Adieu, the final farewell, an exploration of death!
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Quick Links:
| Definition | Unity |
| Prophets | Afterlife |
| Faith | Death |
| Central authority | Preparation |
| Aims | Coffin |
| Scripture | Ceremony |
| Articles | Gravestone |
| Pilgrimage |
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Just 5m people follow the Bahá’í faith, just 0.07% of the world’s population.
It is an independent belief system, founded as recently as the nineteenth-century, that accepts the validity of all other religion’s founders and prophets. It believes that God has sent different prophets, or Manifestations of God, to reveal divine messages to humanity. These Manifestations include Abraham, Zoroaster, Moses, the Buddha, Krishna, Jesus Christ, Muhammad and the Bab.
The faith derives from Iran and 1852. It has three central figures the Báb (pronounced as Bob), Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. Bahá’í means ‘glory of God’ and believes is a single spiritual system that is progressively revealed by God to humanity. God has many names, perhaps the most important being Bahá, or All Glorious.
Its central authority today is the Baháʼí World Centre based in Haifa, Israel, and its followers have no racial or national focus. The faith stresses the oneness of God and the unity and equality of humanity, and sets about promoting the harmony of this as a notion.
The faith promotes agreement with science and religion, it believes in gender equality, and works to eliminate all forms of prejudice and racism. It believes each person is able to establish the truth for themselves, and therefore there is no clergy. It gathers together in democratic communities and extends a welcome to all.
Its scripture is contained in Kitáb-i-Aqdas, or The Most Holy Book, written by Baháʼu’lláh in 1873 and Kitáb-i-Íqán, the Book of Certitude, written earlier by the same author, in 1861.
Its key articles of faith are – the oneness of humanity; the harmony of science and religion; the elimination of prejudices; that religion should focus on love, affection and joy; that religion should not be involved with politics; that there should be human rights for all; gender equality; universal compulsory education; that individuals should be permitted to investigate truth for themselves.
Followers should repeat the ‘Greatest Name’ ninety-five times each day. The Faith encourages pilgrimage to the House of Baháʼu’lláh in Baghdad, and the House of the Báb in Shiraz, despite the fact that both have been destroyed.
The faith calls for a complete restructuring of humanity’s priorities — from material to spiritual; from exclusive to inclusive; from divisiveness to unity.
Bahá’í belief is that the spiritual qualities they have obtained in life will accompany their soul into a spiritual eternity, the body has no further purpose. They believe that death is joyous and not to be feared. Funeral customs include four main items – a shroud, a burial ring, the nature of the coffin and the alignment of the grave. These customs may be relaxed for followers living in the West.
Bahá’í custom says the body should be treated with dignity, but should be buried quickly and nearby, suggesting the burial should be no more than an hour away from the place of death. The faith is content for the body to be buried in any cemetery.
The body is washed and wrapped in a shroud, seven yards or metres of silk or cotton. Nothing should be done to hasten or slow decomposition. Some choose to perfume the body with attar, rose or some other scent. If the deceased is over fifteen it should wear a Bahá’í burial ring. This is simple with an Arabic inscription that says, ‘I came forth from God, and return unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His Name, the Merciful, the Compassionate’.
Custom states that the body should be placed in a durable coffin. This should be of fine wood, stone or crystal and not softwood or metal. The grave must be positioned with the deceased’s feet pointing toward the Qihlih, their most holy Shrine in Akká, or Acre in Israel; this is where their prophet is buried. The faith believes in closed caskets and does not permit embalming or cremation.
The ceremony has several prayers that are aimed as much at reassuring the family and friends that the deceased is leaving the confines of the body for a limitless spiritual realm. The actual content and form is for the family and at least one Bahá’í believer. The only formal requirement is the recitation of the Prayer for the Dead (No. CLXVII in Prayers and Meditations of Bahá’u’lláh) by a believer while all present stand. It is not necessary to stand facing the Qiblih as it is recited.
A gravestone for a Bahá’í follower should display a nine-pointed star with the word ‘Bahá’í’ enclosed.
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