Bahá'u'lláh is the Messenger of God for all of humanity in this Day. The corner-stone of His Teachings is the establishment of the spiritual unity of humanity. He has revealed a system of Laws and Ordinances to guide humanity to its spiritual maturity. He teaches that Abraham, Zoroaster, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad are all Divine Messengers progressively revealing God's Divine Plan to bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Bahá'u'lláh was born in Persia, (modern day Iran), in 1817. His father was a government minister. In His youth, Bahá'u'lláh was known as the “father of the poor” for his deeds of kindness. From early age he displayed marvelous faculties of intellect. Although passionately interested in social justice, he was not attracted to political life. He chose not to follow in his father's footsteps, and turned down offers to serve in the government.
The Announcement of the Coming of the Promised One
In 1844, at the age of twenty-seven, Bahá'u'lláh became a follower of the Báb. The Báb was the Forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh, and Bahá'ís believe the Báb is an independent Messenger of God. He announced the imminent advent of a Prophet greater than himself, Who would fulfill the prophecies of past religions regarding the establishment of God's Kingdom on Earth.
Bahá'u'lláh and the other followers of the Báb were persecuted for their beliefs because the priests and rulers of Persia wrongly charged them as heretics.
Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation
In 1852, in Tehran, Bahá'u'lláh was imprisoned in the Black Pit (Siyáh-Chál), an underground dungeon. It was there, under “the galling weight of the chains” and oppressed by “the stench-filled air,” that He received a revelation from God that He was the Promised One foretold by the Báb and all the Manifestations of God who had come before Him. He describes the experience in these words:
"I heard a most wondrous, a most sweet voice, calling above My head...I beheld a Maiden--the embodiment of the remembrance of the name of My Lord...Pointing with her finger unto My head, she addressed all who are in heaven and all who are on earth, saying, ‘By God! This is the Best-Beloved of the worlds, and yet ye comprehend not. This is the Beauty of God amongst you, and the power of His sovereignty within you, could ye but understand."
Bahá'u'lláh's bedroom at Bahjí. Photo taken during the time of E.G. Browne's visit.
Forty Years of Exile and Imprisonment
Bahá'u'lláh was released from prison after four months and exiled from His native land. His wealth and land were confiscated by government decree. He spent the remaining forty years of His life in exile and imprisonment.
Those forty years saw an outpouring of spiritual revelation unprecedented in religious history. Hundreds of books, tablets and letters were revealed, which today are the sacred scripture of the Bahá'í Faith. In these writings He presented a blueprint for the reconstruction of human society at all levels and for the spiritual regeneration of the human race.
Exile to the Holy Land
The first years of exile were spent in Baghdad, followed by periods in Istanbul and Adrianople (modern Edirne). In 1868 He was exiled to Akká, a prison city in the Ottoman province (now Israel). He lived there until His death in 1892. Despite the fierce opposition of the priests and rulers of Persia and the Ottoman Empire, and their persecution of his followers, Bahá'u'lláh fearlessly announced His mission and directed His followers to carry His teachings throughout the world. He also sent letters from prison to the kings and rulers of the day, informing them of His mission and calling on them to band together in the pursuit of justice and peace.
Bahá'u'lláh Sacrificed Wealth and Power
Bahá'u'lláh never rebelled against His oppressors. He endured sacrifice and imprisonment in order to raise the standard of a new era of unity and justice for humankind. About His purpose, He said:
“By the righteousness of God! It is not Our wish to lay hands on your kingdoms. Our mission is to seize and possess the hearts of men. Whoso followeth His Lord, will renounce the world and all that is therein.”
Bahá'u'lláh Suffered for the Sake of Humanity
Here, in His own words, is Bahá'u'lláh's statement of the redeeming power of His life of persecution and sacrifice, which all the Manifestations of God before Him endured as well:
“The Ancient Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh) hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness. This is the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish. He Who hath come to build anew the whole world, behold, how they...have forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of cities!”
Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh
The distinguished orientalist, the late Professor Edward G. Browne, of the University of Cambridge, visited Bahá'u'lláh at Bahjí (nearby Haifa, Israel) in the year 1890, and recorded his impressions as follows:
"In the corner where the divan met the wall sat a wondrous and venerable figure, crowned with a felt head-dress of the kind called "taj" by dervishes (but of unusual height and make), round the base of which was wound a small white turban. The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow; while the deep lines on the forehead and face implied an age which the jet-black hair and beard flowing down in indistinguishable luxuriance almost to the waist seemed to belie. No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!
A mild dignified voice bade me be seated, and then continued: -- "Praise be to God that thou has attained! ... Thou has come to see a prisoner and an exile. ... We desire but the good of the world and happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment. ... That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled -- what harm is there in this? ... Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the `Most Great Peace' shall come. ... Do not you in Europe need this also? Is not this that which Christ foretold? ... Yet do we see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind. ... These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family. ... Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind. ..."
Such, so far as I can recall them, were the words which, besides many others, I heard from (Bahá'u'lláh). Let those who read them consider well with themselves whether such doctrines merit death and bonds, and whether the world is more likely gain or lose by their diffusion."
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