As a young man, Edward Granville Browne, who was to become an eminent orientalist and Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University, encountered this rising Faith and was impelled to investigate its history and doctrine. Unfortunately, through various causes which Mr Balyuzi explores, Professor Browne did not rightly judge all that he observed. Mr Balyuzi confronts this problem directly and, with scholarship and first-hand knowledge, addresses himself to each of Browne's writings on the subject. The result is a book of enduring importance and interest, which is essential to all who seek authentic sources for the study of the Baha'i Faith.

A unique account of 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit to America by one of American disciples.

For almost two centuries, followers of the Baha’i faith, Iran’s largest religious minority, have been persecuted by the state. They have been made scapegoats for the nation’s ills, branded enemies of Islam and denounced as foreign agents. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 Baha’is have been barred from entering the nation’s universities, more than two hundred have been executed, and hundreds more imprisoned and tortured.

Now, however, Iran is at a turning point. A new generation has begun to question how the Baha’is have been portrayed by the government and the clergy, and called for them to be given equal rights as fellow citizens. In documenting, for the first time, the plight of this religious community in Iran since its inception, Fereydun Vahman also reveals the greater plight of a nation aspiring to develop a modern identity built on respect for diversity rather than hatred and self-deception.

Essay and talks selected from the work, during half a century, of one of the most distinguished members of the the Baha'i Faith, the most recent of the world relgions.

A brilliant administrator and public speaker, William Henry ("Harry") Randall was a man who responded with strength, humility, and an ever-deepening faith to the many challenges and tests that he encountered; a man of whom 'Abdu'l-Baha expected much, and who gave selflessly and unstintingly in return. Born into late nineteenth- century comfort and affluence, his life was transformed into one of extraordinary service and selfless devotion to the Baha'i Faith. This compelling account of the life of the man described by 'Abdu'l- Baha as "my spiritual associate...my participator and co-sharer!" draws on the previously unpublished daily diaries of two early pilgrimages ( 1919 and 1922). This fascinating book provides unique glimpses into the life of the Holy Family, and offers an intimate portrait of this history of the Faith in America and the difficulties and challenges that faced the early Western believers.

A major account of the life of the Bab, the nineteenth-century Iranian prophet, including fascinating information not available in other sources, based on a lifetime of research by the author.

It was a time of house burnings, mob violence, kidnapping, mass imprisonment, torture, endless trials, summary executions and secret burials. This was Iran in the early 1980s, and everyday reality for the Baha'is, Iran's largest religious minority. Headlines across America screamed out the story, Congress passed motions, President Reagan appealed to Iran. This detailed, eye-witness account of the persecution of Iran's largest religious minority in the 1980s is the story of one woman's experiences at the hands of the Iranian Revolutionaries. Amid the escalating pogrom, Olya Roohizadegan witnessed friends, neighbours and relatives being imprisoned, tortured and executed. For months she visited the prisoners, comforted their relatives, found clothes and shelter for the homeless, and smuggled news and photographs out of Iran to the outside world. And then it was her turn. The book culminates in her dramatic escape from the hangman's rope in a hazardous overland journey to Pakistan and the West.

The Baha'i Faith is one of the fastest growing, but least studied, of the world's religions. Adherents view themselves as united by a universal belief that transcends national boundaries. Michael McMullen examines how the Baha'i develop and maintain this global identity. Taking the Baha'i community in Atlanta, Georgia, as a case in point, his book is the first to comprehensively examine the tenets of this little-understood faith.McMullen notes that, to the Baha'i, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed are all divinely sent teachers of 'the Truth', whose messages conform to the needs of their individual cultures and historical periods. But religion-which draws from the teaching of Baha'u'llah, a nineteenth-century Persian-encourages its members to think of themselves as global citizens. It also seeks to establish unity among its members through adherence to a Baha'i worldview. By examining the Atlanta Baha'i community, McMullen shows how this global identity is interpreted locally. He discusses such topics as: the organizational structure and authority relations in the Baha'i ""Administrative Order"; Baha'i evangelicalism; and the social boundaries between Baha'is and the wider culture.

In this book, Julia Berger examines internal meaning-making structures and processes driving NGO behavior, identifying constructs from within a religious tradition that forge new ways of pursuing social change. She evaluates the operation of a distinct rationality, arguing that action is guided not simply by beliefs and values, but also by a combination of elements so intrinsic as to constitute an "organizational DNA." These hidden structures and rationalities manifest themselves in new modes of engagement and agency; they help us to see the pivotal role of religion in shaping notions of peace, progress, and modernity. To demonstrate the operation and salience of such a rationality, Berger draws on the example of the worldwide Baha'i community. Emerging in 19th century Iran, the community's theological engagement with questions of justice, the unity of humankind, and the emerging global order, constitute one of the most distinct and compelling, yet least-researched examples of religious engagement with the pressing questions of our time. Analyzing events spanning a 75-year period from 1945-2020, this book provides a unique historical and contemporary perspective on the evolving role of religion and civil society in the modern world.