« Back to single view
Compare:
English ⇄
English
No translations / parallels found for this document.
Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: John Walbridge, Essays and Notes on Babi and Baha'i History, bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Essays and Notes on Bábí and Bahá'í History
John Walbridge
published in Occasional Papers in Shaykhí, Bábí, and Bahá'í Studies6:1
East Lansing, MI: H-Bahai Digital Library, 2002-03
Table of Contents
Preface
1. An Introduction to the History and Culture of Iran
2. Some Babi Martyrs
3. The Babi Uprising in Zanjan
4. The Bahá'í Faith in Turkey
5. The Bahá'í Faith in Iran
6. Miscellaneous historical and doctrinal topics
("Seven Proofs," "Lawh-i-Aqdas," Dreams, Evolution, Titanic)
7. Miscellaneous philosophy topics
(Islamic/Bahá'í philosophy; Greek philosophers and Jews)
8. Personal Names and Titles in Islamic and Bahá'í Usage
Appendices
Arabic (history, grammar, style)
Abbreviations used
Bibliography
Dedication
To my Baha’i friends,
from whom I received more than I gave
Preface
The Babi and Baha’i religions are historical religions, born in the full light of history, situating themselves in history, and drawing justification and inspiration from their own histories, the histories of the religions that came before them, and the great historical events of their own times. Moreover, Baha’is share a sense that the stories of their three great leaders—the Bab and Bahaullah, their two prophets, and `Abd al-Baha, who began the process of making the Baha’i Faith into a world community—provide much of the meaning of the Baha’i Faith. The teachings of the Baha’i Faith, admirable though they are in themselves, find their context and power for the believers in the epic story of the religion and its founders. Shoghi Effendi, the great-grandson of Bahaullah and the leader of the Baha’i Faith from 1921 to 1957 four times attempted to express the historical spirit of the Baha’i Faith: first in his translation of Nabil’s Dawn-Breakers, by which he hoped to expose the Western Baha’is to the spirit of the Babis; second in The Promised Day Is Come, a sort of theodicy in which he correlated the events of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with the emergence of the Baha’i Faith; and finally in his two centennial histories of the Baha’i Faith, the English God Passes By and the Persian Lawh-i Qarn ("centennial tablet"). In recent years, the debates about methodology and authority that have riven the Baha’i academic community have almost always involved issues of historiography.
Baha’is and Babis have felt an obligation to preserve their history, in particular the stories of their martyrs, of the companions of their leaders, and of the early believers in each place. This, of course, has Islamic roots, since for cultural reasons of their own Muslims alone among the great civilizations have made the biographical dictionary a major literary and religious genre. The Western Baha’is brought a new direction to Baha’i historiography, the search for context. Unlike their Middle Eastern coreligionists, the Western Baha’is typically knew nothing about the cultural environment assumed in traditional Persian Baha’i historiography. They needed to understand the strange Arabic and Persian words and names, the Islamic practices referred to, and the places in which these events happened. This interest resulted at first in such things as glossaries and elementary introductions to Islam, written either by Middle Eastern Baha’is living in the West or by autodidact Western Baha’i scholars, then later in more ambitious interpretations of the Persian Baha’i scholarly tradition, such as the works of Adib Taherzadeh and especially Hasan Balyuzi. In the last generation, it has produced a school of genuine academic scholarship on the Baha’i Faith and a number of major works.
The present work belongs to a more modest school of Baha’i historiography than the works of Balyuzi and Shoghi Effendi: the historical miscellany. The following chapters collect a series of investigations, mostly biographical, of Babi and Baha’i history. Like the articles that comprise my Sacred Acts, Sacred Time, Sacred Space (Oxford: George Ronald, 1996), most were originally written for an encyclopedia on the Baha’i Faith that has not appeared. In some cases, as in the chapters on Zanjan and Turkey, they form a collected whole. In others, there is a looser connection. In some cases, despite my best efforts, the encyclopedic origin of the articles is painfully apparent, although I trust the information they contain will be useful to some readers and interesting or diverting to a few more. Some sections, like the account of Iranian history and culture with which this volume begins and a later section on Ottoman Turkey, really are not about the Baha’i Faith at all, but are intended to provide intermediate background for readers familiar with Baha’i history but unfamiliar with the history and culture of the Middle East. As in my earlier work, my central operating principle is the belief that cultural context and detail illuminates Baha’i history. In general, I have written for an intelligent reader who is well read in the English literature of the Baha’i Faith but who does not have special knowledge of Iran, the Middle East, or Islam—for example, the reader who wishes to know more about the people mentioned in Bahaullah’s last major work, The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. I have not tried to make the book or its constituent parts relevant to readers unfamiliar with the Baha’i Faith. Nonetheless, I think there is a fair amount here that will be of use to scholars who happen to want to know something about the history and thought of the Babis and Baha’is. The reaction to Sacred Acts encourages me to hope that the present work will be useful to some readers.
The transliteration system is, with slight modifications, the Library of Congress customarily used by scholars of Islam writing in English. It should be transparent enough to readers familiar with the slightly different system customarily used by Baha’is.
In sections on general topics, such as the chapter on Iranian history and culture with which this work begins, references are minimal and confined to documenting direct quotes and making suggestions for further reading. In sections representing specific research, I have given full documentation, although usually at the end of sections.
For the most part, the original articles were written between 1987 and 1991 and have not been revised. It would, of course, have been better to update them in the light of a considerable amount of primary and secondary material on the Babis and Baha’is that has appeared since, but that would have delayed their appearance further. I hope that in their present form they will spur others to new research.
Most of the articles that comprise the present work were written while I was an employee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, and I wish to gratefully acknowledge the commitment of that body to the development of Baha’i scholarship. I also would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Baha’i World Centre, which supplied some of the source materials used in this work. I would also like to acknowledge the editors of the journal Iranian Studies, with whose permission I have used the article on Zanjan originally published there. I owe a great deal to my former colleagues on the Editorial Board of the Baha’i Encyclopedia, with whom I worked for eleven years, especially to Will. C. van den Hoonaard and B. Todd Lawson. Juan R. I. Cole has been a constant friend and source of information for many years, and I am particularly indebted to him for his assistance on the chapter relating to the Baha’i Faith in Turkey. It was also he who encouraged me to publish this material as a book through the H-Bahai web site. H-Bahai in turn is part of the H-Net family of listservs and is underwritten by the National Endowment for the Humanities, who thus have underwritten the electronic publication of this work. Finally, I would like to thank my family, whose patience has been long tried by my scholarly interests, and particularly my wife Linda.
John Walbridge
Lahore
February 2001
Appendices
Arabic
The most important language of Bahá'í
scripture is Arabic. The following is
intended as an introduction to the language for those who encounter Arabic
words in Bahá'í texts but who have no interest in learning the language.
History.
Arabic (Arab.: al-`Arabiyya, lughat
al-`Arab, lisan al-`Arab; Pers.: Tazi) is the old language of central Arabia,
the area that is now Saudi Arabia. It
is now spoken in the Arab countries and used as a liturgical and learned
language throughout the Islamic world. It was often used by the Bab, Bahaullah, and `Abd al-Baha, particularly
for authoritative texts, prayers, and communications with Arab Bahá'ís.
Arabic is a member of the Semitic
family. Thus it is closely related to
many languages of the ancient Near East, notably Hebrew, and more distantly to
ancient Egyptian and the Hamitic languages of North and West Africa. It is attested in names and fragments as
early as the ninth century B.C.E. and preserves, perhaps because of its long
isolation, an elaborate Semitic grammar already largely lost in biblical
Hebrew. The Classical Arabic now used
evolved in the sixth century in the poetry of central Arabia. It owes its importance to its use, with some
elements of the Hijazi dialect, in the Qur'an.
After the Islamic conquests of the seventh
century, Arabic gradually became the spoken language of the Islamic areas where
other Semitic or Hamitic languages had formerly been spoken. Even in areas such as Iran and Turkey where
other vernaculars remained in use, Arabic was the language of learning until the
early twentieth century. In the Islamic
world almost all works on religion or science were written in Arabic, and its
vocabulary permeated the speech and writing of other Islamic languages. In Persian, for example, almost any Arabic
word could be used; and a Persian text on religion, philosophy, or science
would often be almost indistinguishable from Arabic.
The increasing importance of Arabic led to
a vast development in its vocabulary; but largely because of the prestige of
the Qur'an the structure of the written language has not changed greatly since
the time of Muhammad. An educated Arab
can still read even pre-Islamic poetry without much difficulty. The spoken dialects have, however, changed
considerably in the various Arab countries; but they have rarely developed into
independent written languages. Classical Arabic is still normally spoken in formal situations such as
university lectures, political speeches, and broadcasting.
Structure.
Like other Semitic languages Arabic is based
on meaningful roots of three consonants. These roots can be combined with vowels and other consonants in several
hundred forms, each of which has a particular meaning. The root K.T.B., for example, has to do with
writing; and when used with the simple active participle form c1ac2ic3, becomes
katib, meaning "writer" or
"scribe." C1ic2ac3 is an infinitive form; hence
kitab means "writing" or "book." Kataba
means "he wrote," mukatabah "correspondence," maktub "letter," and so on. Word forms commonly seen in English texts
are usually nouns or adjectives (the two are not strictly distinguished in
Arabic) and include:
c1ac2ic3: active participle: Nasir
("victorious") ??
mac1c2uc3: passive participle: Mahbub
("beloved"); Majnun ("possessed by jinn" or "mad"); Maqsud
("Desired One").
c1ac2c3: noun: `Abd ("servant" or
"slave").
There are only two verb tenses in Arabic,
perfect and imperfect, each of which may refer to past, present, or
future. Thus time is not so precisely
defined as in English (cf. Bahaullah, Iqan
115).
Arabic has a set of consonants different
from English, some of which are nearly impossible for an English speaker to
pronounce. In Bahá'í contexts Arabic
words are usually pronounced with the Persian accent.
Arabic in the Bahá'í writings.
Many of the Bab's works are
written in Arabic—works written in Qur'anic style, works on theology and law,
commentaries on the Qur'an, and the like. The Bab's Arabic works pose many difficulties, not only because of their
abstrusity, but also because of their vocabulary and complex sentence
structure. The Bab's enemies criticized
his grammar and accused him of ignorance of the most elementary rules of the
language; he was supposedly asked to conjugate qala ("to say"), an exercise for a schoolchild, and to
have been unable to do so. In fact, the
difficulty was that the Bab was unwilling to accept the limitations of
conventional Arabic grammar and style and frequently used nonstandard derived
forms of words. While theoretically
there are a large number of words derivable from any Arabic root, in fact only
a small number are used. The Bab used
many more unknown in Arabic (for example, most of the 360 words derived from baha' that he included in a famous
tablet.) The effect is a style intense,
unorthodox, challenging, and sometimes obscure. The Bab himself claimed that his verses and their beauty were
testimony to the truth of his revelation. (Bab, Selections:45, 109; Bab, Haykal
al-Din 141; Bab, Persian Bayan
2:1, 7:2.)
Although most of Bahaullah's writings are
in Persian, many of the most important are in Arabic, and Arabic passages are
often found in tablets to educated Persians—the Arabic tending to be more
formal, the Persian more intimate. Bahaullah often used Arabic when he was addressing the world or writing
something of universal relevance: the Kitab-i Aqdas is in Arabic, as are the
tablets to the Kings, the obligatory prayers, the marriage vows, and the
prayers of fasting and burial.
Bahaullah wrote a clean and elegant Arabic,
relatively free of both the unorthodox elements of the Bab's style and the
excessive decorativeness of his contemporaries' literary Arabic. (Much the same was true of his Persian
style.) He generally wrote in rhymed
prose (saj`) in a style reminiscent of the Qur'an, but somewhat simpler and
without archaic elements. His style is
austere, concise, and elevated—well translated by the King James English
commonly used in Bahá'í translations of his writings. Bahaullah's grammar and usage is sometimes influenced by Persian,
as is usual in Arabic written by Iranians. For this reason Bahaullah was occasionally criticized for not writing
pure Arabic. Late in his life he
initiated a project to collect and edit his own writings; one of the things
that was done was to eliminate some of the "Babi-ism" characteristic of his
early Arabic writings.
Generally, Bahaullah expresses Himself in
terms familiar to his reader, often using technical terms from the Islamic
religious sciences, the Qur'an, and Islamic mystical philosophy.
Though `Abd al-Baha was completely fluent
in Arabic (he spent most of his life in Arab countries) and wrote many tablets
in Arabic, the bulk of his works are in Persian. His Arabic style was of a high order, but somewhat more complex
and conventional than his father's.
Shoghi Effendi also knew Arabic well and
often used Arabic elements in his Persian writings, but he generally did not
write in Arabic.
Other
Arabic Bahá'í Literature.
A good deal of Bahá'í literature has been
published in the Arab countries, especially in Egypt: Arabic Bahá'í sacred
writings, translations of English and Persian works, and native Bahá'í
literature. Egypt was a principal
center of Bahá'í publishing in the early twentieth century. More recently, the Lebanese Bahá'í community
has published a number of books in Arabic. The Universal House of Justice uses English in its communications with
the Arab communities.
Sources
For a general account of the Arabic language, see EI2, s.v. "al-'Arabiya." On
Arabic in Iran see EIr, s.v. "Arabic." The classic popular introduction to Arabic
literature is R. A. Nicolson, A Literary
History of the Arabs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907).
Shaykh Abu-Mansur Ahmad b. `Ali
b. Abi-Talib Tabarsi was the twelfth century Shi`i scholar whose tomb near
Barfurush was the scene of the most important battle between the Babis and
government troops in 1848–49. Shaykh
Tabarsi—not to be confused with his contemporary al-Fadl b. Hasan Tabarsi, the
author of a famous commentary on the Qur'an—was one of the teachers of the
Shi`i biographer, Ibn Shahrashub. He
was best known for the Kitab al-Ihtijaj,
a collection of the traditions in which the Prophet and the Imams used
arguments.
Sources
Majlisi, Bihar 0:140. Tihrani, al-Dhari`ah 1:281–82. Amin, A`yan 3:29–30. The identification of the tomb with this man is made by the
tablet of visitation in the tomb. See
Brown, 617.
Abbreviations
EB = Encyclopaedia
Britannica
EI1 = Encyclopaedia
of Islam. 1st edition
EI2 = Encyclopaedia
of Islam. 2nd edition
EIr = Encyclopaedia
Iranica
Bibliography
`Abd
al-Ahad Zanjani, Aqa. "Personal
Reminiscences of the Babi Insurrection in Zanjan in 1850," trans. E. G. Browne,
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
29 (1897) 761–827.
`Abd
al-Baha. Majmu`ah-i Khitabat-i Hadrat-i
`Abdu'l-Bahá. 3 vols. in 1. Hofheim-Langenhain: Bahá'í-Verlag, 1984.
Reprint of Egyptian editions of 1921 and 1943, and of Tehran edn. of 1970.
`Abd al-Baha. Makatib-i `Abd al-Baha. Vols. 1-8. Cairo and Tehran, 1910-1977.
`Abd al-Baha. Paris Talks: Addresses
Given by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris in 1911–12. 11th ed. London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1969.
`Abd
al-Baha. The Promulgation of Universal Peace. 2nd ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982.
`Abd
al-Baha. Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. Marzieh Gail. 3rd
ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1979.
`Abd
al-Baha. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá. Haifa: Bahá'í world Centre, 1978.
`Abd
al-Baha. Some Answered Questions. Trans. Laura Clifford Barney. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981.
`Abd
al-Baha. Tablets of `Abdu'l-Bahá. 3
vols. Chicago: Bahá'í Publishing
Society, 1909–19; reprinted New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1930–40.
`Abd
al-Baha, A Traveller's Narrative Written
to Illustrate the Episode of the Bab. Trans. Edward Granville Browne. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891; vol 2 reprinted: New York:
Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1930.
Aetius
(pseudo-Plutarch). De placita philosophorum. In Hans Daiber, ed. Aetius Arabus: Die Vorsokratiker in
arabischer Überlieferung. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1980.
Afnan,
Ruhi. Bahá'u'lláh and the Bab Confront Modern Thinkers:
Book 2: Spinoza: Concerning God. New
York: Philosophical Library, 1977.
Afnan,
Ruhi. The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh and the Bab: Book 1: Descartes' Theory of Knowledge. New York: Philosophical Library, 1970.
Afrukhtah,
Yunus Khan. Khatirat-i Nuh-Salah. Los
Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1983.
Algar,
Hamid. Religion and State in Iran, 1785–1906: The Role of the Ulama in the
Qajar Period. Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1969.
Alkan,
Necati. "Bereketzade Ismail
Hakki: Yad-i Mazi ("Past Recollections"), Istanbul: Tevsi-i
Tibaat, 1915, pp. 105-120 (latinised version: Istanbul: Nehir Yayinlari 1997,
pp. 99-113)." Translations of Shaykhi, Babi and Bahá'í Texts,
vol. 4, no. 8 (November, 2000) at
/~bahai/trans/vol4/yadimazi.htm
--------. " Süleyman Nazif's Nasiruddin
Shah ve Babiler: an Ottoman Source on Babi-Bahá'í History. [With a
Translation of Passages on Tahirih] ," Research Notes in Shaykhi,
Babi and Bahá'í Studies, Vol. 4, no. 2 (November 2000) at:
/~bahai/notes/vol4/nazif.htm
Alon,
Ilai. Socrates in Mediaeval Arabic Literature. Islamic Philsophy, Theology, and Science, Texts and Studies
10. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991.
Amanat,
Abbas. Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran,
1844-50 (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1989).
al-Amin,
Muhsin. A`yan al-Shi`a. Beirut: Matba`at al-Insaf, 1961– .
Bab.
Dala'il-i Sab`a. Bayda'i, Abu
al-Fadl, ed. Tehran: Ism-i A'zam, n.d.
Bab. Bayan-i
`Arabi wa- Haykal ad-Din. Tehran, n.d.
Bab. Bayan-i
Farsi. Tehran, n.d.
Bab,
Sayyid `Ali-Muhammad Shirazi. Selections from the Writings of the Bab. Comp. Research Department of the Universal
House of Justice. Trans. Habib
Taherzadeh. Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre,
1976.
Bahaullah. Alvah-i
Naziah Khitab bi-Muluk wa-Ru'asa-yi Ard. Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i
Matbu`at-i Amri, 126 B.E.
Bahaullah. Aqdas-i
Buzurg wa-Chand Lawh-i Digar. Bombay: Matba`at al-Nasiri, 1314/1896.
Bahaullah. Athar-i
Qalam-i A`la. 8 vols. Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i
Amri, 1969–78.
Bahaullah. A
Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book of
Bahá'u'lláh. Haifa: Bahá'í World
Centre, 1973.
Bahaullah. Epistle
to the Son of the Wolf. Trans.
Shoghi Effendi. New ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1988.
Bahaullah,
Gleanings from the Writings of
Bahá'u'lláh. 2nd ed.
rev. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976.
Bahaullah. The Kitab-i-Iqan:
the Book of Certitude. 2nd
ed. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974.
Bahaullah.
Ishraqat wa-Chand Lawh-i Digar. Tehran, n.d.
Bahaullah. Majmu`ah-i
Matbu`ah-i Alwah-i Mubarakah. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1978; facsimile of the 1920 Egyptian edn.
Bahaullah. Kitab-i
Mubin (Athar-i Qalam-i A'la. Volume 1). Bombay, 1308/1890-91.
Bahaullah. The
Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh to the Kings and Leaders of the World. Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1967.
Bahaullah. The
Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys. 3rd
rev. ed. Ed. Ali Kuli Khan. Trans. Marzieh Gail. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1978.
Bahaullah. Tablets
of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas. Trans. Habib Taherzadeh. Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1978.
Bahá'í News. Wilmette, Ill.: National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of
the United States, 1924–90.
Bahá'í Studies Bulletin. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1982– .
Bahá'í World Faith. 2nd ed. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1956.
Bahá'í World. New York, Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1925– .
Balyuzi,
Hasan. `Abdu'l-Bahá: the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. 2nd ed. Oxford: George Ronald,
1987.
Balyuzi,
Hasan. Bahá'u'lláh, King of Glory. Oxford: George Ronald, 1980.
Balyuzi,
Hasan. Eminent Bahá'ís of the Time of Bahá'u'lláh. Oxford: George Ronald,
1985.
Blomfield,
Lady Sara Louisa. TheChosen Highway. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1967.
Bowes,
Eric. Bahá'u'lláh's Message to the Christians. n.p.: Bahá'í Publications Australia, 1986)
Brown,
Keven, and von Kitzing, Eberhard. Evolution and Bahá'í Belief: `Abdu'l-Bahá's
Response to Nineteenth Century Darwinism. Los Angeles : Kalimat Press, 2000.
Browne,
Edward Granville. "Babis of Persia." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 21
(1889), 485–526, 881–1009; reprinted in Browne, Selections, 145–315.
Brown,
"A Catalogue and Description of Twenty-Seven Babi Manuscripts," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 24
(1892) 433–99, 637–710.
Browne,
Edward Granville. The Literary History of
the Persians. 4 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1902–24.
Browne,
Edward Granville. Selections from the Writings of E. G. Browne on the Babi and Bahá'í
Religions. Ed. Moojan Momen. Oxford: George Ronald, 1987.
Browne,
Edward Granville. A Year Amongst the Persians. London, 1893; London, New York, and Toronto,
1984.
Cambridge History of Iran, 8 vols. Ed. Ehsan Yarshater. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968–
.
Cole,
Juan R. I. "Autobiography and Silence:
The Early Career of Shaykh al-Ra'is Qajar," in Johann Christoph Bürgel and
Isabel Schayani, eds., Iran im 19.
Jarhundert und die Entstehung der Bahá'í-Religion (Zürich: Georg Olms
Verlag, 1998), pp. 91-126.
--------. Modernity and the Millennium: The Genesis
of the Bahá'í Faith in the Nineteenth Century Middle East (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1998).
--------.
"Problems of chronology in Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet of Wisdom," World Order 13/3.
Cole,
Juan, and Momen, Moojan, "Mafia, Mob and Shiism in Iraq: The Rebellion of
Ottoman Karbala, 1824–1843," Past and
Present 112 (1986) 112–43.
Comrie,
Bernard. The World's Major Languages. New
York: Oxford, 1987.
Conow,
B. Hoff. The Bahá'í Teachings: A
Resurgent Model of the Universe. Oxford:
George Ronald, 1990.
Constantinople: City on the Golden Horn. New York: Horizon Caravel Books, 1969.
Curzon,
George Nathaniel. Persia and the Persian Question. 2 vols. London, 1892.
Dabashi,
Hamid. Theology of Discontent. New
York: New York University Press, 1993.
Davudi,
`A. M. Falsafih va `Irfan, vol. 1: Insan dar A'in-i Bahá'í. Ed. Vahid
Ra'fati. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press,
1987. Vol. 2: Uluhiyyat va Mazhariyyat. Ed. Vahid Ra'fati. Dundas, Ontario:
Persian Institute for Bahá'í Studies, 1991. Vol. 3: Maqalat va Rasa'il. Ed.
Vahid Rafati. Dundas, Ontario: Persian Institute for Bahá'í Studies, 1994.
Diogenes
Laertius. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Trans. R. D. Hicks. Loeb
Classical Library. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1925.
Diya'i,
Muhammad-Sadiq, "Sanadi raji` bi-shuresh-i Babiyan-i Zanjan," Yaghma 20/3 (1346/1967), 162–64.
Encyclopaedia of Islam. 1st ed. 4 vols. and supp. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1908–36.
Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2nd ed. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960– .
Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. 1– . London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, etc., 1985– .
Fakhry,
Majid. A History of Islamic Philosophy. 2nd ed. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1983.
Faydi,
Muhammad `Ali. Khandan-i Afnan. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 137 BE.
Garis,
Mabel. Martha Root, Lioness at the Threshold. Champion-Builder Books. Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1983.
Gibbon,
Edward. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London, 1776–87; often reprinted.
Gobineau,
Joseph Arthur, Comte de. Religions et philosophies dans l'Asie
centrale. Paris, 1865.
Hamadani,
Mirza Husayn. The Tarikh-i-Jadid, or New
History of Mirza `Ali Muhammad the Bab. Trans. Edward G. Browne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1893.
Handbook for Travellers in Constantinople. London: John Murray, 1845, 1871.
Hatcher,
John. The Purpose of Physical Reality: The Kingdom of Names. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1987.
Hatcher,
William. Logic and Logos: Essays on Science, Religion, and Philosophy. Oxford: George Ronald, 1990.
Hidayat,
Rida-Quli Khan. Rawdat al-Safa-yi Nasiri. (New ed.; Tehran: Markazi, 1339/1960), 10:447–56.
Hornby,
Helen. Lights of Guidance: A Bahá'í Reference File. 2nd ed. New Delhi: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1988.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Asrar-i Rabbani: Qamus-i Tawqi`-i Mani`-i Mubarak-i Sanah-i 105 Badi`. 2 vols. Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i
Matbu`at-i Amri, 118/1963.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Da'irat al-Ma`arif. Unpublished encyclopedia of the Bahá'í
Faith, Bahá'í World Center Library.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Ganj-i Shaygan. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 124/1968.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H., ed. Ma'ida-i Asmani. 9 vols .
Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 129/1973; 9 vols. in 3. New Delhi: Indian Publishing Trust, 1984-85.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Muhadirat. 2 vols. in 1.
Hofheim-Langenhain: Bahá'í-Verlag, 1987.
Ishraq-Khavari,
Nurayn-i Nayyirayn. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 123/1967.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Qamus-i Iqan. 4 vols. Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri,
128/1972.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Rahiq-i Makhtum. 2 vols.
Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 103/1947.
I`tidad
al-Saltana, Ali-Quli Mirza. Fitna-yi Bab. Ed. `Abd al-Husayn Nawa'i. Tehran, 1351/1972.
Ittila`at (Tehran) 20 Adhar 1354, p. 10.
Jamal
Pasha. Memories of Turkish Statesman. London, n.d.
Keddie,
Nikki R. Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History of Modern Iran. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981.
Khomeini,
Ruhollah. Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini. Trans. Hamid Algar. Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1981.
Kinross,
Patrick Balfour. The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire. New
York : Morrow, 1977.
Lewis,
Bernard. Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire. Norman, Oklahoma: 1972.
MacEoin,
Denis, "The Babi Concept of Holy War," Religion
12 (1982), 93–129.
MacEoin,
Denis. Rituals in Babism and Bahá'ísm. Pembroke Persian Papers 2. London: British Academic Press, 1994.
MacEoin,
Denis. The Sources for Early Babi Doctrine and History: A Survey. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992.
al-Majlisi,
Muhammad-Baqir. Bihar al-Anwar. 110
vol. Tehran: Matba`at al-Islamiyya,
1956–72; and several times reprinted in Iran and Lebanon.
Malik-Khusravi,
Muhammad-'Ali, Tarikh-i Shuhaday-i Amr
([Tehran]: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 130 B.E./1973).
Mazandarani,
Mirza Asad-Allah Fadil. Amr wa-Khalq. 4 vols. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 111–131/1954–1975; repr.
Hofheim-Langenhain, Bahá'í-Verlag, 1986.
Mazandarani,
Mirza Asad-Allah Fadil. Asrar-i Athar-i Khususi. 5 vols. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 124/1968.
Mazandarani,
Mirza Asad-Allah Fadil. Tarikh-i Zuhur al-Haqq. vol. 3. Tehran, n.d.
Mirjafari,
Hossein, "The Haydari-Ni`mati Conflicts in Iran," Iranian Studies 12 (1979), pp. 135–62.
Momen,
Moojan. The Babi and Bahá'í Religions, 1844–1944: Some Contemporary Western
Accounts. Oxford: George Ronald,
1981.
Momen,
Moojan. An Introduction to Shi'ite Islam. Oxford: George Ronald, 1985.
Momen,
Moojan. "Relativism: a Basis for Bahá'í
Metaphysics." In Moojan Momen, ed. Studies
5:185–217
Momen,
Moojan. "The Social Basis of the Babi
Upheavals in Iran (1848–53): A Preliminary Analysis," International Journal of Middle East Studies 15 (1983), pp. 157–83.
Momen,
Moojan. Studies in Honor of the Late Hasan M. Balyuzi. Studies in the Babi and Bahá'í Religions 5. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1988.
Morier,
James. Hajji Baba of Isfahan. London, 1824; often reprinted.
Mottahedeh,
Roy. The Mantle of the Prophet. New York: Pantheon Books, 1985.
Mu'ayyad,
Habib. Khatirat-i Habib. 2 vols.
Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 118-129/1962–1973..
Nabil
Zarandi. The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í
Revelation. Trans. Shoghi Effendi
Rabbani. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 1932.
Nasr,
Seyyed Hossein, and Leaman, Oliver, eds. History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge, 1996.
Nicolas,
A. L. M. Le Livre des Sept Preuves. Paris,
1902.
Nicolas,
A. L. M. Séyyèd Ali Mohammad dit le Bab. Paris, 1905.
Nicolson,
R. A. A Literary History of the Arabs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907; and several times
reprinted.
Parry,
Robert. "Philosophical Theology in
Bahá'í Scholarship." Bahá'í Studies Bulletin (Oct. 1992),
6/4–7/2: 66–91.
Phelps,
Myron H. The Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi. 2nd ed. New
York, London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1912.
Rabbani,
Ruhiyyih. The Priceless Pearl. Oxford:
George Ronald, 1969.
Rosen,
Baron Victor. Collections scientifiques de l'Institut des Langues Orientales du
Ministère des Affaires Étangères. Vol 1, 6: Manuscrits Arabes; vol.
3: Manuscrits Persans. St. Petersburg, 1877–91.
Rowson,
Everett K. A Muslim Philosopher on the Soul and its Fate. American Oriental Series 70. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 198.
Ruhe,
David. Door of Hope: A Century of the Bahá'í Faith in the Holy Land. Rev. ed. Oxford: George Ronald, 1989.
Salmani,
Ustad Muhammad-`Ali. My Memories of Bahá'u'lláh. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1982.
Savi,
Julio. The Eternal Quest for God: An Introduction to the Divine Philosophy of `Abdu'l-Bahá. Oxford: George Ronald, 1989.
Schaefer,
Udo. The Imperishable Dominion: The Bahá'í Faith and the Future of Mankind. Oxford: George Ronald, 1983.
Shahrazuri,
Shams al-Din. Nuzhat al-Arwah. Ed. S.
Khurshid Ahmed. Haidarabad: Da'iratu'l-Ma'arifi'l-Osmania, 1396/1976.
Sharif,
M. M. A History of Muslim Philosophy. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1963–66.
Shaw,
Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire
and Modern Turkey (2 vol.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976– .
Shoghi
Effendi, Bahá'í Administration. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974.
Shoghi
Effendi, Citadel of Faith: Messages to
America, 1947–1957. Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1965.
Shoghi
Effendi. God Passes By. Rev.
ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1974.
Shoghi
Effendi, The Promised Day Is Come. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980.
Shoghi
Effendi, Tawqi`at-i Mubarakah. 3 vols. Tehran: MU'ASSASAH-I MILLI-I MATBU`AT-I AMRI, 129-30, 1973–74.
Shoghi
Effendi, The Unfolding Destiny of the
British Bahá'í Community: The Messages from the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith to
the Bahá'ís of the British Isles. London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981.
Shoghi
Effendi. The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters. 2nd rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974.
Sipihr,
Mirza Muhammad-Taqi Lisan al-Mulk. Nasikh al-Tawarikh: Dawra-yi Kamil-i
Tarikh-i Qajariya. Ed. Jahangir
Qa'im-Maqami. Tehran: Amir-Kabir,
1344/1965. 2:206–7, 3:89–99.
Smith,
Peter, and Momen, Moojan. "The Babi
Movement: A Resource Mobilization Perspective," in In Iran (Studies in Babi and Bahá'í History 3; Los Angeles: Kalimat
Press, 1986), pp. 33–93.
Sulaymani,
`Aziz. Masabih-i Hidayat. 9
vols. Tehran: MU'ASSASAH-I MILLI-I
MATBU`AT-I AMRI, 104–32/1947–75.
Sumner-Boyd,
Hilary, and Freely, John . Strolling through Istanbul. London: KPI, 1987.
Taheri,
Amir. The Spirit of Allah. Bethesda: Adler & Adler, 1986.
Taherzadeh,
Adib. The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. 4
vols. Oxford: George Ronald, 1974–87.
Thubron,
Colin. Istanbul. Amsterdam:
Time-Life Books, 1978.
al-Tihrani,
Muhammad-Muhsin, Agha Buzurg. Adh-Dhari`ah ila Tasanif al-Shi`a. 25 vols. Tehran and Najaf: 1936–78; reprinted in Beirut.
Walbridge,
John. "The Babi Uprising in Zanjan." Iranian Studies 29/3–4 (Fall/Winter
1996), pp. 339–62.
Walbridge,
John. The Leaven of the Ancients: Suhrawardi and the Heritage of the
Greeks. Albany: State University of
New York Press, 2000.
Walbridge,
John. Sacred Acts, Sacred Time, Sacred
Space. Oxford: George Ronald, 1996.
Walbridge,
John. The Wisdom of the Mystic East: Suhrawardi and the Platonic
Orientalism. Albany: State
University of New York Press, 2001.
Ward, 239 Days
World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative
Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World, AD 1900-2000. Ed. David B. Barrett. Nairobi ; New York :
Oxford University Press, 1982.
Zanjani,
Mirza Husayn . Tarikh-i Waqayi`-i Zanjan. Bahá'í World Center MS 1632.
Zarqani,
Mirza Mahmud. Kitab-i Bada`i' al-Athar. 2 vols. Hofheim-Langenhain: Bahá'í-Verlag, 1982. Reprint of Bombay
edn. of 1914-1921.
METADATA
Views18520 views since posted 2011-06-07; last edit 2025-03-25 01:21 UTC;
previous at archive.org.../walbridge_babi_bahai_history
Language
English
Permission
author
History
Formatted 2011-05-31 by Jonah Winters.
Share
Shortlink: bahai-library.com/3207
Citation: ris/3207
select Collection:
Archives
Articles
Articles-unpublished
Audio
Bibliographies
BIC
Biographies
Books
Chronologies
Compilations
Compilations-NSA
Compilations-personal
Documents
East-asia
Encyclopedia
Essays
Etc
Excerpts
Fiction
Glossaries
Guardian
Histories
Introductory
Letters
Maps
Music
Newspapers
NSA-documents
NSA-letters
Personal
Pilgrims
Poetry
Presentations
Resources
Reviews
Scripts
Software
Statistics
Study
Talks
Theses
Transcripts
Translations
UHJ-documents
UHJ-letters
Video
Visual
Writings
home
sitemap
series
chronology
search:
author
title
date
tags
adv. search
languages
inventory
bibliography
abbreviations
links
about
contact
RSS
new
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Essays and Notes on Bábí and Bahá'í History
John Walbridge
published in Occasional Papers in Shaykhí, Bábí, and Bahá'í Studies6:1
East Lansing, MI: H-Bahai Digital Library, 2002-03
Table of Contents
Preface
1. An Introduction to the History and Culture of Iran
2. Some Babi Martyrs
3. The Babi Uprising in Zanjan
4. The Bahá'í Faith in Turkey
5. The Bahá'í Faith in Iran
6. Miscellaneous historical and doctrinal topics
("Seven Proofs," "Lawh-i-Aqdas," Dreams, Evolution, Titanic)
7. Miscellaneous philosophy topics
(Islamic/Bahá'í philosophy; Greek philosophers and Jews)
8. Personal Names and Titles in Islamic and Bahá'í Usage
Appendices
Arabic (history, grammar, style)
Abbreviations used
Bibliography
Dedication
To my Baha’i friends,
from whom I received more than I gave
Preface
The Babi and Baha’i religions are historical religions, born in the full light of history, situating themselves in history, and drawing justification and inspiration from their own histories, the histories of the religions that came before them, and the great historical events of their own times. Moreover, Baha’is share a sense that the stories of their three great leaders—the Bab and Bahaullah, their two prophets, and `Abd al-Baha, who began the process of making the Baha’i Faith into a world community—provide much of the meaning of the Baha’i Faith. The teachings of the Baha’i Faith, admirable though they are in themselves, find their context and power for the believers in the epic story of the religion and its founders. Shoghi Effendi, the great-grandson of Bahaullah and the leader of the Baha’i Faith from 1921 to 1957 four times attempted to express the historical spirit of the Baha’i Faith: first in his translation of Nabil’s Dawn-Breakers, by which he hoped to expose the Western Baha’is to the spirit of the Babis; second in The Promised Day Is Come, a sort of theodicy in which he correlated the events of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with the emergence of the Baha’i Faith; and finally in his two centennial histories of the Baha’i Faith, the English God Passes By and the Persian Lawh-i Qarn ("centennial tablet"). In recent years, the debates about methodology and authority that have riven the Baha’i academic community have almost always involved issues of historiography.
Baha’is and Babis have felt an obligation to preserve their history, in particular the stories of their martyrs, of the companions of their leaders, and of the early believers in each place. This, of course, has Islamic roots, since for cultural reasons of their own Muslims alone among the great civilizations have made the biographical dictionary a major literary and religious genre. The Western Baha’is brought a new direction to Baha’i historiography, the search for context. Unlike their Middle Eastern coreligionists, the Western Baha’is typically knew nothing about the cultural environment assumed in traditional Persian Baha’i historiography. They needed to understand the strange Arabic and Persian words and names, the Islamic practices referred to, and the places in which these events happened. This interest resulted at first in such things as glossaries and elementary introductions to Islam, written either by Middle Eastern Baha’is living in the West or by autodidact Western Baha’i scholars, then later in more ambitious interpretations of the Persian Baha’i scholarly tradition, such as the works of Adib Taherzadeh and especially Hasan Balyuzi. In the last generation, it has produced a school of genuine academic scholarship on the Baha’i Faith and a number of major works.
The present work belongs to a more modest school of Baha’i historiography than the works of Balyuzi and Shoghi Effendi: the historical miscellany. The following chapters collect a series of investigations, mostly biographical, of Babi and Baha’i history. Like the articles that comprise my Sacred Acts, Sacred Time, Sacred Space (Oxford: George Ronald, 1996), most were originally written for an encyclopedia on the Baha’i Faith that has not appeared. In some cases, as in the chapters on Zanjan and Turkey, they form a collected whole. In others, there is a looser connection. In some cases, despite my best efforts, the encyclopedic origin of the articles is painfully apparent, although I trust the information they contain will be useful to some readers and interesting or diverting to a few more. Some sections, like the account of Iranian history and culture with which this volume begins and a later section on Ottoman Turkey, really are not about the Baha’i Faith at all, but are intended to provide intermediate background for readers familiar with Baha’i history but unfamiliar with the history and culture of the Middle East. As in my earlier work, my central operating principle is the belief that cultural context and detail illuminates Baha’i history. In general, I have written for an intelligent reader who is well read in the English literature of the Baha’i Faith but who does not have special knowledge of Iran, the Middle East, or Islam—for example, the reader who wishes to know more about the people mentioned in Bahaullah’s last major work, The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. I have not tried to make the book or its constituent parts relevant to readers unfamiliar with the Baha’i Faith. Nonetheless, I think there is a fair amount here that will be of use to scholars who happen to want to know something about the history and thought of the Babis and Baha’is. The reaction to Sacred Acts encourages me to hope that the present work will be useful to some readers.
The transliteration system is, with slight modifications, the Library of Congress customarily used by scholars of Islam writing in English. It should be transparent enough to readers familiar with the slightly different system customarily used by Baha’is.
In sections on general topics, such as the chapter on Iranian history and culture with which this work begins, references are minimal and confined to documenting direct quotes and making suggestions for further reading. In sections representing specific research, I have given full documentation, although usually at the end of sections.
For the most part, the original articles were written between 1987 and 1991 and have not been revised. It would, of course, have been better to update them in the light of a considerable amount of primary and secondary material on the Babis and Baha’is that has appeared since, but that would have delayed their appearance further. I hope that in their present form they will spur others to new research.
Most of the articles that comprise the present work were written while I was an employee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, and I wish to gratefully acknowledge the commitment of that body to the development of Baha’i scholarship. I also would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Baha’i World Centre, which supplied some of the source materials used in this work. I would also like to acknowledge the editors of the journal Iranian Studies, with whose permission I have used the article on Zanjan originally published there. I owe a great deal to my former colleagues on the Editorial Board of the Baha’i Encyclopedia, with whom I worked for eleven years, especially to Will. C. van den Hoonaard and B. Todd Lawson. Juan R. I. Cole has been a constant friend and source of information for many years, and I am particularly indebted to him for his assistance on the chapter relating to the Baha’i Faith in Turkey. It was also he who encouraged me to publish this material as a book through the H-Bahai web site. H-Bahai in turn is part of the H-Net family of listservs and is underwritten by the National Endowment for the Humanities, who thus have underwritten the electronic publication of this work. Finally, I would like to thank my family, whose patience has been long tried by my scholarly interests, and particularly my wife Linda.
John Walbridge
Lahore
February 2001
Appendices
Arabic
The most important language of Bahá'í
scripture is Arabic. The following is
intended as an introduction to the language for those who encounter Arabic
words in Bahá'í texts but who have no interest in learning the language.
History.
Arabic (Arab.: al-`Arabiyya, lughat
al-`Arab, lisan al-`Arab; Pers.: Tazi) is the old language of central Arabia,
the area that is now Saudi Arabia. It
is now spoken in the Arab countries and used as a liturgical and learned
language throughout the Islamic world. It was often used by the Bab, Bahaullah, and `Abd al-Baha, particularly
for authoritative texts, prayers, and communications with Arab Bahá'ís.
Arabic is a member of the Semitic
family. Thus it is closely related to
many languages of the ancient Near East, notably Hebrew, and more distantly to
ancient Egyptian and the Hamitic languages of North and West Africa. It is attested in names and fragments as
early as the ninth century B.C.E. and preserves, perhaps because of its long
isolation, an elaborate Semitic grammar already largely lost in biblical
Hebrew. The Classical Arabic now used
evolved in the sixth century in the poetry of central Arabia. It owes its importance to its use, with some
elements of the Hijazi dialect, in the Qur'an.
After the Islamic conquests of the seventh
century, Arabic gradually became the spoken language of the Islamic areas where
other Semitic or Hamitic languages had formerly been spoken. Even in areas such as Iran and Turkey where
other vernaculars remained in use, Arabic was the language of learning until the
early twentieth century. In the Islamic
world almost all works on religion or science were written in Arabic, and its
vocabulary permeated the speech and writing of other Islamic languages. In Persian, for example, almost any Arabic
word could be used; and a Persian text on religion, philosophy, or science
would often be almost indistinguishable from Arabic.
The increasing importance of Arabic led to
a vast development in its vocabulary; but largely because of the prestige of
the Qur'an the structure of the written language has not changed greatly since
the time of Muhammad. An educated Arab
can still read even pre-Islamic poetry without much difficulty. The spoken dialects have, however, changed
considerably in the various Arab countries; but they have rarely developed into
independent written languages. Classical Arabic is still normally spoken in formal situations such as
university lectures, political speeches, and broadcasting.
Structure.
Like other Semitic languages Arabic is based
on meaningful roots of three consonants. These roots can be combined with vowels and other consonants in several
hundred forms, each of which has a particular meaning. The root K.T.B., for example, has to do with
writing; and when used with the simple active participle form c1ac2ic3, becomes
katib, meaning "writer" or
"scribe." C1ic2ac3 is an infinitive form; hence
kitab means "writing" or "book." Kataba
means "he wrote," mukatabah "correspondence," maktub "letter," and so on. Word forms commonly seen in English texts
are usually nouns or adjectives (the two are not strictly distinguished in
Arabic) and include:
c1ac2ic3: active participle: Nasir
("victorious") ??
mac1c2uc3: passive participle: Mahbub
("beloved"); Majnun ("possessed by jinn" or "mad"); Maqsud
("Desired One").
c1ac2c3: noun: `Abd ("servant" or
"slave").
There are only two verb tenses in Arabic,
perfect and imperfect, each of which may refer to past, present, or
future. Thus time is not so precisely
defined as in English (cf. Bahaullah, Iqan
115).
Arabic has a set of consonants different
from English, some of which are nearly impossible for an English speaker to
pronounce. In Bahá'í contexts Arabic
words are usually pronounced with the Persian accent.
Arabic in the Bahá'í writings.
Many of the Bab's works are
written in Arabic—works written in Qur'anic style, works on theology and law,
commentaries on the Qur'an, and the like. The Bab's Arabic works pose many difficulties, not only because of their
abstrusity, but also because of their vocabulary and complex sentence
structure. The Bab's enemies criticized
his grammar and accused him of ignorance of the most elementary rules of the
language; he was supposedly asked to conjugate qala ("to say"), an exercise for a schoolchild, and to
have been unable to do so. In fact, the
difficulty was that the Bab was unwilling to accept the limitations of
conventional Arabic grammar and style and frequently used nonstandard derived
forms of words. While theoretically
there are a large number of words derivable from any Arabic root, in fact only
a small number are used. The Bab used
many more unknown in Arabic (for example, most of the 360 words derived from baha' that he included in a famous
tablet.) The effect is a style intense,
unorthodox, challenging, and sometimes obscure. The Bab himself claimed that his verses and their beauty were
testimony to the truth of his revelation. (Bab, Selections:45, 109; Bab, Haykal
al-Din 141; Bab, Persian Bayan
2:1, 7:2.)
Although most of Bahaullah's writings are
in Persian, many of the most important are in Arabic, and Arabic passages are
often found in tablets to educated Persians—the Arabic tending to be more
formal, the Persian more intimate. Bahaullah often used Arabic when he was addressing the world or writing
something of universal relevance: the Kitab-i Aqdas is in Arabic, as are the
tablets to the Kings, the obligatory prayers, the marriage vows, and the
prayers of fasting and burial.
Bahaullah wrote a clean and elegant Arabic,
relatively free of both the unorthodox elements of the Bab's style and the
excessive decorativeness of his contemporaries' literary Arabic. (Much the same was true of his Persian
style.) He generally wrote in rhymed
prose (saj`) in a style reminiscent of the Qur'an, but somewhat simpler and
without archaic elements. His style is
austere, concise, and elevated—well translated by the King James English
commonly used in Bahá'í translations of his writings. Bahaullah's grammar and usage is sometimes influenced by Persian,
as is usual in Arabic written by Iranians. For this reason Bahaullah was occasionally criticized for not writing
pure Arabic. Late in his life he
initiated a project to collect and edit his own writings; one of the things
that was done was to eliminate some of the "Babi-ism" characteristic of his
early Arabic writings.
Generally, Bahaullah expresses Himself in
terms familiar to his reader, often using technical terms from the Islamic
religious sciences, the Qur'an, and Islamic mystical philosophy.
Though `Abd al-Baha was completely fluent
in Arabic (he spent most of his life in Arab countries) and wrote many tablets
in Arabic, the bulk of his works are in Persian. His Arabic style was of a high order, but somewhat more complex
and conventional than his father's.
Shoghi Effendi also knew Arabic well and
often used Arabic elements in his Persian writings, but he generally did not
write in Arabic.
Other
Arabic Bahá'í Literature.
A good deal of Bahá'í literature has been
published in the Arab countries, especially in Egypt: Arabic Bahá'í sacred
writings, translations of English and Persian works, and native Bahá'í
literature. Egypt was a principal
center of Bahá'í publishing in the early twentieth century. More recently, the Lebanese Bahá'í community
has published a number of books in Arabic. The Universal House of Justice uses English in its communications with
the Arab communities.
Sources
For a general account of the Arabic language, see EI2, s.v. "al-'Arabiya." On
Arabic in Iran see EIr, s.v. "Arabic." The classic popular introduction to Arabic
literature is R. A. Nicolson, A Literary
History of the Arabs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907).
Shaykh Abu-Mansur Ahmad b. `Ali
b. Abi-Talib Tabarsi was the twelfth century Shi`i scholar whose tomb near
Barfurush was the scene of the most important battle between the Babis and
government troops in 1848–49. Shaykh
Tabarsi—not to be confused with his contemporary al-Fadl b. Hasan Tabarsi, the
author of a famous commentary on the Qur'an—was one of the teachers of the
Shi`i biographer, Ibn Shahrashub. He
was best known for the Kitab al-Ihtijaj,
a collection of the traditions in which the Prophet and the Imams used
arguments.
Sources
Majlisi, Bihar 0:140. Tihrani, al-Dhari`ah 1:281–82. Amin, A`yan 3:29–30. The identification of the tomb with this man is made by the
tablet of visitation in the tomb. See
Brown, 617.
Abbreviations
EB = Encyclopaedia
Britannica
EI1 = Encyclopaedia
of Islam. 1st edition
EI2 = Encyclopaedia
of Islam. 2nd edition
EIr = Encyclopaedia
Iranica
Bibliography
`Abd
al-Ahad Zanjani, Aqa. "Personal
Reminiscences of the Babi Insurrection in Zanjan in 1850," trans. E. G. Browne,
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
29 (1897) 761–827.
`Abd
al-Baha. Majmu`ah-i Khitabat-i Hadrat-i
`Abdu'l-Bahá. 3 vols. in 1. Hofheim-Langenhain: Bahá'í-Verlag, 1984.
Reprint of Egyptian editions of 1921 and 1943, and of Tehran edn. of 1970.
`Abd al-Baha. Makatib-i `Abd al-Baha. Vols. 1-8. Cairo and Tehran, 1910-1977.
`Abd al-Baha. Paris Talks: Addresses
Given by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris in 1911–12. 11th ed. London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1969.
`Abd
al-Baha. The Promulgation of Universal Peace. 2nd ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982.
`Abd
al-Baha. Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. Marzieh Gail. 3rd
ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1979.
`Abd
al-Baha. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá. Haifa: Bahá'í world Centre, 1978.
`Abd
al-Baha. Some Answered Questions. Trans. Laura Clifford Barney. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981.
`Abd
al-Baha. Tablets of `Abdu'l-Bahá. 3
vols. Chicago: Bahá'í Publishing
Society, 1909–19; reprinted New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1930–40.
`Abd
al-Baha, A Traveller's Narrative Written
to Illustrate the Episode of the Bab. Trans. Edward Granville Browne. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891; vol 2 reprinted: New York:
Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1930.
Aetius
(pseudo-Plutarch). De placita philosophorum. In Hans Daiber, ed. Aetius Arabus: Die Vorsokratiker in
arabischer Überlieferung. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1980.
Afnan,
Ruhi. Bahá'u'lláh and the Bab Confront Modern Thinkers:
Book 2: Spinoza: Concerning God. New
York: Philosophical Library, 1977.
Afnan,
Ruhi. The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh and the Bab: Book 1: Descartes' Theory of Knowledge. New York: Philosophical Library, 1970.
Afrukhtah,
Yunus Khan. Khatirat-i Nuh-Salah. Los
Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1983.
Algar,
Hamid. Religion and State in Iran, 1785–1906: The Role of the Ulama in the
Qajar Period. Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1969.
Alkan,
Necati. "Bereketzade Ismail
Hakki: Yad-i Mazi ("Past Recollections"), Istanbul: Tevsi-i
Tibaat, 1915, pp. 105-120 (latinised version: Istanbul: Nehir Yayinlari 1997,
pp. 99-113)." Translations of Shaykhi, Babi and Bahá'í Texts,
vol. 4, no. 8 (November, 2000) at
/~bahai/trans/vol4/yadimazi.htm
--------. " Süleyman Nazif's Nasiruddin
Shah ve Babiler: an Ottoman Source on Babi-Bahá'í History. [With a
Translation of Passages on Tahirih] ," Research Notes in Shaykhi,
Babi and Bahá'í Studies, Vol. 4, no. 2 (November 2000) at:
/~bahai/notes/vol4/nazif.htm
Alon,
Ilai. Socrates in Mediaeval Arabic Literature. Islamic Philsophy, Theology, and Science, Texts and Studies
10. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991.
Amanat,
Abbas. Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran,
1844-50 (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1989).
al-Amin,
Muhsin. A`yan al-Shi`a. Beirut: Matba`at al-Insaf, 1961– .
Bab.
Dala'il-i Sab`a. Bayda'i, Abu
al-Fadl, ed. Tehran: Ism-i A'zam, n.d.
Bab. Bayan-i
`Arabi wa- Haykal ad-Din. Tehran, n.d.
Bab. Bayan-i
Farsi. Tehran, n.d.
Bab,
Sayyid `Ali-Muhammad Shirazi. Selections from the Writings of the Bab. Comp. Research Department of the Universal
House of Justice. Trans. Habib
Taherzadeh. Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre,
1976.
Bahaullah. Alvah-i
Naziah Khitab bi-Muluk wa-Ru'asa-yi Ard. Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i
Matbu`at-i Amri, 126 B.E.
Bahaullah. Aqdas-i
Buzurg wa-Chand Lawh-i Digar. Bombay: Matba`at al-Nasiri, 1314/1896.
Bahaullah. Athar-i
Qalam-i A`la. 8 vols. Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i
Amri, 1969–78.
Bahaullah. A
Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book of
Bahá'u'lláh. Haifa: Bahá'í World
Centre, 1973.
Bahaullah. Epistle
to the Son of the Wolf. Trans.
Shoghi Effendi. New ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1988.
Bahaullah,
Gleanings from the Writings of
Bahá'u'lláh. 2nd ed.
rev. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976.
Bahaullah. The Kitab-i-Iqan:
the Book of Certitude. 2nd
ed. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974.
Bahaullah.
Ishraqat wa-Chand Lawh-i Digar. Tehran, n.d.
Bahaullah. Majmu`ah-i
Matbu`ah-i Alwah-i Mubarakah. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1978; facsimile of the 1920 Egyptian edn.
Bahaullah. Kitab-i
Mubin (Athar-i Qalam-i A'la. Volume 1). Bombay, 1308/1890-91.
Bahaullah. The
Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh to the Kings and Leaders of the World. Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1967.
Bahaullah. The
Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys. 3rd
rev. ed. Ed. Ali Kuli Khan. Trans. Marzieh Gail. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1978.
Bahaullah. Tablets
of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas. Trans. Habib Taherzadeh. Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1978.
Bahá'í News. Wilmette, Ill.: National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of
the United States, 1924–90.
Bahá'í Studies Bulletin. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1982– .
Bahá'í World Faith. 2nd ed. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1956.
Bahá'í World. New York, Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1925– .
Balyuzi,
Hasan. `Abdu'l-Bahá: the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. 2nd ed. Oxford: George Ronald,
1987.
Balyuzi,
Hasan. Bahá'u'lláh, King of Glory. Oxford: George Ronald, 1980.
Balyuzi,
Hasan. Eminent Bahá'ís of the Time of Bahá'u'lláh. Oxford: George Ronald,
1985.
Blomfield,
Lady Sara Louisa. TheChosen Highway. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1967.
Bowes,
Eric. Bahá'u'lláh's Message to the Christians. n.p.: Bahá'í Publications Australia, 1986)
Brown,
Keven, and von Kitzing, Eberhard. Evolution and Bahá'í Belief: `Abdu'l-Bahá's
Response to Nineteenth Century Darwinism. Los Angeles : Kalimat Press, 2000.
Browne,
Edward Granville. "Babis of Persia." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 21
(1889), 485–526, 881–1009; reprinted in Browne, Selections, 145–315.
Brown,
"A Catalogue and Description of Twenty-Seven Babi Manuscripts," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 24
(1892) 433–99, 637–710.
Browne,
Edward Granville. The Literary History of
the Persians. 4 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1902–24.
Browne,
Edward Granville. Selections from the Writings of E. G. Browne on the Babi and Bahá'í
Religions. Ed. Moojan Momen. Oxford: George Ronald, 1987.
Browne,
Edward Granville. A Year Amongst the Persians. London, 1893; London, New York, and Toronto,
1984.
Cambridge History of Iran, 8 vols. Ed. Ehsan Yarshater. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968–
.
Cole,
Juan R. I. "Autobiography and Silence:
The Early Career of Shaykh al-Ra'is Qajar," in Johann Christoph Bürgel and
Isabel Schayani, eds., Iran im 19.
Jarhundert und die Entstehung der Bahá'í-Religion (Zürich: Georg Olms
Verlag, 1998), pp. 91-126.
--------. Modernity and the Millennium: The Genesis
of the Bahá'í Faith in the Nineteenth Century Middle East (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1998).
--------.
"Problems of chronology in Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet of Wisdom," World Order 13/3.
Cole,
Juan, and Momen, Moojan, "Mafia, Mob and Shiism in Iraq: The Rebellion of
Ottoman Karbala, 1824–1843," Past and
Present 112 (1986) 112–43.
Comrie,
Bernard. The World's Major Languages. New
York: Oxford, 1987.
Conow,
B. Hoff. The Bahá'í Teachings: A
Resurgent Model of the Universe. Oxford:
George Ronald, 1990.
Constantinople: City on the Golden Horn. New York: Horizon Caravel Books, 1969.
Curzon,
George Nathaniel. Persia and the Persian Question. 2 vols. London, 1892.
Dabashi,
Hamid. Theology of Discontent. New
York: New York University Press, 1993.
Davudi,
`A. M. Falsafih va `Irfan, vol. 1: Insan dar A'in-i Bahá'í. Ed. Vahid
Ra'fati. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press,
1987. Vol. 2: Uluhiyyat va Mazhariyyat. Ed. Vahid Ra'fati. Dundas, Ontario:
Persian Institute for Bahá'í Studies, 1991. Vol. 3: Maqalat va Rasa'il. Ed.
Vahid Rafati. Dundas, Ontario: Persian Institute for Bahá'í Studies, 1994.
Diogenes
Laertius. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Trans. R. D. Hicks. Loeb
Classical Library. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1925.
Diya'i,
Muhammad-Sadiq, "Sanadi raji` bi-shuresh-i Babiyan-i Zanjan," Yaghma 20/3 (1346/1967), 162–64.
Encyclopaedia of Islam. 1st ed. 4 vols. and supp. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1908–36.
Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2nd ed. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960– .
Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. 1– . London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, etc., 1985– .
Fakhry,
Majid. A History of Islamic Philosophy. 2nd ed. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1983.
Faydi,
Muhammad `Ali. Khandan-i Afnan. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 137 BE.
Garis,
Mabel. Martha Root, Lioness at the Threshold. Champion-Builder Books. Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1983.
Gibbon,
Edward. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London, 1776–87; often reprinted.
Gobineau,
Joseph Arthur, Comte de. Religions et philosophies dans l'Asie
centrale. Paris, 1865.
Hamadani,
Mirza Husayn. The Tarikh-i-Jadid, or New
History of Mirza `Ali Muhammad the Bab. Trans. Edward G. Browne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1893.
Handbook for Travellers in Constantinople. London: John Murray, 1845, 1871.
Hatcher,
John. The Purpose of Physical Reality: The Kingdom of Names. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1987.
Hatcher,
William. Logic and Logos: Essays on Science, Religion, and Philosophy. Oxford: George Ronald, 1990.
Hidayat,
Rida-Quli Khan. Rawdat al-Safa-yi Nasiri. (New ed.; Tehran: Markazi, 1339/1960), 10:447–56.
Hornby,
Helen. Lights of Guidance: A Bahá'í Reference File. 2nd ed. New Delhi: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1988.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Asrar-i Rabbani: Qamus-i Tawqi`-i Mani`-i Mubarak-i Sanah-i 105 Badi`. 2 vols. Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i
Matbu`at-i Amri, 118/1963.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Da'irat al-Ma`arif. Unpublished encyclopedia of the Bahá'í
Faith, Bahá'í World Center Library.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Ganj-i Shaygan. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 124/1968.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H., ed. Ma'ida-i Asmani. 9 vols .
Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 129/1973; 9 vols. in 3. New Delhi: Indian Publishing Trust, 1984-85.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Muhadirat. 2 vols. in 1.
Hofheim-Langenhain: Bahá'í-Verlag, 1987.
Ishraq-Khavari,
Nurayn-i Nayyirayn. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 123/1967.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Qamus-i Iqan. 4 vols. Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri,
128/1972.
Ishraq-Khavari,
A. H. Rahiq-i Makhtum. 2 vols.
Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 103/1947.
I`tidad
al-Saltana, Ali-Quli Mirza. Fitna-yi Bab. Ed. `Abd al-Husayn Nawa'i. Tehran, 1351/1972.
Ittila`at (Tehran) 20 Adhar 1354, p. 10.
Jamal
Pasha. Memories of Turkish Statesman. London, n.d.
Keddie,
Nikki R. Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History of Modern Iran. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981.
Khomeini,
Ruhollah. Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini. Trans. Hamid Algar. Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1981.
Kinross,
Patrick Balfour. The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire. New
York : Morrow, 1977.
Lewis,
Bernard. Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire. Norman, Oklahoma: 1972.
MacEoin,
Denis, "The Babi Concept of Holy War," Religion
12 (1982), 93–129.
MacEoin,
Denis. Rituals in Babism and Bahá'ísm. Pembroke Persian Papers 2. London: British Academic Press, 1994.
MacEoin,
Denis. The Sources for Early Babi Doctrine and History: A Survey. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992.
al-Majlisi,
Muhammad-Baqir. Bihar al-Anwar. 110
vol. Tehran: Matba`at al-Islamiyya,
1956–72; and several times reprinted in Iran and Lebanon.
Malik-Khusravi,
Muhammad-'Ali, Tarikh-i Shuhaday-i Amr
([Tehran]: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 130 B.E./1973).
Mazandarani,
Mirza Asad-Allah Fadil. Amr wa-Khalq. 4 vols. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 111–131/1954–1975; repr.
Hofheim-Langenhain, Bahá'í-Verlag, 1986.
Mazandarani,
Mirza Asad-Allah Fadil. Asrar-i Athar-i Khususi. 5 vols. Tehran:
Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 124/1968.
Mazandarani,
Mirza Asad-Allah Fadil. Tarikh-i Zuhur al-Haqq. vol. 3. Tehran, n.d.
Mirjafari,
Hossein, "The Haydari-Ni`mati Conflicts in Iran," Iranian Studies 12 (1979), pp. 135–62.
Momen,
Moojan. The Babi and Bahá'í Religions, 1844–1944: Some Contemporary Western
Accounts. Oxford: George Ronald,
1981.
Momen,
Moojan. An Introduction to Shi'ite Islam. Oxford: George Ronald, 1985.
Momen,
Moojan. "Relativism: a Basis for Bahá'í
Metaphysics." In Moojan Momen, ed. Studies
5:185–217
Momen,
Moojan. "The Social Basis of the Babi
Upheavals in Iran (1848–53): A Preliminary Analysis," International Journal of Middle East Studies 15 (1983), pp. 157–83.
Momen,
Moojan. Studies in Honor of the Late Hasan M. Balyuzi. Studies in the Babi and Bahá'í Religions 5. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1988.
Morier,
James. Hajji Baba of Isfahan. London, 1824; often reprinted.
Mottahedeh,
Roy. The Mantle of the Prophet. New York: Pantheon Books, 1985.
Mu'ayyad,
Habib. Khatirat-i Habib. 2 vols.
Tehran: Mu'assasah-i Milli-i Matbu`at-i Amri, 118-129/1962–1973..
Nabil
Zarandi. The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í
Revelation. Trans. Shoghi Effendi
Rabbani. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 1932.
Nasr,
Seyyed Hossein, and Leaman, Oliver, eds. History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge, 1996.
Nicolas,
A. L. M. Le Livre des Sept Preuves. Paris,
1902.
Nicolas,
A. L. M. Séyyèd Ali Mohammad dit le Bab. Paris, 1905.
Nicolson,
R. A. A Literary History of the Arabs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907; and several times
reprinted.
Parry,
Robert. "Philosophical Theology in
Bahá'í Scholarship." Bahá'í Studies Bulletin (Oct. 1992),
6/4–7/2: 66–91.
Phelps,
Myron H. The Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi. 2nd ed. New
York, London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1912.
Rabbani,
Ruhiyyih. The Priceless Pearl. Oxford:
George Ronald, 1969.
Rosen,
Baron Victor. Collections scientifiques de l'Institut des Langues Orientales du
Ministère des Affaires Étangères. Vol 1, 6: Manuscrits Arabes; vol.
3: Manuscrits Persans. St. Petersburg, 1877–91.
Rowson,
Everett K. A Muslim Philosopher on the Soul and its Fate. American Oriental Series 70. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 198.
Ruhe,
David. Door of Hope: A Century of the Bahá'í Faith in the Holy Land. Rev. ed. Oxford: George Ronald, 1989.
Salmani,
Ustad Muhammad-`Ali. My Memories of Bahá'u'lláh. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1982.
Savi,
Julio. The Eternal Quest for God: An Introduction to the Divine Philosophy of `Abdu'l-Bahá. Oxford: George Ronald, 1989.
Schaefer,
Udo. The Imperishable Dominion: The Bahá'í Faith and the Future of Mankind. Oxford: George Ronald, 1983.
Shahrazuri,
Shams al-Din. Nuzhat al-Arwah. Ed. S.
Khurshid Ahmed. Haidarabad: Da'iratu'l-Ma'arifi'l-Osmania, 1396/1976.
Sharif,
M. M. A History of Muslim Philosophy. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1963–66.
Shaw,
Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire
and Modern Turkey (2 vol.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976– .
Shoghi
Effendi, Bahá'í Administration. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974.
Shoghi
Effendi, Citadel of Faith: Messages to
America, 1947–1957. Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1965.
Shoghi
Effendi. God Passes By. Rev.
ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1974.
Shoghi
Effendi, The Promised Day Is Come. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980.
Shoghi
Effendi, Tawqi`at-i Mubarakah. 3 vols. Tehran: MU'ASSASAH-I MILLI-I MATBU`AT-I AMRI, 129-30, 1973–74.
Shoghi
Effendi, The Unfolding Destiny of the
British Bahá'í Community: The Messages from the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith to
the Bahá'ís of the British Isles. London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981.
Shoghi
Effendi. The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters. 2nd rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974.
Sipihr,
Mirza Muhammad-Taqi Lisan al-Mulk. Nasikh al-Tawarikh: Dawra-yi Kamil-i
Tarikh-i Qajariya. Ed. Jahangir
Qa'im-Maqami. Tehran: Amir-Kabir,
1344/1965. 2:206–7, 3:89–99.
Smith,
Peter, and Momen, Moojan. "The Babi
Movement: A Resource Mobilization Perspective," in In Iran (Studies in Babi and Bahá'í History 3; Los Angeles: Kalimat
Press, 1986), pp. 33–93.
Sulaymani,
`Aziz. Masabih-i Hidayat. 9
vols. Tehran: MU'ASSASAH-I MILLI-I
MATBU`AT-I AMRI, 104–32/1947–75.
Sumner-Boyd,
Hilary, and Freely, John . Strolling through Istanbul. London: KPI, 1987.
Taheri,
Amir. The Spirit of Allah. Bethesda: Adler & Adler, 1986.
Taherzadeh,
Adib. The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. 4
vols. Oxford: George Ronald, 1974–87.
Thubron,
Colin. Istanbul. Amsterdam:
Time-Life Books, 1978.
al-Tihrani,
Muhammad-Muhsin, Agha Buzurg. Adh-Dhari`ah ila Tasanif al-Shi`a. 25 vols. Tehran and Najaf: 1936–78; reprinted in Beirut.
Walbridge,
John. "The Babi Uprising in Zanjan." Iranian Studies 29/3–4 (Fall/Winter
1996), pp. 339–62.
Walbridge,
John. The Leaven of the Ancients: Suhrawardi and the Heritage of the
Greeks. Albany: State University of
New York Press, 2000.
Walbridge,
John. Sacred Acts, Sacred Time, Sacred
Space. Oxford: George Ronald, 1996.
Walbridge,
John. The Wisdom of the Mystic East: Suhrawardi and the Platonic
Orientalism. Albany: State
University of New York Press, 2001.
Ward, 239 Days
World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative
Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World, AD 1900-2000. Ed. David B. Barrett. Nairobi ; New York :
Oxford University Press, 1982.
Zanjani,
Mirza Husayn . Tarikh-i Waqayi`-i Zanjan. Bahá'í World Center MS 1632.
Zarqani,
Mirza Mahmud. Kitab-i Bada`i' al-Athar. 2 vols. Hofheim-Langenhain: Bahá'í-Verlag, 1982. Reprint of Bombay
edn. of 1914-1921.
METADATA
Views18520 views since posted 2011-06-07; last edit 2025-03-25 01:21 UTC;
previous at archive.org.../walbridge_babi_bahai_history
Language
English
Permission
author
History
Formatted 2011-05-31 by Jonah Winters.
Share
Shortlink: bahai-library.com/3207
Citation: ris/3207
select Collection:
Archives
Articles
Articles-unpublished
Audio
Bibliographies
BIC
Biographies
Books
Chronologies
Compilations
Compilations-NSA
Compilations-personal
Documents
East-asia
Encyclopedia
Essays
Etc
Excerpts
Fiction
Glossaries
Guardian
Histories
Introductory
Letters
Maps
Music
Newspapers
NSA-documents
NSA-letters
Personal
Pilgrims
Poetry
Presentations
Resources
Reviews
Scripts
Software
Statistics
Study
Talks
Theses
Transcripts
Translations
UHJ-documents
UHJ-letters
Video
Visual
Writings
home
sitemap
series
chronology
search:
author
title
date
tags
adv. search
languages
inventory
bibliography
abbreviations
links
about
contact
RSS
new
Choose a second text to read in parallel — a translation, or any other text.
Choose another text