Baha'ism

Beliefs

Scripture

Baha’is have their own canon of scripture but also accept the Qur’an as the word of God, and the Bible as divinely inspired. For those used to the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths having a single central holy book, the seeming plethora of Baha’i scriptures can seem quite confusing, particularly given that most texts are not translated and many are inaccessible to the wider public. However because of the quantity of texts, Baha’i scriptures cover a wide spectrum of topics and have well developed doctrines springing from the hands of the founders themselves.

The scriptural texts and their levels of authority can be divided into the following categories:

Writings of the Manifestations

• The texts of the Bab – essentially infallible but all legislation abrogated by Baha’ Allah.
  - List of the Bab's best known works
  - H-Bahai collected works
  - Authorised English translations
  - H-Bahai translated texts

• The texts of Baha’ Allah – essentially infallible.
  - Leiden List of the tablets of Baha’ Allah
  - H-Bahai collected works
  - Authorised English translations
  - H-Bahai translated texts

Writings of ‘Abd al-Baha

• Interpretations of the teachings of the Bab and Baha’ Allah as well as own body of works – inherited infallibility as successor to Baha’ Allah.
  - H-Bahai collected works
  - Authorised English translations
  - H-Bahai translated texts

Writings of Shoghi Effendi

• Interpretations of the teachings of the Bab, Baha’ Allah and ‘Abd al-Baha’ as well as own body of works – given infallibility in religious matters only.
  - Authorised texts in English
  - H-Bahai collected works
  - H-Bahai translated texts

Writings of the Universal House of Justice

• Own body of texts – given infallibility in legislative matters.
  - Works of the Universal House of Justice
  - Letters of the Universal House of Justice

The Qur’an

• Considered the word of God “free from error” but abrogated.

The Bible

• Considered divinely inspired but not to the level of the Qur’an.

Other religious texts

• Treated with respect.

It is important to note that while Baha’is accept the Qur’an as the word of God, they consider it abrogated and no longer relevant. Where Islamic hadiths have been quoted in Baha’i scripture they are considered authoritative, otherwise hadiths have no status of authority within official Baha’i belief. Examples of translations of Baha’i scripture have been included in Appendix B.

It is worth noting that the translations of scriptural texts into English made by Shoghi Effendi have a special status and all new translations of texts into non-oriental languages are based primarily on the English translations of Shoghi Effendi rather than the original manuscripts. This is despite Effendi himself noting that future translations would improve on his own efforts.33

Furthermore, Baha’i authorities maintain fairly strict control over what are considered authoritative translations. Baha’is are discouraged from using alternative translations where authoritative translations exist. New translations of texts that have previously appeared only in the original languages can attain a sort of provisional status, pending approval by Baha’i authorities.34 Nevertheless the UHJ does not appear to in any great hurry to translate and make scriptural texts available publicly – official translation work being extremely slow – despite estimates that ninety percent of Baha’ Allah’s extant works are untranslated.35 As well, there are many texts kept in official archives available only to a select few, despite requests to access the material from academics and other interested persons.36

Next > Baha'ism: Beliefs: The Unseen Realm

References

33“Messages on Translation from the Bahá'í World Centre and From a Letter Written on Behalf of Shoghi Effendi”, 5 Jun. 2003, <http://bahai-library.org/uhj/translation.html>.

34With translation being an interpretative process, one could argue that this strict control of approval would appear to be outside the legitimate scope of the Universal House of Justice which is only given authority in legislative matters.

35“Numbers of Tablets revealed: notes by Robert Stockman and Juan Cole”, 5 Jun. 2003, <http://bahai-library.org/resources/tablets-notes/number.html>.

36“Letter One: Susan Maneck to the Universal House of Justice” and “Letter Two: The Universal House of Justice to Susan Maneck”, 5 Jun. 2003, <http://bahai-library.org/uhj/access.sources.html>.

Next > Baha'ism: Beliefs: The Unseen Realm