram; for Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna; and for Buddhists he is Maitreya, the fifth Buddha.[150]
Prescriptions for right livingBaháʼu\'lláh calls upon every Bahá’í to live a righteous, healthy, productive life,[151] characterized by good manners and moral virtues such as truthfulness, integrity, trustworthiness, patience, courtesy, hospitality, fidelity, purity, chastity, moderation,[151] forbearance, justice and fairness.[152] He encourages believers to associate with those of all faiths in a friendly and loving manner,[153] condemns and foroffers all forms of religious violence, including jihad.[153] Baháʼu\'lláh describes in detail the role of true religion as a deterrent to crime, as a force for the maintenance of social order, and as a catalyst for ongoing personal spiritual development, daily communion with God,[154] and needed self-transformation.[155][156] Baháʼu\'lláh foroffers asceticism, mendicancy, monasticism, and penance, while affirming the importance of working in some trade or profession to benefit oneself and others.[152] Bahá’ís are urged to be exemplary, honest, loyal and conscientious citizens wherever they may reside, and to eschew pride, strife, slander and backbiting in all circumstances.[152] Baháʼu\'lláh’s core message to his followers is to make every effort to serve humanity, and to collaborate with like-minded individuals in all efforts to advance the process of unifying the world in ways pleasing to God.[153][157]
Social principlesBahá\'u’lláh repeatedly states his message is for all peoples, and that the purpose of his teachings is to build a new world in which humanity advances as a whole. He clearly proclaims the principle of the oneness of mankind,[7] urging heads of state to join together in resolving existing disputes to achieve peace and to safeguard it through collective security.[158] To promote the development of a united world community, Baha’u’llah emphasizes the importance of eliminating religious and racial prejudices and avoiding extreme nationalism.[159] Further, he stipulates the rights of all minorities must be safeguarded and their development nurtured.[160] A condition described as absolutely necessary for the realization of global peace is complete equality between women and men worldwide.[161] Bahá’u’lláh states that in God’s sight the sexes are equal; neither is superior to the other.[162] To realize such equality, Baháʼí teachings envisage the implementation of far-reaching societal changes everywhere[163] — including mandates to end discriminatory practices against females[164] and greater emphasis on education for girls[165] to ensure women fulfill their potential in all fields of human endeavor.[166]
Succession and the Covenant of Baháʼu\'lláhMain article: Covenant of Baháʼu\'lláh
ʻAbbás Effendi, known as ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá after Baháʼu\'lláh\'s deathBaháʼu\'lláh created an explicit Covenant with Bahá’ís in his will and testament which was written entirely in his own hand and is known as the \"Book of My Covenant\". It was unsealed and read before witnesses and members of his family on the ninth day after his death in 1892.[167] To provide a single focal point of continued guidance, who could clarify and interpret his writings as needed,[168] in his will Baháʼu\'lláh entrusted leadership of the Bahá’í Faith to his eldest son ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá by naming him his successor, the sole authorized interpreter of his writings, the perfect exemplar of his teachings, and the Centre of his Covenant with all Baháʼís.[169][170][171][172] The unambiguous appointment of ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá[s] was readily accepted by most Baháʼís as a natural development, since for decades prior to Baháʼu\'lláh’s death ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was known for the extremely capable and devoted ways in which he carried out responsibilities entrusted to him by Baháʼu\'lláh,[175][176] and for the unrestrained praise his father showered upon him for his services.[177]
The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh explicitly conveyed \"authority for the establishment of an institutional system designed to guide, protect, and enlarge the emerging Bahá’í community.\"[170] Bahá’ís believe Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant is the distinguishing feature of his Faith that preserves its unity and protects it from breaking into sects,[178][179][180][t] as happened in older world religions after the deaths of their founders. To this day the Bahá’í Faith remains undivided.[183]
Bahá’í administrationMain article: Baháʼí administration
Aerial photo and a partial view of international administrative buildings on the Arc at the Baháʼí World Centre on Mt. Carmel in Haifa
Affairs of Bahá’í communities are administered, in most countries,[u] using Bahá’í principles of consultation[186] and collective decision-making.[187] As there is no clergy in the Bahá’í Faith,[188][v] no individual Bahá’í has the authority to tell another how to think or what to do.[190] Bahá’u’lláh strongly encouraged personal initiative among Bahá’ís in sharing his teachings, but forbade proselytizing.[191] Working in groups and community engagement are also considered important aspects of Bahá’í life.[192] When requested or needed, individual and group efforts, and Bahá’í community activities in general are coordinated, guided, and supported by nine-member councils (elected annually by secret ballot) operating at local, regional, and national levels.[193] Additional encouragement and spiritual guidance is provided by appointed individuals who do not have executive powers.[194][195] Bahá’í projects are wholly supported by funds voluntarily given by Bahá’ís, as the Bahá’í Faith does not accept contributions from those who are not declared[196][197] members.[198] Bahá’í council members, as well as anyone appointed by them to assist with various community\'s activities (such as for moral education classes for children and junior youth), serve voluntarily.[198] The Bahá’í administrative order is headed by the Universal House of Justice,[199] the institution ordained and given authority for this purpose by Bahá’u’lláh in his Book of Laws; this world governing council is elected by Bahá’ís from around the world every five years at an international gathering held at the Baháʼí World articles: Baháʼí literature and List of writings of Baháʼu\'lláhOrigins, form, and volume
\'Revelation writing\': A shorthand script developed by an amanuensis to record first drafts as revelation flowed rapidly from Baháʼu\'lláhBahá’ís consider all Bahá’u’lláh’s writings as divinely revealed, including those composed before he announced his prophetic mission.[204][205] When revelation was said to come to Bahá’u’lláh, he occasionally wrote it down himself but typically spoke the words aloud to an amanuensis. At times he spoke so quickly that it presented challenges for those recording his words.[w][207] The majority of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings take the form of short letters, or tablets, addressed to an individual or several persons.[204] Among his larger works are the Hidden Words, the Seven Valleys, the Book of Certitude (Kitáb-i-Íqán), the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Most Holy Book), and the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. The originals of Baháʼu\'lláh\'s writings are in Persian and Arabic. His body of work is equivalent to more than 100 volumes[208]—some 15,000 items have been identified and authenticated.[209]
ContentTopics in his works are extensive and cover material, social, moral, and spiritual principles relevant to human life, both for individuals and groups.[210] Categories include commentary on scriptures, prophecies, and beliefs of former religions;[211] abrogation of past laws, and enunciation of laws and ordinances for this new dispensation;[212][213] mystical writings;[214] claimed proofs and explanations about God; statements relating to God’s creation of human souls as noble entities capable of knowing the Creator exists and able to reflect all Its virtues;[188] claimed proofs of life after death and descriptions of how souls progress for eternity in endless divine realms;[215][216][217] exaltation of work performed in a spirit of service to the status of worship; explications on just governance and on creating unity and world order; expositions on knowledge, philosophy, alchemy, medicine and healthy living; spiritual principles underlying social teachings; calls for universal education; and living virtuously and in harmony with God’s Will.[218] Bahá’u’lláh also explores theodicy, and reasons for difficulties in this life;[219] and he wrote numerous prayers and meditations.[204]
Missives to world leadersBahá’u’lláh wrote a series of letters addressed individually and collectively to monarchs, political rulers, and clerical leaders, in which he claimed to be the Promised One of the Torah, the Gospels, and the Qur’an. He asked them to accept his revelation, renounce their material possessions, rule with justice, protect the rights of the downtrodden, reduce their armaments, reconcile their differences, and collectively strive for the betterment of the world and the unification of its peoples. He warned that the world of that period was ending and that a global civilization was being born. Bahá’u’lláh further asserted that inexorable historical forces were in motion and that rulers should use the powers entrusted to them by God to serve humanity and bring about justice, peace, and unity.[220][221]Queen Victoria in 1860, shown here a few years prior to receiving Baháʼu\'lláh\'s Tablet addressed to herIn these letters Bahá’u’lláh also prescribed ways to develop a sense of community for the planet’s peoples through collaborative endeavors such as creating an international auxiliary language, universal compulsory public education, and a common global currency and system of measurement;[222] even as he urged rulers to dramatically curtail military spending, create an international tribunal to adjudicate disputes between nations, use taxes for social benefits, and adhere to principles of democracy in their internal affairs.[223] To religious leaders, Bahá’u’lláh counseled them to seriously examine his cause without prejudice, forswear secular leadership, renounce dogma, embrace ecumenical outreach, and eliminate meaningless rituals; while advising monks to avoid cloistering, to mingle with people and engage in beneficial community services, and to marry.[224][194]
The first of these missives was written in 1863 in Constantinople to Sultan ʻAbdu’l-ʻAzíz, upon receipt of his order banishing Bahá’u’lláh to Adrianople;[225] others were written in Adrianople, and in ‘Akká.[226] In all, the following were addressed: Czar Alexander II of Russia; Francis Joseph I of Austria-Hungary; Napoleon III of France; Nasiri’d-Din Shah of Persia; Pope Pius IX; and Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland; Ottoman Sultan ʻAbdu’l-ʻAzíz; Wilhelm I of Prussia; the rulers and presidents of the republics of America; elected representatives of peoples in every land; and leaders of religion.[227][228] While little meaningful response was received from those written to, afterwards Bahá’u’lláh’s letters did attract considerable attention (and even notable converts to his cause) for \"the startling fulfillment of the individual prophecies they contained\" warning Napoleon, the Pope, Kaiser Wilhelm, the Czar, Emperor Francis Joseph, the Shah, the Sultan, and the latter\'s prime minister and foreign minister, of their downfalls, loss of territories, or other divine chastisement for failure to heed his advice or for wrongs they had committed.[228][229]
Author Christopher de Bellaigue wrote of the letters,
Bahaullah had little joy co-opting the temporal leaders of the age, to whom he addressed letters, or \'tablets\', calling on them to throw their kingdoms at his feet. Queen Victoria replied equivocally; the tsar promised to investigate further. Napoleon III tore up his tablet and said that if Bahaullah was God, he was too. Nasser al-Din Shah had Bahaullah\'s messenger executed.[230]
VoiceBahá’u\'lláh describes each manifestation as having a twofold nature, one relating to God, the other to this material world. Moreover, each has a \"double station\"—the first relates to his \"innermost reality\" in which he speaks with \"the voice of God\", while the second station is his human side. He says all manifestations, as \"channels of God’s all-pervasive grace\", are unfailingly guided by the Creator to use \"the inspiration of Their words\" to affect human hearts and souls, so that open-minded individuals will grasp the truths being given.[231][232][233]Text from a Tablet of Baháʼu\'lláh, rendered calligraphically by Mishkín-QalamThe \"voice\" in Bahá’u’lláh’s writings varies depending upon the themes or topics covered, the specific backgrounds of their intended recipients, or particular questions which individuals asked of him.[234] In many writings Bahá’u’lláh speaks as a caring counselor or friend sharing with another; in others it is someone conveying what the manifestation asked him to pass on; in some it is as if God is speaking in the first person; and in still others it is a lowly one speaking with profound humility before God—in absolute servitude and self-effacement.[235][236]
In Bahá’u’lláh’s writings, voice may change from one form to another within a single text, or take the form of a conversation—as seen in the dialogue between Bahá’u’lláh and God guiding him as His manifestation in the Fire Tablet,[237][238] or in the Tablet of Carmel in which Mt. Carmel and Bahá’u’lláh as God’s manifestation converse.[239][240] In whatever style or voice a manifestation expresses himself, the aim is always to share spiritual truths.[x] Shoghi Effendi, who was later appointed as the interpreter of Baháʼu\'lláh’s writings,[243] gives the following statement of Bahá’í belief on this matter:
The human temple that has been made the vehicle of so overpowering a Revelation must, if we be faithful to the tenets of our Faith, ever remain entirely distinguished from that \"innermost Spirit of Spirits\" and \"eternal Essence of Essences\"—that invisible yet rational God Who, however much we extol the divinity of His Manifestations on earth, can in no wise incarnate His infinite, His unknowable, His incorruptible and all-embracing Reality in the concrete and limited frame of a mortal being. Indeed, the God Who could so incarnate His own reality would, in the light of the teachings of Baháʼu\'lláh, cease immediately to be God. ... That Baháʼu\'lláh should, notwithstanding the overwhelming intensity of His Revelation, be regarded as essentially one of these Manifestations of God, never to be identified with that invisible Reality, the Essence of Divinity itself, is one of the major beliefs of our Faith—a belief which should never be obscured and the integrity of which no one of its followers should allow to be compromised.[244]
Preservation and translationThe Bahá\'í World Centre has ongoing efforts to ensure that Bahá’u’lláh’s original writings are collected, authenticated, catalogued, and preserved.[245][246] Through an ongoing global program of translation Bahá’u’lláh’s writings currently are available in more than 800 languages.[5][y]
Photographs and imageryThere are two known photographs of Baháʼu\'lláh, both taken in Adrianople, copies of which are at the Baháʼí World Centre. One picture is shown to Bahá’ís during visits to the International Archives building as part of an organized Bahá’í pilgrimage;[248] it may also be displayed on certain other highly significant special occasions. The other image was reproduced by William Miller in his 1974 polemic against the Baháʼí Faith.[249]
Bahá’ís avoid displaying photographs or imagery of Baháʼu\'lláh in public or in their homes, and prefer that others also avoid displaying them in books and websites.[250] The same practice applies to the images or dramatic representation of anyone regarded as a Manifestation of God.[251] The official Baháʼí position on the photographs was written by Shoghi Effendi in 1939:[252]
There is no objection that the believers look at the picture of Baháʼu\'lláh, but they should do so with the utmost reverence, and should also not allow that it be exposed openly to the public, even in their private homes.
Regarding its appearance on websites the Baháʼí World Centre wrote in 1999:[253]
For Baháʼís, the photograph of Baháʼu\'lláh is very precious and it should not only be viewed but also handled with due reverence and respect, which is not the case here [on a non-Baháʼí website]. Thus, it is indeed disturbing to Baháʼís to have the image of Baháʼu\'lláh treated in such a disrespectful way. However, as the creator of the site is not a Baháʼí, there is little, if anything, that can be done to address this matter. We hope these comments have been of assistance.
See alsoHistory of religionHistory of the Baháʼí FaithApostles of Baháʼu\'lláhList of BaháʼísBaháʼí Faith by country
The Báb (born ʿAlí Muḥammad; 20 October 1819 – 9 July 1850) was the messianic founder of Bábism, and one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. He was a merchant from Shiraz in Qajar Iran who, in 1844 at the age of 25, claimed to be a messenger of God. He took the title Báb (/bɑːb/; Arabic: باب; meaning \"Gate\" or \"Door\"), a reference to the deputy of the Hidden Imam, while instigating a religious revolution that proposed the abrogation of Islamic laws and traditions, and the establishment of a new religion.[1] Though he was popular among the lower classes, he faced opposition from the orthodox clergy and government, which eventually executed him and thousands of his followers, known as Bábís.
The Báb composed numerous letters and books in which he introduced the ideas of a new social order and a promise that a new divine messenger was coming soon.[2] He encouraged learning arts and sciences, gave prescriptions to regulate marriage, divorce, and inheritance, and set never-implemented rules for a future Bábí society.[3] Though several upheavals saw clashes between the government and Bábís defending themselves, the Báb taught his followers to be peaceful and not convert by the sword.[3]
When the Báb was executed for apostasy, he was tied up in a public square in Tabriz and faced a firing squad of 750 rifles. The Báb survived the first firing squad and disappeared, only to be returned and shot a second time. This widely documented event increased interest in his message.[4] His remains were secretly stored and transported until they were interred in 1909 into the shrine built for them by ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá on the slopes of Mount Carmel.
To Baháʼís, the Báb fills a similar role as Elijah in Judaism or John the Baptist in Christianity: a forerunner or founder of their own religion.[5] Adherence to the Báb as a divine messenger has survived into modern times in the form of the 5-8 million member Baháʼí Faith, whose founder, Baháʼu\'lláh, claimed in 1863 to be the fulfillment of the Báb\'s prophecy. The majority of Bábí adherents converted and became Baháʼís by the end of the 19th century.[6]
BackgroundEarly life
Calligraphic exercise of the Báb written before ten years old.Siyyid ʿAlí Muḥammad Shírází (/ˈseɪjəd ˈæli moʊˈhæməd ʃɪˈrɑːzi/; Persian: سيد علی محمد شیرازی) was born on 20 October 1819 (1 Muharram 1235 AH), in Shiraz to a middle-class merchant of the city and given the name ʿAlí Muḥammad.[5] He was a descendant of Muhammad, a Sayyid, with both parents tracing their lineage through Husayn ibn Ali.[7] His father was Muhammad Riḍá, and his mother was Fátimih (1800–1881), a daughter of a prominent Shiraz merchant. She later became a Baháʼí. His father died when he was quite young, and his maternal uncle Hájí Mírzá Siyyid ʿAlí, a merchant, reared him.[8][9]
In Shiraz, his uncle sent him to a maktab primary school, where he remained for six or seven years.[10] In contrast to the formal, orthodox theology which dominated the school curriculum of the time, which included the study of jurisprudence and Arabic grammar, the Bab from a young age felt inclined towards unconventional subjects like mathematics and calligraphy, which were little studied. The Bab\'s preoccupation with spirituality, creativity and imagination also angered his teachers and was not tolerated in the atmosphere of the 19th-century Persian school system.[11] This led the Bab to become disillusioned with the education system, he later instructs adults to treat children with dignity, to allow children to have toys and engage in play[12] and to never show anger or harshness to their students.[13]
Sometime between the ages 15 and 20 he joined his uncle in the family business, a trading house, and became a merchant in the city of Bushehr, Iran, near the Persian Gulf.[8] As a merchant, he was renowned for his honesty and trustworthiness in his business, which was focused on trade with India, Oman, and Bahrain.[1] Some of his earlier writings suggest that he did not enjoy the business and instead applied himself to the study of religious literature.[10]
MarriageIn 1842, at age 23 and following his mother\'s wishes, he married 20-year-old Khadíjih-Sultán Bagum (1822–1882), the daughter of a prominent merchant in Shíráz.[14] The marriage proved a happy one, though their only child — a boy named Ahmad — died the year he was born (1843)[15] and Khadijih never conceived again. The young couple occupied a modest house in Shiraz along with the Báb\'s mother. Later, Khadijih became a Baháʼí.[15]
Shaykhi movementIn the 1790s in Iraq, Shaykh Ahmad (1753–1826) began a religious school of thought within Shia Islam. His followers, who became known as Shaykhis, were expecting the imminent return of divine guidance through the appearance of the Mahdi, the Hidden Imam, or a deputy of the Hidden Imam. He took a less-literalist approach to Islamic teachings, for example teaching that the material body of Muhammad did not ascend during the Mi\'raj,[16] and that the expected Resurrection of the Dead was spiritual in nature.[17] Shaykh Ahmad came into conflict with the orthodox Shia theologians of the time and was denounced as an infidel in 1824.[18]
After Shaykh Ahmad\'s death, leadership passed to Kazim Rashti (1793–1843), and emphasis was placed on the year 1260 AH (1844 CE), one thousand years lunar years after the twelfth Imam went into occultation.[19] In 1841 the Báb went on pilgrimage to Iraq, and stayed for seven months mostly in and around Karbala,[20] where he attended lectures of Kazim Rashti.[20] As of his death in December 1843, Kazim Rashti counselled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Mahdi, who, according to his prophecies, would soon appear.[8] One of these followers, Mullá Husayn, after keeping vigil for 40 days in a mosque, travelled to Shiraz, where he met the Báb.[21]
Personality and appearanceSources commonly describe the Báb as gentle, precocious, or gifted with great intelligence.[5] One of his contemporary followers described him as,
...very taciturn, and [he] would never utter a word unless it was absolutely necessary. He did not even answer our questions. He was constantly absorbed in his own thoughts, and was preoccupied with repetition of his prayers and verses. He is described as a handsome man with a thin beard, dressed in clean clothes, wearing a green shawl and a black turban.[a]
An Irish physician described him as \"a very mild and delicate-looking man, rather small in stature and very fair for a Persian, with a melodious soft voice, which struck me much\".[22] Shoghi Effendi notes \"the gentle, the youthful and irresistible person of the Báb\" and praises him as being \"matchless in His meekness, imperturbable in His serenity, magnetic in His utterance\"[23] This personality has been described as having \"captivated many of those who met him\".[24]
Life as a religious leaderThe Báb\'s mission as a religious leader began with a dream in which he drank seven drops of blood dripping from the lacerated throat of Imam Husayn — a significant martyr and symbol of sacrifice in Shia Islam.[14][1] Although previously inclined toward sharing the Qur\'an, it was after this dream that he was able to write his own verses and prayers, claiming divine inspiration. In April, 1844, his wife Khadijih became the first to believe in his revelation.[25]
Declaration to Mullá Husayn
The room where the Declaration of the Báb took place on the evening of 22 May 1844, in his house in Shiraz.The Báb\'s first religiously inspired experience, claimed and witnessed by his wife, is dated to about the evening of 3 April 1844.[25] The Báb\'s first public connection with his sense of a mission came with the arrival of Mullá Husayn in Shiraz. On the night of 22 May Mullá Husayn was invited by the Báb to his home[b] where Mullá Husayn told him of his search for the possible successor to Kazim Rashti, the Promised One. The Báb claimed this, and to be the bearer of divine knowledge.[10] Mullá Husayn became the first to accept the Báb\'s claims to be an inspired figure and a likely successor to Kazim Rashti.[8][10] The Báb had replied satisfactorily to all of Mullá Husayn\'s questions and had written in his presence, with extreme rapidity, a long tafsir, commentary, on surah \"Yusuf\", known as the Qayyúmu\'l-Asmáʼ and considered the Báb\'s first revealed work.[8] It has been adopted as a Baháʼí Holy Day.
Letters of the LivingMullá Husayn became the Báb\'s first disciple. Within five months, seventeen other disciples of Kazim Rashti recognized the Báb as a Manifestation of God.[26] Among them was a woman, Fátimih Zarrín Táj Barag͟háni, a poet, who later received the name of Táhirih, the Pure. These 18 disciples later became known as the Letters of the Living (each soul containing one letter of the Spirit of God, which combine to form the Word) and given the task of spreading the new faith (understood as the return or continuation of the one Faith of Abraham) across Iran and Iraq.[10] The Báb emphasized the spiritual station of these 18 individuals, who, along with himself, made the first \"Unity\" of his religion[27] according to the Arabic term wāḥid, unity, that has a numerical value of 19 using abjad numerals. The Báb\'s book, the Persian Bayán, gives the metaphorical identity of the Letters of the Living as the Fourteen Infallibles of Twelver Shiʿi Islam: Muhammad, the Twelve Imams, and Fatimah, and the four archangels,[27] paralleling the first followers of Christ.
Travels and imprisonmentAfter the eighteen Letters of the Living recognized him, the Báb and Quddús left on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the sacred cities of Islam.[10] At the Kaaba in Mecca, the Báb publicly claimed to be the Qa\'im,[28] and wrote to the Sharif of Mecca, the Custodian of the Kaaba, proclaiming his mission. After their pilgrimage, the Báb and Quddús returned to Bushehr, where they last saw each other. Quddús\' travel to Shiraz brought the Báb\'s claim to the attention of the governor, Husayn Khan, who tortured Quddús and summoned the Báb to Shiraz in June 1845. The Imam-Jum\'ih of Shiraz questioned Báb about his claims. He denied that he was the representative of the Qá\'im or an intermediary to the faithful; the Báb later repeated the same in front of a congregation at the Vakil Mosque.[29] This renunciation saved him from immediate execution.[30] Abbas Amanat states, \"in conformity with his own policy of prudence\" during the early stages of his mission, the Báb wrote a statement, apparently under pressure, recanting his claims to the position of Babiya (gatehood). He disowned those who advocated such beliefs about him in these words: \"If certain words flowed from my pen, they are purely instinctive and entirely against the accepted norms and thus not to be taken as proofs of any cause.\"[31]
The Báb was placed under house arrest at the home of his uncle until a cholera epidemic broke out in the city in September 1846.[10] Once released he departed for Isfahan. There, many came to see him at the house of the Imam-Jum\'ih, who became sympathetic. After an informal gathering where the Báb debated the local clergy and displayed his speed in producing instantaneous verses, his popularity soared.[32] After the death of the governor of Isfahan, Manouchehr Khan Gorji, his supporter, pressure from the clergy of the province led to Mohammad Shah Qajar ordering the Báb to Tehran in January 1847.[33] After spending several months in a camp outside Tehran, and before the Báb could meet the Shah, the Prime Minister sent the Báb to Tabriz in the northwestern corner of the country, to his confinement.[10]Fortress of Maku, Iran (2008)After 40 days in Tabriz, the Báb transferred to the fortress of Maku, Iran in the province of Azerbaijan near the Turkish border. During his incarceration there, the Báb began his most important work, the Persian Bayán, that remained unfinished. Because of the Báb\'s growing popularity in Maku, even the governor of Maku converting, the prime minister transferred him to the fortress of Chihríq in April 1848.[8] There too the Báb\'s popularity grew and his jailors relaxed restrictions on him.
Trial in TabrízIn June 1848, the Báb was brought from Chihríq to Tabríz to face trial for apostasy in front of a body of Islamic clergy. On the way, he spent 10 days in the town of Urmia, where the only known portrait of him was made, a copy of which was later sent to Baháʼu\'lláh and is still held in the International Archives at the Baháʼí World Centre.[34]
The trial, attended by the Crown Prince, occurred in July 1848 and involved numerous local clergy. They questioned the Báb about the nature of his claims, his teachings, and demanded that he produce miracles to prove his divine authority. They admonished him to recant his claims. There are nine extant eyewitness reports of the trial, of which several may originate from an earlier source. Six of the reports are from Muslim accounts, and portray the Báb in an unfavorable light.[35] There are 62 questions found in the nine sources, however eighteen occur in one source, fifteen in two, eight in three, five in four, thirteen in five, and three in six. Not including \"yes\" and \"he did not answer\", only thirty-five answers remain, of which ten occur in one source, eight in two, six in three, three in four, two in five, five in six. Only one answer is found in all nine eyewitness sources, where the Báb states that \"I am that person you have been awaiting for one thousand years.\"[35]
The trial did not bring a decisive result. Some clergy called for capital punishment, but the government pressured them to issue a lenient judgement because the Báb was popular. The government asked medical experts to declare the Báb insane to prevent his execution. It is also likely that the government as a face-saving measure and to appease the religious clergy may have spread rumours that the Báb recanted.[36]
The Shaykh al-Islām, a champion of the anti-Bábist campaign, not at the Báb\'s trial, issued a conditional death sentence if the Báb was found to be sane. A fatwa was issued establishing the Báb\'s apostasy and stated \"The repentance of an incorrigible apostate is not accepted, and the only thing which has caused the postponement of thy execution is a doubt as to thy sanity of mind.\"[36]
The crown prince\'s physician, William Cormick, examined the Báb and complied with the government\'s request to find grounds for clemency.[35] The physician\'s opinion saved the Báb from execution for a time, but the clergy insisted that he face corporal punishment instead, so the Báb suffered foot whipping – 20 lashes to the bottoms of his feet.[36]
The unsigned and undated official government report states that because of his harsh beating, the Báb orally and in writing recanted, apologized, and stated that he would not continue to advance claims of divinity.[37] The document of his alleged recantation was written shortly after his trial in Tabriz.[35] Some authors theorise that the assertions were made to embarrass the Báb and undermine his credibility with the public, and that the language of this document is very different from the Báb\'s usual style, and so prepared by the authorities.[36]
Orientalist Edward Granville Browne received copies of the trial documents from Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney [fr], the first French Baha\'i. A facsimile of the recantation is published in Browne\'s Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion, where he states, \"[The document], unsigned and undated, was claimed to be in the Báb\'s handwriting and consists of a complete recantation and renunciation of any superhuman claim which he may have advanced or have appeared to advance. There is nothing to show to whom it is addressed, or whether it is the recantation referred to in the last paragraph of the [government report] or another. The handwriting, though graceful, is not easily legible...\"[38] But Amanat considers the document, which has no signature and date, to be fabricated. According to Amanat the document does not match the writing style of the Báb and was forged by the government officials of Tabriz to discredit him and please the Shah.[39] Amanat believes that in the best scenario, the document may have been prepared by the government officials, but the Báb refused to sign it.[39] He stood his ground despite great pressure to recant, and gain his freedom.[40][41][42] Consequently he was executed by a firing squad in public in Tabriz to crush the Babi movement and to display the restored power of the Qajar government under the new minister, Amir Kabir.[40]
After the trial, the Báb was ordered back to the fortress of Chehríq.
Proclamation
The Báb stood on this pulpit in the Masjid-i-Vakíl, addressing the populace of Shiraz in September 1846In his early writings (1844-1847), the Báb appears to identify himself as a gate (báb), a reference to the Four Deputies of the Hidden Imam, the last of which went into occultation in 941 CE. In his later writings, the Báb more explicitly proclaimed his station as that of the Hidden Imam and a new messenger from God.[43][44]
The nature of the Báb\'s different claims and how they were understood to various groups is complicated. Detractors argue that the changing claims represent the Báb\'s own changing aspirations, while supporters describe the issue as a prudent and gradual disclosure of a coherent identity.[45] For example, the Báb\'s first writing was designed in the same style as the Qur\'an, something that would have been easily recognized at the time as a claim to revelation.[45] Saiedi writes,
His early writings prior to His exile to Maku are ambiguous about His real claim in order to prepare the people for the subsequent unveiling of His true station.[44]
According to Manuchehri, the approach of laying claim to a lower position was intended to create a sense of anticipation for the appearance of the Hidden Imam, as well to avoid persecution and imprisonment, because a public proclamation of mahdi status could bring a swift penalty of death. In the early months of his public declarations, the adoption of a cautious policy had essentially achieved maximum attention with minimum controversy.[30]
The gradual unfolding of claims caused some confusion, both among the public and for some of his followers. Some early believers saw him as a messenger from God with divine authority, and this resulted in disagreement within the Bábi community.[30] Even though the Báb had intended to convey his message with discretion, many of his followers such as Táhirih openly declared the coming of the promised Hidden Imam and Mahdi.[30]
ExecutionMain article: Execution of the Báb
The barrack square in Tabriz, where the Báb was executedIn mid-1850 a new prime minister, Amir Kabir,[46] ordered the execution of the Báb, probably because of various Bábí insurrections\' defeats and because the movement\'s popularity appeared to be waning. The Báb was brought back to Tabriz from Chehriq for an execution by firing squad. The night before his execution, while being conducted to his cell, a young Bábí, Muhammad-Ali (Anis) from Zonuz, begged for martyrdom with him, then was immediately arrested and placed in the same cell as the Báb.
On the morning of 9 July 1850 (28 Sha\'ban 1266 AH), the Báb was taken to the courtyard of the barracks where he was imprisoned. Thousands of people gathered to watch his execution. The Báb and Anis were suspended on a wall and a large firing squad of soldiers prepared to shoot.[10] Numerous eye-witness reports, including those of Western diplomats, recount the result.[c] The order was given to fire. Accounts differ on the details, but all agree that the first volley failed to kill the Báb; the bullets had instead cut the rope suspending them from the wall.[d] A second firing squad was brought in and a second order to fire given. This time the Báb was killed.[10] In Bábí and Baháʼí tradition, the failure of the first volley to kill the Báb is believed to be a miracle. The remains of the Báb and Anis were thrown into a ditch and assumed eaten by dogs, an action condemned by Justin Sheil, then British Minister in Tehran.[10]
The remains were clandestinely rescued by a handful of Bábis and then hidden. Over time the remains were secretly transported according to the instructions of Baháʼu\'lláh and then ʿAbdu\'l-Bahá by way of Isfahan, Kirmanshah, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and then by sea to Acre on the plain below Mount Carmel in 1899.[47] On 21 March 1909, the remains were interred in a special tomb, the Shrine of the Báb, erected for this purpose by ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá, on Mount Carmel in present-day Haifa, Israel. In its vicinity, the Baháʼí World Centre welcomes visitors to tour the gardens.
Teachings and legacyMain article: Teachings of the BábThe Báb\'s ideas had roots in Shaykhism and his writings were characterized by their extensive use of symbolism[48] and numerical calculations.[49]
The Báb\'s teachings have three broad stages, each with a dominant thematic focus. His earliest teachings are primarily defined by his interpretation of the Quran and hadith, and that his teachings are in alignment with \"true Islam\".[10] Rather than revealing new religious laws, early Babi doctrine \"focuses on the inner and mystical meanings of religious law\" and \"turning ritual action into a spiritual journey\"[50] These themes continue in later years, but a shift takes place where his emphasis moves to philosophical elucidation, and finally to legislative pronouncements.
In the second philosophical stage, the Báb gives an explanation of the metaphysics of being and creation, and in the third legislative stage his mystical and historical principles unite[51] as the Báb\'s writings gain a historical consciousness.[52] and clearly establish the principle of Progressive Revelation.[53]
The Bab discusses many fundamental issues in religion in this second stage including how to recognize spiritual truth, the nature of the human being, the meaning of faith, the nature of good deeds, the preconditions of spiritual journey and the question of the eternality or origination of the world. He even, in his Treatise on Singing, explores the philosophy of music.[54]
In 1848 the Báb\'s teachings changed with a clear abrogation of Islamic law and the introduction of his own set of doctrines.[10] The Báb\'s legal system included details for marriage, burial, pilgrimage, prayer, and other practices that appear designed for a future Bábí state or to be implemented by He whom God shall make manifest, a future prophet who is mentioned throughout the Báb\'s writings. [43]
In many respects, the Báb raised the status of women in his teachings. He taught that since God transcends the boundaries of male and female, God wishes that \"neither men exalt themselves over women, nor women exalt themselves over men\".[citation needed] The Báb instructed his followers to not mistreat women \"even for the blink of an eye\"[55] and set the penalty for causing grief to women as double that of causing grief to men.[56] He also encouraged the education of women and didn\'t display a gender distinction in Bábi laws on education.[55] Armin Eschraghi notes the context of 19th century Iran and that, \"Modern western readers might not appreciate the revolutionary potential\" of the Báb\'s teaching that \"Those who have been brought up in this community, men and women, are allowed to look [at each other], speak and sit together\"[55] The Primal Will of God is also personified as the female figure of the maid of heaven.[57] The Báb also foreshadowed later developments in media, by emphasising the need for a rapid system of news communication, which would be available for all to access, no matter their wealth or social standing. He writes, regarding the news, that \"until such a system is made universal, its benefit will not reach those servants of the kingdom unless there come a time when it will be accessible to all the people. Although today the kings have their own special couriers, this is fruitless, for the poor are deprived of such a service.\"[citation needed]
Jack McLean, summarizing Nader Saiedi\'s analysis, writes that the Báb\'s writings \"foresee current global issues of crisis, such as the protection of the environment and the commodification of natural resources\". The Báb specifically calls for the absolute purity of water in the Bayán and as all substances return to the inland water table and the oceans, this could easily be seen as a general law for the protection of the environment. The Arabic Bayán also foroffers the commodification of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water.[48]
The Báb\'s theological teachings include, \"gnostic and Neoplatonist features common to earlier Shiʿite sects such as the Ismaʿilis and Ḥorūfīs\" and, \"at the heart of the system is the belief that the divine or eternal essence is unknowable, indescribable, and inaccessible\", according to Denis MacEoin. This would continue as a key principle of the Baha\'i Faith. (see God in the Baháʼí Faith) [10]
The Báb also developed a distinct philosophy of aesthetics, which emphasised beauty and refinement (litafat) as governing principles, not only for art but for our actions, and stressed the need to bring all things to their highest state of perfection, or paradise (itqan).[citation needed] Saiedi writes that, \"The Bab makes it clear that He wants His community to be the embodiment of perfection in all things. Furthermore, He defines beautification and excellence in art as the means of the spiritualization of the world\".[58] The Báb himself writes, using calligraphy as an example of a universal principle, \"Should he know of a higher degree of refinement and fail to manifest it upon that paper, he would deprive it of its paradise, and he would be held accountable, for why hast thou, despite the possession of the means, withheld the effusion of grace and favour?\"[59]
SuccessionMain article: Baháʼí–Azali split
Shrine of the Báb, HaifaIn most of his prominent writings, the Báb alluded to a Promised One, most commonly referred to as man yazhiruhu\'lláh, \"Him Whom God shall make manifest\", and that he himself was \"but a ring upon the hand of Him Whom God shall make manifest\". Within 20 years of the Báb\'s death, over 25 people claimed to be the Promised One, most significantly Baháʼu\'lláh.
Before the Báb\'s death, he sent a letter to Mírzá Yahyá, Subh-i-Azal, that some consider a will and testament.[60] This recognized the appointing of Subh-i-Azal as the leader of the Bábí community after the death of the Báb, and ordered to obey the Promised One when he appears.[60] At the time Subh-i-Azal, still a teenager, had never demonstrated leadership in the Bábí movement, and was still living in the house of his older brother, Baháʼu\'lláh. The Baháʼí claim that the Báb appointed Subh-i-Azal the head of the Bábí Faith so as to divert attention away from Baháʼu\'lláh, while allowing Bábís to visit Baháʼu\'lláh and consult with him freely, and allowing Baháʼu\'lláh to write to Bábís easily and freely.[61] The danger that threatened Bahá\'u\'lláh was from Amir Kabir.[62] According to Saiedi, if Amir Kabir knew about the key role that Bahá\'u\'lláh was playing in the Bábí community, he would have him executed.[62]
In 1852 Baháʼu\'lláh, while a prisoner in Tehran, was visited by a \"Maid of Heaven\", that symbolically marked the beginning of his mission as a Messenger of God. Eleven years later in Baghdad, he made his first public declaration and eventually was recognized by the vast majority of Bábís as \"He Whom God shall make manifest\". His followers began calling themselves Baháʼís.
Subh-i-Azal\'s followers became known as Azalis or Azali Bábís. For the Bábís who did not recognize Baháʼu\'lláh, Subh-i-Azal remained their leader until his death in 1912, and Azali successorship remains disputed. Baháʼí sources report that 11 of the 18 \"witnesses\" appointed by Subh-i-Azal to oversee the Bábí community became Baháʼís, as his son did. The man allegedly appointed by Subh-i-Azal to succeed him, Hadíy-i-Dawlat-Abádí, later publicly recanted his faith in the Báb and Subh-i-Azal.[63][64]
Baháʼu\'llah emerged more successful and nearly all of the Báb\'s followers abandoned Subh-i-Azal and became Baháʼís. Today Baháʼís have several million followers, while estimates of the number of Azalís are generally around one thousand in Iran,[65][66] and any organization of theirs seems to have ceased to exist.[67]
Commemorations in the Baháʼí FaithSee also: Baháʼí Holy DaysIn the Baháʼí calendar the events of the birth, declaration and death of the Báb are commemorated by Baháʼí communities on a yearly basis.[68] At the centennial of the declaration of the Báb to Mulla Husayn in May 1944, the Baháʼís had a viewing of the portrait of the Báb during the celebrations held at the Baháʼí House of Worship (Wilmette, Illinois).[69] Speaking at the event were Dorothy Beecher Baker, Horace Holley, and others.
The notion of \"twin Manifestations of God\" is a concept fundamental to Baháʼí belief, describing the relationship between the Báb and Baháʼu\'lláh. Both are considered Manifestations of God in their own right, having each founded separate religions (Bábism and the Baháʼí Faith) and revealed their own holy scriptures. To Baháʼís, however, the missions of the Báb and Baháʼu\'lláh are inextricably linked: The Báb\'s mission was to prepare the way for the coming of Him whom God shall make manifest, who eventually appeared in the person of Baháʼu\'lláh. Both the Báb and Baháʼu\'lláh are revered as central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. A parallel is made between Baháʼu\'lláh and the Báb as between Jesus and John the Baptist.[70]
ImpactAbdu\'l Baha summarises the Báb\'s impact: \"Alone, He undertook a task that can scarcely be conceived... This illustrious Being arose with such power as to shake the foundations of the religious laws, customs, manners, morals, and habits of Persia, and instituted a new law, faith, and religion.\"[71] He has been to compared to Martin Luther
The Bábí movement had a major impact on religious and social thought in 19th century Iran. Christopher de Bellaigue, writing about the Enlightenment period in the Islamic world, wrote,
The Babi movement, which began in the 1840s, went on to become an important catalyst of social progressiveness in mid-nineteenth-century Iran, promoting interreligious peace, social equality between the sexes and revolutionary anti-monarchism... it went on to present a vision of modernity that was based on secularism, internationalism, and the rejection of war. It is this vision which has enabled it to survive to the present day - as Bahaism - in pockets and communities peopled by five million souls, and which qualifies it for inclusion in any narrative about modernisation in the Middle East.[6]
Writings
Wikiquote has quotations related to Báb.The Báb affirms that the verses revealed by a Manifestation of God are the greatest proof of His mission and the writings of the Báb comprise over two thousand tablets, epistles, prayers, and philosophical treatises. These writings form part of Baha\'i scripture, particularly his prayers, which are often recited individually as well as in devotional gatherings.[72] The works of the Báb have also excited scholarly interest and analysis. Elham Afnan describes the writings of the Báb as having \"restructured the thoughts of their readers, so that they could break free from the chains of obsolete beliefs and inherited customs\".[73] Jack McLean notes the novel symbolism of the Báb\'s works, observing that \"The universe of the Báb\'s sacred writings is pervasively symbolic. Numbers, colors, minerals, liquids, the human body, social relationships, gestures, deeds, language (letters and words), and nature itself are all mirrors or signs that reflect the profounder reality of the names and attributes (asmá va sifát) of God\".[72] The Báb\'s works are characterised by linguistic innovation, including many neologisms whenever He found existing theological terms inadequate.[72] Free association and stream-of-consciousness-style composition are marked features of some works.[74] Several scholars have identified the continual repetition of particular words or phrases of religious importance to be a distinct feature throughout the Bab\'s writings.[75] The Báb himself categorised his writings into five modes: divine verses, prayers, commentaries, rational discourse — written in Arabic — and the Persian mode, which encompasses the previous four.[73] Scholars have noted commonalities between the Báb\'s writings and those of Western philosophers such as Hegel,[76] Kant[77]) and James Joyce[78]
Most of the writings of the Báb have been lost, however. The Báb himself stated they exceeded five hundred thousand verses in length; the Quran, in contrast, is 6300 verses in length. If one assumes 25 verses per page, that would equal 20,000 pages of text.[79] Nabíl-i-Zarandí, in The Dawn-breakers, mentions nine complete commentaries on the Quran, revealed during the Báb\'s imprisonment at Maku, which have been lost without a trace.[80] Establishing the true text of the works that are still extant, as already noted, is not always easy, and some texts will require considerable work. Others, however, are in good shape; several of the Báb\'s major works are available in the handwriting of his trusted secretaries.[81]
Most works were revealed in response to specific questions by Bábís. This is not unusual; the genre of the letter has been a venerable medium for composing authoritative texts as far back as Paul the Apostle. Three quarters of the chapters of the New Testament are letters, were composed to imitate letters, or contain letters within them.[e] Sometimes the Báb revealed works very rapidly by chanting them in the presence of a secretary and eyewitnesses.
The Archives Department at the Baháʼí World Centre currently holds about 190 Tablets of the Báb.[82] Excerpts from several principal works have been published in the only English-language compilation of the Báb\'s writings: Selections from the Writings of the Báb. Denis MacEoin, in his Sources for Early Bābī Doctrine and History, gives a description of many works; much of the following summary is derived from that source. In addition to major works, the Báb revealed numerous letters to his wife and followers, many prayers for various purposes, numerous commentaries on verses or chapters of the Quran, and many khutbihs or sermons (most of which were never delivered). Many of these have been lost; others have survived in compilations.[83]
The Báb has been criticized for his inconsistent use of correct and incorrect Arabic grammar in his religious works, though in his Arabic letters he made very few mistakes.[84] A reason for this inconsistency could be to distinguish those who could not see past the outer form of the words from those that could understand the deeper meaning of his message.[84] The Báb in his Treatise on Grammar, emphasised that Arabic grammar must be taught as an outer symbol of the spiritual grammar of the universe.[85]
Writings before his declarationSelectionfromthebab.jpgThe Báb\'s Tafsir on Surah al-Baqara was started by the Báb in November or December 1843, some six months before declaring his mission. The first half was completed by February or March 1844; the second half was revealed after the Báb\'s declaration. It is the only work of the Báb\'s revealed before his declaration that has survived intact. It also sheds light on the Báb\'s attitude toward Twelver beliefs.[86] His wife also refers to important episodes before his declaration.[87]
Shiraz, May – September 1844The first chapter of the Qayyúmu\'l-Asmáʼ (\"Tafsir on the Surah Yusuf\")[citation needed] was written by the Báb on the evening of 22 May 1844 when he made his declaration to Mullá Husayn. The entire work, which is several hundred pages in length and is considered to be revelation by Baháʼís, required forty days to write; it is one of the Báb\'s longer Arabic works. It was widely distributed in the first year of the Bábí movement, functioning as something of a Quran or Bible for the Bábís. In the book the Báb states his claim to be a Manifestation of God, though the claim is disguised with other statements that he is the servant of the Hidden Imám.[88] Táhirih translated the work into Persian.Sahífih-yi-makhzúnih, revealed before his departure for Mecca in September 1844, and consists of a collection of fourteen prayers, mostly to be recited on specific holy days and festivals. Its content remained within the expectations of Islam.[89]Pilgrimage, September 1844 – June 1845During his 9+1⁄2-month pilgrimage to Mecca, the Báb composed many works:
Khasá\'il-i-sabʿih: A work composed by the Báb on his sea journey back to Bushehr after his pilgrimage, which listed some regulations to be followed by the Bábí community. A copy of the manuscript probably still exists in Iran.[90]Kitáb-i-Rúḥ (\"Book of the Spirit\"): This book contains 700 or 900 verses and was written while the Báb was sailing back to Bushehr from pilgrimage. The original was nearly destroyed when the Báb was arrested. Several manuscript copies are extant.[91]Sahífih baynu\'l-haramayn (\"Treatise Between the Two Sanctuaries\"): This Arabic work was written while the Báb traveled from Mecca to Medina in early 1845 and is in response to questions posed to him by a prominent Shaykhí leader.[92]Kitáb-i-Fihrist (\"The Book of the Catalogue\"): A list of the Báb\'s works, composed by the Báb himself after he returned from pilgrimage to Mecca, 21 June 1845. It is a bibliography of his earliest writings.[93]Bushehr and Shiraz, March 1845 – September 1846The Báb was in Bushehr March through June 1845, then in Shiraz.
Sahífih-yi-Jaʿfariyyih: The Báb wrote this treatise to an unknown correspondent in 1845. Over a hundred pages in length, it states many of his basic teachings, especially in relation to some Shaykhi beliefs.[94]Tafsír-i-Súrih-i-Kawthar (\"Tafsir on the Surah al-Kawthar\"): The Báb wrote this commentary for Yahyá Dárábí Vahíd while he was in Shiraz; it is the most important work revealed during the Shiraz period. Though the surah is only three verses in length, being the shortest in the Quran, the commentary on it is over two hundred pages in length. The work was widely distributed, and at least a dozen early manuscripts are extant.[95][96]Isfahan, September 1846 – March 1847Nubuvvih khásish: This work, of fifty pages\' length, was revealed in two hours in response to a question by Governor Manouchehr Khan Gorji. It discusses the special prophethood of Muhammad, an important subject discussed in debates between Muslims and (Commentary on the Surah al-ʿAṣr): This is one of the two important works the Báb penned in Isfahan. It was written spontaneously and publicly in response to a request by Mir Sayyid Muhammad, the chief cleric of the city; much of it was written in one evening, to the astonishment to those present.[99]Maku, late summer 1847 – May 1848The Báb left Isfahan in March 1847, sojourned outside Tehran several months, then was sent to a fortress at Maku, Iran, close to the Turkish border. It witnessed the composition of some of the Báb\'s most important works.
Persian Bayán: This is undoubtedly the most important work of the Báb and contains a mature summary of his teachings. It was composed in Maku in late 1847 or early 1848. The work consists of nine chapters titled váhids or \"unities\", which in turn are usually subdivided into nineteen bábs or \"gates\"; the one exception is the last unity, which has only ten bábs. The Báb explained that it would be the task of \"He Whom God shall make manifest\" to complete the work; Baháʼís believe Baháʼu\'lláh\'s Kitáb-i-Íqán to be the completion of the Bayán. Each unity begins with an Arabic summary of its contents, which makes it easier to read than many of the Báb\'s works. Extracts of this work are published in Selections from the Writings of the Báb; A. L. M. Nicolas translated the entire work into French in four 150-page volumes.[100]Arabic Bayán: This is the shorter and less important of the two Bayáns. It consists of eleven váhids or \"unities\", each with nineteen bábs or \"gates\". It offers a succinct summary of the Báb\'s teachings and laws. It was composed at Maku in late 1847 or early 1848.[101]Dalá\'il-i-Sab\'ih (\"Seven Proofs\"): There are two works by this name, the longer one in Persian, the shorter one in Arabic; both were composed in Maku in late 1847 or early 1848. Nicholas called the Persian Seven Proofs \"the most important of the polemical works that issued from the pen of Sayyid ʿAlí Muhammad\".[102] The work was written to either a non-Bábí or to a follower whose faith had been shaken, but the recipient\'s identity is unknown.[citation needed] The Arabic text summarizes the seven proofs found in the Persian text.C͟hihríq, May 1848 – July 1850The Báb spent two years in Chehriq, except for his brief visit to Tabriz for his trial. The works he produced there were more esoteric or mystical and less thematically organized.[103] Two major books were produced, in addition to many minor works:
Kitabu\'l-Asmáʼ (\"The Book of Names\"): This is an extremely long book about the names of God. It was penned during the Báb\'s last days at Chehriq, before his execution. The various manuscript copies contain numerous variations in the text; the book will require considerable work to reconstruct its original text.[104]Kitáb-i-panj sha\'n (\"Book of Five Grades\"): Having been composed in March and April 1850, this is one of the Báb\'s last works. The book consists of eighty-five sections arranged in seventeen groups, each under the heading of a different name of God. Within each group are five \"grades\", that is, five different sorts of sections: verses, prayers, homilies, commentaries, and Persian language pieces. Each group was sent to a different person and was composed on a different day. Thus the work is a kind of miscellany of unrelated material. Some of the sections represent further exposition of basic themes in the Báb\'s teachings; others consists of lengthy iterations of the names of God, and variations on their roots.[105]
Acre (/ˈɑːkər, ˈeɪkər/ AH-kər, AY-kər), known locally as Akko (Hebrew: עַכּוֹ, ʻAkō) or Akka (Arabic: عكّا, ʻAkkā), is a city in the coastal plain region of the Northern District of Israel.
The city occupies a strategic location, sitting in a natural harbour at the extremity of Haifa Bay on the coast of the Mediterranean\'s Levantine Sea.[2] Aside from coastal trading, it was an important waypoint on the region\'s coastal road and the road cutting inland along the Jezreel Valley. The first settlement during the Early Bronze Age was abandoned after a few centuries but a large town was established during the Middle Bronze Age.[3] Continuously inhabited since then, it is among the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on Earth.[4] It has, however, been subject to conquest and destruction several times and survived as little more than a large village for centuries at a time. Acre was an important city during the Crusades, and was the site of several battles. It was the last city held by the Crusaders in the Levant before it was captured in 1291.
In present-day Israel, the population was 49,614 in 2021,[1] made up of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Baháʼís.[5] In particular, Acre is the holiest city of the Baháʼí Faith in Israel and receives many pilgrims of that faith every year. Acre is one of Israel\'s mixed cities; thirty-two per cent of the city\'s population is Arab. The mayor is Shimon Lankri, who was re-elected in 2018 with 85% of the vote.
NamesThe etymology of the name is unknown, but apparently not Semitic.[6] A folk etymology in Hebrew is that, when the ocean was created, it expanded until it reached Acre and then stopped, giving the city its name (in Hebrew, ad koh means \"up to here\" and no further).[6]
Acre seems to be recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs, possibly being the \"Akka\" in the execration texts from around 1800 BC[7][8] and the \"Aak\" in the tribute lists of Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC).[citation needed] The Akkadian cuneiform Amarna letters also mention an \"Akka\" in the mid-14th century BC.[9][10] On its native currency, Acre\'s name was written ʿk (Phoenician: 𐤏𐤊).[11] It appears in Assyrian[6] and once in Biblical Hebrew.[12] Other transcriptions of these names include Acco, Accho, Akke, and Ocina.[citation needed]
Acre was known to the Greeks as Ákē (Greek: Ἄκη), a homonym for a Greek word meaning \"cure\". Greek legend then offered a folk etymology that Hercules had found curative herbs at the site after one of his many fights.[13] This name was Latinized as Ace. Josephus\'s histories also transcribed the city into Greek as Akre.
The city appears in the Babylonian Talmud with the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic name תלבוש Talbush of uncertain etymology.[14]
Under the Diadochi, the Ptolemaic Kingdom renamed the city Ptolemaïs (Koinē Greek: Πτολεμαΐς, Ptolemaΐs) and the Seleucid Empire Antioch (Ἀντιόχεια, Antiókheia)[11] or Antiochenes.[citation needed] As both names were shared by a great many other towns, they were variously distinguished. The Syrians called it \"Antioch in Ptolemais\" (Ἀντιόχεια τῆς ἐν Πτολεμαΐδι, Antiókheia tôs en Ptolemaΐdi),[11] and the Romans Ptolemais in Phoenicia. Others knew it as \"Antiochia Ptolemais\" (Ἀντιόχεια Πτολεμαΐς, Antiókheia Ptolemaΐs).[citation needed]
Under Claudius, it was also briefly known as Germanicia in Ptolemais (Γερμανίκεια τῆς ἐν Πτολεμαΐδι, Germaníkeia tôs en Ptolemaΐdi).[11] As a Roman colony, it was notionally refounded and renamed Colonia Claudii Caesaris Ptolemais[15] or Colonia Claudia Felix Ptolemais Garmanica Stabilis[16] after its imperial sponsor Claudius; it was known as Colonia Ptolemais for short.[15]
During the Crusades, it was officially known as Sainct-Jehan-d\'Acre or more simply Acre (Modern French: Saint-Jean-d\'Acre [sɛ̃ ʒɑ̃ dakʁ]), after the Knights Hospitaller who had their headquarters there and whose patron saint was Saint John the Baptist. This name remained quite popular in the Christian world until modern times, often translated into the language being used: Saint John of Acre (in English), San Juan de Acre (in Spanish), Sant Joan d\'Acre (in Catalan), etc.
HistoryEarly Bronze AgeThe remains of the oldest settlement at the site of modern Acre were found at a tell (archaeological mound) located 1.5 km (0.93 mi) east of the modern city of Acre. Known as Tel Akko in Hebrew and Tell el-Fukhar in Arabic, its remains date to about 3000 BC,[2] during the Early Bronze Age.[3] This farming community endured for only a couple of centuries, after which the site was abandoned, possibly after being inundated by rising seawaters.[3]
Middle Bronze AgeAcre was resettled as an urban centre during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–1550 BC) and has been continuously inhabited since then.[3]
Late Bronze Age
Ottoman aqueduct to Acre
Letter from Biridiya, King of Megiddo, to the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III or his son Akhenaten. Biridiya accuses the King of Acco of treachery by releasing the captured Hapiru leader, Labayu, instead of sending him to Egypt. 14th century BCE. From Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. British Museum. EA 245, (Reverse side)In the Amarna Period (c. 1350 BC), there was turmoil in the southern Levant which was part of the Egyptian Empire. The Amarna Archive contains letters concerning the ruler of Acco, see Amarna Letter EA245.
Iron AgeDuring the Iron Age, Acre was politically and culturally affiliated with Phoenicia.[17] In the biblical Book of Judges, Akko appears in a list of the places which the Israelites were not able to conquer from the Canaanites.[18] It is later described in the territory of the tribe of Asher and, according to Josephus\'s later account, was reputed to have been ruled by one of Solomon\'s provincial governors. Around 725 BC, Acre joined Sidon and Tyre in a revolt against the Neo-Assyrian emperor Shalmaneser V.[17]
Persian period and classical-Greek antiquityMain article: Ptolemais in PhoeniciaStrabo refers to the city as once a rendezvous for the Persians in their expeditions against Egypt. According to historians such as Diodurus Siculus and Strabo, King Cambyses II attacked Egypt after massing a huge army on the plains near the city of Acre. In December 2018 archaeologists digging at the site of Tell Keisan in Acre unearthed the remains of a Persian military outpost that might have played a role in the successful 525 BC Achaemenid invasion of Egypt. The Persian-period fortifications at Tell Keisan were later heavily damaged during Alexander\'s fourth-century BC campaign to drive the Achaemenids out of the Levant.[19][20]
After Alexander\'s death, his main generals divided his empire among themselves. At first, the Egyptian Ptolemies held the land around Acre. Ptolemy II renamed the city Ptolemais in his own and his father\'s honour in the 260s BC.[11]
Antiochus III conquered the town for the Syrian Seleucids in 200 BC. In the late 170s or early 160s BC, Antiochus IV founded a Greek colony in the town, which he named Antioch after himself.[11]
About 165 BC Judas Maccabeus defeated the Seleucids in several battles in Galilee, and drove them into Ptolemais. About 153 BC Alexander Balas, son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, contesting the Seleucid crown with Demetrius, seized the city, which opened its gates to him. Demetrius offered many bribes to the Maccabees to obtain Jewish support against his rival, including the revenues of Ptolemais for the benefit of the Temple in Jerusalem, but in vain. Jonathan Apphus threw in his lot with Alexander; Alexander and Demetrius met in battle and the latter was killed. In 150 BC Alexander received Jonathan with great honour in Ptolemais. Some years later, however, Tryphon, an officer of the Seleucid Empire, who had grown suspicious of the Maccabees, enticed Jonathan into Ptolemais and there treacherously took him prisoner.
The city was captured by Alexander Jannaeus (ruled c. 103–76 BC), Cleopatra (r. 51–30 BC) and Tigranes the Great (r. 95–55 BC). Here Herod the Great (r. 37–4 BC) built a gymnasium.
Roman colony
Roman coin made in Ptolemais/AcreAround 37 BC, the Romans conquered the Hellenized Phoenician port-city called Akko. It became a colony in southern Roman Phoenicia, called Colonia Claudia Felix Ptolemais Garmanica Stabilis.[21] Ptolemais stayed Roman for nearly seven centuries until 636 AD, when was conquered by the Muslim Arabs. Under Augustus, a gymnasium was built in the city. In 4 BC, the Roman proconsul Publius Quinctilius Varus assembled his army there in order to suppress the revolts that broke out in the region following the death of Herod the Great.
The Romans built a breakwater and expanded the harbor at the present location of the harbor....In the Roman/Byzantine period, Acre-Ptolemais was an important port city. It minted its own coins, and its harbor was one of the main gates to the land. Through this port the Roman Legions came by ship to crush the Jewish revolt in 67AD. It also served was used as connections to the other ports (for example, Caesarea and Jaffa)....The port of Acre (Ptolemais) was a station on Paul\'s naval travel, as described in Acts of the Gospels (21, 6-7): \"And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they returned home again. And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day\".[22]
During the rule of the emperor Claudius there was a building drive in Ptolemais and veterans of the legions settled here. The city was one of four colonies (with Berytus, Aelia Capitolina and Caesarea Maritima) created in ancient Levant by Roman emperors for veterans of their Roman legions.[23]
The city was a center of Romanization in the region, but most of the population was made of local Phoenicians and Jews: as a consequence after the Hadrian times the descendants of the initial Roman colonists were no more speaking Latin and were fully assimilated in less than two centuries (however the local society\'s customs were Roman).
The Christian Acts of the Apostles reports that Luke the Evangelist, Paul the Apostle and their companions spent a day in Ptolemais with the Christian brethren there.[24]
An important Roman colony (colonia) was established at the city, that greatly increased the control of the region by the Romans in the next century with Roman colonists translated there from Italy. The Romans enlarged the port and the city grew to more than 20000 inhabitants in the second century under emperor Hadrian. Ptolemais greatly flourished for two more centuries.[25]
Byzantine periodAfter the permanent division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Ptolemais was administered by the successor state, the Byzantine Empire. The city started to lose importance and in the seventh century was reduced to a small settlement of less than one thousand inhabitants.[citation needed]
Early Islamic periodFollowing the defeat of the Byzantine army of Heraclius by the Rashidun army of Khalid ibn al-Walid in the Battle of Yarmouk, and the capitulation of the Christian city of Jerusalem to the Caliph Umar, Acre came under the rule of the Rashidun Caliphate beginning in 638.[4] According to the early Muslim chronicler al-Baladhuri, the actual conquest of Acre was led by Shurahbil ibn Hasana, and it likely surrendered without resistance.[26] The Arab conquest brought a revival to the town of Acre, and it served as the main port of Palestine through the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates that followed, and through Crusader rule into the 13th century.[4]
The first Umayyad caliph, Muawiyah I (r. 661–680), regarded the coastal towns of the Levant as strategically important. Thus, he strengthened Acre\'s fortifications and settled Persians from other parts of Muslim Syria to inhabit the city. From Acre, which became one of the region\'s most important dockyards along with Tyre, Mu\'awiyah launched an attack against Byzantine-held Cyprus. The Byzantines assaulted the coastal cities in 669, prompting Mu\'awiyah to assemble and send shipbuilders and carpenters to Acre. The city would continue to serve as the principal naval base of Jund al-Urdunn (\"Military District of Jordan\") until the reign of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (723–743), who moved the bulk of the shipyards north to Tyre.[26] Nonetheless, Acre remained militarily significant through the early Abbasid period, with Caliph al-Mutawakkil issuing an order to make Acre into a major naval base in 861, equipping the city with battleships and combat troops.[27]
During the 10th century, Acre was still part of Jund al-Urdunn.[28] Local Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi visited Acre during the early Fatimid Caliphate in 985, describing it as a fortified coastal city with a large mosque possessing a substantial olive grove. Fortifications had been previously built by the autonomous Emir Ibn Tulun of Egypt, who annexed the city in the 870s, and provided relative safety for merchant ships arriving at the city\'s port. When Persian traveller Nasir Khusraw visited Acre in 1047, he noted that the large Jama Masjid was built of marble, located in the centre of the city and just south of it lay the \"tomb of the Prophet Salih.\"[27][29] Khusraw provided a description of the city\'s size, which roughly translated as having a length of 1.24 kilometres (0.77 miles) and a width of 300 metres (984 feet). This figure indicates that Acre at that time was larger than its current Old City area, most of which was built between the 18th and 19th centuries.[27]
Crusader and Ayyuoffer periodFirst Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1104–1187)
The Templar TunnelAfter four years, the siege of Acre was successfully completed in 1104, with the city capitulating to the forces of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem following the First Crusade. The Crusaders made the town their chief port in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. On the first Crusade, Fulcher relates his travels with the Crusading armies of King Baldwin, including initially staying over in Acre before the army\'s advance to Jerusalem. This demonstrates that even from the beginning, Acre was an important link between the Crusaders and their advance into the Levant.[30] Its function was to provide Crusaders with a foothold in the region and access to vibrant trade that made them prosperous, especially giving them access to the Asiatic spice trade.[31] By the 1130s it had a population of around 25,000 and was only matched for size in the Crusader kingdom by the city of Jerusalem. Around 1170 it became the main port of the eastern Mediterranean, and the kingdom of Jerusalem was regarded in the west as enormously wealthy above all because of Acre. According to an English contemporary, it provided more for the Crusader crown than the total revenues of the king of England.[31]
The Andalusian geographer Ibn Jubayr wrote that in 1185 there was still a Muslim community in the city who worshipped in a small mosque.
Ayyuoffer intermezzo (1187–1191)Acre, along with Beirut and Sidon, capitulated without a fight to the Ayyuoffer sultan Saladin in 1187, after his decisive victory at Hattin and the subsequent Muslim capture of Jerusalem.
Second Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1191–1291)See also: Siege of Acre (1189–1191) and Siege of Acre (1291)
Remains of the Crusader-period Pisan Harbour
Copy of a 1320 CE map of Acre
Model of Crusader ships anchored in Akko harbor AD 1270 by the ICRSAcre remained in Muslim hands until it was unexpectedly besieged by King Guy of Lusignan—reinforced by Pisan naval and ground forces—in August 1189. The siege was unique in the history of the Crusades since the Frankish besiegers were themselves besieged, by Saladin\'s troops. It was not captured until July 1191 when the forces of the Third Crusade, led by King Richard I of England and King Philip II of France, came to King Guy\'s aid. Acre then served as the de facto capital of the remnant Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1192. During the siege, German merchants from Lübeck and Bremen had founded a field hospital, which became the nucleus of the chivalric Teutonic Order. Upon the Sixth Crusade, the city was placed under the administration of the Knights Hospitaller military order. Acre continued to prosper as major commercial hub of the eastern Mediterranean, but also underwent turbulent times due to the bitter infighting among the Crusader factions that occasionally resulted in civil wars.[32]
The old part of the city, where the port and fortified city were located, protrudes from the coastline, exposing both sides of the narrow piece of land to the sea. This could maximize its efficiency as a port, and the narrow entrance to this protrusion served as a natural and easy defense to the city. Both the archaeological record and Crusader texts emphasize Acre\'s strategic importance—a city in which it was crucial to pass through, control, and, as evidenced by the massive walls, protect.
Acre was the final major stronghold of the Crusader states when much of the Levantine coastline was conquered by Mamluk forces. Acre itself fell to Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil in 1291.
Mamluk period (1291–1517)Acre, having been isolated and largely abandoned by Europe, was conquered by Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Khalil in a bloody siege in 1291. In line with Mamluk policy regarding the coastal cities (to prevent their future utilization by Crusader forces), Acre was entirely destroyed, with the exception of a few religious edifices considered sacred by the Muslims, namely the Nabi Salih tomb and the Ayn Bakar spring. The destruction of the city led to popular Arabic sayings in the region enshrining its past glory.[32]
In 1321 the Syrian geographer Abu\'l-Fida wrote that Acre was \"a beautiful city\" but still in ruins following its capture by the Mamluks. Nonetheless, the \"spacious\" port was still in use and the city was full of artisans.[33] Throughout the Mamluk era (1260–1517), Acre was succeeded by Safed as the principal city of its province.[32]
Ottoman period
Acre in 1841, as mapped by the British Royal Engineers after the Oriental Crisis of 1840See also: Siege of Acre (1799)
Old City of Acre, 1878 by Félix Bonfils
Carronade near the Old CityIncorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, it appeared in the census of 1596, located in the Nahiya of Acca of the Liwa of Safad. The population was 81 households and 15 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, cotton, goats, and beehives, water buffaloes, in addition to occasional revenues and market toll, a total of 20,500 Akçe. Half of the revenue went to a Waqf.[34][35] English academic Henry Maundrell in 1697 found it a ruin,[36] save for a khan (caravanserai) built and occupied by French merchants for their use,[37] a mosque and a few poor cottages.[36] The khan was named Khan al-Ilfranj after its French founders.[37]
During Ottoman rule, Acre continued to play an important role in the region via smaller autonomous sheikhdoms.[2] Towards the end of the 18th century Acre revived under the rule of Zahir al-Umar, the Arab ruler of the Galilee, who made the city capital of his autonomous sheikhdom. Zahir rebuilt Acre\'s fortifications, using materials from the city\'s medieval ruins. He died outside its walls during an offensive against him by the Ottoman state in 1775.[32] His successor, Jazzar Pasha, further fortified its walls when he virtually moved the capital of the Saida Eyelet (\"Province of Sidon\") to Acre where he resided.[38] Jazzar\'s improvements were accomplished through heavy imposts secured for himself all the benefits derived from his improvements. About 1780, Jazzar peremptorily banished the French trading colony, in spite of protests from the French government, and refused to receive a consul.[citation needed] Both Zahir and Jazzar undertook ambitious architectural projects in the city, building several caravanserais, mosques, public baths and other structures. Some of the notable works included the Al-Jazzar Mosque, which was built out of stones from the ancient ruins of Caesarea and Atlit and the Khan al-Umdan, both built on Jazzar\'s orders.[37]Port of AcreIn 1799 Napoleon, in pursuance of his scheme for raising a Syrian rebellion against Turkish domination, appeared before Acre, but after a siege of two months (March–May) was repulsed by the Turks, aided by Sir Sidney Smith and a force of British sailors. Having lost his siege cannons to Smith, Napoleon attempted to lay siege to the walled city defended by Ottoman troops on 20 March 1799, using only his infantry and small-calibre cannons, a strategy which failed, leading to his retreat two months later on 21 May.
Jazzar was succeeded on his death by his mamluk, Sulayman Pasha al-Adil, under whose milder rule the town advanced in prosperity till his death in 1819. After his death, Haim Farhi, who was his adviser, paid a huge sum in bribes to assure that Abdullah Pasha (son of Ali Pasha, the deputy of Sulayman Pasha), whom he had known from youth, will be appointed as ruler—which didn\'t stop the new ruler from assassinating Farhi. Abdullah Pasha ruled Acre until 1831, when Ibrahim Pasha besieged and reduced the town and destroyed its buildings. During the Oriental Crisis of 1840 it was bombarded on 4 November 1840 by the allied British, Austrian and French squadrons, and in the following year restored to Turkish rule.[citation needed] It regained some of its former prosperity after linking with the Hejaz Railway by a branch line from Haifa in 1913.[39] It was the capital of the Acre Sanjak in the Beirut Vilayet until the British captured the city on 23 September 1918 during World War I.[39]
Mandatory Palestine
Detailed map of the Old City of Acre from 1929, showing all the individual buildingsAt the beginning of the Mandate period, in the 1922 census of Palestine, Acre had 6,420 residents: 4,883 of whom were Muslim; 1,344 Christian; 102 Baháʼí; 78 Jewish and 13 Druze.[40] The 1931 census counted 7,897 people in Acre, 6,076 Muslims, 1,523 Christians, 237 Jews, 51 Baháʼí and 10 Druse.[41] In the 1945 census Acre\'s population numbered 12,360; 9,890 Muslims, 2,330 Christians, 50 Jews and 90 classified as \"other\".[42][43]Interior of Acre prison, circa 1938Acre\'s fort was converted into a jail, where members of the Jewish underground were held during their struggle against the Mandate authorities, among them Ze\'ev Jabotinsky, Shlomo Ben-Yosef, and Dov Gruner. Gruner and Ben-Yosef were executed there. Other Jewish inmates were freed by members of the Irgun, who broke into the jail on 4 May 1947 and succeeded in releasing Jewish underground movement activists. Over 200 Arab inmates also escaped.[44]
1948 Palestine WarIn the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, Acre was designated part of a future Arab state. On 18 March 4 technicians from the Palestine Electric Company and five British soldiers in their escort were killed while travelling to mend a cable in an RAF camp, when an Arab ambush exploded a mine on the route just outside the Moslem cemetery east of Acre [45] The Haganah responded by blowing up a bridge outside the city and derailing a train. [46] Before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War broke out, the Carmeli Brigade\'s 21 Battalion commander had repeatedly damaged the Al-Kabri aqueduct that furnished Acre with water, and when Arab repairs managed to restore water supply, then resorted to pouring flasks of typhoid and perhaps diphtheria bacteria into the aqueduct, mas part of a biological warfare programme. At some time in late April or early May 1948, - Jewish forces had cut the town\'s electricity supply responsible for pumping water - a typhoid epidemic broke out. Israeli officials later credited the facility with which they conquered the town in part to the effects of the demoralization induced by the epidemic.[47]
Israel\'s Carmeli forces attacked on May 16th and, after an ultimatum was delivered that, unless the inhabitants surrendered, \'we will destroy you to the last man and utterly,\'[48] the town notables signed an instrument of surrender on the night between 17-18 May 1948. 60 bodies were found and about three-quarters of the Arab population of the city (13,510 of 17,395) were displaced.[49]
Israel
Acre city hallThroughout the 1950s, many Jewish neighbourhoods were established at the northern and eastern parts of the city, as it became a development town, designated to absorb numerous Jewish immigrants, largely Jews from Morocco. The old city of Akko remained largely Arab Muslim (including several Bedouin families), with an Arab Christian neighbourhood in close proximity. The city also attracted worshippers of the Baháʼí Faith, some of whom became permanent residents in the city, where the Baháʼí Mansion of Bahjí is located. Acre has also served as a base for important events in Baháʼí history, including being the birthplace of Shoghi Effendi, and the short-lived schism between Baháʼís initiated by the attacks by Mírzá Muhammad ʻAlí against ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá.[50] Baháʼís have since commemorated various events that have occurred in the city, including the imprisonment of Baháʼu\'lláh.[51]
In the 1990s, the city absorbed thousands of Jews who immigrated from the former Soviet Union. Within several years, however, the population balance between Jews and Arabs shifted backwards, as northern neighbourhoods were abandoned by many of its Jewish residents in favour of new housing projects in nearby Nahariya, while many Muslim Arabs moved in (largely coming from nearby Arab villages). Nevertheless, the city still has a clear Jewish majority; in 2011, the population of 46,000 included 30,000 Jews and 14,000 Arabs.[52]
Ethnic tensions erupted in the city on 8 October 2008 after an Arab citizen drove through a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood during Yom Kippur, leading to five days of violence between Arabs and Jews.[53][54][55]
In 2009, the population of Acre reached 46,300.[56] In 2018 Shimon Lankri, was re-elected mayor with 85% of the vote.
DemographyToday there are roughly 48,000 people who live in Acre. Among Israeli cities, Acre has a relatively high proportion of non-Jewish residents, with 32% of the population being Arab.[57] In 2000, 95% of the residents in the Old City were Arab.[58] Only about 15% percent of the current Arab population in the city descends from families who lived there before 1948.[59]
Acre is home to Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Baháʼís. In particular, Acre is the holiest city of the Baháʼí Faith and receives many pilgrims of that faith every year.
In 1999, there were 22 schools in Acre with an enrollment of 15,000 children.[60]
Transportation
Acre Railway StationThe Acre central bus station, served by Egged and Nateev Express, offers intra-city and inter-city bus routes to destinations all over Israel. Nateev Express is currently contracted to provide the intra-city bus routes within Acre. The city is also served by the Acre Railway Station,[61] which is on the main Coastal railway line to Nahariya, with southerly trains to Beersheba and Modi\'in-Maccabim-Re\'ut.
Education and culture
Terra Santa School in Old AcreThe Sir Charles Clore Jewish-Arab Community Centre in the Kiryat Wolfson neighbourhood runs youth clubs and programs for Jewish and Arab children. In 1990, Mohammed Faheli, an Arab resident of Acre, founded the Acre Jewish-Arab association, which originally operated out of two bomb shelters. In 1993, Dame Vivien Duffield of the Clore Foundation donated funds for a new building. Among the programs offered is Peace Child Israel, which employs theatre and the arts to teach coexistence. The participants, Jews and Arabs, spend two months studying conflict resolution and then work together to produce an original theatrical performance that addresses the issues they have explored. Another program is Patriots of Acre, a community responsibility and youth tourism program that teaches children to become ambassadors for their city. In the summer, the centre runs an Arab-Jewish summer camp for 120 disadvantaged children aged 5–11. Some 1,000 children take part in the Acre Centre\'s youth club and youth programming every week. Adult education programs have been developed for Arab women interested in completing their high school education and acquiring computer skills to prepare for joining the workforce. The centre also offers parenting courses, and music and dance classes.[62]
The Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre is an annual event that takes place in October, coinciding with the holiday of Sukkot.[63] The festival, inaugurated in 1979, provides a forum for non-conventional theatre, attracting local and overseas theatre companies.[64] Theatre performances by Jewish and Arab producers are staged at indoor and outdoor venues around the city.[65]
Sports
Acre Municipal StadiumThe city\'s football team, Hapoel Acre F.C., is a member of the Israeli Premier League, the top tier of Israeli football. They play in the Acre Municipal Stadium which was opened in September 2011. At the end of the 2008–2009 season, the club finished in the top five, and was promoted to the top tier for a second time, after an absence of 31 years.[citation needed]
In the past the city was also home to Maccabi Acre. However, the club was relocated to nearby Kiryat Ata and was renamed Maccabi Ironi Kiryat Ata.[citation needed]
Other current active clubs are Ahi Acre and the newly formed Maccabi Ironi Acre, both playing in Liga Bet. Both club also host their matches in the Acre Municipal Stadium.[citation needed]
Landmarks
Crusader and Ottoman settlements in Acre.
Khan al-Umdan in the old city of Acre
Church of Saint AndrewAcre\'s Old City has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Since the 1990s, large-scale archaeological excavations have been undertaken and efforts are being made to preserve ancient sites. In 2009, renovations were planned for Khan al-Umdan, the \"Inn of the Columns,\" the largest of several Ottoman inns still standing in Acre. It was built near the port at the end of the 18th century by Jazzar Pasha. Merchants who arrived at the port would unload their wares on the first floor and sleep in lodgings on the second floor. In 1906, a clock tower was added over the main entrance marking the 25th anniversary of the reign of the Turkish sultan, Abdul Hamid II.[66]
City walls
Acre\'s southern sea wallIn 1750, Zahir al-Umar, the ruler of Acre, utilized the remnants of the Crusader walls as a foundation for his walls. Two gates were set in the wall, the \"land gate\" in the eastern wall, and the \"sea gate\" in the southern wall. The walls were reinforced between 1775 and 1799 by Jazzar Pasha and survived Napoleon\'s siege. The wall was thin, at only 1.5 metres (4.9 ft), and rose to a height of between 10 metres (33 ft) and 13 metres (43 ft).[67]
A heavy land defensive wall was built north and east to the city in 1800–1814 by Jazzar Pasha and his Jewish advisor, Haim Farhi. It consists of a modern counter-artillery fortification which includes a thick defensive wall, a dry moat, cannon outposts and three burges (large defensive towers). Since then, no major modifications have taken place. The sea wall, which remains mostly complete, is the original wall built by Zahir that was reinforced by Jazzar Pasha. In 1910, two additional gates were set in the walls, one in the northern wall and one in the north-western corner of the city. In 1912, the Acre lighthouse was built on the south-western corner of the walls.[68]
Al-Jazzar MosqueAl-Jazzar Mosque was built in 1781. Jazzar Pasha and his successor, Sulayman Pasha al-Adil, are both buried in a small graveyard adjacent to the mosque. In a shrine on the second level of the mosque, a single hair from Muhammad\'s beard is kept and shown on special ceremonial occasions.
Hamam al-BashaBuilt in 1795 by Jazzar Pasha, Acre\'s Turkish bath has a series of hot rooms and a hexagonal steam room with a marble fountain. It was used by the Irgun as a bridge to break into the citadel\'s prison. The bathhouse kept functioning until 1950.
Citadel of AcreThe current building which constitutes the citadel of Acre is an Ottoman fortification, built on the foundation of the citadel of the Knights Hospitaller. The citadel was part of the city\'s defensive formation, reinforcing the northern wall. During the 20th century the citadel was used mainly as Acre Prison and as the site for a gallows. During the Palestinian mandate period, activists of Arab nationalist and the Jewish Zionist movements were held prisoner there; some were executed there.
Hospitaller fortressMain article: Hospitaller commandery of Saint-Jean-d\'AcreUnder the citadel and prison of Acre, archaeological excavations revealed a complex of halls, which was built and used by the Knights Hospitaller.[69] This complex was a part of the Hospitallers citadel, which was included in the northern defences of Acre. The complex includes six semi-joined halls, one recently excavated large hall, a dungeon, a refectory (dining room) and remains of a Gothic church.
Other medieval sitesOther medieval European remains include the Church of Saint George and adjacent houses at the Genovese Square (called Kikar ha-Genovezim or Kikar Genoa in Hebrew). There were also residential quarters and marketplaces run by merchants from Pisa and Amalfi in Crusader and medieval Acre.[citation needed]Baháʼí shrine outside Acre, Bahji mansion
Acre\'s sea wall at nightBaháʼí holy placesThere are many Baháʼí holy places in and around Acre. They originate from Baháʼu\'lláh\'s imprisonment in the Citadel during Ottoman Rule. The final years of Baháʼu\'lláh\'s life were spent in the Mansion of Bahjí, just outside Acre, even though he was still formally a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. Baháʼu\'lláh died on 29 May 1892 in Bahjí, and the Shrine of Baháʼu\'lláh is the most holy place for Baháʼís — their Qiblih, the location they face when saying their daily prayers. It contains the remains of Baháʼu\'lláh and is near the spot where he died in the Mansion of Bahjí. Other Baháʼí sites in Acre are the House of ʻAbbúd (where Baháʼu\'lláh and his family resided) and the House of ʻAbdu\'lláh Páshá (where later ʻAbdu\'l-Bahá resided with his family), and the Garden of Ridván where he spent the end of his life. In 2008, the Baháʼí holy places in Acre and Haifa were added to the UNESCO World Heritage of the Hospitaller fortressExcavations at Tell Akko began in 1973.[72] In 2012, archaeologists excavating at the foot of the city\'s southern seawall found a quay and other evidence of a 2,300-year old port. Mooring stones weighing 250–300 kilograms each were unearthed at the edge of a 5-meter long stone platform chiseled in Phoenician-style, thought to be an installation that helped raise military vessels from the water onto the shore.[73]
Crusader period remains
Saint John the Baptist ChurchUnder the citadel and prison of Acre, archaeological excavations revealed a complex of halls, which was built and used by the Hospitallers Knights.[69] This complex was a part of the Hospitallers\' citadel, which was combined in the northern wall of Acre. The complex includes six semi-joined halls, one recently excavated large hall, a dungeon, a refectory (dining hall) and remains of an ancient Gothic church.[citation needed]
Medieval European remains include the Church of Saint George and adjacent houses at the Genovese Square (Kikar ha-Genovezim or Kikar Genoa in Hebrew). There were also residential quarters and marketplaces run by merchants from Pisa and Amalfi in Crusader and medieval Acre.[citation needed]
In March 2017, marine archaeologists from Haifa University announced the discovery of the wreck of a crusader ship with treasure dating back to 1062-1250 AD. Excavators teams also unearthed ceramic bowls and jugs from places as Syria, Cyprus and southern Italy. The researchers thought the golden coins could be used as a bribe to boat owners in hopes of buying their escape. Robert Kool of the IAA identified these 30 coins as florins.[74][75][76]
International relationsSee also: List of Israeli twin towns and sister citiesAcre is twinned with:
Poland Bielsko-Biała, Poland[77]Austria Bregenz, AustriaUnited States Canton, Ohio, United StatesUnited States Deerfield Beach, Florida, United StatesFrance La Rochelle, France, since 1972[78]China Nanjing, China, since 2019Italy Pisa, Italy, since 1998[79]Germany Recklinghausen, GermanyHungary Nagykanizsa, HungaryNotable people
Delila Hatuel, foil fencing Olympic athleteJoan of Acre (1272–1307), English princess born in AcreGhassan Kanafani (1936–1972), Palestinian writerRaymonda Tawil (born 1940), Palestinian journalist and activistLydia Hatuel-Czuckermann (born 1963), Olympic foil fencerAyelet Ohayon (born 1974), Olympic foil fencerDelila Hatuel (born 1980), Olympic foil fencerAvigail Alfatov (born 1996), national fencing champion, soldier, and Miss Israel 2014
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá The Baha'i Leader Knighting Ceremony 1920 Large Photo Haifa Israel $5699.54
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