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Baha'u'llah : The Word Made Flesh
Book by Balyuzi, Hasan
Paperback
First published December 1, 1963
About the author
H.M. Balyuzi
10 books8 followersHasan M. Balyuzi (7 September 1908, Shiraz, Iran – 12 February 1980, London) was a prominent Iranian Bahá'í. He was born in Iran, but he spent most of his life in Britain. Balyuzi was an Afnán, a descendant of the Báb's family, on both sides of his family. His father was governor of the Persian Gulf ports and later minister of the interior of Iran.
In 1925 he met Shoghi Effendi after which he became a Bahá'í. In 1932 he went to Britain where he studied diplomatic history at the London School of Economics. In 1933 was elected as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Great Britain, which he stayed until he retired in 1960. In October 1957 he was appointed a Hand of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi.
Source: Wikipedia.
In 1925 he met Shoghi Effendi after which he became a Bahá'í. In 1932 he went to Britain where he studied diplomatic history at the London School of Economics. In 1933 was elected as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Great Britain, which he stayed until he retired in 1960. In October 1957 he was appointed a Hand of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi.
Source: Wikipedia.
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February 2, 2026
THE FIRST OF A TRILOGY ABOUT THE THREE CENTRAL FIGURES OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH
Hasan M. Baluzi (1908-1980) was a prominent Iranian member of the ‘Bahá’í Faith, who served in various administrative positions of the religion. He also wrote books such as ‘The Bab: The Herald of the Day of Days,’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Centre of the Covenant,’ and ‘Muhammad and the Course of Islam.’
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1963 book, “Mizrá Husayn-‘Ali, later surnamed Bahá’ulláh, was born on November 12th, 1817, in Tehran, the capital of Persia. His father … held a responsible post in the ministerial circle of the Shah’s court… Bahá’ulláh grew up in the environs of the court, amidst great riches and comfort. But when his father died, and the post left vacant … was offered to him, He refused to accept it… In those days, the nobility of Iran cared little for the sciences and the arts of the learned.” (Pg. 9-10)
He continues, “On May 22nd, 1844, a young merchant… whose name was Siyyid ‘Ali-Muhammed, revealed Himself to a seeker as that Deliverer Whom the world of Islam anxiously awaited… He took the name of the Báb, meaning ‘Gate.’ His primary mission was to awaken the slumbering people of Iran, and to warn the followers of the Faith of Muhammad---a Faith by then… laden with abuses. The Báb sent Mullá Husayn, that seeker who was the first to believe in Him, to the capital, and entrusted him with a letter for an unnamed Person, supreme in heavenly rank… Thus he heard of Mizrá Husayn-‘Ali… he knew in an instant that he had found the unnamed person who was to receive the letter sent by the Báb… [He] accepted the Truth that it contained. Thus at the age of 27… [He] put Himself on the side of a religious renaissance that was bound to excite the hatred of the ruling classes.” (Pg. 11)
He reports, “The Bábis [the followers of the Báb] had not yet fully grasped the significance of the Báb’s revelation… Now Bahá’ulláh threw the weight of His innate wisdom into the balance. The Báb, He told the assembly, was the Founder of a new Dispensation, and stood in the same heavenly lineage as Muhammad, Jesus and Moses… The infuriated clergy stormed the government to send a punitive expedition against that band of innocent and God-fearing men… Bahá’ulláh offered himself in lieu of His friends, and voluntarily drew the wrath of the mob upon His own Person He was [tortured]. On July 9th, 1850, the gracious and gentle Báb was shot in the public square… Bahá’ulláh sent… a brilliant and brave youth, to rescue the mangled remains of the Báb from the fury of the foe. And then he arranged for the concealment of the remains in order to protect them from … the oppressors… Today they rest on Mount Carmen, in a beautiful mausoleum.” (Pg. 12-14)
He adds, “The Babis presented… a sad spectacle in this period… The Shah… had not exercised his sovereign authority in favor of their … oppressed community, and therefore he had to pay the supreme penalty… On August 12, 1852, they ventured upon their insane [assassination] attempt and failed… The enemies of the Báb had found their golden opportunity to exterminate His followers… His friends warned [Bahá’ulláh] of the engulfing tide… [But] the next day He rode towards the camp of the Shah… They laid their rough hands upon His person…. He Who had been their friend and defender… was not the victim of their blazing hatred.” (Pg. 15)
He explains, “The prison cell in which Bahá’ulláh was confined, together with many other Bábis, was a grim, dark and stench-laden pit… Day after day an official would come to the prison and call the names of those who would meet their martyr’s death on that day… Hundreds of Bábis died in the blood-bath of 1852, after being subjected to excruciating tortures…. Such was the fortitude of the Bábis and such was the magnitude of their sacrifice.” (Pg. 17-19)
He goes on, “For four agony-laden months Bahá’ulláh lingered in chains, in the dismal, pestilential dungeon… But it was in the dark of that dungeon that Bahá’ulláh saw the Light of God shining in His own Self… The promise of the Báb, nay, the promise of all the Messengers of God, was fulfilled. The time, however, had not come for a public declaration. Ten more years had to elapse, before Bahá’ulláh would announce His Manifestation to human kind.” (Pg. 19-20)
He reports, “Hitherto, the believers in the Báb had been recruited from the Shi’ih sect of Islam. Now, under the aegis of Bahá’ulláh, others came to enlist. He recreated the withered lives of the Bábis. They were told not to resist by violence any encroachments made on their liberties. In this manner He stemmed the tide of lawlessness that at one time had seriously menaced the integrity of the Bábi community. And so it came that Bahá’ulláh’s Divine guidance called the Bábis once again to a noble life. Once again they lived with faith in their hearts, their deeds testifying to the belief they bore.” (Pg. 26)
He states, “Bahá’ulláh’s fame was now spreading far and wide. Except for a very small number… the Bábis, wherever they were, had accepted the Divine mandate of Bahá’ulláh. The Turkish authorities treated him with great courtesy and marked respect… And many of His followers … traveled to … drink deeply at the fount of His Revelation. All these things stung his adversaries to fresh action.” (Pg. 31-32)
But eventually, “Notwithstanding the fierce prejudices which assailed them on every side, the Bahá’ís succeeded before long in subduing the hatred of the populace. A war was waged between the forces of character and integrity, and turbulent passions bred by ignorance. In the end victory went to the side which had risen above the plain of conflict, and in submitting its will to a Higher Will, had freed itself of fear and distrust. It gradually dawned upon the officials and he leaders of religion that their Chief Prisoner was not an ordinary man, that they had in their hands a Personage or vastly superior gifts and powers. They became enamored of His majestic bearing, of His amazing knowledge of human affairs, of his disarming charity and forbearing nature. Their prisoner He was, but a time came when it was almost impossible to realize the fact, or to enforce the harsh and drastic injunctions of the Government in Constantinople. Bahá’ís came from far and wide, and with little difficulty attained the presence of Bahá’ulláh. High officials of the Ottoman government sought interviews with the Prisoner, to pay Him their respects…. However, nine years elapsed before Bahá’ulláh left the confines of the city walls.” (Pg. 58-59)
He reports, “The last years of Bahá’ulláh’s life were devoted to writing and revealing innumerable Tablets, Epistles and Treatises on many and varied subjects of spiritual and educative purport… The writings of Bahá’ulláh in their range, their scope and their depth remain unequalled amongst the Scriptures of mankind .. We ought to remember the incalculable advantage which the writings of Bahá’ulláh possess in relation to the Holy Books of former times. Their originals are extant and well preserved, and future generations will be spared the crushing responsibility of deciding the authenticity of the Works ascribed to the Prophet. Oral tradition finds no place in the Scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith.” (Pg. 66-67)
He records, “Bahá’ulláh left His human temple on the 29th of May, 1892… Seventy years separate us from the days when Bahá’ulláh lived amongst men. The Faith which He proclaimed has encircled the globe … and the resplendent edifice which He raised stands to offer certitude and peace to a disordered world.” (Pg. 67)
Baluzi summarizes, “It is in the Revelation of Bahá’ulláh that for the first time in the religious experience of mankind, the reality, the station, the function and the mission of the Manifestation of God, are made unequivocally clear. All the arguments and counter-arguments of human invention pale into insignificance in the light of Bahá’ulláh’s exposition. In this light one can see… History… as a stupendous drama… determined by the magnetic and vivifying powers of a Manifestation of God, Who brings that measure of guidance for the age in which He appears… His message and His teachings are qualified by the degree of growth reached by Man at that particular epoch.
“The wholeness and oneness of religion is established as incontrovertible fact. One refuses to accept the existence of fundamental conflict amongst the religions of mankind. The law of evolution is found to be applicable to religion, which ceases to be divorced from life, and in fact causes the evolution of society. The interdependence of the diverse Faiths of mankind is well understood. No longer will man concede a cleavage between the spiritual and the temporal. Therefore it follows that the rise of every civilization is due to the spiritual dynamic released by a manifestation of God and the fall of every civilization is caused by the stagnation of the same dynamic in the course of time.” (Pg. 81-82)
He argues, “No Manifestation of God has ever found ready and immediate acceptance amongst the people of the world. He is invariably denied and opposed and rejected… Moses was a member of an enslaved and oppressed race, also a fugitive from justice…. Jesus was a member of a subject and oppressed race… and had no connection with … the leaders of His people. Muhammad is usually referred to as a camel-driver… Those who first respond to the call of a Manifestation of God are also of humble origin.” (Pg. 91)
This book----and the other ‘biographies’ written by Baluzi---will be of great interest to anyone studying the Bahá’í Faith.
Hasan M. Baluzi (1908-1980) was a prominent Iranian member of the ‘Bahá’í Faith, who served in various administrative positions of the religion. He also wrote books such as ‘The Bab: The Herald of the Day of Days,’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Centre of the Covenant,’ and ‘Muhammad and the Course of Islam.’
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1963 book, “Mizrá Husayn-‘Ali, later surnamed Bahá’ulláh, was born on November 12th, 1817, in Tehran, the capital of Persia. His father … held a responsible post in the ministerial circle of the Shah’s court… Bahá’ulláh grew up in the environs of the court, amidst great riches and comfort. But when his father died, and the post left vacant … was offered to him, He refused to accept it… In those days, the nobility of Iran cared little for the sciences and the arts of the learned.” (Pg. 9-10)
He continues, “On May 22nd, 1844, a young merchant… whose name was Siyyid ‘Ali-Muhammed, revealed Himself to a seeker as that Deliverer Whom the world of Islam anxiously awaited… He took the name of the Báb, meaning ‘Gate.’ His primary mission was to awaken the slumbering people of Iran, and to warn the followers of the Faith of Muhammad---a Faith by then… laden with abuses. The Báb sent Mullá Husayn, that seeker who was the first to believe in Him, to the capital, and entrusted him with a letter for an unnamed Person, supreme in heavenly rank… Thus he heard of Mizrá Husayn-‘Ali… he knew in an instant that he had found the unnamed person who was to receive the letter sent by the Báb… [He] accepted the Truth that it contained. Thus at the age of 27… [He] put Himself on the side of a religious renaissance that was bound to excite the hatred of the ruling classes.” (Pg. 11)
He reports, “The Bábis [the followers of the Báb] had not yet fully grasped the significance of the Báb’s revelation… Now Bahá’ulláh threw the weight of His innate wisdom into the balance. The Báb, He told the assembly, was the Founder of a new Dispensation, and stood in the same heavenly lineage as Muhammad, Jesus and Moses… The infuriated clergy stormed the government to send a punitive expedition against that band of innocent and God-fearing men… Bahá’ulláh offered himself in lieu of His friends, and voluntarily drew the wrath of the mob upon His own Person He was [tortured]. On July 9th, 1850, the gracious and gentle Báb was shot in the public square… Bahá’ulláh sent… a brilliant and brave youth, to rescue the mangled remains of the Báb from the fury of the foe. And then he arranged for the concealment of the remains in order to protect them from … the oppressors… Today they rest on Mount Carmen, in a beautiful mausoleum.” (Pg. 12-14)
He adds, “The Babis presented… a sad spectacle in this period… The Shah… had not exercised his sovereign authority in favor of their … oppressed community, and therefore he had to pay the supreme penalty… On August 12, 1852, they ventured upon their insane [assassination] attempt and failed… The enemies of the Báb had found their golden opportunity to exterminate His followers… His friends warned [Bahá’ulláh] of the engulfing tide… [But] the next day He rode towards the camp of the Shah… They laid their rough hands upon His person…. He Who had been their friend and defender… was not the victim of their blazing hatred.” (Pg. 15)
He explains, “The prison cell in which Bahá’ulláh was confined, together with many other Bábis, was a grim, dark and stench-laden pit… Day after day an official would come to the prison and call the names of those who would meet their martyr’s death on that day… Hundreds of Bábis died in the blood-bath of 1852, after being subjected to excruciating tortures…. Such was the fortitude of the Bábis and such was the magnitude of their sacrifice.” (Pg. 17-19)
He goes on, “For four agony-laden months Bahá’ulláh lingered in chains, in the dismal, pestilential dungeon… But it was in the dark of that dungeon that Bahá’ulláh saw the Light of God shining in His own Self… The promise of the Báb, nay, the promise of all the Messengers of God, was fulfilled. The time, however, had not come for a public declaration. Ten more years had to elapse, before Bahá’ulláh would announce His Manifestation to human kind.” (Pg. 19-20)
He reports, “Hitherto, the believers in the Báb had been recruited from the Shi’ih sect of Islam. Now, under the aegis of Bahá’ulláh, others came to enlist. He recreated the withered lives of the Bábis. They were told not to resist by violence any encroachments made on their liberties. In this manner He stemmed the tide of lawlessness that at one time had seriously menaced the integrity of the Bábi community. And so it came that Bahá’ulláh’s Divine guidance called the Bábis once again to a noble life. Once again they lived with faith in their hearts, their deeds testifying to the belief they bore.” (Pg. 26)
He states, “Bahá’ulláh’s fame was now spreading far and wide. Except for a very small number… the Bábis, wherever they were, had accepted the Divine mandate of Bahá’ulláh. The Turkish authorities treated him with great courtesy and marked respect… And many of His followers … traveled to … drink deeply at the fount of His Revelation. All these things stung his adversaries to fresh action.” (Pg. 31-32)
But eventually, “Notwithstanding the fierce prejudices which assailed them on every side, the Bahá’ís succeeded before long in subduing the hatred of the populace. A war was waged between the forces of character and integrity, and turbulent passions bred by ignorance. In the end victory went to the side which had risen above the plain of conflict, and in submitting its will to a Higher Will, had freed itself of fear and distrust. It gradually dawned upon the officials and he leaders of religion that their Chief Prisoner was not an ordinary man, that they had in their hands a Personage or vastly superior gifts and powers. They became enamored of His majestic bearing, of His amazing knowledge of human affairs, of his disarming charity and forbearing nature. Their prisoner He was, but a time came when it was almost impossible to realize the fact, or to enforce the harsh and drastic injunctions of the Government in Constantinople. Bahá’ís came from far and wide, and with little difficulty attained the presence of Bahá’ulláh. High officials of the Ottoman government sought interviews with the Prisoner, to pay Him their respects…. However, nine years elapsed before Bahá’ulláh left the confines of the city walls.” (Pg. 58-59)
He reports, “The last years of Bahá’ulláh’s life were devoted to writing and revealing innumerable Tablets, Epistles and Treatises on many and varied subjects of spiritual and educative purport… The writings of Bahá’ulláh in their range, their scope and their depth remain unequalled amongst the Scriptures of mankind .. We ought to remember the incalculable advantage which the writings of Bahá’ulláh possess in relation to the Holy Books of former times. Their originals are extant and well preserved, and future generations will be spared the crushing responsibility of deciding the authenticity of the Works ascribed to the Prophet. Oral tradition finds no place in the Scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith.” (Pg. 66-67)
He records, “Bahá’ulláh left His human temple on the 29th of May, 1892… Seventy years separate us from the days when Bahá’ulláh lived amongst men. The Faith which He proclaimed has encircled the globe … and the resplendent edifice which He raised stands to offer certitude and peace to a disordered world.” (Pg. 67)
Baluzi summarizes, “It is in the Revelation of Bahá’ulláh that for the first time in the religious experience of mankind, the reality, the station, the function and the mission of the Manifestation of God, are made unequivocally clear. All the arguments and counter-arguments of human invention pale into insignificance in the light of Bahá’ulláh’s exposition. In this light one can see… History… as a stupendous drama… determined by the magnetic and vivifying powers of a Manifestation of God, Who brings that measure of guidance for the age in which He appears… His message and His teachings are qualified by the degree of growth reached by Man at that particular epoch.
“The wholeness and oneness of religion is established as incontrovertible fact. One refuses to accept the existence of fundamental conflict amongst the religions of mankind. The law of evolution is found to be applicable to religion, which ceases to be divorced from life, and in fact causes the evolution of society. The interdependence of the diverse Faiths of mankind is well understood. No longer will man concede a cleavage between the spiritual and the temporal. Therefore it follows that the rise of every civilization is due to the spiritual dynamic released by a manifestation of God and the fall of every civilization is caused by the stagnation of the same dynamic in the course of time.” (Pg. 81-82)
He argues, “No Manifestation of God has ever found ready and immediate acceptance amongst the people of the world. He is invariably denied and opposed and rejected… Moses was a member of an enslaved and oppressed race, also a fugitive from justice…. Jesus was a member of a subject and oppressed race… and had no connection with … the leaders of His people. Muhammad is usually referred to as a camel-driver… Those who first respond to the call of a Manifestation of God are also of humble origin.” (Pg. 91)
This book----and the other ‘biographies’ written by Baluzi---will be of great interest to anyone studying the Bahá’í Faith.
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