Bahá’u’lláh (1817–92) (Arabic: "The Glory of God")

Title of Mírzá Husayn-‘Alí, Founder of the Bahá’í Faith. Born in Tehran, Iran,  on 12 November 1817, He was the son of a prominent and wealthy government official from the province of Núr. He became a follower of the Báb in 1844 and the preeminent leader among the Bábís after the Báb was executed in 1850. Tortured, imprisoned, and then exiled to the Ottoman Empire, Bahá’u’lláh declared to a small group of disciples in Baghdad in 1863 that He was the Messenger of God whose coming the Báb had foretold. During the next three decades, He was further exiled to Istanbul (Constantinople) and Edirne (Adrianople) in Turkey, from 1863 to 1868, and finally sent as a prisoner to Acre in Ottoman Syria (present-day Israel) for the remainder of His life. Bahá’u’lláh wrote extensively on a host of topics, producing a body of scripture that forms the basis of the Bahá’í Faith. Still a prisoner, He died on 29 May 1892 and was buried at Bahjí (SEE Bahá’í World Center). His eldest son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, whom He chose as His successor, served as the Head of the Bahá’í Faith after Bahá’u’lláh's passing.

 

Featured Entries

Mihdí, Mírzá

Son of Bahá’u’lláh, who entitled him "the Purest Branch" (Ghusnu’lláhu’l-Athar); younger brother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Bahíyyih Khánum.

 

Read more...

Featured Entries

Dunn, Clara, and Dunn, John Henry Hyde

Couple who went to Australia in 1920 in response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s call for worldwide expansion of the Bahá’í Faith and firmly established it in the antipodes; both designated Hands of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi—Clara among the second contingent in February 1952, and Hyde in a posthumous appointment announced in April 1952.

Read more ...