Bahá’ís use a sequence of courses designed by the Ruhi Institute

Bahá’ís use a sequence of courses designed by the Ruhi Institute to organize their teaching… work. Ruhi Institute materials foster a Bahá’í conception of social change through “two parallel processes,” nurturing individual transformation and creating structures to transform society. Published under the auspices of the National Spiritual Assembly of Colombia, Ruhi educational materials correspond to each of three sequences, all of which are available in multiple languages for use globally. I studied the main sequence in Arabic with Egyptian Bahá’ís, first in Evanston and Chicago and subsequently across Cairo during fieldwork. Comprising fourteen volumes (although only seven have been published), the stated aim of this sequence is “to set the individual … ‘on a path being defined by the accumulating experience of the community in its endeavor to open before humanity the vision of Bahá’u’lláh’s World Order.’” This order is articulated in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Kitab-i-Aqdas written by Bahá’u’lláh.

(Devotion to the Administrative State - Religion and Social order in Egypt by Mona Oraby, Princeton University Press)