The History of the Bahá'í Faith

Dr. Moojan Momen

In the course of a little more than 150 years, the Bahá'í Faith has grown from an obscure movement within a minority sect of Islam into a worldwide religion. Only the briefest outline of its history can be given.

Bahá'í history can conveniently be broken up into five periods:

• The Period of the Báb (1844-1852)
• The Ministry of Bahá'u'lláh (1852-1892)
• The Ministry of `Abdu'l-Bahá (1892-1921)
• The Period of the Guardianship (Shoghi Effendi, 1921-1963)
• The Universal House of Justice (1963-)