Questions about the Baha'i

[jacknife]

I have some questions about the Baha'i, i actually never heard about the faith until this site. i have done some research and have heard that three core principles they use. the unity of god, the unity of religion and the unity of humanity. but the internet is also full of misinformation so i would rather hear the answers to my questions from someone of the Baha'i faith themselves. my main 2 questions are
1.) do Baha'i have a hell?
2.) how do they worship? is there a general idea or many separate schools of thoughts on this?
i may come up with more questions.

 

[Arthra]

I have some questions about the Baha'i, i actually never heard about the faith until this site. i have done some research and have heard that three core principles they use. the unity of god, the unity of religion and the unity of humanity. but the internet is also full of misinformation so i would rather hear the answers to my questions from someone of the Baha'i faith themselves. my main 2 questions are
1.) do Baha'i have a hell?
2.) how do they worship? is there a general idea or many separate schools of thoughts on this?
i may come up with more questions.

Yes ... thanks for your questions Jack!

1) Baha'is do not believe in "Hell"... such as an ontological place where people are tortured or burned...for us being distant from God is a kind of "hell"...

2) Baha'is do have identifiable ways we worship God... Every Baha'i over the age of fifteen has a spiritual obligation to pray daily and there is a choice one can make between three obligatory prayers.. that is there are three types of prayer and we are free to choose the one that best suits us. These prayers are recited alone and not on congregation or groups.

There is an obligation to recite what for us is the Greatest Name of God ninety five times a day..in one sitting after ablutions and facing the Holy Land.. Bahji in northern Israel.

Baha'is are encouraged to read the Writings in the evening and morning..

We also will be entering a period of fasting in March until Naw-Ruz around March 21st the vernal equinox. Fasting for those who are healthy over the age of fifteen involves abstaining from liqiod and solid food from sunrise to sunset. I include fasting as worship..

All the above are the personal responsibilities of Baha'is and no one stands over them to tell them what to do ... or re[port to someone.

 

[jacknife]

Yes ... thanks for your questions Jack!

1) Baha'is do not believe in "Hell"... such as an ontological place where people are tortured or burned...for us being distant from God is a kind of "hell"...

2) Baha'is do have identifiable ways we worship God... Every Baha'i over the age of fifteen has a spiritual obligation to pray daily and there is a choice one can make between three obligatory prayers.. that is there are three types of prayer and we are free to choose the one that best suits us. These prayers are recited alone and not on congregation or groups.

There is an obligation to recite what for us is the Greatest Name of God ninety five times a day..in one sitting after ablutions and facing the Holy Land.. Bahji in northern Israel.

Baha'is are encouraged to read the Writings in the evening and morning..

We also will be entering a period of fasting in March until Naw-Ruz around March 21st the vernal equinox. Fasting for those who are healthy over the age of fifteen involves abstaining from liqiod and solid food from sunrise to sunset. I include fasting as worship..

All the above are the personal responsibilities of Baha'is and no one stands over them to tell them what to do ... or re[port to someone.

alright thanks for the reply. now christians often are....lets use the word "wary" of witchcarft, the occult, spirit boards and things like that. are such things seen as taboo by the Baha'i. or is one free to explore them? E: i shouldnt have used just Christians there i remember when i accidentally tricked a Islamic friend into eating pork.

 

[smaneck]

alright thanks for the reply. now christians often are....lets use the word "wary" of witchcarft, the occult, spirit boards and things like that. are such things seen as taboo by the Baha'i. or is one free to explore them?

We are asked to avoid such practices but not because we consider them demonic. Nor do we necessarily deny the existence of certain psychic powers although I think a lot of it is the product of our own imaginations. However, those psychic powers that are real, according to Abdu'l-Baha are not intended for this plane of existence and it could be dangerous to explore and develop them. The people I've seen who become fixated on this kind of stuff to do not seem very emotionally stable.

 

[jacknife]

We are asked to avoid such practices but not because we consider them demonic. Nor do we necessarily deny the existence of certain psychic powers although I think a lot of it is the product of our own imaginations. However, those psychic powers that are real, according to Abdu'l-Baha are not intended for this plane of existence and it could be dangerous to explore and develop them. The people I've seen who become fixated on this kind of stuff to do not seem very emotionally stable.

interesting. im getting tired so i probably wont have more questions tonight.

 

[Arthra]

Feel free to ask any questions Jack...and have a good rest..

I was thinking I should have added one aspect to the answers I gave above about "worship"...while a Baha'i has the spiritual obligation I noted to pray daily...we also gather together for what we call a Nineteen Day Feast every nineteen days which constitutes a Baha'i month. At the nineteen day feast

Baha'is gather to pray together...

consult on matters that concern the community

and have refreshments...

In most communities these meetings for Feasts are held in homes or in a Baha'i Center in their community if there is one.

 

[alexiscurious]

Questions for Baha'i:

1. What happens to people that are not a part of your faith? Do they miss out on something?

2. Why should a Christian feel compelled to join your faith if they are supposedly still worshiping the same entity?

3. How do you connect the major religions of the world and mash them together as if they all magically belong? How do you know that the deity you worship is behind all these religions?

 

[Celticflower]

subscribing because this is fascinating.

 

[smaneck]

Questions for Baha'i:

1. What happens to people that are not a part of your faith? Do they miss out on something?

They miss out on God's most recent revelation to humanity.

2. Why should a Christian feel compelled to join your faith if they are supposedly still worshiping the same entity?

You know I asked the same question when my best friend told me about the Baha'i Faith when I was in my teens. Then I read a book on the life of the Bab (Release the Sun.) When I compared His life to the life of Christ, they were so much alike that I could no longer affirm the truth of one without affirming the truth of the other. From my standpoint both stories had to true or both were false. I decided both were true.

3. How do you connect the major religions of the world and mash them together as if they all magically belong?

We don't "mash" religions together. We affirm their divine origin, which is not to say we affirm everything that has happened to that religion since then. We believe in Baha'u'llah we have God's newest revelation which best meets the needs of our present age. As Baha'u'llah put it:

"The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements."

This is what we concentrate on, not so much how to 'mash' religions together. In this regard we simply affirm what the Qur'an says, namely that "there is no people to whom a Prophet has not been sent."

How do you know that the deity you worship is behind all these religions?

Because there is no other deity. I once spoke at a Baha'i fireside in Mumbai. A Hindu asked which god I worshiped. I'd never been asked that question before, but I answered "the same god as you. There is only one God." The Hindu wagged his head side to side like only Indians can and said, "Yes, yes there is only one God."

 

[jacknife]

i imagine you have a haven, does it vary greatly from the one described in Christianity?

 

[smaneck]

i imagine you have a haven, does it vary greatly from the one described in Christianity?

I presume you mean heaven? Baha'is believe that heaven is nearness to God and hell is remoteness to Him. It doesn't much matter whether it is in this life or the next.

 

[Rationalt]

i imagine you have a haven, does it vary greatly from the one described in Christianity?

The haven is their heaven which you cannot understand unless you are a bahai .Anyway,That is what I understand :.

No virgins though .Allah of quran promised virgins to muhammad but silent on it when he was communicating with Baha'ullah.

 

[Arthra]

i imagine you have a haven, does it vary greatly from the one described in Christianity?

One thing that you'll find in the Baha'i Writings are references to the spiritual worlds of God... We don't have graphic detailed descriptions of these worlds in the Writings but the soul after it's ascension from this physical world is supposed to progress through them.. Here are some references:

"As to thy question concerning the worlds of God. Know thou of a truth that the worlds of God are countless in their number, and infinite in their range. None can reckon or comprehend them except God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

"Consider thy state when asleep. Verily, I say, this phenomenon is the most mysterious of the signs of God amongst men, were they to ponder it in their hearts. Behold how the thing which thou hast seen in thy dream is, after a considerable lapse of time, fully realized. Had the world in which thou didst find thyself in thy dream been identical with the world in which thou livest, it would have been necessary for the event occurring in that dream to have transpired in this world at the very moment of its occurrence. Were it so, you yourself would have borne witness unto it. This being not the case, however, it must necessarily follow that the world in which thou livest is different and apart from that which thou hast experienced in thy dream. This latter world hath neither beginning nor end.

"It would be true if thou wert to contend that this same world is, as decreed by the All-Glorious and Almighty God, within thy proper self and is wrapped up within thee. It would equally be true to maintain that thy spirit, having transcended the limitations of sleep and having stripped itself of all earthly attachment, hath, by the act of God, been made to traverse a realm which lieth hidden in the innermost reality of this world. Verily I say, the creation of God embraceth worlds besides this world, and creatures apart from these creatures. In each of these worlds He hath ordained things which none can search except Himself, the All-Searching, the All-Wise.

"Do thou meditate on that which We have revealed unto thee, that thou mayest discover the purpose of God, thy Lord, and the Lord of all worlds. In these words the mysteries of Divine Wisdom have been treasured. We have refrained from dwelling upon this theme owing to the sorrow that hath encompassed Us from the actions of them that have been created through Our words, if ye be of them that will hearken unto Our Voice."

Bahá'í Reference Library - Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Pages 151-153

 

[Rationalt]

Some references to hell fire in bahai texts.It will be fun spinning the texts the bahai way.


Bahá'í Reference Library - Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Pages 40-43

Say: The heavens have been folded together, and the earth is held within His grasp, and the corrupt doers have been held by their forelock, and still they understand not. They drink of the tainted water, and know it not. Say: The shout hath been raised, and the people have come forth from their graves, and arising, are gazing around them. Some have made haste to attain the court of the God of Mercy, others 42 have fallen down on their faces in the fire of Hell, while still others are lost in bewilderment. The verses of God have been revealed, and yet they have turned away from them. His proof hath been manifested, and yet they are unaware of it. And when they behold the face of the All-Merciful, their own faces are saddened, while they are disporting themselves. They hasten forward to Hell Fire, and mistake it for light. Far from God be what they fondly imagine! Say: Whether ye rejoice or whether ye burst for fury, the heavens are cleft asunder, and God hath come down, invested with radiant sovereignty. All created things are heard exclaiming: “The Kingdom is God’s, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.”
Know thou, moreover, that We have been cast into an afflictive Prison, and are encompassed with the hosts of tyranny, as a result of what the hands of the infidels have wrought. Such is the gladness, however, which the Youth hath tasted that no earthly joy can compare unto it. By God! The harm He suffereth at the hands of the oppressor can never grieve His heart, nor can He be saddened by the ascendancy of such as have repudiated His truth.
Say: Tribulation is a horizon unto My Revelation. The day star of grace shineth above it, and sheddeth a light which neither the clouds of men’s idle fancy nor the vain imaginations of the aggressor can obscure.
Follow thou the footsteps of thy Lord, and remember His servants even as He doth remember thee, 43 undeterred by either the clamor of the heedless ones or the sword of the enemy…. Spread abroad the sweet savors of thy Lord, and hesitate not, though it be for less than a moment, in the service of His Cause. The day is approaching when the victory of thy Lord, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Bountiful, will be proclaimed.

 

[smaneck]

No virgins though .Allah of quran promised virgins to muhammad but silent on it when he was communicating with Baha'ullah.

Actually, no. The term you are translating as 'virgin' is Huri. Baha'u'llah's revelation is said to have been communicated through the Huri which we usually translate as the Maid of Heaven. which we understand to be the Holy Spirit. A large portion of Baha'u'llah's mystical writings depict His interaction with the Huri, which symbolizes the interactions between His human and divine natures.

Although usually the Huri is referred to in the singular on those occasions where the plural is used it is thought to refer to God's divine attributes.

 

[Rationalt]

About that houris are grapes thing some lazy people latch on to.

The Quran makes it clear houris are females awarded to muslim men.

http://www.islamhelpline.net/node/6495

Detailed answer in the above link with extensive quotes from quran and other references.

Some highlights:

Quran Chapter 44

54 So; and We shall join them to companions with beautiful big and lustrous eyes.

56 In them (Paradise) will be (maidens) chaste restraining their glances whom no man or Jinn before them has touched

(My comment: touched is a polite word.)

Quran Chapter 56

35 We have created (their Companions) of special creation.

36 And made them virgin-pure (and undefiled)

37 Beloved (by nature) equal in age

Quran Chapter 52

20 They will recline (with ease) on Thrones (of Dignity) arranged in ranks; and We shall join them to Companions with beautiful big and lustrous eyes.

52 And beside them will be chaste women restraining their glances (companions) of equal age.

Quran Chapter 37

48 And beside them will be chaste women; restraining their glances with big eyes (of wonder and beauty).

49 As if they were (delicate) eggs closely guarded.

 

[Supreme]

Are there any sects within the Bahai faith? Which is your most site, and why?

 

[smaneck]

About that houris are grapes thing some lazy people latch on to.

Who said anything about that grape thing?

The Quran makes it clear houris are females awarded to muslim men.

No, it doesn't. Huri is one of the very few words in Arabic that carry no gender. So anytime it is translated as a 'woman' is a mistranslation. However, it is true that Huris came to be conceived of as maidens in the popular imagination and Baha'u'llah doesn't challenge that. What He does in fact, is use the Huri as symbol of the Divine Feminine, the Holy Spirit.

 

[smaneck]

Are there any sects within the Bahai faith? Which is your most site, and why?

Baha'is are united by our belief in the Covenant which makes clear the proper structure of leadership and authority in our community. There are those who have made other leadership claims and spun off we refer to as Covenant breakers, but these are exceedingly few. I've been a Baha'i for nearly forty five years and in all that time I've met only one member of these group in person. You can find them online, however, since cyperspace can often give groups a presence which their numbers belie. I think I can safely say that 99.9% of those who claim to be Baha'i are loyal to the elected leadership of the Universal House of Justice which operates out of Haifa Israel.

 

[Rationalt]

Typical spam.This is one of the ways bahais roll.Ignore the text(Quran,in this case) and post rubbish commentary on it.