Outline of the Baháʼí Faith

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Short description: Overview of and topical guide to the Baháʼí Faith

The Baháʼí Faith is a relatively new religion teaching the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people, established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th-century Middle East and now estimated to have a worldwide following of 5–8 million adherents, known as Baháʼís.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and a topical guide to the Baháʼí Faith.

Beliefs and practices

Baháʼí teachings

Baháʼí teachings

Baháʼí social principles

  • Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity – the Baháʼí teaching that humanity is fundamentally one and should achieve a state of unity in diversity
  • Baháʼí Faith and gender equality
  • Baháʼí Faith and education
  • Baháʼí Faith and auxiliary language – the Baháʼí teaching that the world should adopt a worldwide auxiliary language in addition to people's various languages to facilitate the unity of humanity
  • Socioeconomic development and the Baháʼí Faith

Baháʼí laws

Baháʼí laws – practices that are religiously binding for Baháʼís

  • Prayer in the Baháʼí Faith – Baháʼí teachings on prayer, including both daily obligatory prayer and devotional prayer (general prayer)
    • Obligatory Baháʼí prayers
  • Nineteen Day Feast – a gathering of a local Baháʼí community that occurs on the first day of each month of the Baháʼí calendar
  • Huqúqu'lláh – the Baháʼí obligation to give to the Baháʼí funds, which support the activities of Baháʼí communities
  • Nineteen Day Fast – a period of fasting that Baháʼís observe from sunrise to sunset for 19 days once each year
  • Baháʼí marriage
  • Baháʼí views on homosexuality
  • Baháʼí pilgrimage

History

History of the Baháʼí Faith – events from 1863 to the present that had their background in two earlier movements in the nineteenth century, Shaykhism and Bábism

  • Shaykhism – a Shi'a Islamic religious movement founded by Shaykh Ahmad (1753–1826)
  • Bábism – a religion founded by the Báb in 1844 that Baháʼís see as a predecessor to the Baháʼí Faith; see Outline of Bábism
  • Baháʼí/Bábí split – the split of the followers of Bábism into Baháʼís, who accepted Baháʼu'lláh as a figure prophesied in the teachings of Bábism, and Azalis, who followed Subh-i-Azal
  • Baháʼí prophecies
  • Baháʼí divisions
  • ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West
  • World Unity Conference
  • Baháʼí World Congress
  • Baháʼí teaching plans
  • Baháʼí radio
  • Persecution of Baháʼís
  • Baháʼí Faith by country – estimated numbers of Baháʼís globally, by country, and by continent, with links to full articles on the Baháʼí Faith in individual countries and continents
    • Baháʼí Faith in Africa
    • Baháʼí Faith in Asia
    • Baháʼí Faith in Europe
    • Baháʼí Faith in North America
    • Baháʼí Faith in Oceania
    • Baháʼí Faith in South America

Important figures

Central figures

  • The Báb – the founder of the Bábism, seen by Baháʼís as the predecessor to their religion
  • Baháʼu'lláh – the founder of the Baháʼí Faith
  • ʻAbdu'l-Bahá – the appointed successor of Baháʼu'lláh

Other influential figures

Groups

  • Afnán – the maternal relatives of the Báb
  • Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh – nineteen eminent early followers of Baháʼu'lláh
  • Baháʼu'lláh's family
  • Disciples of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá – a designation given by Shoghi Effendi to nineteen Western Baháʼís
  • Hands of the Cause – a select group of Baháʼís, appointed for life, whose main function was to propagate and protect the Baháʼí Faith
  • Knights of Baháʼu'lláh – a title given by Shoghi Effendi to Baháʼís who brought the Baháʼí Faith to new countries and territories

Notable individuals

  • Shoghi Effendi – the appointed head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957, entitled the Guardian
  • Badíʻ – the 17-year-old who delivered Baháʼu'lláh's tablet to the Shah and was subsequently killed
  • Nabíl-i-Aʻzam – the author of the account of early Bábí and Baháʼí history called The Dawn-breakers
  • Mishkín-Qalam – a calligrapher who lived during the lifetime of Baháʼu'lláh, and designer of the Greatest Name
  • Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl – a Baháʼí scholar who travelled as far as America and authored several books about the Baháʼí Faith
  • Martha Root – a prominent travelling teacher of the Baháʼí Faith in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
  • Rúhíyyih Khánum – the wife of Shoghi Effendi, who was appointed a Hand of the Cause

Texts and scriptures

By the Báb

  • Persian Bayán – one of the principal scriptural writings of the Báb, the founder of Bábism, which is also revered in the Baháʼí Faith
  • Arabic Bayán – one of the principal scriptural writings of the Báb, the founder of Bábism, which is also revered in the Baháʼí Faith
  • Selections from the Writings of the Báb – a book of excerpts from notable works of the Báb, compiled by the Universal House of Justice, the highest authority in the Baháʼí Faith

By Baháʼu'lláh

List of writings of Baháʼu'lláh

  • Epistle to the Son of the Wolf – the last major work of Baháʼu'lláh, written soon before his death in 1892
  • Four Valleys – a mystical treatise written in Persian
  • Gems of Divine Mysteries – a long epistle in Arabic
  • Gleanings from the Writings of Baháʼu'lláh – a compilation of Baháʼu'lláh's writings selected by Shoghi Effendi
  • Kitáb-i-Aqdas – a central book of the Baháʼí Faith which lays out the Baháʼí laws
  • Kitáb-i-Íqán – the primary theological work of the Baháʼí Faith
  • Hidden Words – a collection of short poetic utterances, 71 in Arabic and 82 in Persian
  • The Seven Valleys – a mystical treatise written in Persian
  • Summons of the Lord of Hosts – a collection of Baháʼu'lláh's writings that were written to the kings and rulers of the world
  • Tabernacle of Unity – a collection of several of Baháʼu'lláh's writings first published in July 2006
  • Tablets of Baháʼu'lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas – a collection of Baháʼu'lláh's writings from later in his life that have been published together since 1978

By ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

  • Paris Talks – a book transcribed from talks given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá while in Paris.
  • The Secret of Divine Civilization – a book written in 1875 by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, addressed to the rulers and the people of Persia.
  • Some Answered Questions – contains questions asked to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, son of the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, by Laura Clifford Barney, during several of her visits to Haifa between 1904 and 1906, and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's answers to these questions.
  • Tablets of the Divine Plan – 14 letters (tablets) written between September 1916 and March 1917 by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to Baháʼís in the United States and Canada.
  • Tablet to Dr. Forel – a letter of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, written in reply to questions asked by Auguste-Henri Forel, a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist and psychiatrist.
  • Tablet to The Hague – a letter which ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote to the Central Organisation for Durable Peace in The Hague, The Netherlands on 17 December 1919.
  • Will and Testament of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá – A seminal document, written in three stages by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.

By Shoghi Effendi

  • The Advent of Divine Justice – a letter to the Baháʼís of the United States and Canada, dated December 25, 1938
  • God Passes By – an account of the first century of Baháʼí history (beginning with the declaration of the Báb in 1844)
  • Promised Day is Come – a book-length letter written for Baháʼís in the Western world, dated 1941

By the Universal House of Justice

Organizations

Baháʼí administration

Baháʼí administration

  • International Baháʼí Council – the precursor to the Universal House of Justice that existed from 1951–1963
  • Universal House of Justice – the supreme governing institution of the Baháʼí Faith, first elected in 1963
  • Spiritual Assemblies – a term given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Baháʼí Faith.
  • Institution of the Counsellors
    • International Teaching Centre
  • Baháʼí International Community

Other Baháʼí organizations

  • Baháʼí Esperanto League
  • Baháʼí school
    • Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education
    • Banani International Secondary School
    • Townshend International School
    • School of the Nations (Macau)
    • New Era High School
    • Barli Development Institute for Rural Women
  • FUNDAEC
  • Ruhi Institute

Places

  • Síyáh-Chál
  • Garden of Ridván, Baghdad
  • Báb's house
  • Baháʼí World Centre
    • Baháʼí World Centre buildings
      • Shrine of the Báb
      • Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh
        • Qiblih – the point towards which Baháʼís face during their daily obligatory prayers
      • Shrine of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá
    • Terraces (Baháʼí)
  • Baháʼí House of Worship – a place of worship of the Baháʼí Faith, also known as a Baháʼí temple
    • List of Baháʼí Houses of Worship
      • Lotus Temple
      • Baháʼí House of Worship (Wilmette, Illinois)
      • Sydney Baháʼí Temple
      • Santiago Bahá'í Temple
  • Haziratu'l-Quds – a Baháʼí administrative centre often used for Baháʼí gatherings, also known as a Baháʼí centre

Calendar

Baháʼí calendar

  • List of observances set by the Baháʼí calendar
    • Baháʼí Holy Days
      • Baháʼí Naw-Rúz
      • Ridván
      • Twin Holy Birthdays
        • Birth of Baháʼu'lláh
      • Day of the Covenant (Baháʼí)
    • Ayyám-i-Há

Other topics

External links




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