# 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: Lil Osborn, The Baha'i Faith, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Chapter 33
> 
> The Bahāʾī Faith
> Lil Osborn
> 
> 1          Introduction
> 
> The modern Bahāʾī Faith claims over five million adherents (Langness 2013)
> and has a global presence with National Spiritual Assemblies in almost every
> country in the world. It is an independent religious tradition accepting financial support from none but members and eschewing political involvement. The
> Bahāʾī Faith is, however, rooted in the millennialism of the nineteenth century
> Shīʿa Islam of Iran, although most Bahāʾīs today are not of Muslim heritage
> and may even be unaware of its Islamic roots. The relationship of the Bahāʾī
> Faith to Shīʿa Islam is comparable to that of the historic link between Judaism
> and Christianity, in so far as the founders of the related Bābī and Bahāʾī Faiths
> were born into an Islamic society, and most of their early followers were
> born Muslims, but their religion superseded Islam. Unlike Jesus, however,
> Bahāʾuʾllāh, founder of Bahāʾī, was clear that he was founding a new religion,
> one which replaced that of the Bāb, which in turn had abrogated Islam.
> 
> 2          Origins of the Bahāʾī Faith
> 
> The earliest stirring of what would become the Bahāʾī Faith can be traced back
> to the Shaykhi School of Shīʿa Islam in Iran and Iraq, named after its founder
> Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Zayn al-Dīn al-Aḥsāʾī (1753–1826). This was a religiously
> conservative movement with an emphasis on eschatology and an allegorical
> interpretation of Quranic descriptions of the end of days. The second leader of
> the Shaykhi School, Sayyid Kāẓim al-Rashtī, did not appoint a successor, arguing the time was too short and that his followers should instead seek out the
> prophesied Mahdī, who was already in the world. Consequently, on his death
> his followers dispersed to find the promised Mahdī. One of these questing
> Shaykis was Mullā Husayn (1813–1849). He took his search to Shiraz where he
> encountered ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī (20 October 1819–9 July 1850).
> ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī had been in contact with Rashtī and shared his belief
> that the eschatological prophesies of Shīʿa Islam were soon to be fulfilled, on
> the night of 22 May 1844, he declared his mission to Mullā Husayn and revealed
> 
> © Lil Osborn, 2021 | doi:10.1163/9789004435544_040
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> 762                                                                               Osborn
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> himself to be the Bāb (‘the Gate’), the promised Qāʾim of Shīʿa Islam. The Bāb
> and his short-lived Bābī movement are regarded by Bahāʾīs to be an independent prophet and an independent religion; however, they acknowledge the
> Bāb’s central function was that of a herald of a future prophet, referred to as
> ‘He whom God will Make Manifest’. The Bāb began by declaring the imminent
> return of the Twelfth Imām and sending out his followers to proclaim the news.
> In 1848, a conclave of the Bāb’s followers met at Badasht to abrogate the laws
> of Islam. Many of the laws revealed by the Bāb in his central book the Bayān,
> have been argued (Saiedi 2008) to be impossible to implement, because they
> are dependent upon the appearance of ‘He whom God will Make Manifest’,
> who would be able to affirm or abrogate them. Thus, it follows that the purpose of the Bābī laws was simply to break with Islamic tradition and create a
> context for a further Revelation. The Bābī movement was put down brutally
> and the Bāb executed by firing squad. After his death, the nominal headship
> of the movement fell to Mīrzā Yaḥyā Nūrī (1831–1912) whose leadership proved
> ineffective and ultimately caused the community to disintegrate into factions.
> 
> 3       Bahāʾuʾllāh
> 
> Mīrzā Ḥusayn-ʿAlī Nūrī (12 November 1817–29 May 1892) known as Bahāʾuʾllāh
> was the older half-brother of Mīrzā Yaḥyā Nūrī, he had accepted the claims
> of the Bāb in the late summer of 1844 (Momen 2007), and attended the
> Conference of Badasht. He was a prominent and respected member of the Bābī
> community. After the death of the Bāb in 1850, Mīrzā Yaḥyā, known as Azal,
> became the publicly acknowledged leader of the Bābīs. It has been suggested
> by Juan Cole in his piece on Bahāʾuʾllāh in the Bahāʾī Encyclopaedia (Cole
> 1995) that Bahāʾuʾllāh, who had been corresponding with the Bāb through his
> younger half-brother, may have been the real leader of the group. Cole goes on
> to say, “Azal was acknowledged by many prominent Bābīs as a ‘Mirror’ and a
> first among equals. There is no evidence that the Bāb appointed him as a legatee or vicar, and there were many Mirrors” (Cole 1995). After a brief sojourn in
> Karbalāʾ, Iraq, Bahāʾuʾllāh returned to Iran in 1852, in his absence some fanatical
> Bābīs had plotted an attempt on the life of the Shah and despite Bahāʾuʾllāh’s
> condemnation of the plot and innocence of involvement, he was arrested and
> imprisoned in the Siyah-Chal, the Black Pit dungeon. It was in this prison he
> underwent an intense mystical experience. On his release from prison and after
> a period in Baghdad, Bahāʾuʾllāh spent several years as a Ṣūfi in Kurdistan.
> In response to the pleas of Bābīs concerning the shambolic leadership of his
> increasingly reclusive half-brother, Bahāʾuʾllāh returned to Baghdad in 1856 and
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> The Bahā ʾ ī Faith                                                                      763
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> took on much of the administrative leadership of the community. The positive
> impact of his work led to a resurgence of the Bābī movement, and ultimately
> a demand from the Persian government for the extradition of Bahāʾuʾllāh to
> Persia. The Ottoman authorities refused but instead, for reasons which are not
> clear, removed Bahāʾuʾllāh to Constantinople. Before he left Baghdad on 21 April
> 1863, Bahāʾuʾllāh and his entourage stayed for twelve days in the Najibiyyih gardens, it was there that Bahāʾuʾllāh declared to a small group of his companions
> that he was He whom God will Make Manifest, the messenger promised by the
> Bāb. Bahāʾuʾllāh travelled from Baghdad to Constantinople between 3 May and
> 17 August 1863, accompanied by a large group including family members and
> followers. After three and a half months in Constantinople, he was ordered to
> depart for Adrianople. It was while he was in Adrianople that the schism with
> his brother Azal became absolute after several attempts by Azal’s supporters
> to kill Bahāʾuʾllāh.
> In 1866, Bahāʾuʾllāh made his claim to be Him whom God will Make Manifest
> public (MacEoin 1989), as well as making a formal written announcement to
> Azal referring to his followers for the first time as the “people of Bahā” (Smith
> 2008). Whilst in Adrianople Bahāʾuʾllāh wrote extensively, including letters to
> political and religious rulers, announcing his station and mission, demonstrating the intended universality of his message outside the Muslim world. The
> discord between Bahāʾuʾllāh and his followers and the rump of the Bābī movement loyal to Azal caused the Ottoman authorities in July 1868 to exile both
> factions, Bahāʾuʾllāh to the prison city of ʿAkkā (Acre) and Azal to Famagusta
> in Cyprus. Bahāʾuʾllāh and his family arrived in ʿAkkā at the end of August 1868,
> the first years there were very hard and marred by the tragic death in 1870 of
> Bahāʾuʾllāh’s son, Mīrzā Mehdī, at the age of twenty-two when he fell through a
> skylight. After some time, relations between the prisoners and officials and the
> local community improved, so that the conditions of the imprisonment were
> eased and eventually, Bahāʾuʾllāh was allowed to leave the city and visit nearby
> places. From 1877 until 1879 Bahāʾuʾllāh lived in the house of Mazraʿih (Smith
> 2008). In 1899 Bahāʾuʾllāh moved to his final home a small mansion at Bahjí.
> He had fourteen children by his three wives including four daughters, five of
> his sons predeceased him. Bahāʾuʾllāh died of a fever in ʿAkkā on 29 May 1892,
> at the age of seventy-four.
> 
> 4       ʿAbdu’l-Bahā and Shoghí Effendí
> 
> Before his death, Bahāʾuʾllāh appointed ʿAbbās Efendī (23 May 1844–28
> November 1921), his eldest son, as leader of the community and inspired
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> 764                                                                             Osborn
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> interpreter of His Revelation. Known as ʿAbdu’l-Bahā, he communicated
> with the community he led through letters, referred to as tablets and through
> lectures. He visited the West to two occasions, the first time from August to
> December 1911, when he visited the United Kingdom, France, and Switzerland,
> and the second time between April 1912 and June 1913, when he visited Canada,
> the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria, and Hungary,
> meeting his growing number of Occidental supporters and answering their
> questions and concerns. This meant that issues such as the role of women were
> pushed to the fore and the Bahāʾī message took on aspects of Western social
> thought (Osborn 2014: 22). Several younger members of (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā’s family were sent to England to complete their educations and acquire linguistic
> skills. Between March 1916 and March 1917, ʿAbdu’l-Bahā wrote fourteen letters to the Bahāʾī’s of Canada and the United States known collectively as The
> Tablets of the Divine Plan (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā 1991 [1916–1917]). These instructed his
> North American followers to spread the Bahāʾī teachings around the world, an
> indication of how important he understood his Western followers to be. With
> no surviving son, ʿAbdu’l-Bahā passed the leadership of the community to his
> grandson and amanuensis Shoghí Effendí Rabbání.
> Shoghí Effendí Rabbání (1 March 1897–4 November 1957) was born in ʿAkkā
> and educated at the Syrian Protestant College (now the American University of
> Beirut) and Balliol College, Oxford (Khadem 1999). He learned of the death of
> his grandfather in London and returned to Palestine to discover that his grandfather’s will instructed the Bahāʾī community to “turn unto Shoghí Effendí …
> he is the sign of God, the chosen branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God …
> He is the expounder of the words of God and after him will succeed the firstborn of his lineal descendants” (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā 1990). Under the Guardianship
> of Shoghí Effendí the unique Bahāʾī Administration was set up, this included
> the establishment of local and national bodies, the regulation of published
> material and large scale coordinated missionary activity. Throughout the
> period of the Guardianship the Bahāʾī Faith evolved into fast growing international community, stressing modernity and social reconstruction, books with
> titles such as Bahāʾuʾllāh and the New Era (Esslemont 1923) and Bahaism: the
> Modern Social Religion (Holley 1913) being used to teach the new religion across
> the globe.
> The death of Shoghí Effendí in 1957 caused some tensions, as the will of
> ʿAbdu’l-Bahā had clearly stated the Guardianship was a hereditary office whose
> incumbent would lead the community alongside an elected legislative body,
> the Universal House of Justice, an institution described by Bahāʾuʾllāh in the
> Kitáb-i-Aqdas. When Shoghí Effendí died without an heir there was potential
> for discord. However, in 1951 Shoghí Effendí had appointed a number of men
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> The Bahā ʾ ī Faith                                                                      765
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> and women to the International Bahāʾī Council, a body which existed to assist
> him in specific tasks and to be the forerunner of the Universal House of Justice.
> In 1961, the appointed International Bahāʾī Council was reconstituted as an
> elected body and their final task was to set up the election of the Universal
> House of Justice which took place in 1963.
> 
> 5       A ‘World Religion’ from 1957
> 
> The Universal House of Justice (henceforth UHJ) is elected every five years by
> the National Spiritual Assemblies (henceforth NSAs) which are in turn elected
> annually by unit conventions of grass roots members. Where more than nine
> Bahāʾīs are resident in a locality a Local Spiritual Assembly (henceforth LSA) of
> nine members is elected; unit conventions, local and national assemblies are
> open to all members, only the UHJ is restricted to males. As well as the elected
> institutions, there is an appointed stratum of administration which also functions under the guidance of the UHJ, this comprises of Counsellors and their
> appointees at local level, there is no clergy and apart from the members of the
> UHJ all functionaries are expected to be self-financing and in employment.
> After the death of its last hereditary leader a period of significant expansion and development took place. The community had been rooted in Iran
> and spread into Iranian expatriate communities, gradually including Jews,
> Zoroastrians, Sunni Muslims, and others. From the 1890s small groups of
> Bahāʾīs developed in the West, the most significant of these was that of the
> USA. In response to the expansion plans of Shoghí Effendí Bahāʾīs from both
> the Middle East and the West undertook ‘pioneering’; moving to places hitherto without a Bahāʾī community and striving to set up groups. By the 1950s the
> two cultural contexts of the Bahāʾī community came together in missionary
> activity, the post Islamic Iranian Bahāʾīs and the occidental Bahāʾīs seeped in
> the alterative religious milieu of Europe and the USA began to establish Bahāʾī
> communities in several parts of the non-Muslim ‘developing world’, initially
> among the Western-oriented urban minority (Smith and Momen 1989: 68).
> Throughout the 1960s the Bahāʾī Faith gained adherents throughout the developing world and beyond. Bahāʾī teachers learned to adapt their message and
> missionary techniques to largely uneducated workers, transforming the social
> base of the community. In the well-established and largely white American
> community, converts began to be drawn from Native American and African
> American demographics.
> The mission work was exceptionally successful in some areas, bringing about
> massive cultural change in the worldwide community, however, this change
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> was not without problems. The infrastructure was not in place to enable retention of such an influx of new believers, many of whom “were poorly educated,
> and many lived in rural and tribal areas with which effective communication
> was difficult to sustain” (Smith and Momen 1989: 72). Around the same time
> the revolution in Iran also effected the spread of the Bahāʾī Faith. The revolution brought about significant persecution of Bahāʾīs in the homeland of the
> Faith and furthermore curtailed the sending of funds abroad. This was a significant blow as the Iranian community had funded much missionary work and
> supported communities in poorer countries. The Iranian government, rather
> strangely for Shīʿa Muslims, seemed oblivious of the positive impact of persecution and martyrdom, and Iranians fleeing the revolution bolstered numbers
> across the worldwide community with emotive stories of persecution gaining
> much publicity.
> To address the ability to attract people to the Faith but the failure to retain
> them a new strategy was implemented, the concept of the ‘training institute’
> was introduced by the Universal House of Justice in the mid-1990s. Its purpose
> is to assist individuals to deepen their understanding of the Bahāʾī teachings,
> and to gain the spiritual insights and practical skills they need to carry out the
> work of the community. The Institute process is based on the use of materials developed in Columbia by The Ruhi Institute, which is directed by the
> Columbian NSA. The Institute produces a sequence of books, referred to as
> the ‘Ruhi Books’ which are studied in small groups led by a facilitator who has
> completed the sequence. There are training materials for different age groups
> and a range of support resources including songbooks and colouring sheets. As
> well as the Ruhi Book, in study circles Bahāʾīs are encouraged to participate in
> ‘core activities’, including children’s classes and devotional meetings. It must
> be stressed that these activities are neither compulsory nor restrictive and
> individuals are encouraged to continue and develop other activities, though
> there is anecdotal evidence that the study circles have come to dominate the
> community at the expense of other activities. At the present time, the Institute
> process does not appear to have been subjected to academic scrutiny, making
> it impossible to assess the effectiveness of the strategy.
> 
> 6       Bahāʾī Beliefs and Practices
> 
> In common with Muslims, Bahāʾīs have a linear view of history, throughout
> which prophets, or Manifestations of God, bring books and laws to found and
> govern divinely inspired communities, each revelation building upon the last
> in a process described as ‘Progressive Revelation’. Bahāʾuʾllāh is held to be the
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> The Bahā ʾ ī Faith                                                                       767
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> ‘promised one of all ages’, the universal manifestation of the unknowable deity
> and the founder of a new cycle of revelation. Some of the basic beliefs of the
> Bahāʾī Faith can be summarised as a list of principles extrapolated from the
> writings of the founder that concern the nature of religion. All religions, according to the Faith, are ultimately one: “It is the outward practices of religion that
> are so different, and it is they that cause disputes and enmity—while the reality is always the same, and one” (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā 1969: 120). Thus, religion must be
> a source of unity: “religion must be the cause of unity, harmony and agreement
> among mankind. If it be the cause of discord and hostility, if it leads to separation and creates conflict, the absence of religion would be preferable in the
> world” (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā 1976 [1956]: 247). Furthermore. religion is evolutionary,
> revealed to suit the place and time but receptacles on a single universal truth:
> “There is no distinction whatsoever among the Bearers of My Message. They
> all have but one purpose; their secret is the same secret” (Bahāʾuʾllāh 1983: 78).
> The understanding of this universality must be made through the independent investigation of truth, which Moojan Momen postulates in an article
> intended for the Bahāʾī Encyclopaedia (Momen n.d.) “is to be found in embryonic form in the Shīʿī prohibition of taqlīd, blind imitation, in matters of the
> principles of religion.” As ʿAbdu’l-Bahā phrases it, “God has created in man the
> power of reason, whereby man is enabled to investigate reality. God has not
> intended man to imitate blindly his fathers and ancestors” (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā 1982:
> 291). This emphasis on reason is further enhanced by the insistence of the harmony between religion and science, which are described by ʿAbdu’l-Bahā as
> “two wings” which will facilitate the development of the intellect and spirit
> (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā 1969: 143).
> Other principles deal with the nature of humankind, stressing the oneness of religion reflected in the oneness of humanity. This is the basis for the
> emphasis on equality: “as to religious, racial, national and political bias: all
> these prejudices strike at the very root of human life; one and all they beget
> bloodshed, and the ruination of the world. So long as these prejudices survive, there will be continuous and fearsome wars” (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā 1978: 249). Sex
> equality and equal opportunities for women and men in education and training are also stressed: “Until the reality of equality between man and woman is
> fully established and attained, the highest social development of mankind is
> not possible” (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā 1982: 76). The abolition of the extremes of wealth
> and poverty is also desirable, “O Ye Rich Ones on Earth! The poor in your midst
> are My trust; guard ye My trust and be not intent only on your own ease”
> (Bahāʾuʾllāh 1990: 41). World unity is promoted, with peaceful consultation as a
> means for resolving differences: “The shining spark of truth cometh forth only
> after the clash of differing opinions” (ʿAbdu’l-Bahā 1978: 87). The ideal is for
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> 768                                                                                 Osborn
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> universal peace and the establishment of a world parliament, where all world
> leaders will come together to “consider such ways and means as will lay the
> foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men” (Bahāʾuʾllāh 1983: 249).
> To facilitate unity great emphasis is put on universal education, “Unto every
> father hath been enjoined the instruction of his son and daughter in the art
> of reading and writing and in all that hath been laid down in the Holy Tablet”
> (Bahāʾuʾllāh 1993: 38). In the interests of universal communication the need for
> an international auxiliary language is highlighted: “It behoveth the sovereigns
> of the world … or the ministers of the earth to take counsel together and to
> adopt one of the existing languages or a new one to be taught to children in
> schools throughout the world, and likewise one script” (Bahāʾuʾllāh 1978: 22).
> It is in the daily practices of Bahāʾīs that the origins of the Faith in an Islamic
> context are most clearly preserved. Bahāʾīs are required to declare their faith,
> pray in a specified manner at specific times, give alms based on property held,
> fast, and make a pilgrimage to sacred sites. It is widespread practice in some
> Bahāʾī communities to issue cards to new believers, which outline the beliefs
> being accepted, the following statement is on the card issued by the NSA
> of Australia:
> 
> I wish to become a member of the Bahāʾī community. I accept Bahāʾuʾllāh
> as the Bearer of God’s Message for this Day and will endeavour to follow
> His teachings and the Bahāʾī way of life. I also accept the authority of the
> institutions which administer the affairs of the Bahāʾī community.
> 
> There are three daily obligatory prayers, any one of the three may be used but
> must be done so in accordance with any specific directions with which they
> may be accompanied, for example facing the qibla and prostrations. Bahāʾīs
> are required to fast by refraining from food and drink between the hours of
> sunrise and sunset during the Bahāʾī month of Alá, (Loftiness). The Bahāʾī fast,
> therefore, takes place over nineteen days, from 2 March to 20 March inclusive.
> Bahāʾīs are subject to the law of Ḥuqúqu’lláh (the Portion of God): “Should anyone acquire one hundred mithqáls of gold, nineteen mithqáls thereof are God’s
> and to be rendered unto Him” (Bahāʾuʾllāh 1993: 55) That is, 19% of that portion
> of income which is not essential for living expenses is to be paid, similar to a
> tithe, to support philanthropic causes.
> 
> 7       Controversies
> 
> The teachings of the Bahāʾī Faith might generally be described as progressive, egalitarian, and inclusive, however, in recent years there has been some
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> The Bahā ʾ ī Faith                                                                      769
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> discussion, particularly in Europe and North America, around the issues of the
> role of women and LGBT rights. The equality of men and women is a basic
> principle of the Bahāʾī Faith and has been expounded as such since its inception, however, the Universal House of Justice is an exclusively male institution
> and that has raised questions as to how that can be rationalised in a context of
> gender equality (Lee et al 1999).
> Despite non-involvement in politics the Bahāʾī Faith has a history of inclusivity of races and opposition to racism. This is particularly true in the US
> where prominent African Americans in such diverse fields as philosophy, for
> example, Alain Locke (1885–1954) (Buck 2005), and jazz music, for example
> Dizzy Gillespie (Shipton 2001), have embraced the Bahāʾī Faith. The inclusivity in regard to race, sex, and gender has led to some tension over issues such
> as same-sex marriage (Snow 2016). The Bahāʾī Faith has teachings similar to
> those of other Abrahamic faiths around chastity before marriage, faithfulness
> in marriage, and a dislike of divorce and non-heterosexual relations. Whilst
> strongly opposing any form of discrimination on the grounds of sexuality
> the admonishment of Bahāʾuʾllāh—“We shrink, for very shame, from treating of the subject of boys … Commit not that which is forbidden you in Our
> Holy Tablet, and be not of those who rove distractedly in the wilderness of
> their desires” (Bahāʾuʾllāh 1993: 59)—was further reinforced by both Shoghí
> Effendí and ʿAbdu’l-Bahā to clarify the term ‘boys’ did not refer to pederasty or
> paedophilia but is inclusive of adult homosexual acts. More latterly the UHJ
> has stated:
> 
> The Universal House of Justice is authorized to change or repeal its own
> legislation as conditions change … but it cannot abrogate or change any
> of the laws which are explicitly laid down in the sacred Texts. It follows,
> then, that the House of Justice has no authority to change this clear
> teaching on homosexual practice.
> Universal House of Justice 1995
> 
> The increasing numerical dominance of Bahāʾīs in the developing world may
> render concerns around scholarship and gender politics marginal to the wider
> Bahāʾī community.
> 
> 8       Persecution
> 
> Bahāʾīs have suffered persecution for their beliefs, particularly in Muslim
> majority countries where their understanding of the ministries of The Bāb
> and Bahāʾuʾllāh as fulfilments Shīʿa Islam and consequently ‘prophets after
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> Mohammed’ have led to charges of apostasy. The presence of the Bahāʾī World
> Centre in Israel has led to accusations of complicity with Zionism, despite
> the obvious objection that the Centre predated the foundation of the state
> of Israel.
> The tragic situation for Bahāʾīs in Iran is well documented, as since the 1979
> Islamic Revolution in Iran Bahāʾīs have been systematically persecuted as a
> matter of government policy. During the first decade of this persecution, more
> than two hundred Bahāʾīs were killed or executed; hundreds more were tortured or imprisoned, and tens of thousands lost jobs, access to education, and
> other rights solely because of their religious belief. According to Roger Cooper
> in The Bahāʾīs of Iran: The Minority Rights Group Report 51, Bahāʾīs are classified as “unprotected infidels”, “heretics” and “those whose blood may be shed
> with impunity” making it impossible to seek justice, redress or protection.
> The reaction of the Bahāʾīs to oppression derives directly from the teachings
> of Bahāʾuʾllāh:
> 
> Bahāʾīs therefore believe that strategies for achieving lasting social
> change—including strategies for overcoming violent oppression—must
> pay attention to both the material and spiritual dimensions of change,
> including the transformation of hearts among both the oppressors and
> the oppressed. In this regard, oppositional strategies that pit one group
> against another, whether violently or non-violently, are not considered
> conducive to spiritual transformation and lasting change. Bahāʾīs thus
> refrain from all divisive form of social action, including involvement in
> partisan political organising and opposition.
> Karlberg 2010: 222
> 
> There are currently more than ninety Bahāʾīs imprisoned in Iran, including all
> seven members of the Yaran, a now disbanded leadership group which tended
> to the spiritual and social needs of the Bahāʾī community in the absence of
> an NSA.
> Economic pressure on Iran’s Bahāʾī community is acute, with both jobs
> and business licenses being denied to Bahāʾīs. Government jobs, including
> not only in the civil service but also in such fields as education and law, have
> been denied to Bahāʾīs since the years immediately following the Revolution.
> Education has been denied, both to in schools and more significantly in universities, which are effectively closed to Bahāʾīs. Other forms of persecution faced
> by Iranian Bahāʾīs include the monitoring of their bank accounts, movements,
> and activities; the denial of pensions or rightful inheritances; the intimidation of Muslims who associate with Bahāʾīs; the denial of access to publishing
> 
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> The Bahā ʾ ī Faith                                                                         771
> 
> or copying facilities for Bahāʾī literature; and the unlawful confiscation or
> destruction of Bahāʾī properties, including Bahāʾī holy places and graveyards.
> In Egypt, there has been spasmodic persecution of the Bahāʾīs, since the
> Faith first arrived in Egypt in 1867 and developed through the work of Mírzá
> Abu’l-Fadl-i-Gulpáygání (Mirza Abu’l-Fada’il 1844–1914) at the Al-Azhar
> University, where he taught from 1894, and brought as many as thirty (Momen
> 1995) teachers and students to accept the Bahāʾī Teachings. By 1900 there
> were small groups of Bahāʾīs, mainly of Persian heritage, scattered throughout
> Egypt and Bahāʾī texts in Arabic were being published in Cairo. In 1924, the first
> National Spiritual Assembly of Egypt was elected and a year later a provisional
> court in Upper Egypt attempted to divorce three women from their husbands
> because they argued the men were not Muslims and could, therefore, not be
> married to Muslim women (Scharbrodt 200848). This case effectively created
> a legal precedent which separated the Bahāʾī Faith from Islam, particularly as
> the women chose to remain with their husbands. The Bahāʾī community grew
> modestly over the next few decades with some outbreaks of hostility, however,
> in 1960 the passage of Law No. 263 under Gamal ʿAbdel Nasser, which granted
> official government recognition only to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, effectively stripped organisational rights from all who would identify otherwise.
> Bahāʾī rights were further complicated with the inclusion of Article 2 of the
> constitution in 1971, declaring Islamic law to be the source of Egyptian legislation. As such, any religion not recognised as legitimate by Islamic scholars
> cannot be recognised by the state.
> There were periodic arrests of Bahāʾīs in the mid-1960s, 1972, and 1985, and
> in early 1987 forty-eight Bahāʾīs had sentences pronounced against them for
> religious activities. The restrictions on Bahāʾīs came to a head in 2006, over
> the matter of identity cards, all Egyptians are required to carry an identity
> card, which states among other things their religious affiliation. Life without
> an identity card is almost impossible. Bahāʾīs are forbidden to misrepresent
> their faith, and this had led to the custom of leaving the field blank, until the
> system was computerised which made inserting anything but one of the ‘three
> heavenly religions’ (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) impossible. In 2008, the
> Court of Administrative Justice ruled that the Ministry of Interior must issue
> identification cards to Bahāʾīs with the caveat that ‘religion’ is left blank, justified by Egyptian constitutional protections for freedom of religion.
> While Iran and Egypt have been the particularly harsh in response to the
> Bahāʾīs, there have been instances of persecution in Afghanistan during the
> Taliban regime, and in several other predominantly Muslim nations. Some of
> the assertions made to discredit the Bahāʾīs by the more imaginative of their
> opponents go beyond the spiteful to the bizarre: for example, “They forbid
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> 772                                                                                   Osborn
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> their women to wear ḥijāb, and they regard mut’ah (temporary marriage) as
> permissible, and they promote the sharing of women and wealth,” claims an
> unnamed author answering the question “Q: What is the ruling on the Baha’i
> ideas and beliefs? What is the difference between them and other Muslims?”
> on Islamway.net (Anon. 2008).
> 
> 9        Conclusion
> 
> In a century and half or so, since its inception in Iran, the Bahāʾī Faith has
> spread throughout the globe, it has been embraced by a diverse community,
> comprising of urban workers, royalty, artists, and the lower classes, all of whom
> have found solace in the teachings of Bahāʾuʾllāh. It is now possibly the eighth
> largest religion in the world. How the role of this latest of the Abrahamic religions will unfold is not yet clear but its emphasis on unity in diversity makes it
> likely to be of major significance in an ever more globally defined civilisation.
> 
> References
> 
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> The Bahā ʾ ī Faith                                                                           773
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>
> — *The Baha'i Faith (Used by permission of the curator)*