Abstract

This chapter gives an account of the life of the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Mírzá Ḥusayn-‘Alí Núrí, who took the title Bahá’u’lláh (the Glory of God). The chapter follows His life from His early days to 1844, when He became a leading follower of the Báb. He was arrested in 1852 and exiled in 1853 to Baghdad. From there He went for two years into the mountains of Kurdistan (1854–56). He was further exiled to Istanbul in 1863 and to Edirne later that same year. Just before leaving Baghdad in 1863, He made a private declaration to a few of His close associates that He was the one who had been promised by the Báb. Later, in 1866–68, He made this announcement publicly and broadened the claim to being the one promised in all the scriptures of the religions of the world. He wrote to many of the rulers and leaders of the world of that time announcing this claim. In 1868, He was exiled to the prison city of ‘Akká in Syria. Here He was at first confined to the citadel, then placed under house arrest in one of the houses of the town, and finally allowed to live outside the town walls in a residence, where He passed away in 1892.