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Who is Bahá'u'lláh? Dates Scripture Nederlands |
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The Bahá'í Faith today is distinctively different from Islam, but it evolved from an Iranian Islamic background, just as Christianity evolved from a Jewish culture. In May of 1844, a young Persian by the name of Siyyid `Ali Muhammad declared that He was the promised Qa'im of Shi'ah Islam. |
The House of the Báb, in Shiraz, was destroyed following the 1979 Iranian revolution.
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He assumed the title of The Báb (The Gate). The Báb also spoke of another Prophet whom God would send. The Báb was imprisoned and was executed in July of 1850. |
| Many Bábís were also imprisoned. Among them was Bahá'u'lláh (means: The Glory of God). Imprisoned for several months in 1853 in Tehran, he was then exiled to Baghdad in Iraq, where in 1863 Bahá'u'lláh announced His station as the One for Whom the Báb had prepared the way. The majority of the Bábís accepted Bahá'u'lláh's claim and became known as Bahá'ís (the followers of Bahá). Shortly after His declaration in 1863, Bahá'u'lláh was again banished, even further From His native land: from Baghdad to Istanbul, and then to Edirne (Turkey). See Map |
| Finally, in 1867, Bahá'u'lláh was exiled for the last time. He
was sent to the prison city of Akka (Acre) in Palestine (Israel). He would
stay in and around Akka until the end of His life in 1892. In the course of his life Bahá'u'lláh wrote many books and thousands of letters. These range from theological and philosophical questions to mystic poetry and the laws of a new religion. |
View of the prison in Akka. |
 
Known as the House of the Bahá'u'lláh in Bahji,
this was where Bahá'u'lláh lived for the last few years of his life. Before Bahá'u'lláh passed away (in 1892), He appointed His eldest son, `Abdu'l-Bahá, to be the center of His Covenant and the interpreter of His writings. `Abdu'l-Bahá was leader of the Bahá'í Faith until His own passing in 1921. |
| Although He is not considered to be a Manifestation of God, like the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá's decisions are believed to have been divinely guided and His writings (along with the Báb's and Bahá'u'lláh's) are considered a part of the Bahá'í sacred scripture. After being released from the prison in Akka, `Abdu'l-Bahá made several journeys to the West, including a trip to America in 1912. |  `Abdu'l-Bahá, son of Bahá'u'lláh. |
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"Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile.... We desire but the good
of the world and happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer
up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment....
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