Centenary of the Baha'i Faith in Scotland

With our Centenary Workshops (below) now complete, please see our Regular Calendar !

The Centenary of Abdu'l-Bahá's Visit to Scotland, was celebrated by the Baha'is of Isle of Lewis with a series of public meetings in Stornoway throughout a period of 12 months.

Program of Events

All the meetings will be held at the Art Centre (An Lanntair), Stornoway (Interactive Map • Venue Contact Info), all speakers are from Highlands and Islands, and admission is free...

Harmony of Religion and Science: the basis for a peaceful, ordered and progressive society	25 Feb	2012	7pm - 9pm	Mhairi and Rolf Schmidt
Spiritual solutions to economic problems	24 Mar	2012	7pm - 9pm	Rosemary and Ronnie Bindra
Independent investigation of truth	21 Apr	2012	7pm - 9pm	George Macdonald
Adoption of an auxiliary universal language	26 May	2012	7pm - 9pm	Ken Carew
Establishing and safeguarding a permanent and universal peace, the supreme goal of mankind	23 Jun	2012	7pm - 9pm	Elizabeth Emerson
Elimination of Prejudice, whether religious, racial, class or national	28 Jul	2012	7pm - 9pm	Ann and Tom Mackenzie
Universal, compulsory education	25 Aug	2012	7pm - 9pm	Maggie Manvell
Work performed in the spirit of service to mankind exalted to the rank of worship	22 Sep	2012	7pm - 9pm	Sandi Humphry
Equal opportunity, right and privileges for men and women	27 Oct	2012	7pm - 9pm	Pat Macnicol
Unity of God and His prophets	24 Nov	2012	7pm - 9pm	Sarah Broun
Strengthening the Foundations of Global Governance	15 Dec	2012	7pm - 9pm	Kishan Manocha
Unity in the Community	19 Jan	2013	7pm - 9pm	Erfan Fadaei
Abdul-Baha and the Centenary	02 Mar	2013	7pm - 9pm	Jeremy Fox

Abdu'l-Baha was freed and He travelled to Scotland.

How impossible it was for a prisoner of a tyrannous Sultan to cross over the walls enclosing Him, let alone to travel to the West, visiting countries such as Scotland. Suddenly, in 1908 due to the movement of the Young Turks, all political prisoners of the old Ottoman regime were freed. Abdu'l-Bahá was now a free man and the Western Bahá'ís prepared to host their beloved Master.

In 1911 and 1912, Abdul-Baha had already visited Egypt, Austria, France, United States and London, drawing huge crowds to His talks.

He came to Scotland on 6th January 1913 for several days, at the invitation of Mrs Whyte wife of the Rev. Dr Alexander Whyte, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Reformed Free Church, a leading figure in the Free Church in Scotland.

She had previously visited Abdul-Baha in prison while she was in Palestine. Back in Edinburgh she spoke widely of Him, giving formal talks and writing articles. As a result, His history, His beliefs, His travels and His photographs appeared frequently in news papers, and thus by the time of His visit there was a considerable buzz of expectation!

Rev. Whyte encouraged his wife's aims of promoting Abdul-Baha and giving publicity to His Faith. As a result, even before Abdul-Baha's visit, the first Scottish Baha'i meetings were held. He was invited to stay in the Manse.

He addressed university students on Oneness of religion.
He spoke to a packed audience on the need for an international language.
He met with suffragists and anti-suffragists at the Manse and outlined the equality of the sexes.
He visited a poor school and kindergarten and attended a performance of Handle's Messiah in aid of the poor.
He spoke about the need to be always open to truth and not follow others blindly.
He replied to Andrew Carnegie's letters who had attended His meetings.

Newspapers carried lengthy, positive reports of the meetings as well as articles on the Baha'i Faith throughout His visit and for several months afterwards, often publishing talks in full. The Faith received particular highlight for its tolerance of other religions.

Our centenary programme was advertised on scotlandsislands.com