Resurrection from the perspective of the Baha’i Faith

Resurrection of the soul and body is one of the principal Islamic beliefs, and its importance is shown therein. The Bahá’í faith is one of those schools that believe in spiritual survival and does not approve Muslims’ todays understanding of physical resurrection. It also considers the resurrection-related concepts, such as death, life, paradise and its material blessings, hell and its physical torments, and so on, belonged to the people of the preceding ages and to the extent of their understanding. The Baha’i leaders believe that all of the above Quranic concepts are metaphorical or interpretative and have completely different meanings than their literal and physical meanings, and include higher concepts - according to the understanding of the peoples living in our period. Using the words of their leaders, the Baha’i writers by expressing these meanings try to explain and rationalize their claims. Since the believe in resurrection is one of the essential and principal thoughts of the divine religions, and the Baha’i Faith does not recognize it in the way that the divine religions have introduced it, the divinity of Baha’i Faith has severely been challenged. The present article examines the dimensions of the belief in the spiritual survival, the metaphorical and interpretative meanings put forward by the Baha’i leaders for resurrection and the extent to which they conform to the Quranic verses. Documents have also been provided about the contradictions in the Baha’i leaders’ statements and their confessions to the return of the soul to the body, despite their general view on the resurrection.