BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Baha'i Faith What is the baha'i?

I just got back from vacation in California. We went to San Diego and San Francisco. All along the way I saw these signs for adopt-a-highway cleanup programs sponsored by local baha'i churches. What is this faith all about?

Greetings, Emaster! :-)

The Baha'i Faith is the newest world religion. It was begun in Persia 163 years ago. Our Founder's title is Baha'u'llah, which means "The Glory of God."

While it's still small (about seven million Baha'is), it's already spread to literally every country on earth.

Our most central teachings are what we call the "Three Onenesses," which are:
- the Oneness of God,
- the oneness of humanity, and
- the common foundation of all the great religions, which are all stages in a single ever-evolving faith, the Faith of God!

You can learn more at various Baha'i web sites, including www.bahai.org and www.bahai.us and (in the US) also get free literature and further information by phoning 1-800-22-UNITE.

My regards, and I wish you good hunting! :-)

Oh--and further questions are most welcome!

Best,

Bruce

I don't like to read websites. Too clinical and dry. What is the common foundation of all great religions?

Hi, EM!

I certainly hope you don't find OUR websites "clinical and dry!"

EM>What is the common foundation of all great religions?

Briefly, it's the fact that all the great religions were revealed by God to humanity, and that they're all successive stages in a single ever-evolving faith, the Faith of God!

The Baha'i scriptures state explicltly that these religions generally are legitimate and of God, and that the only excpetions are a few man-made perversions of religion (satanism and the Jim Jones group would be examples).

So at base, God is the foundation of the great religions! . . . :-)

Best,

How can they all be legitimate if they contradict one another? I mean, Jesus claims to be God and Muhammad claims Jesus to be a prophet only. How can they both be right?

Greetings again! :-)

>How can they all be legitimate if they contradict one another? I mean, Jesus claims to be God and Muhammad claims Jesus to be a prophet only.

Basically, IOV they do NOT contradict!

The main thing to bear in mind is that the different religions were revealed for different ages, with humanity in different circumstances, abilities, and needs.

So it may well have made sense, for example, to have certain social laws in one age, and for a later Divine Messenger to have abrogated them! A good example of this is seen in the Gospels, where Christ both amplifies the spiritual teachings about murder and adultery, and also abolishes the Jewish restrictions on the Sabbath.

Another good example is that like it or not, AS REVEALED, both Christianity and Islam permitted slavery. The Baha'i Faith, in contrast, forbids it explicitly in its scriptures.

In general, in the Baha'i view, spiritual laws are permanent and universal across the various religions (though they're sometimes amplified like Jesus' clarifications of murder and adultery above).

But social teachings are INTENTIONALLY temporary, and may be changed by any later Messenger. Again, the Sabbath and slavery are good examples (and I'm sure you can think of many more).

Please note that WE don't have the right to make these changes: only the few God-sent Divine Messengers Who found new religions (and hence, new stages in religion) have this right.

As to Christ's station, in the Baha'i view both positions are accurate because of what we call the Messengers' "dual stations." (It simply happens that Muhammad and Jesus were stressing different aspects of this.) Also, Jesus in fact rarely consented to be called "God," stressing instead that He was distinct from God and saying "Why callest Me good? There is only one good: the Father in Heaven!"

The explanation of this (which Baha'u'llahs explains in detail in the Baha'i scriptures in a book called The Book of Certitude (aka Kitab-i-Iqan) on roughly pages 152-180; you can see it at www.reference.bahai.org) is as follows:

In one aspect, a Divine Messenger is the same as any other human being. He is born, lives, and dies; it is to this aspect that Christ was referring in calling Himself the Son of Man and making the statement i quoted above.

But in His other aspect, every Messenger is the Face of God on earth, and in this respect it is proper to refer to Him as God even though He is not literally God Himself!

The analogy often used is that of a mirror reflecting the sun. One can point to the mirror and say "There's the sun!" and be correct. But it is also correct to point and say "That's not the sun; only a mirror!"

Thus if one calls Jesus God, one is correct. If one says He's not, one is also correct.

Piece of cake. :-)

Many regards, and please feel free to keep the questions coming! :-)

BTW, another forum you might like to check out is at www.planet.bahai.org which has a GREAT forum area!

It has a great bunch of folks--some Baha'i, some not--, and you can get a lot of good answers for your questions there from a variety of viewpoints! (There's also an occasional live chat if you're interested.)

Cheers! :-)

Well there's only one sun. Anyway, Jesus did claim deity. He called himself " I AM" That is what God called himself (the Father) in the old testament. He also said , " You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." Then he was worshipped repeatedly and he never objected. Either he is God or he is not. Muhammad never claimed to be God. But he did claim he was God's final messenger. Was he right too? I can't see how they can both be correct.If muhammad was the final prophet as he claims then what about baha'u'llah? Either muhammad was wrong or baha'u'llah was? How can they both be right?

Hello, hello! :-)

EM>Either [Jesus] is God or he is not.

As I explained above, both views are correct for the reasons I explained. Please see pp. 152-170 of The Book of Certitude for a full answer.

EM>Muhammad never claimed to be God. But he did claim he was God's final messenger. Was he right too?

By definition, ALL Divine Messengers are ipso facto right!

But this question is in fact mainly a matter of translation!

You see, there are multiple words in Arabic that translate into English as "prophet."

One of these is "nabi," which refers to a minor prophet such as Jeremiah or Micah.

Another is "Ras'ul," which means a major Divine Messenger such as Moses, Christ, Muhammad, or Baha'u'llah (Founder of the Baha'i Faith).

And if you check the Qur'an in the original Arabic, what Muhammad in fact said was that He was the Seal of the nabi (i.e., of the minor prophets). There is thus nothing whatever to prevent more Divine Messengers from appearing, and IOV the "last prophet" belief common among Muslims is in fact mistaken.

(Elsewhere, the Qur'an says other things indicative of further Divine Revelation, including that if all the oceans were ink, this would not suffice to record all that God reveals.)

Simple as that. :-)

Best,

Both views cannot be correct.Is it such a terrible thing to take a stand and say that someone might be wrong? I mean if someone has a crash at an intersection then somebody probably ran a red light. Someone was wrong.

Greetings again!

EM>Both biew cannot be correct.

I'm sorry: you're simply mistaken.

IN THIS CASE, as I've already pointed out, BOTH views are true and correct!

Through dint of much exertion, I've gone and extracted the relavant passages from The Book of Certutude (part of the Baha'i scriptures), and will post them in the next message.

And in the meantime, Baha'u'llah Himself said: "When I contemplate, O my God, the relationship that bindeth me to Thee, I am moved to proclaim to all created things 'verily I am God'; and when I consider my own self, lo, I find it coarser than clay! "

Oh--and to supplement my answer about the "Seal of the prophets" thing:

What I said above about the different words meaning prophet holds.

And in addition, there are two other explanations.

First off, there is a sense in which EVERY Divine Messenger is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, and the Seal! The Baha'i scriptures make this plain.

And as to translation, the word being interpreted as "seal" also carries the meaning "ornament," which fits just as well and implies nothing whatever about Muhammad's being the final anything. . . .

Best,