BAHA' ULLAH

born Nov. 12, 1817, Tehran, Iran died May 29, 1892, Acre, Palestine [now 'Akko, Israel] also spelled Baha' Allah (Arabic: Glory of God), original name (Persian) Mirza Hoseyn 'ali Nuri, (Arabic) Mirza Husayn 'ali Nuri founder of the Baha'i faith upon his claim to be the manifestation of the unknowable God. Mirza Hoseyn was a member of the Shi'ite branch of Islam. He subsequently allied himself with Mirza 'Ali Mohammad of Shiraz, who was known as the Bab (Arabic: Gateway) and was the head of the Babi, a Muslim sect professing a privileged access to final truth. After the Bab's execution by the Iranian government for treason (1850), Mirza Hoseyn joined Mirza Yahya (also called Sobh-e Azal), his own half brother and the Bab's spiritual heir, in directing the Babi movement. Mirza Yahya later was discredited, and Mirza Hoseyn was exiled by orthodox Sunnite Muslims successively to Baghdad, Kurdistan, and Constantinople (Istanbul). There, in 1867, he publicly declared himself to be the divinely chosen imam-mahdi (rightly guided leader), whom the Bab had foretold. The resulting factional violence caused the Ottoman government to banish Mirza Hoseyn to Acre. At Acre, Baha' Ullah, as he was by then called, developed the formerly provincial Baha'i doctrine into a comprehensive teaching that advocated the unity of all religions and the universal brotherhood of man. Emphasizing social ethics, he eschewed ritual worship and devoted himself to the abolition of racial, class, and religious prejudices. His place of confinement in Acre became a centre of pilgrimage for Baha'i believers from Iran and the United States.