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 Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a global religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in the 19th century.
"Bahá'í" is either an adjective referring to this religion,
or the term for a follower of Bahá'u'lláh. The term comes
from "Bahá’", an Arabic word meaning "glory" or "splendor".
Bahá'í theology could be expressed in terms of three interlocking unities: the oneness of God; the oneness of religion; and the oneness of humanity. These principles have a profound impact on the theological and social teachings of this religion.
Bahá'ís believe that the history of religion is an unfolding process of education planned by God, and that the founders of religions are God's messengers and teachers of this Plan. Bahá'u'lláh is seen as the most recent, pivotal, but not final of God's messengers. He claimed to be the One whose future coming was prophesied in religious scriptures of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions, and that his major purpose was to lay the spiritual foundations for a new global civilization of peace and harmony, which Bahá'ís expect to gradually arise by following Bahá'u'lláh's teachings and laws.
Bahá'í Faith Believes
Unity is very highly emphasized in the Bahá'í writings. Three core assertions of the Bahá'í Faith are the unity of God, the unity of religion, and the unity of mankind; a single, all powerful God, revealing His message through a series of divine messengers or educators, regarding them as one progressively revealed religion, to one single humanity, who all possess a rational soul and only differ according to colour and culture.
This idea is fundamental not only to explaining Bahá'í beliefs, but explaining the attitude Bahá'ís have towards other religions. Bahá'ís regard most other religions as divinely inspired, although they are now superseded by a new revelation; Bahá'u'lláh in many places states that denying any of the previous religious founders, which Bahá'u'lláh termed Manifestations of God, is equivalent to denying all of them, and God Himself.
Bahá'í Faith God
Bahá'ís believe that there is one supernatural being, God, who has created all the creatures and forces in the universe. God is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty." (GPB, p. 139) Bahá'ís believe that although people have different concepts of God and His nature, and call Him by different names, everyone is speaking of the same one Being. God is taught to be a personal God in that God is conscious of His creation, has a mind, will and purpose. At the same time the Bahá'í teachings state that God is too great for humans to fully understand Him or to create a complete and accurate image of Him. Bahá'u'lláh attributed titles to God such as the All-Powerful, and the All-Loving, which are derived from the limited human experiences of power, love, or justice. Bahá'u'lláh teaches that human knowledge of God is limited to those attributes and qualities which are perceptible to us, and thus direct knowledge about the essence of God is not possible.
Furthermore Bahá'u'lláh states that the knowledge of the attributes of God is revealed to humanity through the messengers he sends to humanity. Bahá'ís believe, thus, that through daily prayer, meditation and study they can grow closer to God.
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Facts about Bahá'í Faith
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