Baha'ism

Beliefs

The Unseen Realm

The true reality, according to Baha’i belief, is the spiritual world: the physical world is a stage of preparation for the soul on its never-ending journey through the planes of existence towards God. Although human beings have bodies in the material realm, these are cast aside at death and the soul continues in an immaterial form, retaining its individual consciousness.37

Baha’is do not believe in a literal resurrection or Day of Judgment as it is understood in Islam. Instead, resurrection on the Day of Judgment refers to acceptance of the manifestation of God. Today, humanity is judged to have kept their covenant with God on the basis of their belief in Baha’ Allah.38 Therefore on the death of the body, the soul enters a new realm which it will experience as heaven or hell, depending on the state of progress the soul reached in the physical world. “Heaven and hell are conditions within our own beings.”39

The belief in spiritual beings that belong to the realm of the unseen exists in Baha’i theology. These beings are referred to in English as “the Celestial Concourse”;40 “the Concourse on High”41 and Baha’ Allah was visited by an angelic apparition called “the Maid of Heaven”.42 In particular, angels are people purified from human limitations43 and jinn are understood to be symbolic references to the power of human evil.44 Satan does not have an independent existence but is viewed as a metaphor for the selfish desires of a human being which draws him or her away from God.45 The Baha’i concept of human free will is essentially the same as the Islamic notion of qadar.46

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References

37‘Abdu’l-Bahá, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982) 74.

38Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán 169.

39“Letter written on behalf of Guardian to an individual believer”, 14 Nov. 1947, Lights of Guidance: A Bahá’í Reference File, comp. Helen Bassett Hornby, rev. ed. (New Delhi, India: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1994) 519.

40Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas 47.

41Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas 21.

42Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 91.

43Smith, Peter, “Angels”, A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2000) 38-39.
44Lights of Guidance 497.

45Smith, “Satan”, A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith 304.

46‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, trans. Laura Clifford Barney, (Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1987) 247.

Next > Baha'ism: Beliefs: Moral & Social Teachings