Inspired
by the
Baha’i Faith
The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent authoritative views of the Baha'i Faith. The official website of the Baha'i Faith is: Bahai.org. The official website of the Baha'is of the United States can be found here: Bahai.us.
GOT IT
The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the authoritative views of the Baha'i Faith.
How do I become Baha’i?
Religion

Is There Such a Thing as a World’s Best Religion?

Sahab Mahboubi | Dec 30, 2022

The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the authoritative views of the Baha'i Faith.

Interested in Other Topics?

We’ve got something for everyone.
Sahab Mahboubi | Dec 30, 2022

The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the authoritative views of the Baha'i Faith.

Most people who follow a specific religion presumably think of their religion as the best one in the world. After all — why follow a Faith if you don’t feel that way? 

Many Christians believe that Christianity is the truest, best religion, while Muslims who believe in Muhammad argue that Islam is best. Lots of Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Zoroastrians, and other believers presumably have the same point of view about their respective Faiths.

So, how can we possibly quantify which religion is “best?” Who’s right and who’s wrong?

When you look at the question from a Baha’i perspective, you might be surprised at the answer. The Baha’i teachings offer humanity a unique central principle: the oneness of all religions. 

This inherent oneness in the Baha’i teachings means that only one religion exists, which the Creator continually renews with each new revelation spanning the course of human history. Baha’is believe that all the major religions of the world have some aspect of divine revelation or influence — and that they each form a vital link in the continual, ongoing chain of God’s guidance.

Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, wrote about the progressive revelation of those “manifestations” of God:

Contemplate with thine inward eye the chain of successive Revelations … I testify before God that each one of these Manifestations hath been sent down through the operation of the Divine Will and Purpose, that each hath been the bearer of a specific Message, that each hath been entrusted with a divinely-revealed Book and been commissioned to unravel the mysteries of a mighty Tablet. The measure of the Revelation with which every one of them hath been identified had been definitely fore-ordained. This, verily, is a token of Our favor unto them, if ye be of those that comprehend this truth…

RELATED: What Do Baha’is Believe About God?

The Baha’i teachings say that the prophets and founders of the world’s Faiths can be likened to successive teachers in a school. For example, a first grade teacher instructs her pupils according to their capacity and maturity level; while a seventh grade teacher teaches according to the capacity, abilities, and maturity of those pupils. Each one of those teachers unveils new knowledge to students, and each one in the educational chain is just as valuable and important as the others. The only thing that really differs is the capacity of the students at each step in the process.

The teachers, of course, have a much higher level of understanding than the grades they teach — just as the prophets of God understand more than they reveal. This progressive spiritual revelation, the Baha’i writings say, aims to gradually educate and uplift everyone. Abdu’l-Baha, the son and successor of Baha’u’llah, wrote:

All humankind are as children in a school, and the Dawning-Points of Light, the Sources of divine revelation, are the teachers, wondrous and without peer. In the school of realities they educate these sons and daughters, according to teachings from God … so that they may develop along every line, show forth the excellent gifts and blessings of the Lord, and combine human perfections; that they may advance in all aspects of human endeavor, whether outward or inward, hidden or visible, material or spiritual, until they make of this mortal world a widespread mirror, to reflect that other world which dieth not.

This remarkable Baha’i concept, known as progressive revelation, sees all religions as successive revelations from God, and views their prophets as being in complete unity with one another. In a speech he gave in New York City in 1912, Abdu’l-Baha said:

The ocean is one body of water, but different parts of it have particular designations — Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean, Antarctic, etc. If we consider the names, there is differentiation; but the water, the ocean itself, is one reality.

Likewise, the divine religions of the holy Manifestations of God are in reality one, though in name and nomenclature they differ. Man must be a lover of the light, no matter from what dayspring it may appear. He must be a lover of the rose, no matter in what soil it may be growing. He must be a seeker of the truth, no matter from what source it come.

The framework of religion, as Baha’is see it, is built upon a myriad number of successive revelations. Each human civilization has received at least one of those revelations. Each prophet brings one iteration, and together they form one continuous Faith. Baha’is believe that the world is not a competitive marketplace of Faiths — instead, in reality, we have one continually-developing, ongoing religion, a single, unified, gradually-unfolding system of beliefs with the same underlying truth and light in each one.

RELATED: Unifying the Organized Religions

So what’s the best religion in the world? Since all religions come from the same source, and teach the same essential message, Baha’is answer that question this way, just as Abdu’l-Baha did:

The Prophets of God voiced the spirit of unity and agreement. They have been the Founders of divine reality. Therefore, if the nations of the world forsake imitations and investigate the reality underlying the revealed Word of God, they will agree and become reconciled. For reality is one and not multiple.

You May Also Like

When Religion Requires Blind Obedience
Religion

When Religion Requires Blind Obedience

A Mystical Look at the Stages of Love
Religion

A Mystical Look at the Stages of Love

Cults, Christianity and Cash: What the Baha’is Believe
Religion

Cults, Christianity and Cash: What the Baha’is Believe


Comments

characters remaining
  • Guy Maggio
    Nov 23, 2019
    -
    Isaiah 45:5 "I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me," all others are fake and lairs
  • Si - Fi
    Nov 7, 2019
    -
    Good message really enjoyed what you had to say
  • Anthony Lee Herbert Rakes
    Apr 6, 2019
    -
    Jesus said he is the way, the truth and the life no one goes to the Father but trough him. John 14:6
    • Lani Dyck
      Oct 2, 2021
      -
      Is it Joshua, the son of Mary, the only way to the Father or is it the Christ Spirit, the Word of God,the only way to the Father. To say it's Jesus, the man, is limiting God's love yet His love is limitless. He has sent His Word to all peoples at different times.
  • Chris Badostain
    Oct 17, 2018
    -
    Love it! Didn't think I would. Very "easy" to read. Compelling quotes. Thank you, Sahab
  • Aires Mario da Cruz
    Oct 17, 2018
    -
    A LOVELY essay!!!
x
x
Connect with Baha’is in your area
Welcome!
What's your name?
Thanks my friend! We want to connect you with a Baha’i in your area, where would that be?
Thank you so much! How can they best reach you?
To put you in touch with a Baha’i in your area who can answer your questions, we would like to kindly ask for a few details about yourself.
Connect with Baha’is in your area
Connect with Baha’is in your area
Get in touch with the Baha’is in your community.