A Statement of the Purpose and Principles of the Bahá’í Faith and Outline of Bahá’í History

A Statement of the Purpose and Principles of the Bahá’í Faith and Outline of Bahá’í History[

"The root of all learning is the knowledge of God―Exalted be His glory!―and this cannot be attained save through the knowledge of His divine Manifestation."

For more than eighty years, the Bahá’í Cause has been steadfastly presented to the world as the expression for this age of the same universal Spirit which in other ages spoke through Zoroaster, Muḥammad, the Buddha, Moses, Christ, one divine utterance and continuous purpose, giving forth one and the same message, albeit adapted to the conditions and human capacities of each time. In Bahá’u’lláh, according to His explicit text, the Message of God has been revealed to mankind in its fullness and universality, and the Bahá’í Cause accordingly represents the fulfillment of that which was but partially revealed in previous dispensations.

The objects of the Bahá’í Cause are identical with the true objects of all revealed religion: to raise man from the earthly to the heavenly condition; to substitute spiritual laws and realities for natural laws and realities operating in the darkness of unfaith; to initiate a new age and era of progress and attainment in the world of mind; to transform civilization into the glory of the Kingdom― but what has been partially revealed is now made complete and what has been cherished as the secret experience of a few souls is now established as the determining power molding the life of the world.

To achieve these objects, Bahá’u’lláh bestowed upon humanity a perfect model and criterion of truth, first, in His own life, then in His written teachings. The life of Bahá’u’lláh shows forth the same providential destiny as the lives of those Manifestations who arose in ancient and later times. It was the same victory of the Spirit beset by ignorance and hate; the same sacrifice, the same glory. But Bahá’u’lláh was not slain nor prevented from giving His full message. The written text surviving Him guides the faithful followers into all truth.

The utterances of Bahá’u’lláh convey the spirit of religion throughout the circle of the experiences of life. They enlarge the area of religion to include reality in all its forms. From them we derive science, philosophy and teachings on economic and governmental problems, as well as ethics and methods of spiritual purification and attainment.

"Bahá’u’lláh taught," writes Dr. J. E. Esslemont, "that the Prophet, or 'Manifestation of God,' is the Light-bringer of the spiritual world, as the sun is the lightbringer of the natural world. Just as the material sun shines over the earth and causes the growth and development of material organisms, so also, through the divine Manifestation, the Sun of Truth shines upon the world of heart and soul, and educates the thoughts, morals and characters of men. And just as the rays of the natural sun have an influence which penetrates into the darkest[Page 3] and shadiest corners of the world, giving warmth and life even to creatures that have never seen the sun itself; so also, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the Manifestation of God influences the lives of all, and inspires receptive minds even in places and among peoples where the name of the Prophet is quite unknown. The advent of the Manifestation is like the coming of the Spring. It is a day of resurrection in which the spiritually dead are raised to new life, in which the Reality of the Divine Religions is renewed and re-established, in which appear 'new heavens and a new earth.'

"But, in the world of nature, the Spring brings about not only the growth and awakening of new life, but also the destruction and removal of the old and effete; for the same sun, that makes the flowers to spring and the trees to bud, causes also the decay and disintegration of what is dead and useless; it loosens the ice and melts the snow of winter, and sets free the flood and the storm that cleanse and purify the earth. So it is also in the spiritual world. The spiritual sunshine causes similar commotion and change. Thus the Day of Resurrection is also the Day of Judgment, in which corruptions and imitation of the truth and outworn ideas and customs are discarded and destroyed, in which the ice and snow of prejudice and superstition, which accumulated during the season of winter, are melted and transformed, and energies long frozen and pent up are released to flood and renovate the world."

Religion renews the spirit of faith and confirms the ideals of the previous Prophets and Messengers; but Religion also progresses and in each cycle discloses a new aspect of truth. That which the Bahá’í Cause contains not revealed in any existing religion is the principle of the Oneness of Mankind.

It is in the light of this principle that all the Bahá’í writings are to be viewed and the purpose of this Movement considered. That a spiritual Power has been breathed into the soul of humanity in this age which shall remove all causes of difference, misunderstanding, discord and disagreement―causes resident in customs and institutions as well as in personal opinions and emotions-and establish the means and methods as well as the desire of unity-is of the essence of the Bahá’í teaching and faith. The rapidly altering character of human life throughout the world is one of the proofs of the mission of Bahá’u’lláh.

The principle of oneness involves so many readjustments, mental, social and spiritual, that the wars and strifes of these latter times have been inevitable. In the life and writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá we have the supreme effort to prepare humanity for the understanding of Bahá’u’lláh and the power manifest in Him. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave to Bahá’u’lláh's message an interpretation directly and immediately applying to the nature of those readjustments. The interpretation is one with the message, as the sunlight is one with the sun. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has revealed the significance of the Bahá’í Cause in setting forth the following Principles:

1. Unfettered search after truth and the abandonment of all superstition and prejudice.

2. The Oneness of Mankind: all are "leaves of one tree, flowers in one garden."

3. Religion must be the cause of love and harmony, else it is no religion.

4. All religions are one in their fundamental principles.

5. Religion must conform with science. Faith and reason must be in full accord.

6. Universal Peace: the establishment of a universal League of Nations, of international arbitration and an International Parliament.

7. The adoption of an auxiliary international language which shall be taught in all the schools of the world.

8. Compulsory education especially for girls, who will be the mothers and the first educators of the next generation.

9. Equal opportunities of development and equal rights and privileges for both sexes.

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10. Work for all: no idle rich and no idle poor. "Work in the spirit of service is worship."

11.Abolition of extremes of poverty and wealth: care for the needy.

12. Recognition of the Unity of God and obedience to His commands as revealed through His divine Manifestations.

The history of the Bahá’í Cause, mirroring as it does the spiritual history of modern times, confirms these principles and shows how they have permeated the minds and hearts of its followers throughout the world.

Outline of Bahá’í History

The history of the past eighty years makes a startling record of momentous events, radical changes and new world issues emerging apparently without definite order and meaning, capable of many conflicting interpretations. But if one observes how action is expressive of thought, how thought is moved by will and desire, and how will and desire are formed by the quality of the personal or group understanding, it will become evident that an era so profoundly active in all directions and on all planes can only be accounted for by the presence of some Influence felt in the very soul of the world.

The history of the Bahá’í Cause is the explanation of this Influence―its swift movement and penetration from the heights to the depths of humanity. The Bahá’í Cause is more than an incident in history;―it is a clear Light illuminating the spiritual powers to which peoples, consciously or unconsciously, now respond. Apart from the Bahá’í Cause, modern worlet movements and tendencies seem sinister anarchy; but from within the Cause they assume perfect order and fullness of meaning.

The day will surely come when historians, working in the Light of the life and teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, will produce the true and complete narrative of these significant years, a narrative co-ordinating the visible events with their subtler causes, and bringing into unity the mental and moral as well as social issues involved. Meanwhile, the simplest statement recording, the conditions under which the Bahá’í Movement was born and developed will be deeply moving to those who would know life as the pathway to God.

To read this record aright, one must discern the fruit latent in the seed and shaping in the bud. Without Bahá’u’lláh, the episode of the Báb has no lasting result or outcome; without ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the influence of Bahá’u’lláh has no adequate instrument; without the application of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's final instructions His sacrifice would not serve to unify and renovate the world.

The first significant Bahá’í date is May 23, 1844.

At that time evidences of the dawn of a new Day were visible on every hand. Witnesses to this dawn arose in all countries and among all peoples, testifying ill the name of poetry, art, science, philosophy and religion to the presence of a new, transforming Spirit. Materialists worked in hope to reform the body of society, while mystics felt the nearness of their Lord. From farthest East to farthest West the surfaces of habit and tradition broke asunder, and people tended to center around new and higher ideals.

The supreme expression of this universal awakening revealed itself in the heart of a radiant Youth of Persia known now as the Báb (i.e., Gate or Door). To this Youth came the clear realization of His mission to proclaim the coming of a mighty Educator, the One longed for by all peoples, who would quicken the souls, illumine the minds, unify the consciences and remold the customs of mankind. The life of the Báb from May 23, 1844, to July 9, 1850, exemplified the pure spiritual destiny of the Prophets and Messengers of old. Through Him a large portion of the Muslim population of Persia became imbued with true faith, but against Him gathered the fanatic hatred of the Muslim clergy and the desperate fear of the civil rulers, and by their combined efforts[Page 5] and influence the Báb was soon confined in prison, and on July 9, 1850, publicly martyred in Tabríz.

Those who lament that this is an age of dominant materialism may well ponder the results of the Báb's mission in the heroic sacrifice of His faithful followers, many thousands of whom were tortured and slain with incredible brutality. Because these events took place in Muslim land, and in a land peculiarly remote from European and American experience, little attention was paid to the Bábí movement in the West.

The motive animating the faith of the Báb's followers was that His being and mission fulfilled the spirit of their own religious prophecy.

With Bahá’u’lláh, whose advent the Báb had foretold, the new Movement left behind its particular Muslim aspect and assumed a world-wide purpose and meaning. Bahá’u’lláh arose after the death of the Báb, took upon Himself full responsibility for leading a Movement proscribed by the government, and became the target for all the bitterness engendered by failure to extinguish the new light of faith. Bahá’u’lláh was imprisoned in Ṭihrán with murderers and criminals, bastinadoed, condemned to death, exiled to Baghdád, then to Constantinople and Adrianople, and finally confined for life in the desolate barracks of ‘Akká, a Turkish penal colony, facing Mount Carmel in the Holy Land.

On April 21, 1863, in a garden outside Baghdád, Bahá’u’lláh made known to a few followers that He was the One proclaimed and promised by the Báb. This announcement was made in His famous Epistles in Adrianople previous to the journey to ‘Akká. in 1868.

By this event the Bábí Movement was fulfilled in the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh (i.e., Glory of God), and the streams of Christian and Jewish prophecy united with the inner reality of the Muslim religion.

Bahá’u’lláh gave the glad-tidings to East and West that the Day of God had dawned, that the power of the Holy Spirit encompassed humanity in its time of greatest need, that a new and universal cycle had been established―the age of brotherhood, of peace, of the knowledge of God. This message was inscribed in Tablets or Epistles, written during His forty years of exile and imprisonment, to kings and rulers, to representatives of the several religions, to His own followers in response to questions they had addressed to Him, and in a great number of books containing the essence of universal religion, science and philosophy. In the annals of the world, no spiritual revelation has been so complete, nor made under such conditions of personal oppression and hardship.

The effect of Bahá’u’lláh Himself upon His followers, even upon His enemies, was unique and indescribable. About Him emanated a majesty that glorified every suffering, an awe that penetrated to the rudest soul, a consecrated love that portrayed man in his ultimate perfection.

Voluntarily sharing these fateful ordeals from very childhood was the son of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. (i.e., Servant of Bahá), whose confinement at ‘Akká, lasting forty years, was terminated at last in 1903 by the overthrow of the old regime by the Young Turks.

Bahá’u’lláh ascended (i.e .. passed from this world) in 1892, leaving a Testament naming ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the Head of His Cause, the Interpreter of His Teachings, and the Promulgator of His Faith. The providential spirit guiding and protecting the Bahá’í Cause from its beginning, centered thereafter in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá served as the witness and proof of Bahá’u’lláh from 1892 until November 28, 1921. By His singleness of devotion, purity of life, tireless effort, humanitarian love and unfailing wisdom, the Bahá’í Message slowly but surely spread to all parts of the world. From 1911 to 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá journeyed through Europe and America, unfolding before numerous audiences the spirit of the age. His addresses explore the fundamental problems of religion as an attitude toward God reflected in life. In these addresses we find the message of Bahá’u’lláh developed in relation to the needs of[Page 6] civilization, and an organic harmony is created between religion, science, economics and the social order. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá expanded the religion of spirit to include all the functions of life, destroying forever the antagonism between "religious" and "secular" matters. But this religion of spirit bears little resemblance to institutional creeds.

In these addresses also we find vivid and inspiring pictures of the latent possibilities of the human soul and the new civilization which shall arise from the influence of the Holy Spirit. The adaptability of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the particular audience or individual inquirer produced a true unity between groups and interests never reconciled before. No such source of education in the whole meaning of the word exists in the modern world outside the writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. In these writings the ideals of Christian, Jew and other religionists, of philosopher and scientist, of economist and reformer are abundantly realized.

At the time of the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’ís existed in many countries of the East and West. To these He left explicit instructions explaining and applying the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, concerning the method of unifying the believers and administering the work of the Cause. He appointed in His Will and Testament His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as first Guardian of the Cause, and left directions for the election of an International Council (Baytu’l-‘Ahd’l, i.e., House of Justice) based on the universal suffrage of the believers, which should in conjunction with him guide the development of the Movement and co-ordinate the activities of its followers in accordance with the principles laid down by Bahá’u’lláh.