THE ORIGINS AND SPREAD OF BAHAI FAITH IN KENYA WITH REFERENCE TO BAHAI COMMUNITIES IN NAIROBI AND VIHIGA (1950 - 1999)

Abstract

Bahai faith was introduced in Kenya in the early ]950s. However, it is hardly known by many of how it came to Kenya, for what reasons and the basic tenets of its teachings. This study examines the content of the Bahai Faith, and the factors that facilitated its introduction to Kenya - both intemal and extema1. The study is an attempt to answer the question why the Faith is accepted in Kenya. The study also cares about the implication of the Faith to the adherents and its meaning to the wider society, in other words, the changes that resulted if any after the Faith took root in Kenya. A model is developed to help analyze the origin and the spread of the Bahai Faith in Kenya. The model is called the market model, which is composed of the elements that the research analyzes. The elements are: Messenger, Message, people accepting the message, the system of interaction, and the environment. The elements contribute to the nature of Bahai Faith in Kenya. The study involves both library and field research. The field research was done among the Nairobi Bahai Community supplemented by Bahai Communities in Vihiga district and some insights from Bahai teaching-activities in the outskirts of Nairobi. The historical background of the Bahai Faith, its founders and the Bahai narrative gives the study a point of reference. As the narrative came to Kenya, Bahai' s history began and hence the study attempts the spread and consolidation of the Faith in Kenya. The kind of social transformations that the narrative encourages and stands for are also a key point in establishing the status of the Faith in Kenya. In a wider perspective, the study -discusses how religious growth and development both qualitatively and quantitatively is affected by the experiential vi element, which figuratively acts as the fulcrum of a religion while the social transformation aspect as the effort, and the progress is considered as the load. The study established that the (fulcrum) experiential dimension of religion, though negated by the Bahais of Kenya, has a prominent place in the growth and spread of the Faith and the realization of the Bahai vision in the world. The experiential dimension also affects the social transformation and the process of consolidation. The research asserts that if the Bahai Faith is to have a tangible future, the experiential dimension must be given a place to the effect that people will appropriate the religious truth freely and in their best intuitions. Otherwise, the Bahais do have their brand of religious experience and expression whatever the magnitude and a justification of whatever they do. The research postulates that there is room for improvement so that the intended influence and goal can be manifested more widely in Kenya