Baha'i Faith (means Glorious in Arabic) was founded in the late 19th century as the successor to Babism. It is a relatively new faith but has found enough followers. Babism developed as a breakaway faith from Shiism which is an Islamic sect. Mirza Ali Muhammad of Sh�r�z, Persia (now Iran), was the founder of Babism and he formed the principles of this religion on May 23, 1844. He came to be known as the Bab ('gate' in Arabic) because he was believed to be the gateway to God and divine truth.
As opposed to Islamic beliefs, Mirza Ali Muhammad proclaimed that he was a prophet and claimed that the prophets were divine manifestations. The Muslims were angered at this because this put the Bab at par with Mohammed. For them Prophet Mohammed was last and the greatest of all prophets. The Bab said that a greater manifestation would appear 19 years after the founding of Babism. The Holy Book, called the Bay�n (Revelation)was considered by the Babis to be greater than the Koran. His disciples gave him the titles of Noqtey-e-ula (primal point), Hazrat-e-ala (supreme presence) and finally Haqq-ta-ala (Truth Almighty).

Core
The Bab formed quite a following and the Shah of Persia considered him to be a threat to Islam. The persecution of the Babis started and the Bab was imprisoned and executed at Tabriz in 1850.
One of Bab's followers, Mirza Husain Ali Nuri, proclaimed himself as the promised Manifestation, and on the basis of Babism founded another new faith, called Baha'i in 1863.
He was born on the 12th of November 1817 in Tehran, Iran. He took up the name of Baha'u'llah (meansthe Glory of God in Arabic) and became the leader of one of several Babi factions. In 1852, the Persian government massacred some 20,000 of the Bab's followers. Baha'u'llah was imprisoned, tortured and finally expelled to Baghdad (then the Ottoman Empire). The Ottomans sent him to a penal colony in Acre in Palestine (now Israel), where he remained up to his death.

Faith & Practices
Baha'u'llah's followers believe that he was the latest in a series of divine manifestations that include Zoroaster, the Buddha, Jesus Christ and Mohammed. Baha'u'llah tried to establish a universal religion and called for moral and social atonement of the underprivileged. His eldest son, Abbas who was known as Abdul-Baha (the servant of the Glory in Arabic), spread his teachings.
The Baha'i faith is a creed that aims towards racial and religious harmony, the equality of the sexes, an international auxiliary language, a universal education, a universal faith based on the essence of the great religions, and a universal representative government. They are firm believers in the agnosticism of God and subscribe to the faith that Baha'u'llah and Bab are manifestations of God. The Baha'is believe in the oneness of religions and the unity of mankind. According to them founders of all religions are embodiments of god in some way. All religions have a common origin, despite differences and thus should not be discriminated against. They devote themselves to the abolition of racial, class and religious prejudices and do not believe in differences.
The Baha'is embrace followers of all religions who have faith in the teachings of Baha'u'llah. There are no initiation ceremonies, no baptism and no clergy.
Baha'is pray everyday and fast for 19 days in a year. They abstain from alcohol and narcotics, and practice monogamy. Consent of parents for marriage is important. It is imperative to attend the first day of the nineteen-day feast which was instituted by the Bab. It brings together Baha'is for prayer, recitation of scriptures, discussion of community services and for the intermingling of all the believers. These feasts are designed to ensure participation of all the Baha'is in the affairs of the community and imbibing a spirit of brotherhood.

Literature
The writings of the Bab, Baha'u'llah, and Abdul-Baha constitute the sacred literature of Baha'i, which has no other institutional authority. Baha'u'llah wrote the

• Al-Kitab Al-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book)
• The repository of his laws
• The Ketab-e Iqan (The Book Of Certitude)
• A collection of his teachings on the nature of God and religion
• The Hidden Words, for the purification of men's souls and the improvement of their conduct,
• The Seven Valleys, describing the seven stages that the soul of the seeker must travel before it can obtain the object of its existence
• Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

Holy Days
The Baha'i calendar has 19 months in a year. Each month is 19 days long. Apart from these 19 months were the 4 intercalary days (5 in leap years). The year begins on the 21st of March, which is the first day of spring. It is one of the holy days of the Baha'is in which no work is done.

• The celebration of the declaration of the Baha'u'llah' s mission (April 21, April 29, and May 2)
• Declaration of the mission of the Bab (May 23)
• The birth of the Bab (October 20)
• the passing of Baha'u'llah (May 29)
• the martyrdom of the Bab (July 9)

Holy Places
Their chief places of worship are in Willamette, Illinois, USA; Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Kampala, Uganda; Sydney, Australia; Panama City, Panama. There is also a Baha'i temple in New Delhi, India. It is commonly known as the Lotus Temple since it is shaped as a lotus.
The Holiest place for the Baha'is are the shrines of Bab, and Baha'u'llah at Bahji near Akka, a prison near Haifa in Israel.

Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, the great Grandson of Baha'u'llah was the guardian of the Faith. Under him the faith spread in the United States of America and has its headquarters in Willamette, Illinois.
Baha'ism has adherents in more than 300 countries and its literature has been translated into more than 350 languages. The world headquarters are in Israel, on the slopes of Mount Carmel overlooking Haifa and Acre, where a shrine of the Bab, an archive, and an administrative centre are situated.