The Baha'is
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Geoffrey Parrinder, The Baha'is, bahai-library.com.
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The Bahá'ís

Geoffrey Parrinder
published in What World Religions Teach pp. 107-109, 140, 190

London: George W. Harrap & Co., 1963

1. Text

[page 107]

THE BAHAIS

The Bahais arose in Persia in the nineteenth century. Persia
has been a land of many religious and mystical movements, in
modem times as in olden days. In speaking of the origins of the
Bahais we must anticipate a little, for it sprang out of one of the
divisions of Islam, and these will be dealt with in the third
chapter on Islam (Chapter 16).

It is believed by Persian Muslims that the twelfth leader of
their sect disappeared in the year 260 of their era and would
reappear after a thousand years. In their year 1260 (1844 A.D.)
a Persian prophet, Ali Muhammad, declared that he was the
expected leader, under the title of the Bah or 'Gate' to the truth.
He said that he was the manifestation of the Spirit to the present
age, as Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad had been to past ages. So
he taught a new form of religion and seems to have aimed at a
kingdom of God on earth. The Persian Government got alarmed
at the claims of the Bah, and he was put to death in 1850.
As so often in religious history, persecution fanned rather than
crushed the sect. Some of the Bab's followers fled to Turkey and
Cyprus and set up Babi groups there. A more important number
followed the principal disciple, who was called Baha Ullah, 'the
glory of God.' He called himself the revelation and emanation
of God, through whom alone God can be known. He was
exiled to Baghdad, and finally to Akka, where he died in 1892.
Baha Ullah tried to work out from Islam, and from special

[page 108]

revelations he claimed to have received "a larger conception of
a world religion which was to unite mankind in a religious
brotherhood." Muslims often claim that, since their religion is
the last in appearance of the great world religions, so, on the
principle of evolution, it must be the best, completing all the rest.
The Bahais take this argument further, and apply it to themselves.
They claim to possess the religion for modem times, suitable to
present-day man, a mingling of all that is best in the old faiths.
Baha Ullah saw himself as the manifestation of the divine spirit
sent to enlighten all mankind. So he sent letters to rulers in Asia
and Europe, and "to the Kings of America and the Chiefs of the
Republic." He told his followers to study foreign languages and
become apostles to all the world.

Baha Ullah regarded himself as superseding Islam. There is
no final revelation, and no last of the prophets, but a new manifestation
appears in every age. The law of Islam was outdated,
and Baha Ullah introduced new forms of prayer and ritual. War
was strictly forbidden, and when persecuted the Bahais should
submit meekly. Slavery was forbidden since all men are equal,
but although marriage to one wife was the ideal, deviations were
permitted as among Muslims.

There is a great deal of mystical doctrine in Bahaism, despite
the attempts of some Westerners to interpret it rationally. The
seeker after truth is led through seven stages to a passionate union
with the Beloved. Magical numbers and mysterious equivalences
of names have elaborate interpretations. Above all there is
devotion to the "Person of the Manifestation," regarded as
divine or different from all other beings.

A most interesting development was the spread of Bahaism
to the West. This came about through a Syrian convert who
lectured in Chicago in 1892, and preached "the fulfilment of the
truth which Christ and the prophets foretold." Wide use was
made of quotations from the Bible. Many Bahai centres were
founded in America, and some in Europe. The teaching of a
universal religion, newly manifested for this age, has attractions,

[page 109]

though the numerical and mysterious element in the Persian
faith is often played down.
...

[page 140]

...
Quite different was the Ahmadiyya movement in India, though
it gave an Indian version of the Mahdi hope. In 1890 Ghulam
Ahmad, of the Punjab, claimed to be both the Mahdi of Islam and
the Messiah of Christianity, and later is said to have claimed also
to be an incarnation of the Hindu Krishna, his coming having
been foretold in all scriptures. After his death his followers
divided into two main groups, one centred round his tomb at
Qadian in India, the other at Lahore in Pakistan. Ghulam Ahmad
is regarded as the latest renewer of religion, for every age has its
revelation and renewer (an idea that we noted in connexion
with the Bahais). But religion is a matter of the spirit, nothing
to do with politics or holy wars. So great stress was laid on
peaceful propaganda, and Ahmadiyya missionaries have gone to
many parts of the world. The mosque at Woking, perhaps the
best known in England, belongs to the Ahmadiyya, and much
literature on the teachings of Islam comes from them. Nevertheless
they are not regarded as orthodox Muslims, and some of
their teachings are repudiated by the orthodox. For example,
the Ahmadiyya say that Jesus escaped death in Palestine and
wandered away to India, where his grave is to be seen at Shrinagar
- a legend that both Muslims and Christians reject.

[page 190]

...
Christianity is a missionary religion, and there are those who
object to or misunderstand missions. It is not the only missionary
religion. Islam and Buddhism always have been, and in modem
times the Sikhs, Bahais, Theosophists, and Ramakrishna Mission
all seek to convert other people to their point of view.
...

2. Image scans (click image for full-size version)

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-- The Baha'is (Used by permission of the curator)