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Aniconism In The Baháʼà Faith
__NOTOC__ The Baháʼà Faith continues a tradition found in Islam of not using depictions in art of people considered a Manifestation of God. This includes both images and drama. There exist several photographs and paintings of both the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh, and these are viewed by BaháʼÃs on rare occasions, typically on an organized pilgrimage to Haifa, Israel. The existence of images of the religion's founders is not offensive to BaháʼÃs. However, they are encouraged to not display them in private homes or in public, and to treat them with a special degree of reverence and respect. Shoghi Effendi, the appointed head of the religion from 1921 to 1957, wrote: :"There is no objection that the believers look at the picture of Baháʼu'lláh, but they should do so with the utmost reverence, and should also not allow that it be exposed openly to the public, even in their private homes." ::(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, Decem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baháʼà Faith
The Baháʼà Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼà Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼà Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the Middle East, where it has faced Persecution of BaháʼÃs, ongoing persecution since its inception. The religion has 5-8 million adherents (known as BaháʼÃs) spread throughout most of the world's countries and territories. The Baháʼà Faith has three central figures: the Báb (1819–1850), executed for heresy, who taught that a prophet similar to Jesus and Muhammad would soon appear; Baháʼu'lláh (1817–1892), who claimed to be said prophet in 1863 and who had to endure both exile and imprisonment; and his son, Ê»Abdu'l-Bahá (1844–1921), who made teaching trips to Europe and the United States after his release from confinement in 1908. After Ê»Abdu'l-Bahá's death ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manifestation Of God (Baháʼà Faith)
The Manifestation of God () is a concept in the Baháʼà Faith that refers to what are commonly called prophets. The Manifestations of God are appearances of the Divine Spirit or Holy Spirit in a series of personages, and as such, they perfectly reflect the attributes of the divine into the human world for the progress and advancement of human morals and civilization through the agency of that same Spirit. In the Baha'i Faith, it is believed that the Manifestations of God are the only channel for humanity to know about God because contact with the Spirit is what transforms the heart and mind, creating a living relationship between the soul and God. They act as perfect mirrors reflecting the attributes of God into the physical world. Baháʼà teachings hold that the motive force in all human development is due to the coming of the Manifestations of God. The Manifestations of God are directly linked with the Baháʼà concepts of progressive revelation and unity of religion. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Báb
The Báb (born Ê»AlÃ-Muḥammad; ; ; 20 October 1819 – 9 July 1850) was an Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...ian religious leader who founded Bábism, and is also one of the central figures of the Baháʼà Faith. The Báb gradually and progressively revealed his claim in his extensive writings to be a Manifestation of God (Baháʼà Faith), Manifestation of God, of a status as great as Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, receiving revelations as profound as the Torah, Gospel, and Quran. This new revelation, he claimed, would release the creative energies and capacities necessary for the establishment of global unity and peace. He referred to himself by the traditional Muslim title "Báb" (meaning the gate) although it was apparent from the context that he intend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baháʼu'lláh
Baháʼu'lláh (, born Ḥusayn-Ê»AlÃ; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was an Iranian religious leader who founded the Baháʼà Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Iran and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Bábism. In 1863, in Iraq, he first announced his claim to a revelation from God in the Baháʼà Faith, God and spent the rest of his life in further imprisonment in the Ottoman Empire. His teachings revolved around the principles of unity and religious renewal, ranging from moral and spiritual progress to world governance. Baháʼu'lláh was raised with no formal education but was well-read and devoutly religious. His family was considerably wealthy, and at the age of 22 he turned down a position in the government, instead managing family properties and donating time and money to charities. At the age of 27 he accepted the claim of the Báb and became one of the most outspoken supporters of the new religious movement which advocated, among o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baháʼà Pilgrimage
A Baháʼà pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Acre, Israel, Acre and Haifa at the Baháʼà World Centre in Northwest Israel. Baháʼà Faith, BaháʼÃs do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage. Baháʼu'lláh decreed pilgrimage in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas to two places: the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad, House of Baháʼu'lláh in Baghdad, and the #House of the Báb, Shiraz, House of the Báb in Shiraz. In two separate Tablet (religious), tablets, known as ''Suriy-i-Hajj'', he prescribed specific rites for each of these pilgrimages. It is obligatory to make the pilgrimage, "if one can afford it and is able to do so, and if no obstacle stands in one's way". Baháʼu'lláh has "exempted women as a mercy on His part", though the Universal House of Justice has clarified that women are free to perform this pilgrimage. BaháʼÃs are free to choose between the two houses, as either has been deemed sufficient. Later, Ê»Abdu'l-Bahà ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haifa, Israel
Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area in Israel. It is home to the Baháʼà Faith's Baháʼà World Centre, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a destination for Baháʼà pilgrimage. Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel, the settlement has a history spanning more than 3,000 years. The earliest known settlement in the vicinity was Tell Abu Hawam, a small port city established in the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE).Encyclopedia Judaica, ''Haifa'', Keter Publishing, Jerusalem, 1972, vol. 7, pp. 1134–1139 In the 3rd century CE, Haifa was known as a dye-making center. Over the millennia, the Haifa area has changed hands: being conquered and ruled by the Canaanites, Israelites, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, and the B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghà Effendi (; ;1896 or 1897 – 4 November 1957) was Guardian of the Baháʼà Faith from 1922 until his death in 1957. As the grandson and successor of Ê»Abdu'l-Bahá, he was charged with guiding the development of the Baháʼà Faith, including the creation of its global administrative structure and the prosecution of Baháʼà teaching plans, a series of teaching plans that oversaw the expansion of the religion to a number of new countries. As the authorized interpreter of the Baháʼà writings, Baháʼà Writings his translations of the primary written works of the Faith's central figures, provided unity of understanding about essential teachings of the Faith and safeguarded its followers from division. Upon his death in 1957, leadership passed to the Hands of the Cause, and in 1963 the BaháʼÃs of the world elected the Universal House of Justice, an institution which had been described and planned by Baháʼu’llah. Effendi, an Afnán, was born Shoghà Rabbánà i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belief in the importance of the destruction of icons and other images or monuments, most frequently for religious or political reasons. People who engage in or support iconoclasm are called iconoclasts, a term that has come to be figuratively applied to any individual who challenges "cherished beliefs or venerated institutions on the grounds that they are erroneous or pernicious." Conversely, one who reveres or venerates religious images is called (by iconoclasts) an ''Iconolatry, iconolater''; in a Byzantine context, such a person is called an ''iconodule'' or ''iconophile.'' Iconoclasm does not generally encompass the destruction of the images of a specific ruler after their death or overthrow, a practice better known as ''damnatio memoriae'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aniconism
Aniconism is the cultural absence of artistic representations ('' icons'') of the natural and supernatural worlds, or it is the absence of representations of certain figures in religions. The prohibition of material representations may only extend to a specific supreme deity, or it can encompass an entire pantheon, it can also include depictions of a prophet, saints, or sages, or even depictions of living beings and anything in existence generally. It is generally codified by religious traditions and as such, it becomes a taboo. When it is enforced by the physical destruction of images, aniconism becomes iconoclasm. Aniconism has historical phases in both Buddhism and Christianity, though these movements have been largely rejected as Buddha in art, life of Buddha in art, Buddhas and bodhisattvas in art, God the Father in Western art, Holy Spirit in Christian art, the depiction of Jesus, The Trinity in art, and are common. By contrast Aniconism in Islam, Islam has predomin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
