| The world needs a unifying vision so as to guide it from its present chaotic state towards order and peace. Bahá'u'lláh spent His life promoting such a vision, in the face of imprisonment, exile, dire poverty, the constant threat of death, and slanderous accusations.
Born in Persia (Iran) in 1817, Bahá'u'lláh began His world-changing task at age 27. The profound solutions he offered for the problems of our age have gradually captured the imagination and loyalty of several million people from virtually every race, culture, class, and nation on earth.
His mission began in an underground dungeon in Tehran, the capital of Iran, in August 1852.
Bahá'u'lláh came from a noble family, with ancestry going back to the great royal dynasties of Persia's glorious past. Although offered a ministerial post in the government, he declined it and instead devoted his time to charitable activities which made him well-known as "father of the poor".
However, from 1844 His previously privileged life became steadily more difficult, after he became one of the leading advocates of an extraordinary movement. This movement was led by a young merchant from the city of Shiraz, known to history as the Báb.
The Báb announced a message which caused a storm of hope and excitement among Persians of all classes. He declared that the Day of God was at hand and that He himself was God's Messenger, Who had been prophesised in the Scriptures of the Islamic religion. He said that a new era was about to dawn when all aspects of civilization would undergo profound change.
At the heart of the Báb's message was his assertion that another great Messenger was about to appear. All religions looked forward to a Promised One who would bring peace and justice to the whole planet. This universal Messenger would soon reveal Himself. The Báb's mission was to prepare the way for Him.
These claims by the Báb aroused the anger of the Muslim clergy, who taught that divine revelation had ended with Muhammad. To contradict this belief was apostasy in their eyes, punishable by death. And indeed, with the support of the government authorities, thousands of the Báb's followers were massacred throughout Persia. On 9 July 1850, the Báb Himself was publicly executed.
Because of His prominence as a supporter of the Báb's Cause, in 1852 Bahá'u'lláh was arrested. He was not sentenced to death, owing to His impressive personal reputation, the social position of His family, and protests by Western embassies against the persecution of the Báb's followers. However, He was thrown into the dreadful Siyah-Chal, the "Black Pit". This overcrowded, foul-smelling underground dungeon was infested with vermin and was in constant darkness. He was not expected to survive.
It was in this place that Bahá'u'lláh received the first indication of His mission. He later wrote:
During the days I lay in the prison of Tihran, though the galling weight of the chains and the stench-filled air allowed Me but little sleep, still in those infrequent moments of slumber I felt as if something flowed from the crown of My head over My breast, even as a mighty torrent that precipitateth itself upon the earth from the summit of a lofty mountain. Every limb of My body would, as a result, be set afire. At such moments My tongue recited what no man could bear to hear.
Eventually released from that dungeon, Bahá'u'lláh was to spend the rest of His life in exile, his wealth and properties having been arbitrarily confiscated. First He was sent to Baghdad in Iraq, later to Constantinople and Adrianople in Turkey, and finally to Akka in Palestine. All these places were territories of the Ottoman Empire. The many dramatic events of those years are recounted in various books and publications available from the Bahá'í community.
It was in Baghdad, just before His departure for Constantinople in 1863, that Bahá'u'lláh decided the time had come to confide in some of those around Him, regarding the divine mission He had received while imprisoned in Tehran some nine years before. In His Writings, He has described the new era that He came to establish in words such as these:
Great indeed is this Day! The allusions made to it in all the sacred Scriptures as the Day of God attest its greatness. The soul of every Prophet of God, of every Divine Messenger, hath thirsted for this wondrous Day. All the divers kindreds of the earth have, likewise, yearned to attain it.
The aim of all the Messengers of God has been to lead humanity towards its eventual unification. Bahá'u'lláh's message brings the fulfillment of that hope. As stated by Shoghi Effendi:
To Israel He was neither more nor less than the incarnation of the "Everlasting Father", the "Lord of Hosts" come down "with ten thousands of saints"; to Christendom Christ returned "in the glory of the Father"; to Shi'ah Islam the return of the Imam Husayn; to Sunni Islam the descent of the "Spirit of God" (Jesus Christ); to the Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram; to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna; to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha.
After the declaration of His mission in Baghdad, Bahá'u'lláh went on for the rest of His life building up the Bahá'í Faith as an independent religion. While constantly living under the most difficult circumstances, He continued without ever a pause, in writing books and tablets (letters) on a huge range of subjects. He also gave encouragement to His followers, laid the foundations for the administrative system of His Faith, and established the laws which today guide the affairs of the Bahá'í community and the conduct of Bahá'ís. In a series of tablets, He announced His message to kings, presidents, emperors, and religious leaders such as the Pope.
Near the end of His life, Bahá'u'lláh was released from the prison city of Akka and was allowed to live in a mansion in the country nearby, at Bahji. It was there that He passed away, of influenza, on 29 May 1892. His tomb, in the grounds of the mansion, is for Bahá'ís the most holy place in the world. Across the bay on the slopes of Mount Carmel, in the city of Haifa, the administrative world centre of His Faith is graced by the shrine of His herald, the Báb.
Today some six million people spread throughout the planet are committed followers of Bahá'u'lláh. His wisdom is respected by an ever-widening circle of admirers who find in His writings the insights that are sorely needed for the betterment of the world and for individual happiness.
Quotations in context
Click on the links below to search for quotations from this page, in the Bahá'í reference library.
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