Baha'ism

Baha’ Allah modelled his shari‘ah on that of the Bab’s, but toned down its ritualistic character considerably. It is beyond the scope of this paper to deal with the evolution of Baha’i ritual, and to this end I shall deal with the Baha’i religion as it is currently practiced. For more information on the scriptural theory behind Baha’i ritual observance, the reader is referred once again to MacEoin’s Rituals.

Beliefs

The key teachings of the Baha’i religion revolve around acceptance of Baha’ Allah as the “manifestation” of God for this day who has come to bring about world peace and the unity of humanity.

God & Manifestations

Baha’is believe in one God, who in his transcendent essence is unknowable to human beings. “[God] is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men.”20 God created the world in order to make himself known, however, and in neo-Platonic fashion, the entire creation “reflects” the attributes of God. In particular, God reveals all his names through a perfect human who is the mazhhar ‘manifestation’ of God.

The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days being thus closed in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite grace … caused those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the noble form of the human temple, and be made manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the mysteries of the unchangeable Being, and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable Essence.21

This is markedly similar to Ibn ‘Arabi’s cosmology and doctrine of al-insan al-kamil, with which Baha’ Allah would have become familiar during the time he studied with a group of Naqshbandi Sufis in Sulaymaniyyah. Unlike Ibn ‘Arabi, however, Baha’i theology holds individuals cannot become manifestations. Instead God has chosen special pre-existent, sinless and infallible individuals; the founders of major religions.22 Baha’i scripture is a little vague over exactly who is included in the list. Generally speaking, the following names are usually given in Baha’i texts: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, the Bab and Baha’ Allah.

The manifestations of God also have a dual station. In the “station of essential unity”, the manifestations can be regarded as “one soul and the same person”.23 However in the physical world, the manifestations have individual personalities, abilities, missions, and other distinguishing characteristics.24 Because God is essentially unknowable, all scriptural references to his activities actually refer to the manifestations of God.25 Thus for Baha’is, Baha’ Allah is Jehovah of the Hebrew scriptures; the appearance of the Everlasting Father of Christendom; and the Qur’anic God come down overshadowed with clouds.26

Baha’i cosmology also holds that creation undergoes great cyclical periods of time during which a number of lesser manifestations appear before the coming of a universal manifestation who is the apex of creation. Following him, lesser manifestations again appear and the cycle renews itself. Baha’is believe that we are in a five hundred thousand year universal cycle which began with the manifestation of Adam and Baha’ Allah is its universal manifestation.27

Next > Baha'ism: Beliefs: Progressive Revelation

References

20Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, trans. Shoghi Effendi, (Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1983) 97.

21Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán 99.

22The doctrine of the pre-existent, infallible and sinless nature of the manifestations is drawn from the Shi‘i notion of the special creation of the imams. There appears to be some correlation between manifestations and those figures the Qur’an names as messengers, however this is not precise as Isma’il is referred to as a rasul in the Qur’an (19:54) but he is not regarded as a manifestation by Baha’is.

23Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán 152.

24Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán 176.

25Momen, Moojan, “Relativism: A Basis For Bahá'í Metaphysics”, Studies in Honor of the Late Hasan M. Balyuzi: Studies in the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, ed. Moojan Momen, vol. 5, (Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1988), 21 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/articles/relativism.html>.

26Effendi, Shoghi, God Passes By (Wilmette, Illinoise: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974) 95.

27‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Foundations of World Unity (Wilmette, Illinoise: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1968) 54.

Next > Baha'ism: Beliefs: Progressive Revelation