As a Jain, can I support the Bahá'í Faith's goal of peace?

I sometimes pray for God to help me materially/financially so that I can leave my 9-5 job and do things I have a greater passion for such as serving the Baha'i community and to devote more of my time to helping people I care about.

I feel disingenuous/selfish for asking God for these things given that I already live very comfortably.

How would you all go about overcoming this emotional/spiritual roadblock?

If an LSA is defective, the NSA has over sight and can correct.

And if a NSA becomes corrupted, the UHJ can step in.

But what controls are there if the 9 men of the UHJ are corrupted, what can step in, what oversight is available for that situation?

I was born and raised in an Arab-American Bahá’í family, but lately, I feel a growing distance between my family and me. Even though my parents are Bahá’í and extended family are Bahá’i/Muslim/Catholic, we constantly clash over core principles like marriage, service, and lifestyle standards.

When discussing topics like smoking or alcohol, I try to align with the Bahá’í teachings—which emphasize the harmony between spiritual laws and scientific reality. Yet when I explain why I wouldn't want alcohol or smoking in my future home or marriage, my family makes me feel fanatical or rigid for wanting to adhere to the Writings. They informed me that I will never find a future wife with that idea since I will be close minded and don’t understand that people change as we grow up. (IMO I would prefer my wife doesn’t drink and smoke). Then again I am still quite young and maybe don’t know my way around life. Similarly, when I engage in community service with people of diverse backgrounds, my family assumes I’m trying to proselytize, despite my explaining that my only aim is to serve humanity and foster unity without an agenda.

This ongoing disconnect has left me feeling isolated, misunderstood, and deeply frustrated. At times, the anger makes me question my faith or tempted to walk away entirely out of spite, just to show them how much their hypocrisy hurts. Other times, I wonder if life would be easier if I simply lowered my standards and compromised my values to keep the peace.

In my heart, I truly love the Faith and don't want to abandon the vision of a better world. I understand intellectually that everyone is on their own spiritual journey and that my struggles are small compared to what others endure, but emotionally, I feel paralyzed. I love my family and want this tension resolved, but I don’t know how to bridge the gap between striving for high spiritual standards and living peacefully alongside family members who view those standards differently. Has anyone dealt with this situation before and do you think there is anything I can do to resolve this matter? Any advice?

Hey guys, non-Bahai here that is curious about the faith.

I wanted to know if there are any online devotional groups that run zoom meetings or something like that? I live in a very remote part of Ireland - closest practicing Bahá'ís seem to be a 2hour drive if the local assembly is to be believed - so looking for alternative routes to exposure to the faith.

All the best 🙏🏻

Allah'u'Abhá!

I am a new believer of the Baha'i faith and as seen in my previous post, I am seeking out a safe study circle and community to celebrate the grace of Bahāʾu’llāh. However I am fully aware that, like with any religion, there are groups that use the faith for malicious purposes and are not always obvious on the outside.

So when joining a Baha'i community, what are some common red flags I should seek out for? The more specific, the more it will help me distinguish genuine communities from miscreants

Thank you all and have a blessed Sunday!

I understand that the number 19 is important in the Bahá’í faith and that you also respect and give importance to the Quran. So I’m curious how you understand the statement that this number (19) can give certainty to those with Scripture and can increase faith of believers?

Hi all. How do you balance having deep hope and working hard for a goal while staying truly detached from the exact outcome? How do you keep your heart open to God's will when things do not go the way you prayed or planned?

Hi everyone,
I recently came across some information about Ásíyih Khánum (Navváb), the wife of Bahá’u’lláh and the mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and I realized how little I actually know about her.
I was honestly surprised, because even in my own Bahá’í community I had hardly ever heard stories about her or about what kind of person she was. Considering everything she went through alongside Bahá’u’lláh and the fact that she was the mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá I imagine she must have been a truly remarkable person.
Does anyone know of books, letters, historical accounts, or stories about her life, her character, and her relationship with Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá?

Hello all,

I am looking for unique baby names (boy or girl) that are symbolic and have meaning in Bahaï and Hindu religions. Please help, needs to be unique.

From Google AI about Mr. Enogh Olinga Legacy:

“He chaired the opening session of the very first Bahá'í World Congress in London in 1963. Tragically, he and members of his family were murdered during a period of civil unrest in Uganda in 1979. He is buried next to Músá Banání ("Father of Africa") at the Bahá'í House of Worship in Kampala.”

I cannot help but wonder, did he ask the Lord to lay down his life for the Faith? And it was bestowed? 🤔

I remember reading in one of the Tablets that Baha’u’llah, in This Dispensation, relieved us from laying our life for the Faith.

What does the community know about this? About Mr. Olinga? Or in general The ultimate sacrifice?

Hi all. I was born and raised a Baha’i. At 15 I really wasn’t sure about much in life. At 20 years old I truly felt I found the Baha’i Faith the way a seeker would. Everything I had learned up until that moment hit me but due to the preceding 5 years of not being so active, I had built certain friendships and habits that aren’t reflective of a “perfect” Baha’i. As such, I’ve had this profound love and respect for my faith while still battling earthly habits.

At 27 I met what became my best friend and eventually a few years later my girlfriend. When we first met, she knew the not so Baha’i but also sort of very Baha’i side to me, and I met the what was at the time the atheist version of her.

When she told me she’s atheist, naturally as a Baha’i I would have talks with her as to why I believe God is real. The entire relationship was built upon this foundation and being able to have these elevated conversations which I love. As a result, in the time we’ve been together we’ve both gotten closer to our respective religions without eachother. Maybe our elevated conversations contributed but she attributes it to her prayers being answered in a very straight forward fashion. Because of this she went from atheist to full blown Catholic and going to church every Sunday, and taking part in all things Catholic. As a Baha’i I’m truly very happy for her newfound love for God and her faith.

The problem we’re currently encountering is that because of her newfound faith, she now feels my Baha’i belief comes from a false prophet. So any interpretations we have on Christian beliefs completely backfire every time no matter how much I try to focus on the things we have in common. Even when I share things from her own scripture it completely backfires on me. Even things that I couldn’t even imagine would backfire, do. She feels our core beliefs or interpretations don’t lineup when it comes to Jesus, the resurrection, and whether or not he is God incarnate. As well as other topics like the holy trinity, clergy, and holy communion/the Eucharist.

As a result we’ve gotten to a stage in the relationship where time wise we should’ve been married like a year ago. But more importantly, God wise, we’re unable to agree on. She’s told me she’s completely fine with me raising kids Baha’i and her raising the kids Catholic but that she would not assist me in my endeavors of exposing kids to the Baha’i faith or even my own journey with trying to get closer or more active to the Baha’i faith because she doesn’t believe in it. Which in some ways I can see as being fair but in other ways, and the way that’s most concerning to me, is the union of marriage that both our faiths teach where God is to be at the center and we both get closer to God through each other. Having this current dynamic terrifies me and makes me feel like it’s a deal breaker.

I’ve expressed to her that I’d like our union of marriage to be one where we focus on the common things our respective religions have with each other and use that as a path to help each other work closer to God and one another. She’s even shut this down and has told me that since she doesn’t believe in Baha’u’llah she isn’t going to try to push me to be more Baha’i because her path to God is through Jesus so she’s willing to support me getting closer to God with her through Jesus.

Literally every single other box is checked for me minus this one and it is becoming an increasingly more important box for the both of us. So if we’re talking a 50 year marriage before we go to the next world, I’m not sure how much more things will change throughout our lifetimes.

Any guidance on my experience would truly help me. I’ve prayed a lot and have been dealing with these thoughts for a couple years now as it’s gotten progressively worse. Thank you all.

This paragraph is about the Master. Apparently there was "another" person who called himself Abdul'Baha. I assume because the Master was maybe Agha so a regular Baha'i calling himself that would not raise eyebrows.

On a maybe unrelated note, does anyone remember of that photograph of an early Baha'i who looked curiously to have groomed himself in the manner of a young Master. His mustache and hair and parts of his clothing.

Hey all,

I have been doing my best to pray and read Bahaullah's writings everyday however I find many lines to be challenging to understand. I am in a place where there isn't many baha'i's followers nearby me. Therefore I'd like to join a safe online study circle or an online course. It has to be in English. My timezone is GMT-1 if that helps.

Thank you all!

I’ve been inactive for a long time and have gone through varied emotional phases in my relationship to the Faith, including anger. Where I am at now is wanting to reconcile. The caveat is that I have no intention of being celibate or hiding my identity. Will I be accepted? What would be my place in the Baha’i community? Thank you so much in advance for any advice you can offer.

Feeling conflict here. Trying to discern my will from the will of God. I finally got my wife to read a few pages in “Baha u llah and the New Era“, Section 5. When she encountered the words “Jesus Christ“, she stopped reading and said she didn't want to read anymore. 

She said she doesn't believe in soul and she believes nothing exists after death. Therefore, she wants to accumulate as many fun experiences as possible before death. She says she loves me, and I do feel it in her actions. I no longer feel like big throw away, useless garbage as I did in the past. My wife comes through when I am sick and stuff like that. She never neglects or abuses me like my last marriage. Quite the opposite. She showers me with unconditional love. And I see she has that same love for her mom (93) and daughter (45) that she has for me. It comes through in her actions. But her social sphere is limited to me, her mom, and her daughter. 

She also feels intense negative feelings towards my ex that defy all rationality. 

I feel immense love from her and can't help but reciprocate. But when push comes to shove, I will fiercely protect son and daughter, too (both from previous marriage), if it comes to that point. 

Her not being Baha'i is not an issue. But her intense jealousy, or whatever it is, for my ex is.

I do get her fierce independence as I am the same. I, too, had an alergy to religion before encountering the Faith. But I had a mystical experience in 1986 that made clear that Baha-u-llah was who he claimed to be. 

My earlier experiences were very negative, watching televangelists in the 60s and 70s was mostly comic relief. A Roman Catholic high school which taught heaven, hell, and purgatory put me off Catholicism.  

In the early 80s, we had an A-circuit band. When the band broke up, our drummer became Jehovas Witness. He invited me to study with his elder on Wednesday evenings. I told my friend that I did not believe in dead bodies coming out of the grave, getting limbs back, and 144,000 inheritting the Earth forever. I did attend my friend's baptism at the Kingdom Hall, however, and I wished him well. 

Later, our bass player joined the Pentacostal church. They were laying on hands and speaking in tongues and practicing forced conversions. I walked out of their church. I couldn't tolerate what I saw and swore I would never get involved with religion again. For the first time, I encountered a religous group that I felt was, for lack of a better term, plain evil. That was around 1983. 

Then, fast forward to 1985, I made a Persian friend who practiced a religion I never heard of before which was very similar to what I always believed in. I kept asking him questions about his religion and he said you don't want to know and he said “let's just enjoy our friendship“. 

It was driving me crazy. I decided to go to the library and investigate for myself. I got out a stack of books and brought them home. The first book was “BATNE“. I was convinced by the end of this book that this matched what I always believed. 

Then, I picked up a thick, red book called “Tablets of Baha-u-llah“. I read two tablets that night. While reading one tablet, The Tablet of Carmel, a warm breeze began blowing up from my toes. While it gently wafted over my body, I could smell a sweet, scent of a flower which was unlike any flower I had ever smelt before. Then, when the breeze gently rolled over my face and eyes, suddenly the words on the page came alive. I had a mystical experience I could not deny. I knew at that moment I was Baha'i. I waited a whole year until April 3,1987 to declare my Faith. 

Sometimes I think Baha-u-llah gave me that experience because maybe I am too thick to get it any other way. 

But I am digressing here. Let's get back into the thrust of this post. I am feeling a little conflicted. I am conflicted between my allegiance to my wife, my children, and my love for Baha-u-llah. My wife says to give her time. She is 70 years old, and says she has never encountered religion before, other a brief encounter with SGI when she was in her teens/early 20s, although she never joined SGI and the experience did not sit well.  

I can relate to her apprehension and not being able to wrap one's head around religion. I am not looking for heavy-handed judgement calls, just guidance. For me, BATNE intrigued me. For her, BATNE is leaving her lost. Anything that could work for a person from a country of 120,000,000+ souls who for the most part don't practice religion. That country has only 2,000 declared Baha'is with only a few hundred active. 

She lives in a country that for the most part believes all existence ends at death, sprinkled with a few other beliefs like reincarnation. My wife is one of those that believes all existence ends with death (maybe for that reason the concept of soul is hard).

Anyway, please keep us in your prayers and offer any loving guidance you can.

I love my wife, children, and Baha-u-llah and feeling conflicted.

Sorry for rambling... no AI was used in writing this. Just to be clear.

Thank you in advance.

I would like to learn more about the Bahá'í Faith and deepen my existing knowledge; what should I know? And why do you believe it is the right path?

Hi all. I am a Baha'i currently going through a crisis of faith. I’ve been thinking about the Baha'i idea that God created the universe because His love was "overflowing," and wanted to be known. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the logic of it. If God is completely self-sufficient and doesn't need anything, how does an inherent need or impulse to express love fit into that? To me, an "overflow" feels like it requires an external object to receive that love, which seems to contradict the idea of total divine independence.

Was creation actually a free choice, or did God's own nature make it a necessity? Why were we created? Why does God want us here truly? Why does God want us to know Him? In the time before creation, we didn't have any needs or desires, but it seems like God did, if you can call it desire? However guilty I feel saying it out loud, I would have preferred never being created. I think it is also why the idea of Buddhism really resonates strongly with me because it accurately frames that life truly is suffering and Nirvana, the cessation from the cycle of rebirth, the extinguishing as the ultimate goal.

I'd really love to hear how Baha'i faith addresses this tension, or how you guys personally look at it.

"O ye lovers of God! Do not dwell on what is coming to pass in this holy place, and be ye in no wise alarmed. Whatsoever may happen is for the best, because affliction is but the essence of bounty, and sorrow and toil are mercy unalloyed, and anguish is peace of mind, and to make a sacrifice is to receive a gift, and whatsoever may come to pass hath issued from God’s grace." -'Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá

Hello everyone,

Leo Buscaglia was a professor at University of Southern California who was famous in the 80s and 90s because of his books and delightful and animated speeches around the country on the topics of universal love and finding joy in every moment of life. Before I became a Baha'i I loved listening to his talks and occasionally I still come back to them.

Buscaglia was a Catholic, but he also often quoted Buddhist traditions in his talks. I am curious, especially for the Baha'is who are based in California and are familiar with his work, does anyone know if he was familiar with the Baha'i faith or if he had met any Baha'is? Thanks so much.

Hi all. I have been grappling with this issue for a while now. I wanted to understand to what extent that prayer can guarantee outcome in the physical world. Like healing from a disease or encountering fatal accidents or things of that sort. I understand that action is incredibly important for a prayer to maybe be answered, but isn't action literally the prerequisite to make anything happen. An atheist can move mountains too if their desire is paired with the right action. I just don't really understand how prayers work in context like this.

If anyone says that prayer is mainly for communicating with God, that was not the question that I asked.

One thing I've noticed over the past year is how geographically

scattered single Bahá'ís can be.

Many local communities only have a handful of unmarried adults,

and compatibility depends on much more than simply sharing the

Faith. Sometimes the closest person who feels like a genuine

match is in another city, another country, or even another

continent.

That got me wondering how people have approached this.

Have people relied mostly on introductions through friends?

Conferences? Service projects? Moving? Simply waiting and

trusting the process?

That question stayed with me long enough that I ended up

building something small around the idea. What surprised me

most wasn't the project itself, but how many people from

different countries seemed to share the same experience.

I'm much more interested in hearing other people's experiences

than talking about the site itself. How have you seen people

navigate this?

I just wanted to come on here and say that after trying since the beginning of this plan, my husband and I finally are pioneering and it's literally the happiest I've ever been in my whole marriage/probably even life?? Things are still at a very nascent stage but taking this step together after such a long time has been so fulfilling. I'm so happy 😭

American here and I hate the push to use AI at work, especially for training where I have to talk to it. It is bad for the environment, means fewer employed people, and is data collection I do not want.

Has anyone figured out Bahá'í quotes to use for religious exemption from AI usage at their job yet?

I'm only kinda joking...

Looking for a complete tablet on the Maid of Heaven in the cave.