Outline of the Baháʼí Faith

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Baháʼí Faith.

Baháʼí Faith – relatively new religion teaching the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people, established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th-century Middle East and now estimated to have a worldwide following of 5–8 million adherents, known as Baháʼís.

Baháʼí teachings
Baháʼí teachings
 * God in the Baháʼí Faith
 * Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion – the Baháʼí belief that many of the world's different religions were revealed by God as part of one gradually unfolding plan
 * Progressive revelation (Baháʼí) – the Baháʼí belief that God progressively reveals the truth through successive Manifestations of God
 * Baháʼí Faith and Zoroastrianism
 * Baháʼí Faith and Hinduism
 * Baháʼí Faith and Buddhism
 * Muhammad in the Baháʼí Faith
 * Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith) – individuals whom Baháʼís believe were sent by God to establish religious teachings appropriate for their time and place, such as the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad
 * Baháʼí Faith on life after death
 * Baháʼí cosmology
 * Faith in the Baháʼí Faith
 * Baháʼí views on sin
 * Martyrdom in the Baháʼí Faith
 * Aniconism in the Baháʼí Faith – the Baháʼí prohibition on images of God or those seen as Manifestations of God
 * Covenant of Baháʼu'lláh
 * Covenant-breaker
 * Baháʼí views on science

Baháʼí social principles

 * Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity – the Baháʼí teaching that humanity is fundamentally one and should achieve a state of unity in diversity
 * Baháʼí Faith and Native Americans
 * New world order (Baháʼí)
 * Baháʼí perspective on international human rights
 * Baháʼí Faith and gender equality
 * Baháʼí Faith and education
 * Baháʼí Faith and auxiliary language – the Baháʼí teaching that the world should adopt a worldwide auxiliary language in addition to people's various languages to facilitate the unity of humanity
 * Socioeconomic development and the Baháʼí Faith

Baháʼí laws
Baháʼí laws – practices that are religiously binding for Baháʼís
 * Prayer in the Baháʼí Faith – Baháʼí teachings on prayer, including both daily obligatory prayer and devotional prayer (general prayer)
 * Obligatory Baháʼí prayers
 * Nineteen Day Feast – a gathering of a local Baháʼí community that occurs on the first day of each month of the Baháʼí calendar
 * Huqúqu'lláh – the Baháʼí obligation to give to the Baháʼí funds, which support the activities of Baháʼí communities
 * Nineteen Day Fast – a period of fasting that Baháʼís observe from sunrise to sunset for 19 days once each year
 * Baháʼí marriage
 * Baháʼí views on homosexuality
 * Baháʼí pilgrimage

History
History of the Baháʼí Faith – events from 1863 to the present that had their background in two earlier movements in the nineteenth century, Shaykhism and Bábism
 * Shaykhism – a Shi'a Islamic religious movement founded by Shaykh Ahmad (1753–1826)
 * Bábism – a religion founded by the Báb in 1844 that Baháʼís see as a predecessor to the Baháʼí Faith; see Outline of Bábism
 * Baháʼí–Azali split – the split of the followers of Bábism into Baháʼís, who accepted Baháʼu'lláh as a figure prophesied in the teachings of Bábism, and Azalis, who followed Subh-i-Azal
 * Baháʼí prophecies
 * Attempted schisms in the Baháʼí Faith
 * Orthodox Baháʼí Faith
 * Leland Jensen
 * ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West
 * World Unity Conference
 * Baháʼí World Congress
 * Baháʼí teaching plans
 * Baháʼí radio
 * Persecution of Baháʼís
 * Seven Martyrs of Tehran
 * 1903 Isfahan anti-Baháʼí riots
 * Statements about the persecution of Baháʼís
 * Baháʼí 7
 * Egyptian identification card controversy
 * Baháʼí Faith by country – estimated numbers of Baháʼís globally, by country, and by continent, with links to full articles on the Baháʼí Faith in individual countries and continents
 * Baháʼí Faith in Africa
 * Baháʼí Faith in Asia
 * Baháʼí Faith in Europe
 * Baháʼí Faith in North America
 * Baháʼí Faith in Oceania
 * Baháʼí Faith in South America

Central figures

 * The Báb – the founder of the Bábism, seen by Baháʼís as the predecessor to their religion
 * Baháʼu'lláh – the founder of the Baháʼí Faith
 * ʻAbdu'l-Bahá – the appointed successor of Baháʼu'lláh

Groups

 * Afnán – the maternal relatives of the Báb
 * Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh – nineteen eminent early followers of Baháʼu'lláh
 * Baháʼu'lláh's family
 * Hands of the Cause – a select group of Baháʼís, appointed for life, whose main function was to propagate and protect the Baháʼí Faith
 * Knights of Baháʼu'lláh – a title given by Shoghi Effendi to Baháʼís who brought the Baháʼí Faith to new countries and territories

Notable individuals

 * Shoghi Effendi – the appointed head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957, entitled the Guardian
 * Badíʻ – the 17-year-old who delivered Baháʼu'lláh's tablet to the Shah and was subsequently killed
 * Nabíl-i-Aʻzam – the author of the account of early Bábí and Baháʼí history called The Dawn-breakers
 * Mishkín-Qalam – a calligrapher who lived during the lifetime of Baháʼu'lláh, and designer of the Greatest Name
 * Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl – a Baháʼí scholar who travelled broadly and authored several books about the Baháʼí Faith
 * Martha Root – a prominent travelling teacher of the Baháʼí Faith in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
 * Rúhíyyih Khánum – the wife of Shoghi Effendi, who was appointed a Hand of the Cause

Texts and scriptures

 * Baháʼí literature

By the Báb

 * Persian Bayán – one of the principal scriptural writings of the Báb, the founder of Bábism, which is also revered in the Baháʼí Faith
 * Arabic Bayán – one of the principal scriptural writings of the Báb, the founder of Bábism, which is also revered in the Baháʼí Faith
 * Selections from the Writings of the Báb – a book of excerpts from notable works of the Báb, compiled by the Universal House of Justice, the highest authority in the Baháʼí Faith

By Baháʼu'lláh
List of writings of Baháʼu'lláh
 * Epistle to the Son of the Wolf – the last major work of Baháʼu'lláh, written soon before his death in 1892
 * Four Valleys – a mystical treatise written in Persian
 * Gems of Divine Mysteries – a long epistle in Arabic
 * Gleanings from the Writings of Baháʼu'lláh – a compilation of Baháʼu'lláh's writings selected by Shoghi Effendi
 * Kitáb-i-Aqdas – a central book of the Baháʼí Faith which lays out the Baháʼí laws
 * Kitáb-i-Íqán – the primary theological work of the Baháʼí Faith
 * Hidden Words – a collection of short poetic utterances, 71 in Arabic and 82 in Persian
 * The Seven Valleys – a mystical treatise written in Persian
 * Summons of the Lord of Hosts – a collection of Baháʼu'lláh's writings that were written to the kings and rulers of the world
 * Tabernacle of Unity – a collection of several of Baháʼu'lláh's writings first published in July 2006
 * Tablets of Baháʼu'lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas – a collection of Baháʼu'lláh's writings from later in his life that have been published together since 1978

By ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

 * Paris Talks – a book transcribed from talks given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá while in Paris
 * The Secret of Divine Civilization – a book written in 1875 by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, addressed to the rulers and the people of Persia
 * Some Answered Questions – contains questions posed by Laura Clifford Barney (between 1904 and 1906) and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's answers
 * Tablets of the Divine Plan – 14 letters (tablets) written between September 1916 and March 1917 by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to Baháʼís in the United States and Canada
 * Tablet to Dr. Forel – a letter of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, written in reply to questions asked by Auguste-Henri Forel, a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist and psychiatrist
 * Tablet to The Hague – a letter which ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote to the Central Organisation for Durable Peace in The Hague, The Netherlands on 17 December 1919
 * Will and Testament of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá – A seminal document, written in three stages by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

By Shoghi Effendi

 * The Advent of Divine Justice – a letter to the Baháʼís of the United States and Canada, dated December 25, 1938
 * God Passes By – an account of the first century of Baháʼí history (beginning with the declaration of the Báb in 1844)
 * Promised Day is Come – a book-length letter written for Baháʼís in the Western world, dated 1941

By the Universal House of Justice

 * The Promise of World Peace

Baháʼí administration
Baháʼí administration
 * International Baháʼí Council – the precursor to the Universal House of Justice that existed from 1951–1963
 * Universal House of Justice – the supreme governing institution of the Baháʼí Faith, first elected in 1963
 * Spiritual Assemblies – a term given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Baháʼí Faith
 * Institution of the Counsellors
 * International Teaching Centre
 * Baháʼí International Community

Other Baháʼí organizations

 * Baháʼí Esperanto League
 * Baháʼí school
 * Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education
 * Banani International Secondary School
 * Townshend International School
 * School of the Nations (Macau)
 * New Era High School
 * Barli Development Institute for Rural Women
 * FUNDAEC
 * Ruhi Institute

Places

 * Síyáh-Chál
 * Garden of Ridván, Baghdad
 * Báb's house
 * Baháʼí World Centre
 * Baháʼí World Centre buildings
 * Shrine of the Báb
 * Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh
 * Qiblih – the point towards which Baháʼís face during their daily obligatory prayers
 * Shrine of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá
 * Terraces (Baháʼí)
 * Baháʼí House of Worship – a place of worship of the Baháʼí Faith, also known as a Baháʼí temple
 * List of Baháʼí Houses of Worship
 * Lotus Temple
 * Baháʼí House of Worship (Wilmette, Illinois)
 * Sydney Baháʼí Temple
 * Santiago Bahá'í Temple
 * Haziratu'l-Quds – a Baháʼí administrative centre often used for Baháʼí gatherings, also known as a Baháʼí centre

Calendar
Baháʼí calendar
 * List of observances set by the Baháʼí calendar
 * Baháʼí Holy Days
 * Baháʼí Naw-Rúz
 * Ridván
 * Twin Holy Birthdays
 * Birth of Baháʼu'lláh
 * Day of the Covenant (Baháʼí)
 * Ayyám-i-Há

Other topics

 * Alláh-u-Abhá
 * Baháʼí Faith in fiction
 * Baháʼí orthography
 * Baháʼí studies
 * Baháʼí review
 * Baháʼí Studies Review
 * Baháʼí symbols
 * Criticism of the Baháʼí Faith
 * Political objections to the Baháʼí Faith
 * World Religion Day