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Bahá’u’lláh
The Glory of God
12 November, 1817 - 29 May, 1892
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Photo
by Marco Abrar |
Sunset
in Haifa, Israel (Baha'i World Centre) |
Mirza Husayn 'Ali was born to a noble and wealthy
family in Mazindaran, Iran in the province of
Nur. His father, Mirza Abbas was known in royal
circles as Mirza Buzurg at the court of the Shah.
Mirza Husayn 'Ali took the surname Bahá’u’lláh
(the Glory of God) when His station was made known
to Him while He was imprisoned for the crime of
being a Babi in the Siyah-Chal, The Black Pit,
in Tihran, Iran. This prison had formerly been
an underground reservoir for one of the public
baths of the city. It was a filthy place where
some of the prisoners had no clothing or bedding.
The conditions were matched only by the brutality
of the guards. The notorious chains of 'Qara-Guhar'
and 'Salasil' (the former weighed about 51 kilos,
over 104 pounds) one of which was placed around
His neck at all times, cut through His flesh and
left their marks on Him for the rest of His life.
They were so heavy that a special wooden fork
was provided to support their weight. It was in
this prison that Bahá’u’lláh
received His awakening to His station.
Bahá’u’lláh was descended
from Zoroaster and the Sasaniyan kings of Persia,
thereby fulfilling certain traditions that the
great Redeemer of mankind would be of pure Persian
lineage. Bahá’u’lláh
was also descended from Abraham through His third
wife Katurah, thus uniting in His own person two
branches of the Aryan and Semitic religions. Bahá’u’lláh
was known from His boyhood for His love, compassion,
and generosity for the poor in an age when nobles
were most often aggressive and arrogant, able
to terrify innocent people with their mere presence.
As a member of the noble class Bahá’u’lláh
received an elementary education, consisting of
reading, writing, calligraphy (a very highly regarded
art form), the study of the Qur'an and the works
of some famous Persian poets. Only divines in
this culture received extensive education. He
was known from His boyhood on several occasions
to expound with simplicity and eloquence on abstruse
and mysterious traditions of Islam in the presence
of divines who were astonished at the depth of
His knowledge and His profound utterance. This,
in a culture in which, although government officials
wielded authority, the all-powerful clergy looked
down on them as inferior beings, unworthy to enter
with them into the realms of knowledge and learning.
The lack of formal education
is important to note. The Manifestations of God,
in most cases, were devoid of learning. Moses
and Christ were not learned men. Muhammad was
not educated, but when Divine Revelation came
to Him, He uttered the words of God. The Bab and
Bahá’u’lláh had elementary
education's, yet their knowledge, which was derived
from God, was innate and encompassed the whole
of humankind. In one of His Tablets, Bahá’u’lláh
revealed the source of His knowledge and the divine
origin of His Mission in these words:
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"O King! I was but
a man like others, asleep upon My couch, when
lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were wafted
over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that
hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from
One Who is Almighty and All-Knowing. And He bade
Me lift up My voice between earth and heaven,
and for this there befell Me what hath caused
the tears of every man of understanding to flow.
The learning current amongst men I studied not;
their schools I entered not. Ask of the city wherein
I dwelt, that thou mayest be well assured that
I am not of them who speak falsely. This is but
a leaf which the winds of the will of thy Lord,
the Almighty, the All-Praised, have stirred."
Excerpt
from Bahá’u’lláh's letter
to Nasiri d-Din Shah
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Photo
by Marco Abrar |
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Entrance
to the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh |
Bahá’u’lláh was married
at the age of 19 to a lady of noble birth, Asiyih
Khanum, who bore Him seven children, of whom only
three survived, a son, and two daughters. His son,
Abbas Effendi (later to be known as 'Abdu'l Baha,
"the Servant of Glory"), attended Him
faithfully all through His exiles from the age of
nine until His death in the Holy Land.
Bahá’u’lláh, in fulfillment
of prophecy, was exiled many times, first from Tihran
in Iran, to Baghdad in Iraq. The journey to Baghdad
was undertaken in the middle of a severe winter
across the snow-bound mountains of western Persia.
Bahá’u’lláh dwelt in Iraq
for 10 years, two of which He spent alone in the
wilderness of Kurdistan, and most of the time in
Baghdad. The enemies of Bahá’u’lláh
succeeded in having Him banished again and Bahá’u’lláh
was called to Constantinople. On the eve of His
departure from Iraq in 1863, Bahá’u’lláh,
outside the city of Baghdad, declared His station
to His companions as 'Him Whom God shall make
manifest', the One foretold by the Bab and
anticipated by His followers.
After He had remained 5 months in the capital city
of the Ottoman Empire, His enemies again sought
to banish Him. This time He was sent to Adrianople.
There He declared His Message to the whole world.
After five years of tribulation in that city, Bahá’u’lláh
was finally exiled to the prison-city of Akka in
the Holy Land. It was said of that place that if
a bird flew over 'Akka that bird died. The last
twenty-four years of Bahá’u’lláh's
ministry were spent partly in 'Akka and partly in
the surrounding countryside. The sufferings He endured
during the first nine years of His imprisonment
within the walls of 'Akka were so grievous that,
as Bahá’u’lláh remarks
in one of His Tablets, "upon Our arrival
at this Spot, We chose to designate it as the 'Most
Great Prison'. Though previously subjected in another
land [Tihran] to chains and fetters, We yet refused
to call it by that name..." (quoted by
Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By, p. 185)
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Bahá’u’lláh died outside
the prison-city of 'Akka in May, 1892. During His
life He revealed over a hundred volumes in which
He formulated the laws, ordinances, and principles
of His Faith. He proclaimed His Message to the Kings
and Rulers of both the East and West, both Christian,
and Muslim. He addressed the Pope, the Caliph of
Islam, the Chief Magistrates of the Republics of
the American continent, the entire Christian sacerdotal
order, the leaders of Shi'ih and Sunni Islam, and
the high priest of the Zoroastrian religion. |
Photo
by Marco Abrar |
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The Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh
near Bahji, Israel
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"His station is the Lawgiver and Redeemer
of mankind... To Israel He was neither more nor
less than the incarnation of the "Everlasting
Father", the "Lord of Hosts" come
down "with ten thousands of saints;"
to Christiandom Christ returned "in the Glory
of the Father;" to Shi'ih Islam the descent
of the "Spirit of God (Jesus Christ);"
to the Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram;
to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna; to
the Buddhists the fifth Buddha."
(Shoghi Effendi,
Guidance for Today and Tomorrow, pp 11-12)
The information
given here about Baha'u'llah was mostly paraphrased
from the history of the Baha'i Faith entitled
"The Revelation of Baha'u'llah, Volume I,
by Dr. Adib Taherzadeh.
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2002. All rights reserved.
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