The Concept of “Faithfulness”� in the Baha’i Texts in English Translation

Abstract

The Bahá'í texts touch on many facets of faithfulness: being faithful as an individual; God being faithful to His people; believers being faithful to the Covenant established by Bahá'u'lláh; Bahá'u'lláh calling the believers of a former era to be faithful to the new Manifestation of God. For people, faithfulness is a state of being, an attitude of mind and soul that reflects itself in behaviour and deeds, a spiritual quality that manifests itself in relationships as, for example, loyalty, trustworthiness and reliability. This is a preliminary examination of the concept of faithfulness in Bahá'í English-language texts and the behaviours expected from those who are faithful.