Baha'i

Our quote for today is from Albert Einstein. He said, "My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance — but for us, not for God."

In this podcast, we are making our way through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day."

Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "Baha'i." 

The newest of what are generally considered world religions is Baha'i, which only began in the mid-nineteenth century. Although small, with about six million followers, in less than one hundred fifty years it has become a global and growing religion with adherents in almost every country.

Baha'i began in what is now Iran and was first seen as a sect of Shi'ite Islam. Shi'ites believe that one of the great imams of the past (some Shi'ites believe there were seven imams, others twelve) is still alive, in hiding, and one day will reveal himself as the Mahdi, who will bring worldwide peace and justice. In 1844, Ali Muhammad declared himself to be the twelfth imam and took the name Bab-ud-Din, meaning “Gate of Faith." Great excitement and rejoicing turned to anger and persecution when Bab-ud-Din's teachings turned out to be inconsistent with the Qur'an. He was executed in 1850, along with many of his followers, but predicted before his death that another man would come after him who would establish a new religion.

Those followers who were not killed were exiled to Baghdad, where in 1863, one of them, Hu-sayn Ali, proclaimed he was the foretold one and took the name Bahaullah, meaning “glory of God." Those who believed him took the name Baha'i. This group was forcibly moved around the Middle East for years until eventually arriving in Acre, near present-day Haifa, Israel.

Bahaullah was imprisoned the rest of his life, but wrote a number of books and letters and sent out missionaries to spread his message. When he died in 1892, he was succeeded by his son Abbas Effendi, who took the name Abdul Baha, meaning “Servant of Baha." He continued his father's work of writing, was released from prison in 1908, and began to travel widely in Europe and North America, proclaiming the Baha'i message and organizing local assemblies of followers. Baha'i leadership passed to his grandson Shoghi Effendi in 1921, who continued this work until his death in 1957. Thereafter, leadership ceased to be hereditary and was handed over to an elected body chosen from the now global Baha'i community.

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