Across families
Bahá’í Faith and Sufism
Different families with 11 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.12 (0 would be identical).
One unknowable God revealed progressively through a succession of messengers, of whom Bahá’u’lláh is the most recent — so the world’s religions are stages of one revelation rather than rivals. Highly inclusive about other paths and highly centralised about its own administration.
Islamic practice turned toward direct experiential knowledge of God, with the divine understood as present in everything rather than only beyond it. Keeps the law and the ritual; adds dhikr, a master, and an inclusivism unusual for the family.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.00.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at an intentional act — a gap of 0.02.
C2 Shape of time
Both sit at one life, then judgment — a gap of 0.03.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at strictly one — a gap of 0.03.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.06.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at leaning many valid paths and between one true path and many valid paths respectively — a gap of 0.06.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Both sit at between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all — a gap of 0.07.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound and between fallen and in need of rescue and ignorant but fundamentally sound respectively — a gap of 0.08.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at leaning an individual choice and between a people, inherited and an individual choice respectively — a gap of 0.08.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at leaning a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.12.
Where they part company
B1 Source of truth
Bahá’í Faith: leaning revealed and fixed. Sufism: leaning reason and direct experience. A gap of 0.53 on an axis running from “revealed and fixed” to “reason and direct experience”.
A4 Locus
Bahá’í Faith: between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it. Sufism: fully present within it. A gap of 0.43 on an axis running from “wholly beyond the world” to “fully present within it”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Bahá’í Faith | Sufism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.00 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | leaning a personal being one can address | 0.12 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | strictly one | 0.03 |
| A4 Locus | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | fully present within it | 0.43 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | leaning reason and direct experience | 0.53 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all | between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.07 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.13 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.00 |
| C2 Shape of time | one life, then judgment | one life, then judgment | 0.03 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | between fallen and in need of rescue and ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.08 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | 0.15 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | leaning essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.16 |
| D3 The body | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | leaning to be disciplined | 0.13 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning many valid paths | between one true path and many valid paths | 0.06 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | an intentional act | an intentional act | 0.02 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning an individual choice | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | 0.08 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.06 |
Positions for Bahá’í Faith rest principally on Bahaʼuʼllah, Kitab-i-Aqdas and Kitab-i-Iqan; for Sufism, on Ibn ʿArabi, al-Ghazali’s Ihyaʿ, and Rumi’s Mathnawi. Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.