Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh

Montreal, May 28, 2025 - Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, left this physical world on May 29th, 1892. In every religion, the death of its founder marks a momentous event.

Like Montreal, in every part of the globe, the Bahá'ís essentially remember this mournful day each year by focusing on Bahá'u'lláh’s life and teachings, and by bearing witness to the belief that Bahá'u'lláh’s spirit did not die, but has been released from earthly limitations by ascending to a higher realm.

Bahá'u'lláh’s 75 years on this Earth had an astounding impact on humanity. As the founder of the newest global Faith, his three-quarters of a century here contained a remarkable number of both heroic and harrowing events. 

Bahá'u'lláh lived through a sequence of immensely important roles: a Persian nobleman, a poet, a mystic, his country’s acknowledged and celebrated “Father of the Poor,” a prisoner of conscience, a torture victim, an exile, and above all, the Divine messenger who founded and promulgated the world’s second-most widespread religion, the Bahá'í Faith.

The Revelation which, from time immemorial, hath been acclaimed as the Purpose and Promise of all the Prophets of God, and the most cherished Desire of His Messengers, hath now, by virtue of the pervasive Will of the Almighty and at His irresistible bidding, been revealed unto men. The advent of such a Revelation hath been heralded in all the sacred Scriptures. Behold how, notwithstanding such an announcement, mankind hath strayed from its path and shut out itself from its glory.

Say: O ye lovers of the One true God! Strive, that ye may truly recognize and know Him, and observe befittingly His precepts.

– Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh

The word Bahá'í means “follower of Bahá'u'lláh” – and his astounding life has now become a model of spiritual and social progress for millions upon millions of people around the world. Those Bahá'ís, who come from every class, every nation, every racial group and every former Faith, have committed themselves to universal fellowship, oneness and love, following the ideals and principles Bahá'u'lláh taught.

During his lifetime, Bahá'u'lláh suffered enormously as an exile and a prisoner – but his new Faith drew the allegiance of many. So when Bahá'u'lláh passed from this life into the next in 1892, some observers and historians wondered if his new Faith would survive.

Surprising many, the Bahá'í Faith not only survived after Bahá'u'lláh’s passing – it thrived, grew rapidly, and spread to every continent. More importantly, it maintained the wholeness and unity Bahá'u'lláh taught, without splitting up into the hostile sects and warring divisions that have frequently plagued new religions immediately after the passing of their founders. 

Despite the repeated persecution, exile, imprisonment and torture Bahá'u'lláh suffered as a result of his progressive teachings, Bahá'u'lláh prevented those fractious divisions by establishing a written Covenant that passed the leadership of the Bahá'í Faith to Abdu’l-Baha, his eldest son.

The Bahá'í teachings emphasize the sanctity of the human rights of all people, the equality of the sexes, the oneness of all racial and ethnic groups and the promulgation of universal peace. Bahá'ís believe in the independent investigation of truth and the absolute freedom of everyone to worship as they wish. Those challenging ideas, along with many other progressive Bahá'í teachings, caused the Persian and Ottoman clerics and governments to subject Bahá'u'lláh to four decades of cruel and unusual punishment, in a futile attempt to destroy his Faith. Bahá'u'lláh underwent terrible suffering, not for any crime, but for promulgating the peaceful principles of his new Faith. Despite the passing of Bahá'u'lláh, the Bahá'í Faith continues to grow, develop and prosper in every corner of the planet.