Bahá'í Faith in Scotland

The Bahá'í Faith in Scotland is a minority religion. According to the 2001 Census in Scotland, roughly four hundred people living there declared themselves to be Bahá'ís, compared to a 2004 figure of approximately 5,000 Bahá'ís in the United Kingdom.

Scotland's Bahá'í history began around 1905 when European visitors, Scots among them, met `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, in Ottoman Palestine. One of the first and most prominent Scots who became a Bahá'í was John Esslemont. Starting in the 1940s a process of moving to promulgate the religion called pioneering by Bahá'ís began for the purpose of teaching the religion. These were joined by new converts and established local Spiritual Assemblies and eventually a National Bahá'í Council for Scotland was elected under the Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom.

Bahá'ís are well known for their inter-faith activities in Scotland.

In 1895, Scotsman Thomas Edward Gordon published Persia Revisited which mentions the Báb and the Babis, whom Bahá'ís claim to be predecessors of their religion. covering largely events circa 1891.

In 1908, the Young Turks revolution freed all political prisoners in the Ottoman Empire, including `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the Bahá'í Faith. With the freedom to leave the country, in 1910 he embarked on a three-year journey to Egypt, Europe, and North America, publicising the Bahá'í message.

`Abdu'l-Bahá returned to the British Isles and, recalling an invitation in 1905 by Jane Whyte, wife of Alexander Whyte, and others who visited him in Ottoman Palestine, he chose to visit in Edinburgh in 1913. A journal of his visit, including entries written in Edinburgh is still extant. See `Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West.

...
Wikipedia