The Baha’i House of Worship, Germany
OCTOBER 2017
The Baha’i community is gearing up to celebrate the twin-celebration of the Birth of the Bab and the Birth of Baha’u’llah. One of the world’s most recent religions, Baha’is today are present on every continent, and have some of the world’s most beautiful houses of worship, such as the Lotus Temple in Delhi (one of the most visited buildings in the world) and the new House of Worship in Chile. This Year Baha’i's will celebrate the bicentennial of the Twin Holy Birthdays. While Baha’i from all over the world are excited about the festivities, the members of the community in Iran are going to have to celebrate the events in prison. Ironically, Baha’u’llah was born in the Iranian city of Tehran.
The birth of the founder of the Baha’i faith -Baha’u’llah and his predecessor, the Bab, whose ideas laid the foundation and are considered very sacred days for the Baha’is. Although their birth dates are separated from each other by a short period of time, this year the Baha’i solar calendar puts their birthdays as two consecutive days.
The Twin Holy Birthdays will be October 21 and 22. Baha’u’llah and the Bab are both considered to be manifestations of God. The Bab is considered to have paved the way for Baha’u’llah. To the West, this would translate as the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. The bicentennial anniversary will be celebrated on October 21 and 22 this year in around 100,000 localities around the world by more than 6 million Baha’is. The only place where the festivities will not be in full vigor will be Iran, where a systematic persecution of the Baha’i by the government threatens to bring the community to extinction. Despite repeated pleas by the leaders of the community, the Baha’i in Iran are still denied education opportunities, permission to start businesses, or jobs. This economic and intellectual impoverishment is slowly killing the Iranian Baha’i community, despite the country being the religion’s birthplace. The Baha’i are traditionally open to people from all communities and systems of beliefs. As such, the upcoming celebrations too are open for all people who wish to participate.