Month 6, Day 6: Origins of the Baha’i Faith

Baha’i is one of the youngest religions in the world, and also one of the fastest-growing.

Despite the fact that it only began in the middle of the 19^th century, Baha’i claims at least 5 million followers worldwide. Some sources even say that number is higher—up to 7.4 million members. Compare that with another religion that grew really quickly: Christianity.

In 150 ce, there were about 40,000 Christians out of a world population of around 190 million. So, 5 million Baha’is in about the same time span is pretty impressive, even if there are more than 6 billion of us on Earth now.

So how did Baha’i get started? Like Christianity, it traces its origins back to one guy.

In 1844, an Iranian merchant named Sayyid ‘Alí Muhammad Shírází founded his own religion and started calling himself the Báb, meaning “the gate.” (This, of course, makes me wonder if all I need is a cool and/or slightly cryptic nickname to start my own religious movement.)

The Báb claimed that he had received a revelation from God and said that people should view him as a prophet as important to religious history as Muhammad, who founded Islam.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this didn’t go over all that well with the local authorities, and the Báb was arrested repeatedly and eventually killed. (Sound familiar?)

Despite the Báb’s unpopularity with government officials, he still managed to attract some followers. One of them expanded on his message and became the founder of what eventually became the Baha’i faith. That guy’s name was Bahá’u’llah.

Bahá’u’llah was born Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí Núrí, part of a noble Iranian family, in 1817. As a loyal follower of the Báb, Bahá’u’llah was arrested, too, and was thrown into an underground pit.

There, he had a vision—which, I suppose, is a perfectly normal reaction to being tossed in a pit. He saw a heavenly maiden who told him (among other things), “This is the Beauty of God amongst you, and the power of his sovereignty within you, could ye but understand.”

When he was finally released from the pit (because he came from a respected family; his lower-class buddies were executed), Bahá’u’llah started writing books and spreading the word of his vision and expanding on the Báb’s original teachings.

Unfortunately for Bahá’u’llah, his family name didn’t give him a free pass. He kept getting arrested. In fact, by the time he died in 1892 at the age of 74, he had spent 40 years—off and on—in prison or exile.

Still, he managed to get the word out, and the ideals he spoke of—equality, unity, justice—continued to win converts well after his death. And the Baha’i faith, which essentially says that all religions are really the same, continues to grow—rapidly.

This month, I’m adding one more to the Baha’i population. So far, it’s not so bad, although I keep running a little late on that obligatory noon-time prayer. For some reason, the only thing I can remember to do at noon is eat lunch.