# The Baha'is

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Geoffrey Parrinder, The Baha'is, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> The Bahá'ís
> 
> Geoffrey Parrinder
> published in What World Religions Teach pp. 107-109, 140, 190
> 
> London: George W. Harrap & Co., 1963
> 
> 1. Text
> 
> [page 107]
> 
> THE BAHAIS
> 
> The Bahais arose in Persia in the nineteenth century. Persia
> has been a land of many religious and mystical movements, in
> modem times as in olden days. In speaking of the origins of the
> Bahais we must anticipate a little, for it sprang out of one of the
> divisions of Islam, and these will be dealt with in the third
> chapter on Islam (Chapter 16).
> 
> It is believed by Persian Muslims that the twelfth leader of
> their sect disappeared in the year 260 of their era and would
> reappear after a thousand years. In their year 1260 (1844 A.D.)
> a Persian prophet, Ali Muhammad, declared that he was the
> expected leader, under the title of the Bah or 'Gate' to the truth.
> He said that he was the manifestation of the Spirit to the present
> age, as Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad had been to past ages. So
> he taught a new form of religion and seems to have aimed at a
> kingdom of God on earth. The Persian Government got alarmed
> at the claims of the Bah, and he was put to death in 1850.
> As so often in religious history, persecution fanned rather than
> crushed the sect. Some of the Bab's followers fled to Turkey and
> Cyprus and set up Babi groups there. A more important number
> followed the principal disciple, who was called Baha Ullah, 'the
> glory of God.' He called himself the revelation and emanation
> of God, through whom alone God can be known. He was
> exiled to Baghdad, and finally to Akka, where he died in 1892.
> Baha Ullah tried to work out from Islam, and from special
> 
> [page 108]
> 
> revelations he claimed to have received "a larger conception of
> a world religion which was to unite mankind in a religious
> brotherhood." Muslims often claim that, since their religion is
> the last in appearance of the great world religions, so, on the
> principle of evolution, it must be the best, completing all the rest.
> The Bahais take this argument further, and apply it to themselves.
> They claim to possess the religion for modem times, suitable to
> present-day man, a mingling of all that is best in the old faiths.
> Baha Ullah saw himself as the manifestation of the divine spirit
> sent to enlighten all mankind. So he sent letters to rulers in Asia
> and Europe, and "to the Kings of America and the Chiefs of the
> Republic." He told his followers to study foreign languages and
> become apostles to all the world.
> 
> Baha Ullah regarded himself as superseding Islam. There is
> no final revelation, and no last of the prophets, but a new manifestation
> appears in every age. The law of Islam was outdated,
> and Baha Ullah introduced new forms of prayer and ritual. War
> was strictly forbidden, and when persecuted the Bahais should
> submit meekly. Slavery was forbidden since all men are equal,
> but although marriage to one wife was the ideal, deviations were
> permitted as among Muslims.
> 
> There is a great deal of mystical doctrine in Bahaism, despite
> the attempts of some Westerners to interpret it rationally. The
> seeker after truth is led through seven stages to a passionate union
> with the Beloved. Magical numbers and mysterious equivalences
> of names have elaborate interpretations. Above all there is
> devotion to the "Person of the Manifestation," regarded as
> divine or different from all other beings.
> 
> A most interesting development was the spread of Bahaism
> to the West. This came about through a Syrian convert who
> lectured in Chicago in 1892, and preached "the fulfilment of the
> truth which Christ and the prophets foretold." Wide use was
> made of quotations from the Bible. Many Bahai centres were
> founded in America, and some in Europe. The teaching of a
> universal religion, newly manifested for this age, has attractions,
> 
> [page 109]
> 
> though the numerical and mysterious element in the Persian
> faith is often played down.
> ...
> 
> [page 140]
> 
> ...
> Quite different was the Ahmadiyya movement in India, though
> it gave an Indian version of the Mahdi hope. In 1890 Ghulam
> Ahmad, of the Punjab, claimed to be both the Mahdi of Islam and
> the Messiah of Christianity, and later is said to have claimed also
> to be an incarnation of the Hindu Krishna, his coming having
> been foretold in all scriptures. After his death his followers
> divided into two main groups, one centred round his tomb at
> Qadian in India, the other at Lahore in Pakistan. Ghulam Ahmad
> is regarded as the latest renewer of religion, for every age has its
> revelation and renewer (an idea that we noted in connexion
> with the Bahais). But religion is a matter of the spirit, nothing
> to do with politics or holy wars. So great stress was laid on
> peaceful propaganda, and Ahmadiyya missionaries have gone to
> many parts of the world. The mosque at Woking, perhaps the
> best known in England, belongs to the Ahmadiyya, and much
> literature on the teachings of Islam comes from them. Nevertheless
> they are not regarded as orthodox Muslims, and some of
> their teachings are repudiated by the orthodox. For example,
> the Ahmadiyya say that Jesus escaped death in Palestine and
> wandered away to India, where his grave is to be seen at Shrinagar
> - a legend that both Muslims and Christians reject.
> 
> [page 190]
> 
> ...
> Christianity is a missionary religion, and there are those who
> object to or misunderstand missions. It is not the only missionary
> religion. Islam and Buddhism always have been, and in modem
> times the Sikhs, Bahais, Theosophists, and Ramakrishna Mission
> all seek to convert other people to their point of view.
> ...
> 
> 2. Image scans (click image for full-size version)
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views4773 views since posted 2013-06-27; last edit 2025-01-20 16:17 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../parrinder_what_religions_teach
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> History
> Scanned 2001 by Dan Povey; Proofread 2013-06-27 by Jonah Winters.
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> Citation: ris/2159
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> — *The Baha'is (Used by permission of the curator)*