November 12 is the Baha’i holiday celebrating the Birthday of Bahá'u'lláh. Baha’is do not work on this day. They should be excused from any school function.
Bahá'u'lláh is the founder of the Baha’i faith. He was born on November 12, 1817 in Tehran, Persia (now Iran). His given name was Mírzá Husayn-`Alí, and he was the son of a very wealthy and powerful Persian nobleman.
When Mírzá Husayn-`Alí was 25, he rejected the wealth and power of his father’s vast estate and began to follow the teachings of the Bab, who announced the coming of the Promised One. As the Bab and his followers – the Babis -- were suppressed, Mírzá Husayn-`Alí too – despite the influence and power of his father -- was arrested and tortured.
Mírzá Husayn-`Alí was banished from Tehran and went to Baghdad. There in 1863 it became known that Mírzá Husayn-`Alí was in fact the Promised One, the Bahá'u'lláh. As Baghdad became a center of Babi pilgrims, internal divisions erupted among the followers as pilgrims increasingly recognized Bahá'u'lláh as the Promised One instead of other leaders of the Babis.
Bahá'u'lláh, seeking to avoid divisions among the Babis, left Baghdad for Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan. Later, as more and more followers – although he tried to keep it secret --recognized him as the Promised One, Bahá'u'lláh returned to Baghdad. Once back in Baghdad, Bahá'u'lláh had the revelations which were the source of his two great works: Kitáb-i-Íqán (Book of Certitude) and Kalimát-i-Maknúnih (Hidden Words). Baha’i’s consider both books to be sacred.
After seven years in Baghdad, the growth of the Babis under Bahá'u'lláh was perceived by the Baghdad clergy as a threat to Islam. In response, the Ottomon Empire which controlled Baghdad at the time, exiled Bahá'u'lláh to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), which was the capital of the Ottomon Empire.
Before leaving Baghdad, on April 22, 1863, Bahá'u'lláh went to the Garden of Ridvan where he made his official proclamation that he was in fact the Promised One and the Messenger of the One True God. As a result, April 22 is another Baha’i holiday and the Garden of Ridvan is a Baha’i pilgrimage site. Bahá'u'lláh spent 12 days in the Garden of Ridvan where he wrote down the Book of Certitude.
Exiled to Constantinople, the Sultan and the Ottomon Court openly persecuted Bahá'u'lláh’s followers. In response, Bahá'u'lláh wrote the Tablet to the Sultan. No one knows exactly what the tablet said, but Baha’i's teach that when the Sultan’s Vizier read it, he turned deathly pale and made comments acknowledging Bahá'u'lláh as a holy man. Regardless, the result of the Tablet to the Sultan was the exile of Bahá'u'lláh to Adrianople (in modern Edirne province in Turkey). Bahá'u'lláh taught there for over four years. It was during this time that his followers officially took the name Baha’i's. From Adrianople, Bahá'u'lláh wrote of his teachings, the beginning of the New Age and his position as the Promised One to the leaders of the world, including England’s Queen Victoria, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm I, Austria-Hungary’s Emperor Franz Josef, Russia’s Czar Alexander II and Pope Pius IX. In these letters he famously proclaimed:
"Regard the world as the human body which, though at its creation whole and perfect, hath been afflicted, through various causes, with grave disorders and maladies... its sickness waxed more severe, as it fell under the treatment of ignorant physicians, who gave full rein to their own desires..."
To read more on the Bahá'u'lláh's letters to the world's leaders, see http://www.bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/pk14.htm
These letters were not well received by the Ottomon Empire, and again the Baha’is were persecuted. Bahá'u'lláh survived an attempt to poison him, but this left him with a palsy for the rest of his life.
Finally, on August 31, 1868, Bahá'u'lláh was exiled to Acre in Ottomon-ruled Palestine (now Akko, Israel) where he was imprisoned in solitary confinement in the Fortress of Joan of Arc. While upset with his
isolation, Bahá'u'lláh believed that, as with Judaism and Christianity, Palestine was the Holy Land, as do all Baha’i's today. In Acre, Bahá'u'lláh wrote the primary sacred text of the faith: the
Kitab-i-Aqdas (the Most Holy Book). In this Baha’i sacred work are laid out the principles of faith and organization of the religion. An English translation is available online at
http://www.ishwar.com/bahai/holy_kitab_i_aqdas/
By 1873, Bahá'u'lláh was given more freedom of travel and released from the prison – though technically still an Ottomon prisoner. Bahá'u'lláh was allowed to visit the grave of the Bab at Mt. Carmel in Haifa (a site he visited four time. Today the Shrine of the Bab is a central Baha'i pilgrimage site.
In 1879, Bahá'u'lláh was allowed to take up residence at the Mansion of Bahjí in Acre (now Akko, Israel). It was at the Mansion of Bahjí where Bahá'u'lláh lived out his final days. He died of a fever on May 29, 1892.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and corrections.
Happy Bahá'u'lláh’s Birthday!
Want to know more? For more information, please look at the following websites:
Photographs of the Baha'i holy cites are taken from teh Baha'i World Centre website at
https://bahai.bwc.org/pilgrimage/index.asp
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| Baha'i Star |
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| Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, Akko, Israel |
When Mírzá Husayn-`Alí was 25, he rejected the wealth and power of his father’s vast estate and began to follow the teachings of the Bab, who announced the coming of the Promised One. As the Bab and his followers – the Babis -- were suppressed, Mírzá Husayn-`Alí too – despite the influence and power of his father -- was arrested and tortured.
Mírzá Husayn-`Alí was banished from Tehran and went to Baghdad. There in 1863 it became known that Mírzá Husayn-`Alí was in fact the Promised One, the Bahá'u'lláh. As Baghdad became a center of Babi pilgrims, internal divisions erupted among the followers as pilgrims increasingly recognized Bahá'u'lláh as the Promised One instead of other leaders of the Babis.
 |
| Kitáb-i-Íqán or Book of Certitude |
 |
| Garden of Ridvan, Baghdad |
Exiled to Constantinople, the Sultan and the Ottomon Court openly persecuted Bahá'u'lláh’s followers. In response, Bahá'u'lláh wrote the Tablet to the Sultan. No one knows exactly what the tablet said, but Baha’i's teach that when the Sultan’s Vizier read it, he turned deathly pale and made comments acknowledging Bahá'u'lláh as a holy man. Regardless, the result of the Tablet to the Sultan was the exile of Bahá'u'lláh to Adrianople (in modern Edirne province in Turkey). Bahá'u'lláh taught there for over four years. It was during this time that his followers officially took the name Baha’i's. From Adrianople, Bahá'u'lláh wrote of his teachings, the beginning of the New Age and his position as the Promised One to the leaders of the world, including England’s Queen Victoria, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm I, Austria-Hungary’s Emperor Franz Josef, Russia’s Czar Alexander II and Pope Pius IX. In these letters he famously proclaimed:
"Regard the world as the human body which, though at its creation whole and perfect, hath been afflicted, through various causes, with grave disorders and maladies... its sickness waxed more severe, as it fell under the treatment of ignorant physicians, who gave full rein to their own desires..."
To read more on the Bahá'u'lláh's letters to the world's leaders, see http://www.bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/pk14.htm
These letters were not well received by the Ottomon Empire, and again the Baha’is were persecuted. Bahá'u'lláh survived an attempt to poison him, but this left him with a palsy for the rest of his life.
Finally, on August 31, 1868, Bahá'u'lláh was exiled to Acre in Ottomon-ruled Palestine (now Akko, Israel) where he was imprisoned in solitary confinement in the Fortress of Joan of Arc. While upset with his
isolation, Bahá'u'lláh believed that, as with Judaism and Christianity, Palestine was the Holy Land, as do all Baha’i's today. In Acre, Bahá'u'lláh wrote the primary sacred text of the faith: the
 |
| Kitab-i-Aqdas |
http://www.ishwar.com/bahai/holy_kitab_i_aqdas/
 |
| Shrine of the Bab, Haifa, Israel |
 |
| Mansion of Bahji, Akko, Israel |
As always, I welcome your thoughts and corrections.
Happy Bahá'u'lláh’s Birthday!
Want to know more? For more information, please look at the following websites:
http://www.bahai.org/article-1-2-0-6.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahabio.htm
http://www.bahaullah.com/index.html
http://info.bahai.org/bahaullah-teachings.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahabio.htm
http://www.bahaullah.com/index.html
http://info.bahai.org/bahaullah-teachings.html
Photographs of the Baha'i holy cites are taken from teh Baha'i World Centre website at
https://bahai.bwc.org/pilgrimage/index.asp
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