The Lineage of Bahá'u'lláh

*A retelling based on **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi (chapter VI), which sets out the lineage and station of Bahá'u'lláh. Words in quotation marks are quoted from that book, except for Bahá'u'lláh's own words from the Questions and Answers published with **The Kitáb-i-Aqdas**.*

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Bahá'u'lláh was born in Tihrán on 12 November 1817, the second day of the month of Muḥarram in the Islamic year 1233. His given name was Mírzá Ḥusayn-ʿAlí. Asked about the Festival of the Twin Birthdays, Bahá'u'lláh wrote: "The Birth of the Abhá Beauty was at the hour of dawn on the second day of the month of Muharram, the first day of which marketh the Birth of His Herald."

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His father was Mírzá ʿAbbás, "better known as Mírzá Buzurg--a nobleman closely associated with the ministerial circles of the Court of Fath-'Alí Sháh." Through him, Shoghi Effendi writes, Bahá'u'lláh belonged "to one of the most ancient and renowned families of Mázindarán."

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Shoghi Effendi traces His descent much further back. "He derived His descent, on the one hand, from Abraham (the Father of the Faithful) through his wife Katurah, and on the other from Zoroaster, as well as from Yazdigird, the last king of the Sásáníyán dynasty." He was also "a descendant of Jesse," the father of King David, and Shoghi Effendi notes that Isaiah had alluded to Him as the "Rod come forth out of the stem of Jesse."

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The same chapter sets out what His coming meant to the followers of each earlier religion: "To Israel He was neither more nor less than the incarnation of the 'Everlasting Father,' the 'Lord of Hosts' come down 'with ten thousands of saints'; to Christendom Christ returned 'in the glory of the Father,' to Shí'ah Islám the return of the Imám Husayn; to Sunní Islám the descent of the 'Spirit of God' (Jesus Christ); to the Zoroastrians the promised Sháh-Bahrám; to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna; to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha."

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*This is a retelling. For the full account, see **God Passes By**, chapter VI, by Shoghi Effendi.*

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