Baha’i Center Celebrates Faith’s Origins

The Baha’i faith is 168 years old—a young whippersnapper compared with  Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism.

Baha’is, by the way, consider all those religions to be valid.

“We believe in the oneness of God, the oneness of religion, the oneness of humanity,” said Habib Hosseiny of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of San Clemente. “Therefore, we don’t have any prejudice.”

Hosseiny said the Baha’i faith does teach, however, that God sends a prophet for every age to show people the principles by which they should abide in that age.

The first person to espouse this idea was a Persian man to whom the Baha’is refer simply as the Bab—it’s his mid-1800s proclamation that San Clemente Baha’is are celebrating Sunday at 7 p.m.

Hosseiny said the Bab proclaimed “he was here for a new age and from God.” Persian authorities arrested him almost immediately. Six years later, they executed him by firing squad.

But, Hosseiny said, the Bab had gathered enough followers that when the prophet of whom he spoke came nine years later, he had a large group to receive his message.

This prophet came in the form of the son of a Persian nobleman, Hosseiny said, referred to as Baha’u’allah.

“He was not interested in politics; instead, he helped the poor,” Hosseiny said. “He was a universalist. He started teaching the new faith.”

Perhaps predictably, Baha’u’allah was thrown in jail, then exiled. He spent the rest of his life being shuffled around the Middle East by different sultans and rulers, all of whom considered him a dangerous heretic, until he died in prison.

Baha’u’allah was buried in what is now Israel, where there is a shrine and the world headquarters of the Baha’i faith.

The celebration of  the Declaration of the Bab will be at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Baha’is’ San Clemente center, 3316 Avenida del Presidente.

For more information, call 949-369-9278. Hosseiny stressed that everyone is welcome, regardless of faith.