Under each topic below, you will find presentations, links to audio-visual material, classroom activities and in some cases schemes of work and lesson plans, as well as teachers’ notes.
In addition to the downloadable resources, the following items are available, some to download from this site and others for purchase from the Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop:
- The Bahá’í Faith – photocopiable worksheets for teachers of RE. This can be downloaded free of charge here (PDF, 11Mb);
- a textbook for KS2 and KS3, centred around a Bahá’í family in the UK;
- a leaflet The Bahá’í Faith – What is it?, a useful leaflet containing basic information. Download here (PDF, 370Kb) ;
- a series of short biographies of central figures of the Bahá’í Faith;
- a Resource Pack for teachers, containing all of the above, plus teachers’ notes, a class set of the leaflet The Bahá’í Faith – What is it?, and various other leaflets and photographs.
Though not specifically Bahá’í in content, a programme of study for Character Education has been developed by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues of the University of Birmingham. The secondary programme can be accessed here.
We would love to hear about your experiences of using any of our materials, so do please let us know how you get on, using the contact form.
An Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith – Part 1: A Brief Overview (5Mb)
An Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith – Worksheets to support the presentation
The following presentation may be used by students studying individually or in pairs or small groups, making observations as they review each slide.
Bahá’í Principles and Teachings (8Mb)
The following pack of photocopiable worksheets allows pupils to learn more about the basic teachings of the Bahá’í Faith:
The figures associated with the foundation and early years of the Bahá’í Faith are:
- The Báb, a Messenger of God and the Herald of Bahá’u’lláh. He declared his mission in 1844 and was executed in 1850;
- Bahá’u’lláh, the Messenger of God foretold by the Báb, who despite repeated exile and imprisonment was able to develop the Báb’s new religious community into an outward-looking force;
- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh, who took his father’s religion to new parts of the world.
The lives of both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh are exalted above those of ordinary humans, and the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is an example of how human beings should ideally behave.
The following Powerpoint presentations tell the story of Bahá’u’lláh, and are suitable for a teacher to use in a classroom setting.
Presentation : The History of the Bahá’í Faith Part 1 – Bahá’u’lláh (11.1 Mb)
A special presentation developed in the Bicentenary year of Bahá’u’lláh’s birth, telling the story of his life and with added notes and activities:
Presentation : The Life of Bahá’u’lláh (10 Mb) with accompanying video for Mac (.mov) or Windows (.wmv)
The following presentations can be used by a teacher with the class, but are not designed for self-guided work by students at this level:
The Life of Bahá’u’lláh (5Mb) Teachers notes on ‘Life of Bahá’u’lláh’ (2Mb)
The Life of the Báb (8Mb) Teachers notes on ‘Life of the Báb‘
The following presentation would be useful for pupils exploring the topics of ‘Scripture’ or ‘Holy Books’, perhaps as extension work:
The Writings of Bahá’u’lláh (1Mb) Teachers notes on ‘The Writings of Baha’ú’lláh’
The following pack of photocopiable worksheets allows pupils to learn more about the central figures of the Bahá’í Faith:
An Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith – Part 2: Laws and Practices (3Mb)
An Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith – Part 2: Laws and Practices
The following pack of photocopiable worksheets allows pupils to learn more about how their faith influences the lives of individual Bahá’ís :
Worksheets pack 3.3 – The individual (4Mb)
Bahá’í calendar
The Bahá’í calendar
The Bahá’í calendar (also called the Badi calendar meaning wondrous or unique) is a solar calendar composed of nineteen months of nineteen days each, plus an extra period of four or five intercalary days, known as Ayyam-i-Ha. The Bahá’í year begins on the day of the spring equinox, which always falls on either March 20th or March 21st. The inception of the Baha’i calendar was on 21 March 1844, the year during which the Báb declared His mission and the Bahá’í Faith began. Years are counted with the date notation of BE (Bahá’í Era). The year 173 BE began on 20 March 2016, but because the Bahá’í day begins and ends at sunset, this was celebrated from sunset on 19th March.
Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage is made to Bahá’í sites in the Holy Land. On a full nine-day pilgrimage the pilgrims are taken to Bahá’u’lláh’s prison cell in Akká, to the house where He was subsequently confined, and to the two houses in the countryside where He ended his days. Adjacent to Bahji, His last house, is the building in which He was interred. This is referred to as “The Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh”, and is the spot Bahá’ís face when saying their obligatory prayers.
A pilgrimage also includes prayer at the Shrine of the Báb, where his remains were interred, some years after his execution. The steps and terraced gardens leading up to the Shrine, and beyond the Shrine towards the top of Mount Carmel, provide a fitting and spiritual setting to the building itself. The beauty of the Shrine and the tranquillity of the gardens bring peace to the soul. The effect of the experience upon each pilgrim is naturally personal and individual. Visits to the different historical and sacred sites take place in companionship with others, allowing each pilgrim to take back both personal glimpses and shared experiences.
The downloadable presentation includes personal insights from young people about their experiences of Bahá’í piligrimage: Bahá’í pilgrimage.
Bahá’í pilgrimage (8.3 Mb)
The worksheets pack on ‘Bahá’í Community Life’ (below) also contains a section on pilgrimage.
Prayer
Bahá’u’lláh taught that God is unknowable in His essence, but that we should pray and meditate daily in order to develop our own spiritual faculties. The following Powerpoint presentation explores these teachings, and the practices of prayer and meditation as understood by Bahá’ís. The accompanying PDF file for teachers gives the text of the PPT as well as some ideas for activities and discussion topics.
The spiritual teachings of the Bahá’í Faith (2Mb)
Teacher’s notes: spiritual teachings of the Bahai Faith (1Mb)
The following scheme concerns itself with the questions “Where do Bahá’ís worship” and “What does equality look like in the Bahá’í community?”
Lesson plan: Unity and Equality in the Bahá’í Community
Worksheets pack 3.4 – Bahá’í community life (4Mb)
The presentation listed under ‘Basic information’ above also has a section on community life, as does the accompanying worksheet.
Worship can take place anywhere, but in practice the vast majority of Bahá’í devotional meetings take place either in a private home or in a Bahá’í Centre. In the future, each town or village will have its own Mashriqu’l-Adhkar, or House of Worship. Mashriqu’l-Adhkar literally means “Dawning Place of the Remembrance of God”. In the fulness of time, each House of Worship will also offer “institutions of social service” that relieve suffering, sustain the poor, and provide shelter, solace and education – such as a care home, a clinic, a library or a hostel.
Each House of Worship is circular in shape, has nine sides, and is surrounded by nine gardens. All the world’s Scriptures are read there, and the building is open to people of all races and of all religions or none. The first to be built was at Ishqabad (Ashkabad) in what is now Turkmenistan. It was confiscated by the Soviet authorities, and later suffered earthquake damage. There is one Mashriqu’l-Adhkar in each continent at present. The latest one was opened in Santiago, Chile, in October 2016. The architecture of some of these buildings is very striking, particularly that of the Chile temple and the one in India. Known as the “lotus temple”, the House of Worship in New Delhi is built on the design of a giant lotus flower.
Photos of each of the eight Houses of Worship can be downloaded from the Other Resources page.
The downloadable presentation shows some of the Bahá’í Houses of Worship and the ways Bahá’ís worship in other places. It is designed to be used with the accompanying lesson plan.
Places of Worship (10.9 Mb)