Bahá’u’lláh, << bah HAH ul LAH >> (1817-1892), was the founder of the Bahá’í Faith. Members of this religion regard him as a prophet chosen by God to communicate his will.
Bahá’u’lláh, whose real name was Mirza Husayn-Ali, was born on Nov. 12, 1817, in Tehran, Persia (now Iran). He took the name Bahá’u’lláh, which means Glory of God, in 1847 after he became associated with a religious movement led by a man called the Bab (Gate). The Bahá’í scriptures are formed by the writings of the Bab, Bahá’u’lláh, and Abdul-Baha, the son of Bahá’u’lláh. The Bab predicted that a great prophet would soon appear. In 1850, the Persian government executed the Bab for his teachings, and Bahá’u’lláh became a leader of the movement. The government imprisoned Bahá’u’lláh briefly in 1853 and then exiled him to Baghdad, in what is now Iraq.
In 1863, Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed himself the prophet foretold by the Bab and founded the Bahá’í Faith. Ottoman authorities, who ruled Baghdad at that time, banished him to Istanbul, in what is now Turkey, the next year. From 1868 until his death on May 29, 1892, Bahá’u’lláh lived in a prison colony in what is now Akko, Israel.
