A central Bahá'í doctrine is that God is ultimately unknowable in his essence, but that God's attributes can be observed in the divine Messengers or Manifestations.
However, since only those who live during the time of a Manifestation have the opportunity of observing Him directly, the connection between the individual and God is primarily maintained through the writings and spoken words of each Manifestation.
For Bahá'ís, the word of the Manifestation is the Word of God, though which an individual can grow closer to God and acquire a deeper knowledge of Him. It is for this reason that the discipline of daily prayer, meditation, and study of the holy writings constitutes an important part of the individual spiritual practice of Bahá'ís.
The most holy text is the Kitab-i-Aqbas, written by Bahá'u'lláh. This text forms the book of laws in the Bahá'í Faith. Other important texts include:
- Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
- Prayers and Meditations
- Epistle to the Son of Wolf
- The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys
External Links
- The Bahá'í Sacred Writings - Bahai.org
- Online text of the Kitab-i-Aqbas - UNC
- Bahá'í Computer and Communications Association - Online text of many Bahá'í sacred texts