Tonight I went to my local Baha'i Centre to listen to a talk by Dr. Taied Quddus the title of which was "Who is Baha'u'llah." Baha'u'llah, he said according to the Baha'i scriptures is the return of the Promised one of All Ages.
All the major religions of the world - Judaism, Hindu, Zoroaster, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Bab - are waiting for the return of the Promised One, that One whom Baha'u'llah claims to be.
Baha'u'llah came from a Noble family had a fine education to prepare him for leadership within the government but Baha'u'llah turned his back on all that to work with ordinary people, engaging in socially conscious activities. He earned himself the name "Father of the Poor".
He was rigorously persecuted and exiled because of his beliefs and because of his claims to be a Messenger of God for this age. Quddus said that either Baha'u'llah was telling the truth, or he was lying or just plain crazy.
Baha'u'llah exhorts people not to take what others tell them for granted but to independently investigate what is truth for themselves. And how would you know what is truth, He said by their fruits you shall know them.
Baha'u'llah, unlike other Messengers and prophets did not have the dual function of both. Muhammad is the seal of the prophets and Bahaullah has ushered in the age of fulfilment, the golden age. Bahaullah he said brought a message of oneness and His mandate is to establish peace and to unite mankind. Before there can be peace there must be the Unity of Mankind.
"Religious Fanaticism and hatred are a world devoring fire whose violence none can quench. The hand of the Divine power can alone deliver mankind from this ..." Baha'u'llah wrote.
According to Bahaullah the world is like a human body and it is sick and if we treat the symptoms we cannot cure the body, we have to treat the underlying cause of the illness before there can be a cure. The world's messed up state of violence, corruption, disunity, hatred, wars etc. are symptoms of a sick world which only the unity of mankind can cure.
Quddus made a convincing argument that Bahaullah is the return of the Promised One.
Some of the basic teachings of the Baha'i Faith include
_ Independent investigation of truth
- Men and women are equal
- Science and relgion must go hand in hand
- Economic and spiritual values are linked
-establishment of a global commonwealth of all nations
- Universal education
- elimination of all forms of prejudice
- unity of mankind
I think this is something that every human being owe themselves to investigate. It is the most audacious pronouncement of the 20th century and the only religion that explicitly places women and men as equal. That is huge. We know intuitively that without unity there can be no peace. What about all those who fight wars on the grounds of religion? How can they claim that that religion teaches to fight and kill? Religion should be the cause of peace not war. Maybe Baha'u'llah is the voice of God calling His children to gather again and to renew their covenant with the Divine, as Quddus said, the Divine Physician who holds the medicine to cure our sick world of humanity.
For more information on this religion go to www.bahai.org. This is a mere sketchy representation of the presentation this evening.
