"For more than a century, Bahá'í communities around the globe have been working to break down barriers of prejudice between peoples and have collaborated with other like-minded groups to promote the model of a global society. At the heart of our belief is the conviction that humanity is a single people with a common destiny. In the words of Bahá'u'lláh, the Founder of our Faith, "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."

Bahá'u'lláh taught that there is one God Who progressively reveals His will to humanity. Each of the great religions brought by the Messengers of God - Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus, Muhammad - represents a successive stage in the spiritual development of civilization. Bahá'u'lláh, the most recent Messenger in this line, has brought teachings that address the moral and spiritual challenges of the modern world. "

That's taken from the official website: Link (http://www.bahai.org/)

Some facts:

~ Religious historians believe that the faith rose from Islam similar to how Christianity arose from Judasim. And they believe their scriptures are a successor to the Quran.

~ Its a monothiest religion; they believe in One God.

~ Their headquarters are in Haifa, Israel but it began in Iran.

~ Its based on the belief that Mizra Husayn Ali (born 1817) was a prophet sent by God to the present age. He is now known as Baha'u'llah (the Glory of God).

~ As you might have gathered from the top paragraph, they believe in all previous revelations from God, and that each was appropriate for its era.

~ They believe that humanity is constantly evolving and growing more adult in its understanding and behaviour; gradually becoming more capable of forming one world rather than diverse nations, races and religions.


Comments?

"Surely the (true) religion with Allah is Islam, and those to whom the Book had been given did not show opposition but after knowledge had come to them, out of envy among themselves; and whoever disbelieves in the communications of Allah then surely Allah is quick in reckoning"[3:19]


"And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers".[3:85]

I read vaguly read about Bahaaisim.

They claimed to be muslims when they call for something so different than Islam.. which is prophet mohammed being the seal of all prophets.

the book I read said its a decendent of some "majoos" beleives that Iran (blad faris) used to beleive long back.

I never really understood Bahaism. I had a few Bahai freinds at university who used to call themselves Muslims. But then I came to realise that their beliefs were quite different from Muslims. I never actually told them that cuz apparantly they didn't like ppl saying that to them so I didn't wanna offend them. I wonder to what extent there are similarities between Islam and Bahaism.

They simply dont beleive in the Quran!
That by itself contradicts Islam!

Originally posted by Arabian Princess
They simply dont beleive in the Quran!
That by itself contradicts Islam!

Yes they do! They just believe that THEIR writings are a successor to the Quran.

They just believe that THEIR writings are a successor to the Quran

Aw gee, now which other faith makes exactly the same claim ?

:hyper:

Originally posted by Enigma
Yes they do! They just believe that THEIR writings are a successor to the Quran.

Their writings, and what is this "their writings"?


And why are you defending them anyway?

Originally posted by IceTea
Their writings, and what is this "their writings"?


And why are you defending them anyway?

Ice Tea is there something wrong with the way you read? I did NOT defend them. I'm just stating facts. Sheesh. :rolleyes:

Why are you so afraid of learning about other religions? :eyes:

Enigma, the Quran states clearly that its the seal of all books, if they belive half and leave half they are not muslims!!

We dont beleive in the bible, we are not christians simple as that!

Originally posted by sanwin25
Aw gee, now which other faith makes exactly the same claim ?

:hyper:

yah and didnt the bible do the same claim to old testament ;)

Originally posted by Enigma
They just believe that THEIR writings are a successor to the Quran.

what is their writings? any examples for us to read?

Originally posted by NaBHaN
what is their writings? any examples for us to read?

From Engy link:

http://www.bahai.org/section5.html

Originally posted by Arabian Princess
Enigma, the Quran states clearly that its the seal of all books, if they belive half and leave half they are not muslims!!

We dont beleive in the bible, we are not christians simple as that!

Arby, we may not believe that the Bible is for us or that it is 'right' but we believe that is a holy book from Allah! This is how I think they believe in it.

as far as they believe in the quran and the prophet..they r muslims!!

we r not GOD to judge them..

and actually, the radical sunni's dont consider even the shia's muslims either...so?

yah and didnt the bible do the same claim to old testament

Nope, you are wrong again.

The Old Testament is part of the Bible.

Once again, which Holy Book said that previous versions were corrupted and it alone was the pure, true and original ?

I think that it is a wonderful tolerant religion that accepts all apostles and religions that have come before it.... but as Muslims we are told that there will be no other apostle after the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

Originally posted by sophis^catrina
but as Muslims we are told that there will be no other apostle after the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

do the bahai's say that there is an apostle after Mohamed (pbuh)?

Originally posted by The HITMAN
do the bahai's say that there is an apostle after Mohamed (pbuh)?

Yes, Bahaullah.

I think you got it wrong:

Enigma said:
Yes they do! They just believe that THEIR writings are a successor to the Quran.

Isnt the Bible a successor to the old testemant?!
She didnt say that they claim that the Quran is corrupted :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Arabian Princess
Isnt the Bible a successor to the old testemant?!
Like Sanwin said, NO. The Bible contains two sections – the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament, also called the Hebrew Scriptures, constitutes the most sacred literature of Judaism.

The New Testament is a collection of literature about Jesus of Nazareth - his life, death, and resurrection, and the events and concerns of the early Christian community which sprang up following his time on earth. Although the New Testament occupies less space in the Bible than does the Old Testament, it is the central focus of Christianity, and is therefore studied by Christians with great intensity.

The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek.

Originally posted by Arabian Princess
Originally posted by sanwin25
Aw gee, now which other faith makes exactly the same claim ?
yah and didnt the bible do the same claim to old testament
Personally, I've never heard of such a claim. Maybe MoonChild can fill us in here.

Originally posted by sophis^catrina
I think that it is a wonderful tolerant religion that accepts all apostles and religions that have come before it.... but as Muslims we are told that there will be no other apostle after the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

This basically sums it up. I dont know much about this religion, other than that they seem to be real philanthropists, which is always a plus in my book. However, their teachings religiously seem to be quite different from islam, regardless of what they claim. The very fact that they have a 'new prophet' (loose usage) goes against Islam, where it is stated that Muhammed (PBUH) was the last.

But if we could understand its message of peace and tolerance, as islams message is also peace with all people and tolerance of all beliefs, then the world may be a better place.

Originally posted by Pineapple Thief
This basically sums it up. I dont know much about this religion, other than that they seem to be real philanthropists, which is always a plus in my book. However, their teachings religiously seem to be quite different from islam, regardless of what they claim. The very fact that they have a 'new prophet' (loose usage) goes against Islam, where it is stated that Muhammed (PBUH) was the last.


Well look at Islam itself. We believe and accept Moses and Jesus, but are our beliefs and rituals the same as theirs? NO! But we accept them as apostles! We believe that the Bible and Torah are sent from God.... the same way they believe that the Qur'an is sent from God too... but like us they do not follow it.

Catrina---> ok i went through few sites....

i dont have the right to declare anyone as "NON-MUSLIMS" specially if they say the SHA'HAADA...

but in my opinion...i consider Bahai faith similar to the Ahmadiyya!! if u know what im talking about...

Ahmadiyya have the largest mosque in whole europe, and its in UK!

I found this interesting while reading up on the Baha'i faith a couple days back:


"Notably missing from the Baha'u'llah's teachings is the acceptance of homosexuality as a normal, natural sexual orientation for a minority of humans. Neither the official Bahá'í website, 8 or the national web sites in Canada 19 or the U.S. 21 appear to contain any reference to homosexuality. The Canadian web site, for example, states:

"The Bahá'í teachings promote the elimination of all forms of prejudice and uphold equal dignity and respect for all peoples, regardless of their racial, ethnic, religious or national background. Equality of men and women, the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth and economic justice for all peoples, universal education, and the dignity of the individual are central Bahá'í principles."

However, sexual orientation is notably absent from their list of protected classes of humans.

Another policy, which appears to contradict the faith's promotion of gender equality, is the exclusion of women from serving on its highest religious court.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/bahai.htm

Originally posted by Cetacea

The New Testament is a collection of literature about Jesus of Nazareth - his life, death, and resurrection, and the events and concerns of the early Christian community which sprang up following his time on earth. Although the New Testament occupies less space in the Bible than does the Old Testament, it is the central focus of Christianity, and is therefore studied by Christians with great intensity.


ok maybe I dont understand christianty very well .. but isnt its beleif is to beleive in Jesus. The old testment doesnt mention jesus obviously .. so the bible has to consist of the old testment + new testment. Which Jews dont beleive in!

SO simply, the bible came after the Torah (the old testment) and so its a successor of the torah!

Any way, I am sorry I went way off topic here .. lets go back to bahai faith :)

Saw this:~

http://www.englishsabla.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19437