The roots of the Bahá'í faith lie in the Shiite sect of Islam which was led by 12 successive Imams, descendants of Mohammad's son-in-law, Ali. The 12th Imam (Imam Mehdi), as a child, withdrew from society to escape assassination, the inevitable fate of his 12 predecessors. He would make contact with the faithful through "Gates", individuals through whom he would give his teachings.

In 1844, Mirza Ali Mohammad (1819–1850) declared himself to be the "Gate," the "Bab" (pronounced Bob). He claimed he was not just a "Gate," but rather the "Gate" of God, a major Manifestation of God equal to the prophet Mohammad. For six years he gathered the faithful around him, proclaimed a new revelation and the eventual appearance of the final Manifestation for this cycle of human history. After numerous armed conflicts with Muslim authorities, the Bab was executed on July 9 1850 and his followers scattered.

Before his death the Bab designated Mirza Yahya, a son of nobility, as a caretaker to follow him. Another devoted follower of the Bab, Yahya's half brother Mirza Hossein Ali, proclaimed himself to be "He-Whom-God-Will-Manifest," the major Manifestation of God prophesied by the Bab. He also changed his name to Baha-o-llah, "Glory of God," and proclaimed that the Bab was his forerunner. Mirza Yahya strenuously opposed this and both sides appear to have been involved in assassination plots.

The original followers of the Bab who gave their allegiance to Baha-o-llah became known as Bahá'ís. Baha-o-llah, a dynamic personality with great force of will, wrote over 100 volumes of Bahá'í scripture, entertained dignitaries and maintained a large correspondence while under virtual house arrest for decades.

A troubled period of transition followed Baha-o-llah's death in 1892. He had designated his eldest son, Abdul Baha ("Slave of Baha"), as his successor. Abdul Baha's brother, Mirza Mohammad Ali, challenged the extent of his authority. Abdul Baha retaliated by "excommunicating" practically all his closest relatives and depriving them of their income from Baha-o-llah's estate.

The Bahá'í Faith became worldwide under Abdul Baha's leadership, and his mission trips to the West. However, upon his death in 1921, the transition of power was once again very troubled. Shoghi Effendi, Abdul Baha's grandson, was designated the successor, the First Guardian of the Faith. With this position "…his decisions were absolute and final and his words authoritative" (The Bahá'í Faith: Its History and Teaching, p.251). This brought him into conflict with other family members and he soon excommunicated every living relative, including his own parents. However, under Shoghi Effendi's administrative skills the Bahá'í Faith continued to grow until his death in 1957. He left no designated successor and the Faith is now under the administration of the Universal House of Justice, a group of nine people who are elected democratically and oversee the Cause internationally.

It is a daunting task to find a consistent, clear picture of Bahá'í origins. Bahá'í historians and authorities have suppressed and denigrated the earliest source materials and rewritten the early years of the Faith. One of the earliest and most important historical documents of the time, the Nuqtatul-Kaf, was written by the Babi, Mirza Jani. Jani personally knew the Bab and died for the Babi faith in 1852. Thus, his history was completed after the martyrdom of the Bab and before his own death. It clearly states that the Bab declared Mirza Yahya as his successor while also presenting Baha-o-llah in a favorable, though inferior position to his brother. Since that time the Bahá'ís have strenuously suppressed this fact, publishing histories more favorable to their position. The history above may vary from official Bahá'í versions but is consistent with original source materials. If the history of the Bahá'í Faith reveals anything it is that the ethical injunctions of love and tolerance were not frequently applied at the highest levels. The bitterness, rancor, assassinations and lack of forgiveness amongst the very founders of this faith do not demonstrate the reality of its ethical teachings.

Despite that fact, in just 150 years Bahá'ís have grown to more than 5 million worldwide in 233 countries and territories; Baha-o-llah's writings have been translated into all the languages of the world.

Doctrine:
Bahá'í theology, like Bahá'í history, is very difficult to state concisely. The Faith is still relatively new, yet there are hundreds of volumes of written material. Symbolic meaning abounds, and interpretation of many points is in flux. However, in the broad sweep of doctrine many things can be said.

God: The nature of God is completely unknowable. He is transcendent to the point of total inaccessibility. Baha-o-llah spoke of God as, "…the unknowable Essence,… immensely exalted beyond every human attribute… He is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient mystery of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men" (Gleanings From the Writings of Baha-o-llah, p.46–47).

So transcendent is God that while He is the creator of all things He is not their cause. He simply eternally emanates all that exists. God by definition is the static, changeless One, forever separated from relationship with His created order.

Divine Manifestations: The figure of the Manifestation of God is, by far, the most important figure and concept of the Bahá'í Faith. The great 500,000 year cycle of human history which began with Adam has been dominated by nine manifestations about whom we have historical knowledge. These are: Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Christ, Mohammad, the Bab, and Baha-o-llah. True Manifestations are identified by various criteria, the most important being: their very person as a self-validating truth, their sinless state, scripture ("a Book") revealed through them, etc. Baha-o-llah is the apex of all previous Manifestations, they being Prophets who prepared the way for him. Thus, he is the Universal Manifestation for this cycle of human history. Other Manifestations will come but will be governed by the revelation of Baha-o-llah.

According to Baha-o-llah, God is so transcendent He could never incarnate. Rather, His human Manifestations act as pure mirrors to reflect the attributes of God into this temporal existence. The Primal Will, an eternal emanation from God, is the transcendent life force animating all Manifestations. These "reflections" of God are so pure and complete that, "Were any of the all embracing Manifestations of God to declare: 'I am God,' He, verily, speak the truth…" (Gleanings From the Writings of Baha-o-llah, p.54).

Though each Manifestation is said to perfectly reflect the same divine attributes, somehow each Manifestation is more perfect than the previous one. He therefore has authority to displace the teachings of the previous Manifestation, which have become distorted. Thus, Bahá'í theology teaches the "relativity of truth;" that the teachings of any particular Manifestation are "absolute" only for his dispensation.

Manifestations function essentially as teachers, not as Saviors in the Christian sense. Bahá'í Faith views the human soul as essentially good. Ignorance has clouded the soul and separated man from God. God intends the human soul to achieve the perfection of its humanity by each person coming under the "shadow of the True Educator (Manifestation) and [being] rightly trained…" (Some Answered Questions, p.236). Those lacking proper education to escape darkness may change in the next life through prayer and repentance.
 

Jesus Christ: Baha-o-llah states, "Know thou of a certainty that the Unseen can in no wise incarnate His essence and reveal it unto men" (Gleanings From the Writings of Baha-o-llah, p.49). Thus Jesus cannot be an actual incarnation of God. Still, it is appropriate to say that Jesus Christ is God but not that God is Jesus Christ. He is one of many Manifestations sent by God to assist humanity in its spiritual evolution.

Christ's tomb is interpreted symbolically as the "tomb of unbelief." Thomas seeing the risen Christ in John 20:28 is really only seeing the "believers willing to suffer for Christ," (Preparing for a Bahá'í/Christian Dialogue: Understanding Christian Beliefs, p.142). Abdul Baha says the resurrection, "…is a spiritual and divine fact, and not material…" (Some Answered Questions, p.104). The "raising of the body of Christ" was actually the coming to life of Christ's teachings in the disciples, the restoration of their beliefs and conviction. This is a critical Bahá'í concept, as a physical resurrection would elevate Jesus above the other Manifestations by virtue of his victory over death.

Calendar
The Bahá'í calendar has the unique structure of being divided into 19 months of 19 days each. This only falls 4 days short of a 365 day year, which is filled in with intercalary days. The names of the months are given with their Arabic vowel quality, since they are all Arabic words. The intercalary period has been located so that, if the dates given in the table are observed, an intercalation by the Gregorian calendar on February 29 will automatically produce a Bahá'í intercalary period of 5 rather than 4 days.

Recent history, 1979 onwards

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Bahá'ís of Iran have been subjected to intense persecution. Every attempt has been made to eradicate the community. Members of the Tablíghát-i-Islámi (Hujjatiyyih), an organization that had been set up specifically as an anti-Bahá'í society, achieved important positions in the revolutionary government and were given a free hand against the Bahá'ís.

In the early days of the Revolution, the offices of the National Spiritual Assembly were raided and membership lists and other information removed. Based on this information large numbers of the leading Bahá'ís of Iran were arrested and many of them were executed. All property held by Bahá'í institutions was confiscated. As this included Bahá'í cemeteries, great problems were created for Bahá'ís whose family members died. Bahá'í children and youth were expelled from schools and universities; Bahá'í government employees were dismissed and ordered to pay back salaries that they had received while employed; other employers were also put under pressure to dismiss Bahá'ís and to refuse them pay or pensions; Bahá'í businesses were boycotted; many Bahá'ís had their property looted and suffered beatings and harassment.

The Iranian government claimed that no one was punished on account of religion and that anyone suffering must have committed other offences. Numerous documents exist, however, that demonstrate that these measures were taken solely because the victims were Bahá'ís and frequently the offer was made in writing to reverse such measures if the person would convert to Islam. The Bahá'í institutions were formally declared illegal in August 1983, whereupon they were disbanded and remain so.

An intense effort was made by the other Bahá'í communities of the world to mitigate these persecutions. Representations were made directly to the Iranian government. When these failed, other national governments and international organizations such as the European Community and the United Nations were approached. These efforts culminated in the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1985 of a resolution on human rights in Iran, in which the Bahá'ís were specifically named, and the appointment of a special representative to monitor the situation.

Since about 1985 the situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran has ameliorated to the extent that few executions have occurred and most Bahá'í prisoners have been released. Some unofficial relaxation of some of the other measures taken against the Bahá'ís has also occurred. But overall the Bahá'ís of Iran remain unable to exercise full human rights and the Bahá'í administrative institutions remain disbanded.