Newsgroup: it.cultura.religioni.bahai
Titolo: Il Baha'ismo secondo l'Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ciao.


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Testo del messaggio:
Baha'i Faith
The Bahai Faith is a world religion whose center is in Erez Israel.
Named after its founder, Baha(Allah ("The Splendor of God"), Bahaism
developed out of the Babi, a Sufi (Muslim mystical) movement, which
was founded in 1844 in Persia. It upholds the unity of God, enjoins
its followers to search after truth, and advocates promotion of unity
and concord among peoples. It maintains equality of rights for men and
women, prohibits monasticism, advocates an auxiliary international
language, and has abolished priesthood. The faith inculcates the
principle of the oneness and wholeness of the entire human race.
Sayyid Ali Muhammad, the founder of the Babi movement, was born in
Shiraz, Persia, between 1818 and 1821 and was brought up as a member
of a Shi-ufi sect. Some Shiites and the Sufis believe that in each age
there is a man, called the Bab ("Gate"), who initiates in the secrets
of the faith. To the Babis he is the "Gate" to the knowledge of divine
truth. In 1844 Ali Muhammad proclaimed himself the Bab of his time and
was accused of heresy. He was arrested and shot in Tabriz in 1850. His
body was interred by his followers in a secret tomb in Teheran.
In 1852 an attempt on the life of the Persian shah, Nair al-Din, was
followed by severe persecution of the Babis, which led the Bab's
successor, Mirza (Persian, "prince") Yahya, and the latter's
stepbrother, Mirza Husayn Ali (b. 1817), to flee to Baghdad. In 1863
the Turkish government, at Persia's request, exiled Mirza Yahya to
Cyprus. Mirza Husayn Ali proclaimed himself the successor to the Bab
under the name Baha(Allah. The government exiled him to Adrianople
(1864) and later to Acre, which he reached in 1868, accompanied by
about 70 of his family and followers. It was he who turned the faith
into a universalist ethical religion, of which he became the leader.
In 1899 he had the body of Ali Muhammad, the Bab, transferred from its
tomb in Teheran to Acre. The Baha(Allah died in 1892, and his tomb in
the village of Mazraa (near Acre) in a building at Bahji (Persian,
"garden") became a shrine that the Bahais regard as the holiest place
in the world.
Baha(Allah's eldest son, Abbas Effendi, became the leader of the faith
under the name of 'Abd al-Baha' ("the Servant of Baha"). After
transferring his residence to Haifa, he set out on travels to North
Africa, Europe, and the U.S. Abbas Effendi arranged for the interment
of the Bab's body in a shrine in Haifa on Mount Carmel. Abd
al-Baha((Abbas Effendi) died in 1921 and was interred in the same
shrine.
The great mausoleum (Maqam-i Ala), which is a landmark in Haifa, was
only completed in 1953. 'Abd al-Baha' was succeeded by his eldest
grandson, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (1897–1957), who as guardian of the
Bahai faith resided in Haifa.
The faith spread all over the world; Bahais reside in over 11,000
localities. The spiritual and administrative center of the Bahai World
Faith is the Universal House of Justice (erected in 1963 in Haifa),
comprising, in the Holy Land nine members, known as Hands of the
Cause.
Bahaism was favorably disposed to Zionism, believing that the return
of the Jews to their land was foretold in the writings of Baha(Allah
and 'Abd al-Baha'. On June 30, 1948, Shoghi Effendi wrote to Prime
Minister Ben-Gurion expressing "loyalty and best wishes for the
prosperity of the newly proclaimed State of Israel" and recognizing
the significance of the ingathering of the Jews in "the cradle of
their faith."
[Editorial Staff Encyclopaedia Judaica]