Baha'i Studies Review - Volume 19, Issue 1, 2013

This study concerns the publication of a document that may well be unique in the history of religions: the written designation of a successor by the charismatic founder of a world religion. Mīrzā Ḥusayn-‘Alī (1817–1892), known as Bahā’-Allāh (more commonly, Baha’u’llah, ‘Splendor of God’), prophet–founder of the Bahā’ī Faith. In the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī (‘Book of My Covenant’), Baha’u’llah designated his eldest son, ‘Abbās Effendī, known as ‘Abdu’l-Bahā (1844–1921), as successor. Baha’u’llah died on 29 May 1892 (at 3:00 a.m.) in Bahjī (near ‘Akkā), Palestine (now modern-day Israel), and the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī was read aloud nine days later. In 1893, Russian orientalist, Aleksandr Grigor’evich Tumanski (1861–1920) published this document, in the original Persian, with Russian translation, together with a eulogy composed by the celebrated Bahā’ī poet, Mīrzā ‘Alī-Ashraf-i Lāhījānī, known by his sobriquet, ‘Andalīb (‘Nightingale’; d. 1920). Since ‘Andalīb was an eyewitness to the events he describes, his eulogy may be treated as a historical source. Tumanski’s scholarly publication of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī is discussed in the context of Russian scholarly and diplomatic interests. The present study is presented as follows: (1) Introduction; (2) Aleksandr Grigor’evich Tumanski; (3) Contents of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī and Brief Commentary; (4) ‘Andalīb’s Eyewitness Account of the Reading of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī, 1892; (5) The St. Petersburg Edition of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī; (6) The Original Manuscript of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī and the Textus Receptus; (7) Textual Variants Between the St. Petersburg Edition of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī and the Textus Receptus; (8) The Cambridge Manuscript of the Kitāb-i ‘Ahdī in the E. G. Browne Collection; and (9) Conclusion: Contemporary-Historical Attestation of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Successorship by Tumanski and other Russian Notables

In 1844 in Shiraz, Sayyid `Ali Muhammad took the title of the Bab and founded a movement that was years later transformed by Baha’u’llah into the Baha’i Faith. Thus Shiraz has been at the heart of the Baha’i Faith from its inception. In this article, the history of the Babi and Baha’i Faith in Shiraz during the Qajar era is surveyed. The Baha’is of Shiraz were mainly from among the traders and skilled artisans of the city, but included some from among the wealthy merchants and prominent citizens of the city. Particular emphasis is placed on the manner in which, because of the persecutions to which they were subjected, the Baha’is of Shiraz were forced to negotiate a path between the various factions that held power in Shiraz: the political and religious leadership of the city.

Shoghi Effendi’s letters were a major inspiration for the early Baha’is of Australia and New Zealand. The present paper summarizes the main themes and concerns of these letters during the period from 1922 through to 1937.

This paper provides an outline of the importance of dreams and their interpretation in the Bahá’í Religion. After some general remarks on dreams, dreams and dream interpretation in Islam will be discussed, since they provide an archetype for the Bahá’í context. Statements on dreams by Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá will be examined. Finally, a dream interpretation by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Ottoman Turkish that contains significant Islamic elements, will be commented on and a provisional translation of it appended.

This paper, which is based on various extracts of my doctoral work, will scrutinize cosmopolitanism within IR theory; present the Bahá’í model; and correlate it to a cosmopolitan approach in IR. Bahá’í thinking, on the one hand, represents a strong reinforcement of the cosmopolitan tradition of thought, underlining its validity and necessity, and on the other hand, centres on the concept of the ‘oneness of humanity’ in its belief-system, delineating a rearticulation of ethical cosmopolitan roots.

This paper traces the history of the portraits drawn of the Bab, the founder of the Babi religion. The dramatic success of the Bab in attracting a large number of followers from different social strata generated a great deal of interest in him. His reformist ideas captured the imagination of Shi’ites and Europeans alike. His movement was soon a subject of enquiry by orientalists, academicians, politicians, missionaries, merchants and others alike. Over time, several artists – mostly unknown to date – decided to render portraits of him. Of these, only one actually met the Bab: Aqa Bala Bayg of Shishvan, the chief painter of Qajar Prince Malek-Qasim Mirza (1807–62), the governor of Urmia (Orumiyeh) who hosted the Bab for a brief period in 1848. While the works of other artists were based on imagination, Aqa Bala Bayg’s original sketch of the Babi leader was rendered through a series of face-to-face meetings with the young prophet. He later produced multiple other copies from his original. Thus, Aqa Bala Bayg’s work appears to be the only genuine images of the Bab left to posterity. Nonetheless, the story of the Bab, the artist from Shishvan, and the Qajar prince who hosted the Bab has not been fully examined. This will be a focus of the current research. We will also explore the intriguing possibility that one or more actual photographs of the Bab might exist. Additionally, we will attempt to reconcile the at times contradictory historical accounts of the various copies of the Bab’s portrait, drawn by Aqa Bala Bayg. Finally, we will briefly discuss the works of other unknown artists who have produced imaginary portraits of the Bab and conclude with suggestions for further inquiry.

In the traditions of the Twelver Branch of Islám or Imámí Shi'ism in particular, three sermons of Imám ʿAlí stand out as pivotal in their contribution to the Bahá’í writings. These are known as the sermons of Ṭutunjiyyih [the Gulf ), Nurániyyat [Recognition through Luminousness], and Iftikhár [Glorification]. They hold tremendous theological importance, and, down the centuries, have had a magnetic effect on Shi'ih religious thought. The author of the book that contains these three sermons, Ḥafiz Rajab al Bursi (died 1411 CE), held a very high view of the station of the Imams, Likewise these texts vere highly valorized by Shaykh Aḥmad and Siyyid Kazim, Sayyid `Alí Muhammad, the Bab and Mirza Husayn ʿAli, Baha’u’lllah respectively.

Alessandro Bausani was an Italian Baha’i, philologist and scholar at the University of Rome. A small but important part of his literary production was concerned with studies of the Babi-Baha’i Faith. He produced two well regarded papers on the origins and relations between various monotheisms in which he situates the Babi-Baha’i movement vis a vis other great religious systems. The first article was published in Italian as Bausani, Alessandro (1957). Note per una tipologia del monoteismo. Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni (Rome) 28: 67–88. That article is translated here because of its relevance to Baha’i Studies. See also the companion article: Alessandro Bausani (1963). Can Monotheism Be Taught?: Further Considerations on the Typology of Monotheism. Numen (Leiden) 10: 167–201.