# Introduction: Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: David Hofman, Introduction: Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Introduction:
> 
> Aims and Purposes of the Bahá'í Faith
> 
> David Hofman
> published in Bahá'í WorldVol. 18 (1979-1983), pp. 1-6
> 
> Haifa: Bahá'í World Center, 1986
> 
> RELIGION has two objectives, the regeneration
> of men and the advancement of mankind. All men have been created to carry forward
> an ever advancing civilization proclaims Bahá`u'lláh, and The
> purpose of the one true God, exalted be His glory, in revealing Himself unto men
> is to lay bare those gems that lie hidden within the mine of their true and inmost
> selves.
> 
> These aims of religion, universal and eternal, nevertheless have
> been conditioned to the capacities of each age or dispensation and the great religions
> of the past have developed their social orders within generally definable times
> and areas. Judaism, for instance, attained its peak under Solomon and was confined,
> before the dispersion, to the Near East; Zoroastrianism remained Persian until
> the Arab conquest and the settlement of a remnant in Western India; Christianity
> became the religion of European civilization; the building of the nation state
> undertaken by Islám remained a Muslim experiment until feudal Europe learned
> the lesson and its city states gave way to and adopted the more advanced order.
> It has remained for the Bahá`í religion to declare and promote the cause
> of world order--the sine qua non of its existence--and to disclose the
> concomitant unities of religion, of mankind and of historical purpose. `Unity
> of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted
> and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity
> is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state
> sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon
> this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish
> once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle
> of its life.'1
> 
> Religion sees the course of history as an organic process, moving
> towards the full realization of all the potentialities implanted in man. The vicissitudes,
> the great advances, the hiatuses it regards as the natural unfoldment of that
> process just as the succession of bud, leaf, flower and fruit is the natural unfoldment
> in the life of a tree; or infancy, childhood, youth and maturity in that of a
> man. Indeed, Bahá`í scripture explains, the process is the same. The sun
> is the effective agent in the organic life of the earth; religion in that of humanity.
> The Sun of Truth is the Word of God upon which depends the education of those
> who are endowed with the power of understanding and of utterance.2
> The creative Word, revealed in each stage of human progress by a Manifestation
> of God, and conditioned to the requirements of the time, is the effective agent
> in the long, single process of humanity's development from infancy to World Order.
> This truth is enshrined in all revealed religion although it needs the illumination
> of Bahá`u'lláh's revelation to enable men to perceive it. The first
> picture presented in the Bible is that of human unity in its simplest form; that
> of a single family. The last picture is that of a unity manifold and universal
> in which all kindreds and tongues and peoples and nations are gathered into one
> and unified in the enjoyment of a common worship, a common happiness, a common
> glory.
> 
> `The great problem which, according to the
> 
> 1 Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá`í Faith,
> The Unfoldment of World Civilization.
> 
> 2 Bahá`u'lláh, Daryáy-i-Dánish.
> 
> page 2
> 
> Bible, confronts the human race in its progress is that of advancing from the
> barest, baldest unity through a long experience of multiplying diversities till
> ultimately a balance between the two principles is struck, poise is gained and
> the two forces of variety and unity are blended in a multiple, highly developed
> world fellowship, the perfection of whose union was hardly suggested in the primitive
> simplicity of early man.'1
> 
> This spiritual view of evolution is the constant theme of religion.
> Each revelation refers to the past, looks forward to the future and concentrates
> upon the immediate need for spiritual regeneration and enlightenment. The Prophet
> evokes in human hearts a sacrificial love which transcends self-interest and
> causes the early believers to dedicate themselves entirely to the practice and
> diffusion of the new message. As it spreads it works like leaven in society, reforming
> its morals, uplifting its vision and promoting a greater diffusion of love in
> social action.
> 
> `World history at its core and in its essence is the story of the
> spiritual evolution of mankind. From this all other activities of man proceed
> and round it all other activities revolve.'2
> 
> Unlike the revelations of the past, the Bahá`í revelation
> releases not only the creative Word necessary to the renewal of spiritual vitality
> in the human spirit, but embodies that divine energy in an administrative order
> capable of bringing within its shade all the diversified ethnic groups and myriad
> types of the human race, who may find within its wide embrace a full, happy and
> purposeful life. Bahá`í activity therefore is directed not only,
> as in the past, to the spreading of the Word, but to the establishment of the
> fabric of that Order which, enshrined within the creative Word itself, becomes
> the chief instrument for the further diffusion and social application of the Divine
> Message. This World Order, which the Bahá`í Faith exists to establish,
> is none other than that long-promised Kingdom in which peace, justice and brotherhood
> shall prevail universally and `the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of
> the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.'3
> The establishment of this World Order is dependent upon the regeneration of mankind
> which must turn again to God and recognize His purpose. The two aims of religion
> are, therefore, interacting and interdependent.
> 
> Such a world-shaking transformation cannot be brought about by any
> movement of reform, however disinterested, nor by any unaided human effort. Modern
> man has turned away from God, and bereft of his traditional sanctions, has inevitably
> wrecked his old order which, in truth, is lamentably inadequate to modern conditions
> and is not susceptible of repair. Soon, is Bahá`u'lláh's
> prophetic view of our day, will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new
> one spread out in its stead. Likewise, The signs of impending convulsions
> and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be
> lamentably defective.
> 
> The current aim of religion, embodied in the aims and purposes of
> the Bahá`í Faith, is the promotion of the next stage in the organic
> process of human evolution--the coming of age of the human race. The achievement
> of this maturity will be attested by the unification of mankind and the federation
> of the world in a single, all-embracing world society of human brotherhood. But
> great objectives are reached by dedicated pursuit of the preliminary and intermediate
> stages of the task, without ever losing sight of the ultimate goal, and this has
> been and is now the occupation of the Bahá`í world community--the
> completion within specified times of specified goals. These teaching plans to
> which the Bahá`ís eagerly devote their lives do far more than simply
> increase the size and consolidation of that world community. They are devised
> and launched by the head of their Faith, the Guardian and now the Universal House
> of Justice--and are therefore conceived from a global view, directed to the immediate
> needs of the great objective, conservative of the community's resources, world-wide
> in scale permitting the organic development of each part according to its stage
> of growth but with due regard for the needs of the whole, fostering intensively
> the unity, the international co-operation, the diversification of the ethnic,
> religious and social backgrounds of its increasing membership and developing new
> resources for the next step forward.
> 
> It should be noted that none of these plans is isolated in aim or
> conception but all are directed towards the implementation of three
> 
> 1 George Townshend, The Heart of the Gospel,1939.
> 
> 2 ibid.
> 
> 3 Habakkuk 2:14.
> 
> page 3
> 
> great charters, enshrined in Bahá`í sacred Writings, which authorize
> and guide the expansion of the Faith and the development of its institutions.
> In past Dispensations the command to `spread the Gospel' has been general and
> unspecified. It was the inspired guidance of the beloved Guardian of the Bahá`í
> Faith which disclosed to a spiritually delighted and grateful community yet another
> of the unique features of this Dispensation in the specific guidance given in
> these three charters for the implementation of this eternal command.
> 
> Bahá`u'lláh's Tablet of Camel is the charter
> for the development of the Bahá`í World Centre in the twin cities
> of `Akká and Haifa, the site of its most sacred Shrines--the tombs of the
> twin Prophets and of `Abdu'l-Bahá, the Centre of the Covenant--its monuments
> and gardens, and of its `world-shaking, world-embracing, world-directing administrative
> institutions'.1
> 
> The Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá is the charter
> for the development of the administrative order of the Faith. In this majestic
> document, the child of `that mystic intercourse between Him Who communicated the
> generating influence of His divine Purpose and the One Who was its vehicle and
> chosen recipient,'2 are delineated the structure of
> the administrative order, its modus operandi, its main institutions, the
> chain of authority, the source of guidance and the position of every believer
> vis-à-vis the Covenant. It has been well called the `Charter of the New
> World Order of Bahá`u'lláh'.
> 
> The Tablets of the Divine Plan, a series of fourteen letters
> written by `Abdu'l-Bahá to the believers of the United States and Canada,
> some addressed to the entire company of believers in the North American continent
> and others to those in named geographical areas of that continent, constitute
> the charter for teaching the Faith throughout the world. `Abdu'l-Bahá names
> the places, the people to whom teachers must go, the conditions under which they
> must travel and settle and He reveals several prayers for those who undertake
> this all-important task.
> 
> All the international plans of the Faith launched so far have set
> specific goals aimed at implementing these three charters and it is incontrovertibly
> apparent that never in any preceding Dispensation has the command to spread the
> Word of God been given, in the sacred text, such explicit guidance and detailed
> objectives.
> 
> As the Faith of Bahá`u'lláh increases in size and
> influence other aims and objectives become apparent and possible of pursuit. The
> relationship with agencies, institutions and authorities of the non-Bahá`í
> world becomes an important consideration once the community emerges from obscurity,
> and has led to public relations programmes and the development of closer association
> with the United Nations. The Bahá`í International Community is
> accredited as a non-governmental agency with consultative status to the United
> Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and in various ways to other agencies
> of the United Nations. The fostering of this relationship has been the goal of
> all international plans so far, and is visualized as a continuing process. There
> are other objectives related to the special characteristics of Bahá`í
> life which become more and more important as the Faith grows and engages greater
> and greater public attention. They affect Bahá`í individuals, communities
> and institutions alike. These objectives fall into two groups--those concerned
> specifically with standards of conduct and those which relate to special Bahá`í
> practices.
> 
> The standards of conduct enjoined by the Prophet are invariably
> different from and sometimes diametrically opposed to the generally accepted ones
> of His day. High standards of conduct are, throughout Bahá`í scripture,
> constantly upheld and urged upon the believers, but the Guardian of the Faith
> in an essay written in 1938 addressed to the believes in the United States and
> Canada laid great stress upon the `spiritual prerequisites ... which constitute the bedrock on which "...all teaching plans ...
> must ultimately rest...'3
> He writes of `...a high sense of moral rectitude in
> their social and administrative activities, absolute chastity in their individual
> lives, and complete freedom from prejudice in their dealings with peoples of
> a different race, class, creed or colour.'4 In his expansion
> of this theme he declared that `This rectitude of conduct, with
> 
> 1 Shoghi Effendi, The Spiritual Potencies of That Consecrated Spot.
> 
> 2 Shoghi Effendi, The Dispensation of Bahá`u'lláh.
> 
> 3Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice.
> 
> 4 ibid.
> 
> page 4
> 
> its implications of justice, equity, truthfulness, honesty, fairmindedness, reliability,
> and trustworthiness, must distinguish every phase of the life of the Bahá'í
> community.'1 `A chaste and holy life must be made the
> controlling principle in the behaviour and conduct of all Bahá`ís,
> both in their social relationships with the members of their own community, and
> in their contacts with the world at large.'2 `It requires
> total abstinence from all alcoholic drinks, from opium, and from similar habit-forming
> drugs. It condemns the prostitution of art and of literature, the practices of
> nudism and of companionate marriage, infidelity in marital relationships, and
> all manner of promiscuity, of easy familiarity, and of sexual vices.'3
> `As to racial prejudice, the corrosion of which, for well nigh a century, has
> bitten into the fibre, and attacked the whole social structure of American society,
> it should be regarded as constituting the most vital and challenging issue confronting
> the Bahá`í community [of that country] at the present stage of its
> evolution.'4
> 
> The regeneration of men--the first objective of religion mentioned
> in this essay--is therefore seen as the prime objective of the Bahá`í
> Faith. Membership in the Faith is drawn from that society which permits and indulges
> itself in all those corrupt, immoral and prejudiced activities which Bahá`ís
> are required to renounce, and since the Faith is steadily but persistently growing
> in numbers there is reason to hope that slowly but surely a regeneration will
> take place.
> 
> Further, these Bahá`í standards of conduct are not
> for individuals alone. They must be the hallmark of Bahá`í institutions
> and communities. `Such a rectitude of conduct,' wrote the Guardian, `must manifest
> itself, with ever-increasing potency, in every verdict which the elected representatives
> of the Bahá`í community, in whatever capacity they may find themselves,
> may be called upon to pronounce. It must be constantly reflected in the business
> dealings of all its members, in their domestic lives, in all manner of employment,
> and in any service they may, in the future, render their government or people.'5
> `It must be made the hallmark of that numerically small, yet intensely dynamic
> and highly responsible body of the elected national representatives of every Bahá`í
> community, which constitutes the sustaining pillar, and the sole instrument for
> the election in every community, of that Universal House whose very name and title,
> as ordained by Bahá`u'lláh, symbolizes that rectitude of conduct
> which is its highest mission to safeguard and enforce.'6
> 
> The attitudes deriving from such standards, and from all the varied
> teachings of Bahá`u'lláh, must pervade all Bahá`í
> communities and and imbue them with distinctive characteristics which can be recognized,
> amid the welter of opposing or mutually uninterested groups and factions into
> which modern society is disintegrating, as easily as the features of an individual
> in a crowd.
> 
> Those special Bahá`í practices which will inevitably
> characterize the Bahá`í community, are the regular observances of
> its Holy Days and Festivals, the abstention from work on nine such days during
> the year, the observances by all members of the community of the annual fast,
> of the laws governing marriage and divorce, of daily prayer, of the invariable
> practice of consultation in all affairs of life, and particularly by the regular
> observance of the Nineteen Day Feast. The habitual practice of such laws and ordinances
> is an objective pursued by all Bahá`ís and Bahá`í families.
> 
> It is seen that the aims and purposes of the Bahá`í Faith may be stated as the raising up of a world-wide community recruited from every race, nation, colour, religious and social background known on the planet,
> inspired, united and regenerated by the spiritual teachings and love of Bahá`u'lláh,
> dedicated to the building of that New World Order which `may well be regarded
> as the brightest emanation'7 of His mind and is none
> other than that long hoped for, Christ-promised Kingdom of God on earth. To prepare
> men for the gifts of that Kingdom--peace, brotherhood, spirituality--and to raise
> its very fabric in the world, are the immediate and long-time objectives of the
> Bahá`í Faith.
> 
> The energies of the Bahá`ís therefore, in pursuance
> of these aims, flow in three major channels: individual spiritual development,
> 
> 1 Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice.
> 
> 2 ibid.
> 
> 3 ibid.
> 
> 4 ibid.
> 
> 5 ibid.
> 
> 6 ibid.
> 
> 7 Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 213.
> 
> page 5
> 
> conveying the message of Bahá`u'lláh to others, and developing the
> pattern of world society embodied in the Bahá`í administrative order.
> All these activities derive from the sacred text and it is the unique feature
> of the Bahá`í revelation that whereas the first two are common to
> all revealed religions it is only Bahá`u'lláh Who creates the institutions
> and reveals the laws, delineates the social order and establishes the principles
> of the civilization to which His revelation will give rise. Neither Moses nor
> Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, Zoroaster or Krishna did this, although They all foretold
> that it would be done by Him Who would take the government upon His shoulders
> and establish the Kingdom in peace and righteousness.
> 
> None of the traditional motives operates to create the Bahá`í
> community, neither former associations, political or economic identity of interest,
> racial or patriotic grouping. Only the recognition and love of Bahá`u'lláh
> brings into close relatedness and co- operative action people from every human
> background, of all types of character and personality, divergent and diversified
> interest. Through their brotherhood in Bahá`u'lláh the old crystallized
> forms of human divisiveness to which they formerly belonged, whether of class,
> race, religion, occupation, temperament or degree of civilization lose their rigidity
> and eventually disintegrate. The growing Bahá`í community on the
> other hand is essentially based on love, is a brotherhood, a family, each member
> delighting in the diversity of its membership, welcoming the former pariah or
> outcast as a new flower in the garden, each as proud of his humanity as was ever
> the former chauvinist of his country.
> 
> Within such a community the sun of Bahá`u'lláh's
> revelation can evoke new morals, new attitudes, new conventions, new hopes and
> visions, all enshrined within the text of the revelation itself and which provide
> the spiritual atmosphere and distinctive culture of the new day. Such a community,
> as it grows, becomes more and more a true social order, providing a soil to human
> life, a climate for its best development, an arena for the practice of its highest
> aspirations, and a beacon light to attract and guide the disillusioned, spiritually
> impoverished, frenetic and frustrated peoples of the earth.
> 
> The energies of this new culture, guided and conserved to the service
> of human welfare by the agencies of Bahá`u'lláh's World Order will
> result in the proliferation of new arts and sciences, new social and economic
> relationships, new educational methods and a general accession of well-being and
> felicity. The vision of the Bahá`í Faith, though glorious, is a
> practical one, and the number of its dedicated promoters grows with increasing
> speed. It is summarized in the following words by the Guardian of the Bahá`í
> Faith in his essay The Unfoldment of World Civilization:
> 
> `The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá`u'lláh,
> implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races,
> creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy
> of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals
> that compose them are definitely and completely safe-guarded. This commonwealth
> must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world legislature, whose members
> will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resources
> of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to
> regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races
> and peoples. A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out
> the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature,
> and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal
> will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes
> that may arise between the various elements constituting this universal system.
> A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole
> planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with
> marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity. A world metropolis will act as the
> nerve centre of a world civilization, the focus towards which the unifying forces
> of life will converge and from which its energizing influences will radiate. A
> world language will either be invented or chosen from among the existing languages
> and will be taught in the schools of all federated nations as an auxiliary to
> their mother tongue. A world script, a world literature, a uniform and universal
> system of currency, of weights and measures, will simplify and facilitate intercourse
> and under-
> 
> page 6
> 
> standing among the nations and races of mankind. In such a world society, science
> and religion, the two most potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will
> co-operate, and will harmoniously develop. The press will, under such a system,
> while giving full scope to the expression of the diversified views and convictions
> of mankind, cease to be mischievously manipulated by vested interests, whether
> private or public, and will be liberated from the influence of contending governments
> and peoples. The economic resources of the world will be organized, its sources
> of raw materials will be tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be co-ordinated
> and developed, and the distribution of its products will be equitably regulated.
> 
> `National rivalries, hatred, and intrigues will cease, and racial
> animosity and prejudice will be replaced by racial amity, understanding and co-operation.
> The causes of religious strife will be permanently removed, economic barriers
> and restrictions will be completely abolished, and the inordinate distinction
> between classes will be obliterated. Destitution on the one hand, and gross accumulation
> of ownership on the other, will disappear. The enormous energy dissipated and
> wasted on war, whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends
> as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the
> increase of the productivity of mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the
> extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standards of physical
> health, to the sharpening and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation
> of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of
> human life, and to the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the
> intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race.
> 
> `A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising unchallengeable
> authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals
> of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries,
> and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface
> of the planet, a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life
> is sustained by the universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to
> one common Revelation --such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the
> unifying forces of life, is moving.'
> 
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> — *Introduction: Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith (Used by permission of the curator)*