The Bahá'í Faith arose in nineteenth-century Iran. It grew from the movement of the Báb (1819–1850), who proclaimed in 1844 the coming of a new divine messenger and was executed at Tabríz. Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892), exiled from Iran to Baghdad, Constantinople, Adrianople and finally Akka, declared himself that messenger; his writings are the scripture of the Faith. He appointed his son ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (1844–1921) as the interpreter of his words and the centre of his covenant, and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in turn appointed his grandson Shoghi Effendi (1897–1957) as Guardian. Bahá'ís regard the writings of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh as revelation, and the writings of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi as their authoritative interpretation.

The shelf has four rooms, one for each of these figures. Every text here is the authorized English edition of the Bahá'í Reference Library. Much of the English translation from the Persian and Arabic was made by Shoghi Effendi, and later volumes were prepared at the Bahá'í World Centre. These texts are not in the public domain: they are copyright © Bahá'í International Community and appear here, whole and unaltered except in layout, under the Community's own terms of use, which every page quotes in its colophon. For a short overview of the Faith's history and teaching, see The Bahá'í Faith on the Ethnotheology shelf.