History of the Baháʼí Faith

The Baháʼí Faith has its background in two earlier movements in the nineteenth century, Shaykhism and Bábism. Shaykhism centred on theosophical doctrines and many Shaykhis expected the return of the hidden Twelfth Imam. Many Shaykhis joined the messianic Bábí movement in the 1840s where the Báb proclaimed himself to be the return of the hidden Imam. As the Bábí movement spread in Iran, violence broke out between the ruling Shiʿa Muslim government and the Bábís, and ebbed when government troops massacred them, and executed the Báb in 1850.

The Báb had spoken of another messianic figure, He whom God shall make manifest. As one of the followers of the Báb, Baháʼu'lláh was imprisoned during a subsequent wave of massacre by the Persian government against Bábís in 1852, was exiled to Iraq, and then to Constantinople and Adrianople in the Ottoman Empire. Amidst these banishments, in 1863 in Baghdad, Baháʼu'lláh claimed to be the messianic figure expected by the Báb's writings, and the majority of Bábís eventually converted to become known as Baháʼís.

At the time of Baháʼu'lláh's death the tradition was mostly confined to the Persian and Ottoman empires, at which time he had followers in thirteen countries of Asia and Africa. Leadership of the religion then passed on to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Baháʼu'lláh's son, who was appointed by Baháʼu'lláh, and was accepted by almost all Baháʼís. Under the leadership of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the religion gained a footing in Europe and America, and was consolidated in Iran, where it still suffers intense persecution.

After the death of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1921, the leadership of the Baháʼí community was passed on to his grandson, Shoghi Effendi, who was appointed in ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's will. The document appointed Shoghi Effendi as the first Guardian, and called for the election of the Universal House of Justice once the Baháʼí Faith had spread sufficiently for such elections to be meaningful. During Shoghi Effendi's time as leader of the religion there was a great increase in the number of Baháʼís, and he presided over the election of many National Spiritual Assemblies. The Universal House of Justice was first elected in 1963, and since that time the Universal House of Justice has been the highest body in the Baháʼí administration, with its members elected every five years. Baháʼí sources and most scholarly works estimate the current worldwide Baháʼí population to be from five to eight million.