The sacred writings of Baha’u’llah, who lived from 1817 to 1892, extend from 1852, the year of the inception of the Baha’i Faith, to 1892, the year of his ascension – 40 years of revelation.

Both the Faiths of the Bab (1819-1850), the prophet who paved the way for the coming of Baha’u’llah, and of Baha’u’llah are characterized by an unprecedented ocean of revelatory outpouring. 

That is why Baha’i scripture constitutes almost a library, rather than one or a few books. 

In addition, there is no historical or objective doubt about the authenticity of these writings. The writings of Baha’u’llah by himself would be the equivalent of one hundred books, and the Baha’is have the originals. These writings address all kinds of issues in a variety of styles. However, despite the amazing diversity and plurality of Baha’u’llah’s writings, they all represent a grand divine order and unity:

Incline thine ear and hear! This is the voice of My pen raised before mystics, then divines, and then kings and rulers. – Ishráqát, p. 260.

This statement of Baha’u’llah unveils a unique order and unity. As he notes, he revealed his writings in three stages. The first stage of his revelation Baha’u’llah addressed to the mystics, the second to the divines and clerics, and the third to the kings and rulers of the world. This order is not accidental. The logical and dialectical structure of this order is itself another testimony to the primordial unity, originality, novelty and purity of Baha’u’llah’s consciousness. 

In this reflection we will explore these three stages, the corresponding principle announced by each of them, and the logical connection and unity of all three. 

The principle explained in the first stage is the mystical consciousness – that reality is ultimately spiritual. The second stage emphasizes historical consciousness and extends that dynamism to the realm of religion and the word of God. The third principle in the final stage of Baha’u’llah’s revelation emphasizes global consciousness and its twin requirements of the oneness of humankind and universal peace. Together, these three principles – mystical, historical and global – constitute an organic unity, and this unity defines the uniqueness of Baha’u’llah’s message.

1. Mystical Consciousness

The first stage of Baha’u’llah’s revelation, from 1852 to 1860, took place during much of his exile in Baghdad. Some of his principal works from this stage – The Hidden Words, The Four Valleys, The Ode of the Dove, and The Seven Valleys – emphasize the spiritual interpretation of reality. 

According to the writings of Baha’u’llah, reality expresses ultimately diverse manifestations of divine names and attributes. All beings therefore are sublime mirrors in which the divine revelation is reflected and made manifest. This radical affirmation of the sacredness of all beings and the cosmic solidarity and unity of all things is based upon the idea that the ultimate truth of all beings is the very divine revelation that is enshrined within their inmost hearts. History, then, is a spiritual journey towards the realization and unfoldment of this all-encompassing inherent divine revelation in the lives of human beings. In Baha’u’llah’s The Hidden Words we read:

O Son of Man! Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not, wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light and My light shall never be extinguished, why dost thou dread extinction? Thou art My glory and My glory fadeth not; thou art My robe and My robe shall never be outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou mayest find Me in the realm of Glory. 

The principle of the spiritual nature of all beings differentiates the viewpoint of Baha’u’llah from all materialistic worldviews and all social theories that divest sociocultural order from spiritual values and moral orientation. Thus, according to Baha’u’llah, one of the most important foundations of social order is the commitment of society to moral and spiritual values. 

Such a spiritual orientation means that we should observe reality as an interconnected unity, rather than a set of fragmented, independent, solid objects. The truth of everything is the divine revelation, meaning that all beings are interconnected and one. However, this same spiritual understanding of existence implies an opposite principle as well. Consciousness is always a unique and individual reality. Therefore, humans as independent spiritual beings all have the duty to think for themselves. The metaphysics compatible with this mystical consciousness – unity in diversity – calls for an ever-increasing unification of the planet and all of its peoples.

2. Historical Consciousness

Although Baha’u’llah’s first principle sequesters his message from any materialistic worldview, the second constitutive principle of his worldview differentiates his vision from all religious forms of traditionalism. 

This second principle is the principle of historical consciousness or the historicity of life. In the second stage of his revelation, from 1860 to 1867, during the last years of his stay in Baghdad and continuing during his banishment to Istanbul and Adrianople, Baha’u’llah spoke in terms of issues that relate to sacred scriptures. 

Here the divines and the learned of various religious persuasions became the direct recipients of his writings. Chief among these works are the Book of Certitude and the New Wondrous Book. This dynamic conception is particularly relevant to the realm of human culture and society. 

Social reality is a perpetually advancing phenomenon. Such dynamism applies not only to the realm of human cultural institutions but also to the realm of the revelation of divine word itself. Baha’is call this all-encompassing and radical affirmation of historical consciousness in the writings of Baha’u’llah the principle of progressive revelation. 

Culture and society are defined by perpetual change and transformation, which means that the revelation of the eternal Will of God becomes something historical and dynamic as well. Baha’u’llah, therefore, sees in all diverse religions one and the same eternal truth. That creative divine Will reflects itself in the form of new laws and doctrines, in different ages, in accordance with the level of the development of humanity and the specific needs of all people at that particular stage of advancement. Thus for Baha’u’llah, all prophets of God represent one and the same eternal reality, who appear in different ages as diverse and historically-specific human persons with different laws as required by the material and spiritual development of society in that stage of humankind’s development. In other words, the message of this second principle is the unity in diversity of all religions:

The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which the subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements. – Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah

Although historical consciousness is present in the philosophical systems of a number of philosophers like Hegel and Marx, Baha’u’llah’s principle is qualitatively different. First, this historical dynamic never ends in an ultimate historical state. Thus, for Baha’u’llah, even the truth of his own revelation is relative to the present stage of development of humanity, and therefore his revelation is not the last divine revelation. Divine revelation, on the contrary is eternal and everlasting. Secondly, Baha’u’llah applies this historical logic not only to the realm of human culture, but also to the realm of the revelation of divine word as well.

3. Global Consciousness 

The unity of the first and second principles implies the third principle of the worldview of Baha’u’llah. The two first principles together declare the necessity of the renewal of spiritual order at this stage of the maturation of humanity in ways that accord with the fundamental challenge of historical development in this age. 

The third principle of Baha’u’llah’s worldview is the principle of the oneness of humankind and the imperative of universal peace. According to this Baha’i vision of the world’s future, an effective and just solution to diverse problems of humanity at this stage of its development requires the adoption of a global consciousness that is based upon the fundamental premise of the essential unity of the entire human race. 

This global approach is not simply a cult of brotherly love or a utopian fantasy. Emphasized through his letters to the rulers of the world in 1867-1868, and elaborated throughout the rest of his life, Baha’u’llah’s third principle calls for the emergence of a new culture of peace and unity, a new consultative and democratic international structure, and new consultative and just social institutions. Baha’u’llah’s teachings aim to create a social order defined by the principle of unity in diversity:

That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. … It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.

Anyone can see the remarkable dialectical nature of these three stages. The first stage emphasizes the abstract and mystical unity of humanity. The second stage negates that abstraction and affirms the historical diversity and the dynamic nature of the spirit. The third stage affirms the concrete, historically-specific unity of humankind.

Born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Dr. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a famous writer and civil rights activist.

He made history as the co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard University. 

Learn about his interest in the Baha’i Faith that led to his wife, Nina Gomer Du Bois, becoming a Baha’i.

W.E.B. and Nina Du Bois’s Meeting, Marriage, and Family

Born in Quincy, Illinois, around 1870, Nina Gomer met Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois at Wilberforce University, the oldest private historically Black university in the United States, named after the 18th-century abolitionist William Wilberforce.

W.E.B. taught classics and modern languages at Wilberforce from 1894 to 1896. He met Nina, who was a student there, and married her on May 12, 1896, at her father’s home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The following year, they moved to Atlanta. In 1899, their baby son, Burghardt, got sick, but all the white doctors refused to treat him because he was Black. Their son passed away 10 days later at just 18 months old. The next year, they had a daughter, Yolande. 

As W.E.B.’s fame continued to rise and his schedule filled with writing, editing, and speaking engagements, Nina managed the household, raised Yolande, and helped raise their granddaughter. She was described as a “retiring, sweet” woman and often wrote letters to W.E.B., updating him about their lives as he traveled. In a telegram from Nina and Yolande to W.E.B. in 1945, they wrote, “Many many happy returns of the day to the finest husband & father in the world.”

W.E.B. and Nina Du Bois’s Interest in the Baha’i Faith

The Baha’i Faith is a world religion that believes in the oneness of humanity and religion. Abdu’l-Baha, one of the central figures of the Baha’i Faith, said:

To be a Bahá’í simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.

The principles of the Baha’i Faith include the eradication of all forms of prejudice, the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty, the equality of women and men, the agreement of science and religion, the truth and oneness of all religions, the independent investigation of truth, and the importance of a universal language and education.

On April 30, 1912, W.E.B. met Abdu’l-Baha after he spoke at the fourth annual NAACP conference in Chicago. At his talk, Abdu’l-Baha shared how humanity was created in “the image and likeness of God—that is to say, the perfections of God, the divine virtues, are reflected or revealed in the human reality.” In his talk, “man” refers to humanity. Abdu’l-Baha said:

He who is the image and likeness of God, who is the manifestation of the bestowals of God, is acceptable at the threshold of God—whether his color be white, black or brown; it matters not. Man is not man simply because of bodily attributes. …The character and purity of the heart is of all importance.

That May, W.E.B. devoted most of his “Men of the Month” column of The Crisis magazine — the official publication of the NAACP and the nation’s oldest African American publication that is still publishing today — to Abdu’l-Baha. He also published Abdu’l Baha’s entire speech in The Crisis’s June edition. 

W.E.B. later wrote, “I met personally Abdu’l-Baha [sic] when he was in America. I had great respect for him and for his movement.” After Abdu’l-Baha passed away in 1921, W.E.B. wrote in The Crisis that two “men sit high before the world today—Eugene Debs and Abdu’l-Baha.”

W.E.B.’s NAACP would continue to collaborate with Baha’is on racial justice issues for several decades. According to the Baha’i World News Service, W.E.B.’s wife, Nina Gomer Du Bois, officially declared that she was a Baha’i in 1936. Both W.E.B. and Nina were involved in Baha’i community life and had close Baha’i friends. W.E.B. even spoke at the Green Acre Baha’i school. 

Nina Gomer Du Bois passed away on June 26, 1950, at 80 years old in the 55th year of their marriage. In a letter announcing her passing, it says, “She lies buried beside the body of her first-born son, below a little hill at Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The love of all who knew her will keep her memory green.” W.E.B. remarried the following year.

W.E.B. continued to correspond with many well-known Baha’is throughout his life, including Coralie Franklin Cook and Louis Gregory. On October 10, 1951, W.E.B.’s Baha’i friend, Lawrence Albert Hautz, gave W.E.B. a copy of “The Advent of Divine Justice” — a book written by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith. Inside the book, Lawrence wrote, “This is the law and how to apply it for Baha’is in the U.S. It would apply as well to minority situations everywhere in the world.”

“The Advent of Divine Justice” is an incredibly powerful book for racial healing and social justice. W.E.B. was especially impressed with how Shoghi Effendi advocated for diversity and inclusion. Decades before affirmative action programs began, Shoghi Effendi wrote the following in 1938:

If any discrimination is at all to be tolerated, it should be a discrimination not against, but rather in favor of the minority, be it racial or otherwise. Unlike the nations and peoples of the earth, be they of the East or of the West, democratic or authoritarian, communist or capitalist, whether belonging to the Old World or the New, who either ignore, trample upon, or extirpate, the racial, religious, or political minorities within the sphere of their jurisdiction, every organized community enlisted under the banner of Bahá’u’lláh should feel it to be its first and inescapable obligation to nurture, encourage, and safeguard every minority belonging to any faith, race, class, or nation within it.

W.E.B. continued to read the Baha’i writings and stay up-to-date on Baha’i news publications. Some Baha’is would even ask for his advice on how to share the Baha’i teachings. Although he greatly respected Abdu’l-Baha and the Baha’i principles, he struggled with believing in divine revelations. In a letter to Lawrence and Carol Hautz, W.E.B. wrote that “having been a member of the Congregational Church for fifteen years and of the Episcopalian Church for ten years, I decided in 1896 never again to join any organization in which I had to say that I believe what I do not believe.”

In a letter Louis Gregory wrote to W.E.B. in 1943, Louis wrote, “My impression is that your idealism of youth suffered so much that you lost faith in religion not long after writing “Souls of Black Folk.”

However, in 1954, W.E.B. wrote, “…if I were going to join a religious organization I should certainly be strongly tempted to join the Bahai movement because of its broad principles, its international and inter-racial program.”

Towards the end of his life, W.E.B. moved to Ghana to manage the creation of an encyclopedia of the African diaspora that the Ghanaian government funded. He became a Ghanaian citizen in 1961 and passed away there on Aug. 27, 1963.

If we want to make a difference in this world, we need to, as the saying goes, “find a need and fill it.” And that’s what Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga did at a time when African Americans were standing up for justice, freedom, and equal rights during the civil rights era. 

After the Watts Riots — a six-day riot centered in an impoverished African American neighborhood resulting from long-standing grievances with the systemic racism and inequities they faced in housing, employment, and education in 1965 — Dr. Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 to unite and empower the Black community.

He said, “This is our duty: to know our past and honor it; to engage our present and improve it; and to imagine a whole new future and forge it in the most ethical, effective, and expansive ways.”

What Is Kwanzaa and Why Do People Celebrate It?

Kwanzaa is celebrated annually from December 26 to January 1. As explained by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday but a cultural one that Dr. Karenga created to “reaffirm and restore African heritage and culture, introduce and reinforce the Nguzo Saba or the Seven Principles, serve as a nationally celebrated communal and non-heroic holiday, [and] as an act of cultural self-determination.”

Kwanzaa got its name from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” meaning “first fruits,” referring to the harvest festivals in Africa. The seven principles of Kwanzaa are expressed in Swahili. Each day of Kwanzaa celebrates one of these principles that were inspired by African values. People light a candle on their Kinara — a candelabra with seven candlesticks — for each principle on each day of Kwanzaa. I find these principles to be very spiritual since these values align with the Baha’i teachings.

What Are the 7 Days and Principles of Kwanzaa?

Day 1: Umoja (Unity)

Since Dr. Karenga created Kwanzaa to unite people throughout the African diaspora who had been separated from colonization, it’s no surprise that the first day of Kwanzaa celebrates unity and highlights the importance of striving for and maintaining “unity in the family, community, nation, and race.” 

As stated in a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice, “Baha’u’llah came to bring unity to the world, and a fundamental unity is that of the family.”

Day 2: Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)

The invention of Kwanzaa was an act of self-determination. This involves defining ourselves, naming ourselves, creating for ourselves, and speaking for ourselves.

Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, uplifted people of African descent by comparing them “to the black pupil of the eye surrounded by the white. In this black pupil you see the reflection of that which is before it, and through it the light of the Spirit shines forth.”

What an ennobling name to live up to!

Day 3: Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)

At a talk in Canada in 1912, Abdu’l-Baha, one of the central figures of the Baha’i Faith, said, “Regarding reciprocity and cooperation, each member of the body politic should live in the utmost comfort and welfare because each individual member of humanity is a member of the body politic, and if one member is in distress or is afflicted with some disease, all the other members must necessarily suffer.”

Collective work and responsibility is about building and maintaining our community together and making “our community’s problems our problems” and solving them together.

Day 4: Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

According to a 2016 analysis from the Corporation for Enterprise Development and Institute for Policy Studies, it would take African Americans 228 years to accumulate the same wealth that white people have now if the current policies stay the same. 

The fourth day of Kwanzaa focuses on trying to alleviate this racial wealth gap that was created from centuries of oppression. The mission of this day is “to build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.”

As the Baha’i writings say, “Be ye loving fathers to the orphan, and a refuge to the helpless, and a treasury for the poor, and a cure for the ailing. Be ye the helpers of every victim of oppression, the patrons of the disadvantaged.”

Imagine how much justice and equity we would have if everyone embodied this Baha’i teaching!

Day 5: Nia (Purpose)

For this fifth day of Kwanzaa, the purpose is defined as making “our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.”

And, in around 1873, Baha’u’llah wrote: “Waste not your hours in idleness and sloth, but occupy yourselves with what will profit you and others.”

Day 6: Kuumba (Creativity)

On the sixth day of Kwanzaa, people express their creativity by doing as much as they can “to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.”

The Baha’i writings say:

God has given us eyes, that we may look about us at the world, and lay hold of whatsoever will further civilization and the arts of living. He has given us ears, that we may hear and profit by the wisdom of scholars and philosophers and arise to promote and practice it. 

Senses and faculties have been bestowed upon us, to be devoted to the service of the general good; so that we, distinguished above all other forms of life for perceptiveness and reason, should labor at all times and along all lines, whether the occasion be great or small, ordinary or extraordinary, until all mankind are safely gathered into the impregnable stronghold of knowledge. We should continually be establishing new bases for human happiness and creating and promoting new instrumentalities toward this end.

Day 7: Imani (Faith)

The last day of Kwanzaa celebrates faith — believing “with all our hearts in our people and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.”

As the Bab, the forerunner and herald of Baha’u’llah, said: “Arise in His name, put your trust wholly in Him, and be assured of ultimate victory.”