Concept
Baháʼí literature
Related concepts (12)
Baháʼí administration
The Baháʼí administration is a system of elected and appointed institutions to govern the affairs of the Baháʼí community. Its supreme body is the Universal House of Justice, elected every five years. Some features set apart the Baháʼí administration from similar systems of governance: elected representatives should follow their conscience, rather than being responsible to the views of electors; political campaigning, nominations and parties are prohibited; and structure and authority of institutions to lead Baháʼís flowed directly from the religion's founder, Baháʼu'lláh.
Spiritual Assembly
Spiritual Assembly is a term given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Baháʼí Faith. Because the Baháʼí Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community. In addition to existing at the local level, there are national Spiritual Assemblies (although "national" in some cases refers to a portion of a country or to a group of countries). Spiritual Assemblies form part of the elected branch of the Baháʼí administration.
Baháʼu'lláh
Baháʼu'lláh (born Ḥusayn-ʻAlí; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was the founder of the Baháʼí Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Persia, and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Bábí Faith. In 1863, in Iraq, he first announced his claim to a revelation from God, and spent the rest of his life in further imprisonment in the Ottoman Empire. His teachings revolved around the principles of unity and religious renewal, ranging from moral and spiritual progress to world governance.
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice (بیتالعدل اعظم) is the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Baháʼí Faith. It was envisioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, as an institution that could legislate on issues not already addressed in the Baháʼí writings, providing flexibility for the Baháʼí Faith to adapt to changing conditions. It was first elected in 1963, and subsequently every five years, by delegates consisting of the members of Baháʼí National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the world.
Ridván
Riḍván (رضوان ; Persian transliteration: Rezván, ɾezvɒːn) is a twelve-day festival in the Baháʼí Faith, commemorating Baháʼu'lláh's declaration that he was a Manifestation of God. In the Baháʼí calendar, it begins at sunset on the 13th of Jalál, which translates to the 20th or 21st of April, depending on the date of the March equinox (exactly one month on the Gregorian calendar after the equinox). In 2023 it will be celebrated on 21 April. On the first, ninth and twelfth days of Ridván, work and school should be suspended.
Azali
An Azali (ازلی) or Azali Bábí is a follower of the monotheistic religion of Subh-i-Azal and the Báb. Early followers of the Báb were known as Bábís; however, in the 1860s a split occurred after which the vast majority of Bábís followed Mirza Husayn ʻAli, known as Baháʼu'lláh, and became known as Baháʼís, while the minority who followed Subh-i-Azal, Baháʼu'lláh's half-brother, came to be called as Azalis. Azali Babis continued to push for the end of the Iranian monarchy, and several individuals were among the national reformers of the constitutional revolution of 1905–1911.
Báb
The Báb (born ʿAlí Muḥammad; ˈæli_moʊˈhæməd; علی محمد ; 20 October 1819 – 9 July 1850) was the messianic founder of Bábism, and one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. He was a merchant from Shiraz in Qajar Iran who, in 1844 at the age of 25, claimed to be a messenger of God. He took the title Báb (bɑːb; باب; meaning "Gate" or "Door"), a reference to the deputy of the Hidden Imam, while instigating a religious revolution that proposed the abrogation of Islamic laws and traditions, and the establishment of a new religion.
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic thought, a god is "a spirit or being believed to control some part of the universe or life and often worshipped for doing so, or something that represents this spirit or being". Belief in the existence of at least one god is called theism. Views regarding God vary considerably. Many notable theologians and philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.
Bábism
Bábism (a.k.a. the Bábí Faith; بابیه) is a religion founded in 1844 by the Báb (b. ʻAli Muhammad), an Iranian merchant turned prophet who taught that there is one incomprehensible God who manifests his will in an unending series of Manifestations of God. It has persisted into the modern era in the form of the Baháʼí Faith, to which the majority of Bábís eventually converted. His ministry was turbulent and short lived, ending with his public execution in Tabriz, and a campaign of extermination that killed thousands of followers in what might be the bloodiest actions of the Iranian military in the 19th century.
Islam
Islam (ˈɪslɑːm; ۘالِإسْلَام, al-ʾIslām ʔɪsˈlæːm, ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centered on the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam, called Muslims, number approximately 2 billion globally and are the world's second-largest religious population after Christians. Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed many times through earlier prophets such as Adam (believed to be the first man), Ibrahim, Moses, and Isa (Jesus), among others.