veiled4allah: the Baha'i faith

You may have heard of Dr. David Kelly, the British scientist at the center of the Iraq intelligence controversy who is believed to have committed suicide. According to this article, Dr. Kelly followed the Baha'i faith.

The Baha'i faith is an offshoot of Islam. It arose in Iran in the 1800s by way of the Babi movement (a good overview of its history is here)

Like the Nation of Islam and Ahmadiyya, the Baha'i faith believes that its founder was a prophet. Unlike the NOI and Ahmadiyya, the Baha'i faith considers itself to be a separate religion from Islam although related to it in something of the same way that Christianity and Islam are related to Judaism (the Baha'i faith is itself related to Judaism in the same way).

Muslims believe, based on the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), that the cycle of prophecy was completed with Muhammad (pbuh) and the revelation of the Quran as a universal scripture. For this reason, Muslims consider Baha'i, Ahmadiyya, and the NOI to be separate, though related, religions.

Some Muslims are concerned to refute the teachings of these religions; I however, prefer merely to point out that they are different religious traditions and to present information on the Islamic viewpoint so that people can make their own decision. One of the problems I have with Ahmadiyya and the NOI is that very often they do not clearly distinguish how their beliefs differ from those of orthodox Muslims. They are independent religious traditions now and should be considered in their own right rather than treated as represenatative of orthodox Islam. I do not have a problem with Baha'is since they make it clear where they differ.

Here is website about the Baha'i faith and Islam, written from the Baha'i perspective.