Bahá'í

{{significantly problematic}}{{sources needed}}{{religion}}
{{hatnote|Not to be confused with Ba'ha.<ref group=note>Ba'ha is the traditional greeting of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClvX7ED8UUI Zone Theorists].</ref>}}
The '''Bahá'í''' religion is a medium-sized, but global, [[religion]] founded by Baha'u'llah,<ref name=affolter>{{Cite journal |last=Affolter |first=Friedrich W. |date=January 2005 |title=The Specter of Ideological Genocide: The Baháʼís of Iran |journal=War Crimes, Genocide, & Crimes Against Humanity |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=75–114 |url=http://www.altoona.psu.edu/journals/war-crimes/articles/V1/v1n1a3.pdf |access-date=31 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722083412/http://www.altoona.psu.edu/journals/war-crimes/articles/V1/v1n1a3.pdf |archive-date=22 July 2012}}</ref> a nineteenth-century [[Iranian]] exiled to the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Though [[sectarian|emerging]] from [[Islam]], the religion regards most of the major faiths as paths to [[God]] (though not all as some like [[Sikhism]], [[Jainism]], [[Taoism]], [[Shintoism]], etc, are not included for some reason), and therefore sees religious wars as bad. Each legitimate religion (according to Bahá'í doctrine) has been founded by a [[prophet]] — the list of prophets includes [[Abraham]], [[Krishna]], [[Zoroaster]], [[Moses]], [[Buddha]], [[Jesus]], and [[Muhammad]] &mdash; with each new prophet superseding his predecessors, in a process that Baha'is expect to continue into the indefinite future.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060113064257/http://www.religionfacts.com/bahai/beliefs/prophets.htm Bahá'í Beliefs about Prophets and Messengers]. Archived from religionfacts.com, 13 January 2006.</ref>

Because Baha'is accept the Prophet Muhammad, but deny that he is the final prophet, and because of the religion's [[Shi'a Islam|Shi'ite]] background, countries like Shi'ite [[Iran]] consider them [[Heresy|heretical]] Muslims and persecute them accordingly. Baha'is cannot attend standard schools in Iran, and have had to set up their own underground university there, the Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE). (How this gels with the Baha'i rule of obedience to government remains a theological mystery; perhaps the Iranian educational regulations are regarded as invalid.)<ref group=note>
Compare:
{{cite news
| last1                 = Freedman
| first1                = Samuel G.
| title                 = Bahai on Trial in Iran Worries Brother From Afar
| url                   = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/us/23religion.html
| publisher             = The New York Times Company
| publication-date      = 2010-01-22
| access-date           = 2018-07-01
| work                  = The New York Times
| quote                 = They have endured beatings, insults, arrest, vandalism, dismissal from jobs, denial of education, and other forms of religious bigotry inflicted by the Iranian Muslims who consider Bahaism an intolerable [[blasphemy]] for its belief in a 19th-century prophet and his new revelation emerging from Shiite Islam.
}}
</ref>

Historically, the Baha'i religion emerged from a short-lived mid-19th century [[Millennialism|millennarian]] movement in Iran called ''Babism''<ref name=affolter /> (hence the Baha'i calendar begins in 1844 CE), which in turn emerged from the equally millennial Shaykhi sect<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=P. |year=1999 |title=A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location=Oxford, UK |pages=216–217 & 312 |isbn=1-85168-184-1}}</ref> of 19th-century [[Shi'a|Shi'ism]]. The Shaykhis are still around, and play a minor role in the politics of southern Iraq. The Babis are also still around, barely, but apparently prefer to be known as "Bayanis" ("Azalis" is also seen); their most visible spokesman (God help them) is [[woke]] [[Occult|occultist]] and internet non-influencer Wahid Azal. What happened was that the founder of Babism named, as his successor, one Mirza Yahya Nuri, called Subh-i-Azal ("Dawn of Eternity"). However, his half-brother Mirza Hussein Ali Nuri, called Baha'u'llah ("Splendor of Allah"), made spiritual claims for himself, and won control over most of the Bábi exiles, who thus became "Bahá'ís." Similar succession crises happened several times in Bahá'í history, although few of the alternative factions survive. The most well-known group, and the only one of any size (they claim around six million; most critics believe this to be exaggerated), goes by the name of "the Bahá'í Faith" (note the diacritical marks). The other factions generally call this main group the "Haifan Bahá'ís," after their headquarters in Haifa, [[Israel]].

==Spelling==
[[File:Bahai.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Baha'i Temple, Samoa.]]

Baha'is got stuck with a particular, and by now dated, transliteration scheme chosen by the great-grandson of their founder, who was the first in his family to attend college, and fancied himself something of an Orientalist. "Bahá'í" (note the diacriticals) — or better yet, "the Bahá'í Faith" — is the preferred renditon of the name of the religion. Since outsiders can rarely be bothered with the diacriticals, the use of the Baha'i "house style" (whether for this, or for other Arabic / Persian words) is a reliable sign that a text was authored by Baha'is. "The Baha'i religion" comes across as fairly neutral and academic, while "Bahaism" is a sign that the writer is either a crazed conspiracy theorist, or {{wpl|Denis MacEion||.}}

==Holy Texts==

Among the voluminous writings of Baha'u'llah (and the Bab), a number have been selected for official translation and dissemination, while others remain inaccessible in the Baha'i archives, possibly because they contain material which is now regarded as embarrassing. The major sacred text of the Baha'i religion is said to be the Kitab-i-Aqdas (glossed as "the Most Holy Book," literally "the Greatest Book"), an Arabic-language text composed by Baha'u'llah in the early 1870s. It is a very unsystematic description of Baha'i laws, in much the same spirit that has given us Islamic [[sharia]] or [[fiqh]] (jurisprudence). Non-Middle Easterners tend not to admire many of its provisions, such as the rule that arsonists are to be punished by being set afire,<ref group=note>This is what you get when "let the punishment fit the crime" has a drunken makeout session with "{{wpl|cruel and unusual punishment}}".</ref> which may explain why the Baha'is waited until 1992 to translate the work into English. (An "unauthorized," but broadly accurate, translation by a missionary was generally regarded as an attempt to embarrass the faith.) Par. 49 states that "God hath imposed a fine on every adulterer and adulteress, to be paid to the House of Justice: nine mithqáls of gold, to be doubled if they should repeat the offence." Baha'u'llah seems not to have understood the principle of geometric progression; one enthusiastic couple could, in a month's time, find themselves liable for more gold than is known to exist in the solar system.

==Practices and beliefs==
Baha'is predict the emergence of world unity, including a [[world government]], which they believe has been willed by God. This carries a strong anti-racism component, and indeed, the Baha'is are consciously and proudly multi-ethnic. Whether their institutions are to become the future world government, or remain separate from it, is a point of some disagreement among Baha'i writers and authorities. Likewise uncertain is the timing of this world unity, although some older books suggest that it will occur during the 20th century. (Obviously, these misinterpreted the authoritative utterances of Baha'u'llah's son Abdu'l-Baha.)

Another tenet of the Bahai faith is the unity of [[science]] and religion, which, as in Catholic theology, are broadly held to comprise [[Non-overlapping magisteria|separate magisteria]]. Minor conflicts do arise when one or another authoritative figure makes statements at odds with the scientific mainstream, as when Abdu'l-Baha denies that humans evolved from (other) animals, or when Shoghi Effendi says that homosexuality can be cured through prayer. More generally, the Baha'i religion regularly comes into conflict with secular scholarship on their sacred history, whose conclusions often depart from hagiographic official treatments. Baha'i encyclicals condemn such scholarship, uninformed by religious faith, as "dogmatic materialism."

Much as Islam sees itself as the most recent and ultimate of a series of [[divine revelation]]s that includes those that originated as [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]], so too Baha'is believe that their faith is a natural successor of other religions.<ref group=note>A concept they call ''progressive revelation''. {{wpa|Progressive revelation (Baha'i)}}</ref> The observation that other religions have also adapted to the times, just as theirs has, confuses them, since they are taught that other world religions represent corruptions of the pure, pristine teachings of their supposed founders. Nevertheless, Baha'is are active in interfaith events, partly for PR reasons but also out of genuine belief that such forums have some effect on the world.

The Baha'i religion has a well-defined hierarchy consisting of global, national, and local committees. Indeed, Baha'is may be "disenrolled" for falling afoul of these bodies, and those who deny their legitimacy are declared to be "covenant breakers" who must be shunned.

New believers are informed of the existence of laws and institutions which they must obey. Important laws include a prohibition on non-medicinal alcohol and drugs, a requirement to observe daily prayer and an annual 19-day fast (which, like Ramadan, involves abstaining from food, drink, and sex during daylight), and a ban on non-marital sex. Marriage must be heterosexual, monogamous, and performed with the permission of all living parents of the couple (if they married as Baha'is). Those who have entered into a gay marriage are not allowed to formally join the religion.

Sooner or later elections will be held, and the believer may well find him- or herself elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA), or otherwise tasked with work; one wit has observed that the Baha'i religion seeks to transform mystics into bureaucrats. Ideally, Baha'is meet once per Baha'i month (i.e., every 19 days) as well as on major holidays, such as Baha'u'llah's birthday or Naw Ruz (the Persian New Year). Meetings open to the general public tend to consist of prayers or writings read 'round the room, short talks or discussions, amateur performances, and socializing. The study of "Ruhi" workbooks has recently come to be emphasized, and Baha'is are encouraged to recruit outsiders to join these circles. (Children may be invited to classes on "virtues" or the like.) Some meetings, or portions of meetings, are closed to outsiders, when elections are to be held or "business" discussed.

The highest such council, and supreme governing body of the Bahá'í Faith, is the Universal House of Justice, founded 1963 (after earlier leader Shoghi Effendi died without children or a will), and headquartered in Haifa, Israel. In accordance with the Bahá'í teaching of the equality of men and women, only men are eligible to be elected to the nine-member body. (ʻAbdu'l-Bahá promises that the reason for this will "presently be made manifest even as the mid-day sun.") Although the UHJ is elected (by national delegates) every five years, a ban on campaigning — coupled with a tendency of Baha'i institutions to raise the profile of certain favored people — has meant that new members have come to exclusively be drawn from men on the appointed staff of the International Teaching Centre. The Baha'i equivalent of Kremlin-watching has drawn attention to the roles in these elections of nepotism, factionalism, and business ties, e.g. over the recently adopted "Ruhi" series.

Fund-raising is an inevitable aspect of Baha'i community life. Remarkably, non-Baha'is are generally not allowed to donate. Believers, however, are required to donate 19 percent of their wealth (assessed once, not annually, and with deductions). In addition, they can count on being hit up for additional, voluntary donations.

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Abrahamic religions]] 
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Iran]]

Categories: Abrahamic religions, Homophobia, Iran