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Bahaism—A Study of a Contemporary Movement
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 November 2011
Extract
More and more there is being brought to our attention the news of a great spiritual awakening in Southwestern Asia, that home of the prophets and birthplace of religions. At first it was called Babism, and centered around the brilliant youth, Mirza Ali Mohammed, the Bab, who after six years of teaching was martyred at Tabriz, Persia, in 1850. Later, most of his followers accepted the leadership of Mirza Husain Ali, generally known today as Baha'u'llah, and following his more universal teaching called themselves Bahais. Baha'u'llah after forty years of heroic teaching in exile and imprisonment closed his earthly existence at Acca, Syria, in 1892. The present leader of the movement, Abdul Baha (Abbas Effendi), under whose guidance the Bahai gospel has spread with remarkable rapidity into many countries, has recently spent more than a year in Europe and America, making its principles known, and through his great kindness, his words of wisdom, his sweet persuasiveness, has reflected its pure spiritual light. Apparently, it is not so much an organization as a spiritual attitude, not so much a new religion as religion renewed. Its followers are found in all sorts of ecclesiastical organizations. To be a Bahai a man need not sever his previous religious affiliations; he may remain a Buddhist, or Hindoo Braman, a Parsee, a Mohammedan, or a Christian. He becomes one of the Bahai Movement when he catches the Bahai spirit.
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- Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1914
References
1 Memories and Studies; Longmans, Green, & Co., p. 259.
2 Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah, p. 18; Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago. All references to the words of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha are English translations of the Persian and Arabic originals.
3 Baha'u'llah quoted in A Traveller's Narrative, by Browne, Edward G., p. xxxviii; Cambridge, 1892.Google Scholar
4 The social gospel of the Bahai Movement is finely presented in The Modern Social Religion, by Holley, Horace; Sidgwick & Jackson, London and Toronto, 1913.Google Scholar
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6 A Year with the Bahais in India and Burmah; Priory Press, London.
7 A Traveller's Narrative, p. xxxix.
8 Effendi, Abbas [Abdul Baha], His Life and Teachings; Putnam's, 1902; pp. 110, 140.Google Scholar
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14 Paris Addresses of Abdul Baha, p. 134.
15 Ibid., p. 146.
16 Ibid., p. 143.
17 Paris Addresses of Abdul Baha, p. 136.
18 See Phelps' Abbas Effendi, p. 149; also Some Answered Questions, p. 336.
19 Hidden Words, p. 61.
20 Hidden Words, p. 5.
21 Ibid., p. 69.
22 Ibid., p. 62.
23 Ibid., p. 53.
24 Ibid., p. 62.
25 Ibid., p. 63.
26 Paris Addresses of Abdul Baha, p. 167.
27 Tablet of the World, from Tarazat and other Tablets, by Baha'u'llah, , p. 27; Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago, 1913.Google Scholar
28 Hidden Words, p. 72.
29 Abdul Baha in Star of the West, vol. III, no. 6, p. 8.
30 Seven Valleys, by Baha'u'llah, p. 10; Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago. A little treatise describing man's journey to union with God.
31 Hidden Words, p. 72.
32 Seven Valleys, p. 28.
33 Seven Valleys, p. 40.
34 Ibid., p. 17.
35 Ibid., p. 36.
36 Tablets of Abdul Baha, passim.
37 Hidden Words, p. 59.