Brief History

The Bahá’í Faith is the most recent in the line of the world’s independent, monotheistic religions. It was founded in the mid-nineteenth century by Bahá’u’lláh, who Bahá’ís recognize as the Manifestation of God for this Day, one of a succession of divine Messengers sent by God to humanity throughout the progression of history, including Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ, Muhammad and Bahá’u’lláh’s forerunner: the Báb.

“We, verily,” Bahá’u’lláh stated, “have come to unite and weld together all that dwell on earth.” In the course of its development, human civilization has passed through such stages as family, tribe, city-state and nation. Bahá’u’lláh’s express purpose was to usher in the next and ultimate stage in its evolution, world unity, the harbinger of the Great Peace foretold in the world’s religions. This central principle of His Faith implies the organic and spiritual unity of the whole body of nations and signalizes the “coming of age of the entire human race.”

   
^{Ceiling of a Bahá’í House of Worship}

One among many distinguishing historical features of the Bahá’í Faith is the Covenant He established with His followers. These provisions set down by the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith in His own Writings establish authoritative guidance on the intent of Bahá’u’lláh’s revelation and on the administration of the affairs of the international Bahá’í community. Throughout the critical first century of the Faith’s development, these provisions have both protected the community from sectarianism, and have enabled it to adapt to the requirements of a rapidly evolving civilization. The role and station appointed by Bahá’u’lláh to His son and immediate successor, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in His Will and Testament as the Center of His Covenant are also unique in religious history.

The rise of the Bahá’í Faith is similar to the formative period of each of the earlier world religions. Theimplications of a new stage in the unfoldment of God’s will are often unwelcome to influential segments of existing society. The result has frequently been bitter persecution of followers of the new faith. In its first century-and-a-half of life, the Bahá’í Faith has met with several periods of such oppression.

What follows is a brief chronology of the Bahá’í Faith from its birth in Persia in the mid-nineteenth century to its emergence as a world religion which today has over five million adherents from virtually every country in the world, and more than 2,000 ethnic and cultural backgrounds.