Unveiling the Bahá’í Faith: Concealment and Disclosure in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh

This paper explores the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, and their role in unveiling the religion. Written primarily in Arabic and Persian from 1852-1892, his massive collection of writings includes a wide spectrum of topics that are central to the study of religion. The central question of this paper is the dialectic of concealment and disclosure, in which Bahá’u’lláh gradually revealed his divine station and teachings, analogous to the rising sun. This study takes a historical and linguistic approach to understand why and how he concealed and disclosed his message. Focusing on his writings that were penned during the decade that he lived in Baghdád, this paper concludes that Bahá’u’lláh established himself as the spiritual leader of the Bábí community while outwardly concealing his divine station. This study contributes to religious studies scholarship by examining the interplay of the manifestation and hiddenness of the divine.