Exploring the Baha’i faith beyond its magnificent temple 

The Baha’i faith is popular for its magnificent temple, which is an epitome of beauty, art and culture, with well-manicured gardens where one’s soul connects with nature as one meditates about God.

For decades, this temple on Kikaaya hill, also the only Baha’i temple on the continent, has attracted tourists to its more than 52 acres of land. Yet beyond its beautiful landmark, little is known about the faith; hardly do you ever find someone identifying as Baha’i.

Some think they are monks, others categorise it as a cult. The Observer decided to take a trip to the temple to get a deeper understanding of the faith.

We reached the 71-year-old temple at around 11 am and like many who visit, its serene beauty blew us away. We found believers having breakfast in the temple’s cafeteria before going for the day’s devotionals, which last the whole day. Unlike other religions, the Baha’i faith holds prayers every day – there is no special day or sabbath.

The temple’s administration block is as beautiful as the main temple, following the same architectural designs. Adjacent is the temple’s cemetery, where pioneers of the faith in Uganda were laid to rest.

Origin

According to Charles Anglin, the director of the Baha’i house of worship Kampala, the Baha’i faith began in 1844, in present-day Iran, in a town called Shiraz. The founding father of the Baha’i faith is famously known as the Bab, a title which means the gate, and it is said he got the vision at the age of 25 years.

Anglin said the Bab began to teach the people of Iran how they were witnessing the dawn of a new day and how a divine teacher was about to appear who would bring about a tremendous change in society. The Bab’s followers came to be known as the Babis.

However, due to the controversy of his teachings at the time, which included gender equality and emancipation of people in society, the Iranian clergy and government were not pleased with him because some of his teachings were contrary to available political, cultural and religious structures. So, they began to persecute the Bab and his followers.

They were repeatedly placed under house arrest, and moved from town to town in Iran. However, the faith continued to grow in Iran, which forced the clergy and the ministers to finally put the Bab to death in 1850, together with over 20,000 of his followers.

Anglin explains that after the death of the Bab, one of his followers who was called Baha’u’llah, which means the glory of God, took on the mantle of leadership after serving two years in prison.

During his time in jail, it is said that Baha’u’llah got a revelation from God that through him He would establish the new era in human history.

“So, we consider the Bab and Baha’u’llah as the twin founders of the Baha’i faith,” Anglin said.

Towards the end of 1852, Baha’u’llah was exiled with his family and was later banished never to return to Iran.  

“He was sent to Baghdad. And there he spent about ten years and he was later exiled to different places until his death in 1892,” Anglin said.

However, during his exile, he wrote to various kings and rulers of the world promoting the message of hope and justice. And in order to do that, they needed to establish peace amongst themselves and that is how the Baha’i faith started to spread beyond the Middle East.

After the death of Baha’u’llah, his son Abdu’l-Baha took on the leadership of the Baha’i faith and was later succeeded by his grandson Shoghi Effendi in 1921.   

In 1963, the Universal House of Justice was formed, which would become the international institution that oversees the affairs of the faith.

“So, the faith is not invested in individuals; it’s in this body. And it’s a group of believers who are elected every five years,” he said.

Coming of the Baha’i faith to Uganda

The Baha’i faith was first brought to Uganda in 1951 by a family that came from Iran, comprising Musa Banani and his wife, Samiyyeh Banani, as well as their daughter, Violette Nakhjavani, and their granddaughter, Bahiyyih Nakhjavani and their son-in-law, called Ali Nakhjavani.

These were accompanied by a man from Britain called Philip Hainsworth.  It is said that Banani bought a house in Kampala and began to teach the Baha’i faith. In April of 1952, the first local administrative body of the faith was established in Uganda, comprising Ugandans such as Crispin Kajubi, Fred Biggawa from Tooro, Peter Musoke and Enoch Olinga.

“These individuals, together with the Bananis and Hainsworth were the nine individuals, who formed the first administrative body, which we call the Local Spiritual Assembly.”

By 1954, the Baha’i faith had grown to more than 500 Baha’is and as of today, there are at least 32,000 believers in the country and working with about 119,000 people who are engaged in various Baha’i activities.

Anglin said the rapid growth of the faith in the Ugandan community led the head of the faith at the time, Shoghi Effendi to announce that a temple would be built in Uganda.

“Construction began in 1958 and it was finished in 1961,” Anglin said.

Erich Mbowa, who was our tour guide, said the faith has eight continental temples with the African temple located at Kikaaya, Uganda.
Mbowa said the architectural design of the temple in Kikaaya was inspired by the culture of Uganda, where people at the time of construction predominantly stayed in huts.

Besides the temples at the continental level, the Baha’i faith has also put in place local houses of worship in different parts of the world, also known as national temples in Cambodia, Columbia, Kenya, Vanuatu and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Baha’i prayer and holy books  

During our tour around the temple, it was observed that the way of prayer and worship in the Baha’i faith is different from other religions.

While most religious denominations have spiritual leaders or clergy, in the Baha’i faith it is one on one encounter with God with no mediator between the person praying and God; instead they have prayer groups outside the temple where they read and mediate about different scriptures.

Secondly, the Baha’i faith is considered a universal religion welcoming all people from different walks of life. Inside the temple, you will find different religious books like the Qur’an, the Bible and other religious books from different religions; however, they also have their own book known as the Kitáb -i-Aqdas, which is considered to be the most holy book in the Baha’i faith.

“The most holy book was revealed by Baha’u’llah himself with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Most of the things we follow as believers in the Baha’i faith comes from the Kitáb -i-Aqdas,” Mbowa said.

This Kitáb -i-Aqdas covers a range of topics, including foundational principles of the religion, the establishment of the Baha’i faith institutions, mysticism, ethics, social principles, and prophecies.

Unlike other holy books, the Kitáb -i-Aqdas can only be bought from the Baha’i Publishing Trust located on the Baha’i temple premises. During prayer gatherings, preaching and teachings in the temple are based on the theme of the day.

“If the message is about forgiveness, it can be got from holy books like the Bible and Qur’an, and they will get scriptures in the Bible that talk about forgiveness and they will also get a scripture from the Qur’an that talks about forgiveness, and also get scriptures from the Kitáb -i-Aqdas that talk about forgiveness,” Mbowa said.

Furthermore, don’t go expecting praise and worship in song at the Baha’i temple; they don’t sing because the temple is a place for meditation and prayer. The songs that are sang are more of chants that help believers to meditate.

Songs that include dancing and playing instruments are only played outside of temple. What the faith does though, is fast. Believers have a 19-day fast during the last month of the Baha’i calendar. The fasting period in the Baha’i faith takes place between March 2 and March 20.

This is meant to draw Baha’i believers closer to God and reinvigorate the soul. This fast is obligatory for all Baha’i believers 15 years and above, up to the age of 70 years.

What believers say

Anisz Fuezi, 19, and a volunteer at the Baha’i temple, hails from Germany. She said the Bahai faith played a tremendous role in his personal growth and understanding of the world.

“In Baha’i faith, we believe in unity and we also believe that every human being is the same. We believe that those borders of countries or religion like everything which creates separation amongst people, are not conducive to accomplishing unity,” said Anisz.

Bettina Nalugo, 23, has been a Baha’i believer since her childhood. She talked about her experience in primary school that given most people consider it an alien religion amongst Ugandans; she and her siblings would always have trouble explaining it to people amidst the various misconceptions about the faith.

“I found myself preaching about the Baha’i faith because when the school asked about our faith, you had to  do those long explanations,” said Nalugo.

Growing up, it was debunking myth after myth about her faith. At school people used to say that Baha’i temple had ghosts and that the trees bled. Hamlet Oloro, 29, is Ethiopian and joined the Baha’i faith at the age of 15.

“My grandmother was Orthodox, my other aunties were Protestant. All the exposure [to different religions] helped me decide at the age of 15 years to take up the Baha’i faith,” Oloro said.