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The Bahai Bahá'í faith’s founder was Bahá’u’lláh, a Persian nobleman from Tehran who, in the mid-nineteenth century, left a life of princely comfort and security and, in the face of intense persecution and deprivation, brought to humanity a new message of peace and unity.
Bahá’u’lláh claimed to be nothing less than a new prophet of God. Bahá’ís believe that his life, work, and influence parallel that of Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. Bahá’ís view Bahá’u’lláh as the most recent in this succession of divine Messengers.
The essential message of Bahá’u’lláh is that of unity. He taught that there is only one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world’s religions represent stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity. In this day, Bahá’u’lláh said, humanity has collectively come of age. The Bahai Bahá'í believe the time has come for the unification of all people into a peaceful and integrated global society.
In the years since Bahá’u’lláh lived, the process of global unification for which he called for has become well-advanced. Through historical processes, the traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation have steadily broken down. The forces at work, Bahá’u’lláh predicted, will eventually give birth to a universal civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and assist in the creation of this new world.
