Photos on
new Web site bring into focus the life of Baha'u'llah
|
HAIFA,
Israel 7 November 2007 (BWNS)- A new Web site
featuring photographs that help viewers
experience the life of Baha'u'llah has been
launched by the Baha'i International Community.
Some
of the photographs have not been published
before, and many of them have had only limited
distribution.
The
launch of the Web site comes just before the
Baha'i holy day on 12 November that marks the
anniversary of the birth of Baha'u'llah.
"The
purpose of the Web site is to provide
illustration of Baha'u'llah's life through
photographs of places and artifacts and relics
associated directly with Him," said Douglas
Moore, director of the Office of Public
Information of the Baha'i International
Community.
"We've
tried to bring together a unique collection of
photos, many of them not generally available, so
that you get a better sense of Baha'u'llah's
life and the time period in which He
lived," Mr. Moore said. |
The home page of the
new Web site, which includes 120 photographs of
Baha'u'llah's native land, the cities of His
exile, and places and relics related to His
extraordinary life.
|
Rather than
providing a comprehensive history or literary
presentation of the Baha'i Faith, the new Web site aims
rather to be impressionistic.
"It's
more contemplative, more experiential," Mr. Moore
said.
Thus it
complements other Web sites that do provide a more
complete description of the religion, he said.
Baha'u'llah
was a Persian nobleman who in the 19th century claimed
to be nothing less than a new and independent Messenger
from God, the one whose advent was anticipated by all
the divine Messengers of the past - including Abraham,
Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad -
and foretold in the holy books.
Baha'u'llah,
who was born in 1817, was exiled from his native Tehran
and banished to the Ottoman Empire - to Baghdad,
Constantinople (now Istanbul), and finally Acre.
"The
new Web site is appropriate for a range of audiences,
not only Baha'is and those who have a deep interest in
the Baha'i Faith, but also people who, from an academic
or historical perspective, want to see what kind of
photographic documentation exists for such a unique
figure as Baha'u'llah," Mr. Moore said.
He noted
that the Web site does not include a photograph of
Baha'u'llah Himself. Such a photograph does exist, but
it is treated with extreme reverence and viewed only in
special circumstances; it is never published by Baha'is,
nor would Baha'is reproduce it.
The
photographs on the Web site are from the archives at the
Baha'i World Center in Haifa.
The address
of the site is www.bahaullah.org.
