Bahá'í holy texts

Bahá'í holy texts

The writings of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh are regarded as Divine Revelation.

The writings of Abdu'l-Bahá are recognised as sacred.

The scriptures of other faiths, which include the teachings of previous Manifestations of God (such as Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad) are also regarded as Divine Revelations.

The Qur'an is recognised as fully authoritative and the Judaeo-Christian Bible as substantially authentic.

While readings from other religions form part of Bahá'í worship, their teachings are not binding in matters of Bahá'í belief and practice. This is because Bahá'í teaching asserts that each Manifestation brings laws and teachings appropriate for its own time.

The Qur'an

Many religious ideas appear similar to some in the Qur'an because Bahá'í believe in the progression of religious revelation.

Bahá'u'lláh makes many references to the Qur'an and gives it great importance, since he was working in an Islamic context and the Bahá'í faith grew from an Islamic matrix (rather as Christianity grew from a Jewish matrix).

However, close study of Bahá'u'lláh's writings show that he interpreted Qur'anic verses and the non-Qur'anic hadith in ways that were quite different from what had become orthodox amongst Muslim 'ulama in the 19th century.

Other texts

Bahá'u'lláh also referred to other texts, notably the New Testament, Persian mystical poetry, and ancient Greek philosophy. But his interpretations and his content are always original.

Find out more

• Bahá'u'lláh
• Manifestations of God