Baha’i - 7 Million Believers – monotheism (offshoot of Islam that teaches oneness)
1867 AD – Baha’u’llah receives divine revelation from God in response to Islam. Bahá’í – is used either as an adjective to refer to the Bahá’í Faith or as a term for a follower of Bahá’u'lláh. It is derived from the Arabic word Bahá’, “glory” or “splendor”.
Belief – even though its religious background in Shi’a Islam. Baha’is describe their faith as an independent world religion. Bahá’u'lláh is believed to have fulfilled the messianic expectations of these precursor faiths. They believe that human beings have a “rational soul”, with a unique capacity to recognize God and humanity’s relationship with its creator. Every human is seen to have a duty to recognize God through His messengers, and to conform to their teachings. Through recognition and obedience, service to humanity and regular prayer and spiritual practice, the Bahá’í writings state that the soul becomes closer to God, the spiritual ideal in Bahá’í belief. When a human dies, the soul passes into the next world, where its spiritual development in the physical world becomes a basis for judgment and advancement in the spiritual world. Heaven and Hell are taught to be spiritual states of nearness or distance from God that describe relationships in this world and the next, and not physical places of reward and punishment achieved after death. The Bahá’í’s believe in an essential unity of the great religions of the world. However, this does not mean they believe the various religious creeds and doctrines are identical. Rather, they view all religions as having sprung from the same spiritual source. Every person has an immortal soul. Unlike everything else in creation, it is not subject to decomposition. At death, the soul is freed to travel through the spirit world. The latter is viewed as a “a timeless and placeless extension of our own universe–and not some physically remote or removed place.”
Even though its religious background is in Shia Islam. Bahá’ís describe their faith as an independent world religion, differing from the other traditions in its relative age and in the appropriateness of Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings to the modern context. Bahá’u'lláh is believed to have fulfilled the precursor of faith through divine revelation. Three core principles establish a basis for Bahá’í teachings and doctrine: the unity of God, the unity of religion and the unity of humankind. From these stem the belief that God periodically reveals his will through divine messengers, whose purpose is to transform the character of humankind and develop, within those who respond, moral and spiritual qualities. Religion is thus seen as orderly, unified, and progressive from age to age.
Symbol – The nine-pointed star is used as the representative symbol for the faith. There is no standard format for the star; as depicted here, it is constructed of three overlapping equilateral triangles, but equally valid depictions can use either sharper or shallower angles to the points. The preferred orientation is point-up. Besides being used in this symbol, the number nine is also incorporated into Baha’i architecture such as in nine-sided temples. Significance of The Number Nine - When the Bab laid the foundations for the faith, he put particular emphasis on the number 19. The Arabic alphabet has an intrinsic numeral value for each letter. The value for the word wahid, meaning “God the One,” is nineteen. Baha’u'llah, however, preferred to use the numerical value of baha, meaning “glory” and referencing his own adopted name (baha’u'llah means “glory of God”), which is nine.
God - Bahá’ís believe that there is only one God who is the source of all creation. God is transcendent and unknowable. However, He has sent, and will continue to send, great prophets to humanity, through which the Holy Spirit has revealed the “Word of God.”
Sacred Text – The writings of Baha’u'llah and Ba’ab. Bahá’u'lláh often referred to Bahá’ís in his writings as “the people of Bahá’”, and in addition, the Báb sent a tablet to Bahá’u'lláh with 360 derivatives of the word Bahá’. Along with daily prayers, Bahá’ís are encouraged to recite the phrase “Alláh-u-Abhá” 95 times in a form of meditation.
