Bahai World Faith 1
Baha’i World Faith
The Baha’i World Faith claims to be a religion of unique relevance to the modern world. Few cults are better adapted to the mentality of the 20th century than this one. Its emphasis upon rationalism, human rights, international peace, education, equality of the sexes, and the eradication of all forms of prejudice gives the Baha’i Faith a very broad base of appeal. The Baha’i cry for one world religion appeals to the ecumenical spirit of the age, especially in light of the continuing insistence that Baha’is are in perfect harmony with the Christian Faith. We will look into several areas of this cult.
ORGANIZATION
The Baha’i World Faith has had its headquarters on Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel, since 1949. In America the center for the Baha’is is in Wilmette, Illinois, where a 3 million dollar temple draws over 100,00 visitors a year according to their spokesmen. Additional temples are located in Frankfurt, Germany; Kampala, Uganda; and Sidney, Australia. Though each one is different, they are all nine-sided (Nine has religious significance to Baha’is) and each is covered with a dome.
Since they are convinced they have a message the entire world should hear, Baha’is have a strong missionary emphasis. They are active in more than 250 countries, and though world wide missionary work has been limited to the 20th century, total membership totals over 5 million. The 60’s and the 70’s witnessed very strong growth, especially in the United States (special emphasis in California), where a large percentage of the membership consists of minorities and youth. California membership constitutes over 25% of the membership of Baha’i.
The Baha’is have three levels of administration. A minimum of nine believers is sufficient to constitute a local spiritual assembly, which elects a nine member administrative body each year. These centers have no clergy or house of worship. They employ only teachers who conduct “Firesides” or discussion groups in homes or Baha’i centers. The second level of Baha’i is the National Spiritual Assembly of nine members elected each year by the delegates to the faith’s national conventions. The very top level is the UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE, which is another nine member body elected every FIVE years by the national spiritual assemblies throughout the world. Although the House of Justice serves presently as the governing body for a “world” religion, its ultimate intention is to serve as the FINAL GOVERNING AUTHORITY for ALL THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD.
BAHA’I HISTORY
It is amazing that most of the various texts found on this faith are duplicates of the media handed out by BAHA’I themselves! You will note here, however, that the author makes careful examination of the HISTORICAL record and the BIBLICAL record (if existent) to arrive at our text files. We can do no different, so we stay away from Encyclopedia Brittanica, etc. and look to History for the history of this cult.
Iran, the birthplace of the Baha’i Faith, has long been a Muslim nation. The Persians (present day Iran) embraced the Shi’ite sect of Islam rather than the larger, more democratic Sunni sect, which is the more traditional form of Islam. The Shi’ites believe that Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad and the last of the four universally recognized caliphs (rulers of the faith in temporal matters), was succeeded to the caliphate by twelve of his descendants, called Imams. The Shi’ite sect, alone, recognizes these twelve as divinely appointed leaders of Islam, and they came to be regarded as sinless, supernatural beings. The twelfth Imam mysteriously disappeared without leaving an heir, and the belief began in the Shi’ites that he was still alive and would one day return as the Messiah, or Mahdi. In addition, some schools among the Shi’ites began to teach that the Imams were manifestations of deity, a belief against orthodox Islam, which denies even the possibility of divine incarnation.
Periodically, especially during times of oppression, men would arise claiming to be the Hidden Imamorhis appointed channel of grace. This was especially true in the early nineteenth century when political and religious reform was badly needed in Persia and when the 1,000 years that Shi’ite tradition affirmed would pass between the disappearance and return of the Hidden Imam was nearly completed. One such man was Shaykh Amad al-Ahsa, whose followers were called “Shaykhis.” He and his successor, Sayyid Kazim, were both called Bab (The gate between the Hidden Imam and mankind). They claimed to be in contact with the Hidden Imam and proclaimed that he would soon become manifest.
After the death of Kazim, the sect became divided between those who believed that the new successor was Hajji Karim Khan of Kirman and a much larger faction which followed Sayyid Ali Muhannad of Shiraz. The latter proclaimed in 1844 that he was the Bab, a manifestation of God, the Mahdi for whom all had waited. The first group continued under the name of Shaykhis; the latter were called Babis.
Sayyid Ali Muhammad of Shirazwas born in 1820, descendant of the family of Muhammad. He was quiet and modest and, as he grew older, became studious and pious. He made a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Imams near Bagdad, where he met Sayyid Kazim and became strongly influenced by Shaykhi doctrine. When Kazim died, the movement temporarily lacked a leader. Becoming convinced of his own divine mission, the Bab gathered eighteen “apostles,” whom he called the “Letters of the Living.” They began to proclaim vigorously his “divine” identity and mission, which met with varying response in different cities. Some eagerly accepted the “good news,” while others reacted with hostility And, in some cases, violence. “…in the History of Islam, putting forward a
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