Description

The Kitāb-i Īqān (‘Book of Certitude’), by Baha’u’llah.

Who was Baha’u’llah?

Mirza Husayn ‘Ali Nuri (1817–1892), known as Baha’u’llah, was the founder of the Baha’i faith. Born in Tehran into a prominent family of court officials, he rejected the life of a courtier and instead joined the Babi movement from which he developed his own religion.

The Book of Certitude

The Kitāb-i Īqān (‘Book of Certitude’) is one of Baha’u’llah’s major works dating from the early 1860s while he was exiled in Baghdad, but before he openly announced his claim to be the promised one of all religions. It became probably the most copied, widely circulated and influential of all Baha’i works.

Baha’i books were printed in India from about 1882 onwards at Baha’u’llah’s direction. Shown here is the opening of what is believed to be the earliest publication of a Baha’i book, a lithograph of Kitāb-i Īqān (‘Book of Certitude’), which was published in India around 1882. After 1892, the publication of Baha’i books shifted to Egypt, which was a major hub for publishing in the Middle East at the time.