Difference Between Islam and Bahai
Islam vs Bahai
We all know about Islam, but may not know about Bahai. Bahai is a new religion or rather a religion of the newer world. It is becoming popular nowadays and has its origins from the Shi’ite Islam sect. Though originating from Islam, there are a considerable amount of differences between the two religions. Bahai is not considered a sub sect of Islam, but as a new religion itself.
There are over 5 million followers of Bahai religion globally, spread across 236 countries. The forerunner of this religion was Sayid Ali Muhammad. He had to face severe consequences in the beginning. There were bloodsheds and executions. The followers of this religion are called as Bahais. Today there are international conferences of this religion and is being accepted as a religion of the world. There are many holy books for the religion but the most prominent one is Kitáb-i-Aqdas.
Islam was founded by Muhammed and the followers of this religion are known as Muslims. The roots of this religion are often traced back to Christianity. The Muslims refer to Jesus, Moses, and Abraham as the prophets of God and hence as Muslims. In the view of Islam, Judaism and Christianity are true religions. The Muslims have a holy book which is known as the Quran and is written originally in Arabic language. The word Muslim itself means a ‘person who submits.’
Rather than just being a religion, Bahai is a combination of religion and science. The major principles of this religion are establishment of world peace, universal education, equality of women and men, adoration of one God, and cooperation between Science and Religion in a person’s search for truth.
The main principles or teachings of Islam are the Five Pillars. These are the obligatory prayer, repeating the shahada, giving alms, fasting, and pilgrimage. The pilgrimage or hajj is to Mecca and the places near it.
Anybody can embrace the Bahai religion while there are restrictions and conditions when you embrace Islam. A follower of Bahai is considered to be more educated than people of other religions as he is expected to study the scriptures of his religion as well as that of the other religions of the world.
Summary:
1.Bahai is a religion having origins from Islam and Islam has its roots from Christianity.
2.The followers of Islam are known as Muslims and the followers of Bahai are called as Bahais.
3.The holy book of Muslims is the Quran and that of Bahais is the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.
4.Bahai is a combination of religion and science while Islam is purely a religion based on the teachings of the Prophet.
5.The main principles of Islam are based on the Quran and teachings of the Prophet. Bahai has a more scientific and modern approach and focuses on issues like equality of the genders, world peace, adoring one God, and combining science and religion.
6.A Bahai is supposed to learn the scriptures of the religion as well as that of other religions. Muslims are not supposed to learn about other religions.
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Not bad for a basic intro. A couple further basics are spelling – typically it’s spelled “Baha’i” or “Baha’i Faith” or “Baha’is” for followers of the religion. If you want to get even finer detail there are accents involved.
Baha’is believe each well known religion, and the aboriginal faith traditions of natives, are all founded by God whether it’s known who founded the religion or not. Thus our duty to understand the other religions rather than ignore them. They are part of our cultural history and should be brought forward, best by those who live in those areas. Baha’is also believe that religions include both eternal truths and relative truths. Eternal truths like the virtues of sincerity and honesty and courage and relative truths like vegetarianism or the need to allow for divorce etc. Both also progress in their expression as culture and people change. Slavery used to be allowed not out of sense of allowing for a need to be mean to some people but in a sense of it being a social system for managing resources. Not all slavery was bent on hurting people. But now-a-days slavery is no longer needed and is forbidden in the Baha’i Faith’s teachings – but this isn’t to cast a sense of superiority of a new religion over an older one. It’s to say that God’s teachings – and we do believe religious teachings come from God – has allowed for our progress and we no longer need slavery. In that sense Baha’i teachings are more accepting of science – it’s not that Islam was incompatible with science (indeed until the 1800s all western progress scientifically was eclipsed in the east under Islam, or actually based on Muslim science, so beware casting aspersions on Islam’s sense of science!)
The Kitab-i-Aqdas is out Book of Laws but all the central works of the religion are scriptural. Each has some distinctive quality. Two of the more readable for interested readers are the Hidden Words, and the Kitab-i-Iqan (or Book of Certitude). All our central works are available online free though multiple outlets.
And 5 million, while widely cited in Baha’i sources, is a number that dates back to the early 1990s or before. A more common current number is over 7 million.