Extraterrestrial life

Although the Earth is currently the only planet proven to harbor life, the Bahá’í Writings point toward the existence of life elsewhere.

Reddit has posts related to life on other planets:

• "Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute."

Extraterrestrial life is life occurring in a place other than on the planet Earth, including elsewhere in the solar system and the universe. Bahá’u’lláh has stated that “creatures” exist on other planets, including those around other stars, although He did not specify their nature. According to Shoghi Effendi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has stated that “there are other worlds than ours which are inhabited by beings capable of knowing God,”. Apart from these statements, very few Bahá’í sources deal with the idea of extraterrestrial life in detail, so interpretations range greatly and rely on reasoning based more on science than on scripture.

Authoritative Bahá’í sources

The most authoritative statement on extraterrestrial life comes from Bahá’u’lláh, who explains that every planet has its own “creatures”, and that these are innumerable in quantity:

“ The learned men, [divines] that have fixed at several thousand years the life of this earth, have failed, throughout the long period of their observation, to consider either the number or the age of the other planets. ...Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute. ” — Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 162-163) [Emphasis added.]

The term “fixed star” was that used until recently, to distinguish them from “planets” (literally, “wanderers”). When Shoghi Effendi was asked to explain this statement, he noted that the nature of these “creatures” was unknown:

“ The creatures which Bahá’u’lláh states to be found on every planet cannot be considered to be necessarily similar or different from human beings on this earth. Bahá’u’lláh does not specifically state whether such creatures are like or unlike us. He simply refers to the fact that there are creatures on every planet. It remains for science to discover one day the exact nature of these creatures. ” — From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, February 9, 1937

Although Bahá'u'lláh did not specify the nature of these “creatures”, Shoghi Effendi reported ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as having stated that “there are other worlds than ours which are inhabited by beings capable of knowing God,” which would suggest that intelligent extraterrestrial life does exist.

A similar conclusion—based on reasoning rather than on scripture—was put forward in a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice, suggesting that “it can be believed” that creatures on other planets may have reached levels of technological advancement similar to that of human beings:

“ As you rightly state, Bahá’u’lláh affirms that every fixed star has its planets, and every planet its own creatures. The House of Justice states however, that it has not discovered anything in the Bahá’í Writings which would indicate the degree of progress such creatures may have attained. Obviously, as creatures of earth have managed to construct space probes and send them into outer space, it can be believed that creatures on other planets may have succeeded in doing likewise. ” — From a letter dated 11 January 1982 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, published in a letter from the Universal House of Justice, 1996 Aug 06, "Sabeans, UFOs, Alien Abduction and Genetic Engineering")

Scientific research

An artist's depiction of an extrasolar planet with an Earthlike satellite.

Exoplanetary science

The idea of each star having planets is neither very new nor very controversial. The nebular hypothesis, a model of the formation of star systems developed in the 18th century, suggested that every star forms with orbiting material. At present, the most widely accepted models of star system formation predict the widespread existence of extrasolar planets. This prediction has received significant support through evidence collected during astronomical surveys in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, leading to the development of the field of exoplanetary science.

Planets that orbit distant stars are known as exoplanets, or extrasolar planets. In August, 2016, it was announced that Proxima Centauri, believed to be the nearest planet to our Sun (rather than the binary system Alpha Centauri, which is usually mentioned in this context), seems to have a planet, which has been named as Proxima b. Proxima Centauri "burns" at a much lower temperature than our Sun, and is classified as a "red dwarf" star. If the observations and calculations are all correct, then Proxima b would be at a distance from its star to allow water to be liquid. This is taken as a crucial feature of any planet which might support life. Importantly, not only does this discovery mean that life could exist on a relatively close world to ours, but it also shows that a star does not have to resemble our sun for this to happen.

Astrobiology

Taken on its face — reading “creatures” as living things and planets as terrestrial or jovian planets — this statement is contradicted by current understanding of astrobiology and planetary science. Life, as currently known, would not evolve on any world lacking liquid water.

Bahá’ís could point to a broad interpretation of the passage, in which "creature" is defined as: "anything created" or "anything not self-existent" (in addition to the usual meaning of "living thing"). ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stressed that even the mineral kingdom is gifted by God with existence, and hence a "creature" of God.

They also could point to the possibility of continued future discoveries that would vindicate a more literal interpretation of the passage, supported by modern evidence and theories of durable and widespread life forms or based on an alternative biochemistry.