{"id":9526,"date":"2025-08-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/?p=9526"},"modified":"2025-10-16T05:37:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T12:37:16","slug":"what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-bahai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-bahai\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does It Mean to Be a Baha\u2019i?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Baha\u2019is belong to the world\u2019s newest major Faith, founded by Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a>, a 19th Century Persian mystic, prophet and prisoner who taught the unity of all nations, races and religions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baha\u2019i Faith<\/a> tends to spread its message gently and quietly, and yet, in the past 150 years, it has become one of the most widespread religions on Earth. Representing all nationalities, backgrounds, ethnicities, social classes, and every beautiful color of the human race, you probably have Baha\u2019is living in your community or somewhere near you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look carefully you might even recognize them \u2013 Baha\u2019is generally tend toward happiness, try to have a positive, radiant, healthy outlook on life, and express their love for humanity<\/a> by engaging in volunteer work for <\/a>children, the elderly and the poor. Baha\u2019is do their utmost to exemplify the spiritual teachings of Baha\u2019u\u2019llah, which call upon everyone to know and love God and carry forth an ever-advancing civilization:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He is a true Baha\u2019i who strives by day and by night to progress along the path of human endeavor, whose cherished desire is so to live and act as to enrich and illumine the world; whose source of inspiration is the essence of Divine Perfection, whose aim in life is to conduct himself so as to be the cause of infinite progress. \u2013 Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a>, The Baha\u2019i World, vol. 2, p. xvi.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This series of nine short essays attempts to answer two of the most common questions people who encounter the Baha\u2019i teachings ask \u2013 what does it mean to be a Baha\u2019i, and how do you become one<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n

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#1 \u2013 Progressive Revelation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Baha\u2019is believe that all of the founders of the world\u2019s major Faiths — including Moses, Abraham, Christ, Muhammad, Krishna, Buddha, and now Baha\u2019u\u2019llah — have appeared at intervals throughout history to write the chapters in a single great religion. Together these Manifestations and Prophets, sent by a loving Supreme Being to enable us to seek the answers to our deepest inner questions, have created a sequential, linked historical pattern of mystical and practical teachings Baha\u2019is call progressive revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, Baha\u2019is see the entire epic scope of religious revelation and belief as one single system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of competing messages from disparate and conflicting Messengers, Baha\u2019is focus on the unity of all Faiths, the common messages of their Founders, and the essential oneness of their teachings. In the simplest terms, Baha\u2019is believe that one God has given us one continuous Faith. Like teachers in a school, the Founders of the world\u2019s great Faiths progressively reveal the knowledge and insight humanity needs to keep moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Religious<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This simple and yet profound way to look at religion means Baha\u2019is accept all of the major Faiths as legitimate and true. Religion is one, Baha\u2019u\u2019llah taught, revealed over the course of time by one loving God through a series of Divine Educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baha\u2019is come from Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and all other religious traditions; and Baha\u2019is also come from agnostic and atheist and spiritual backgrounds. Becoming a Baha\u2019i means embracing the one Faith that does not reject other Faiths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baha\u2019u\u2019llah wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. – Gleanings from the Writings of Baha\u2019u\u2019llah, p. 215.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The essence of the Baha\u2019i teachings<\/a> — love, harmony and peace \u2013 reflect the essential message of all spiritual truths. Baha\u2019is want to spread the love and unity Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a> describes, so the Baha\u2019i community welcomes everyone. Please follow along in this series of articles as we discover how Baha\u2019is lead their lives and what it means to be a Baha\u2019i<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the next article in the series: Independent Investigation of Truth<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baha\u2019is belong to the world\u2019s newest major Faith, founded by Baha\u2019u\u2019llah, a 19th Century Persian mystic, prophet and prisoner who taught the unity of all nations, races and religions. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":73842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[3156],"series":[357],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9526"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88275,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9526\/revisions\/88275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9526"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=9526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}