# The Work of A.L.M. Nicolas (1864-1937)

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: bahai-library.com/author/nicolas, The Work of A.L.M. Nicolas (1864-1937), bahai-library.com.
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> 
> The Work of A.L.M. Nicolas (1864-1937)
> 
> Moojan Momen
> published in The Bábí and Bahá'í Religions: Some Contemporary Western Accounts pp. 36-40
> 
> Oxford: George Ronald, 1981
> 
> No European scholar has contributed so much to our knowledge
> of the life and teaching of the Báb as Nicolas. His study of the life
> of the Báb and his translations of several of the most important books
> of the Báb remain of unsurpassed value.[1]
> 
> Nicolas's father, J. B. Nicolas, was in the French Consular
> Service in Persia, and Nicolas himself was born at Rasht in Gilan in 1864.
> According to his own statement, he could speak Persian and Russian even before
> he learnt his native French. Like his father, he joined the French Consular Service
> and spent most of his working life in Persia.
> 
> Nicolas also derived his inspiration to study the Bábís
> from Gobineau, but in a manner almost exactly opposite to Browne. According to
> a statement made by Nicolas, his father had clashed with Gobineau:
> 
> Gobineau, arriving at the Legation, imbued with diplomatic prejudices,
> despising his colleagues, entered into an argument with my father on the subject
> of a manuscript bought by the latter from a courtier.[2] My
> father made some remarks about this which turned my thoughts towards the idea
> of verifying for myself the background of the matter. Among his papers, he left
> a critique of Gobineau's book, Les Religions et Les Philosophies dan l'Asie
> Centrale, which encouraged me to do some research and refute its errors,
> this work having been written without sufficient data with the aid of a Jew that
> Gobineau had as a teacher of Persian, who could only teach his pupil the little
> that he knew of the sect. I collected my material largely from a native secretary,[3] Mírzá Ibráhím
> of Tíhrán, who I discovered to be a Bahá'í and
> who put me in touch with the followers of the sect.
> 
> Nicolas, in the same statement, goes on to describe how his
> interest in the subject grew:
> I was helped in my work by a young Persian, and
> each day we would go in the afternoon for a walk outside the town, leaving by
> the Shimran gate. The purity of the air, the serenity, the mildness of
> the temperature, and in certain seasons, the perfume of the acacias, predisposed
> my soul to peace and gentleness. My reflections on the strange book [The Seven
> Proofs by the Báb] that I had translated, filled me with a kind of
> intoxication and I became, little by little, profoundly and uniquely a Bábí.
> The more I immersed myself in these reflections, the more I admired the greatness
> of the genius of him who, born in Shíraz, had dreamt of uplifting
> the Muslim world...
> 
> In his early works, Nicolas steered clear of the barren ground
> over which Browne was wandering - the claims of Mírzá Yahyá Subh-i-Azál.
> In a letter to Browne in March 1902, he wrote concerning the documents which
> he had collected:
> Only those which are directly related to the Báb interest
> me at this time; whether they concern the history or the dogma. I consider that
> task sufficient for the moment, and I will concern myself later with the Imamate
> of Subh-i-Azál and the second divine Manifestation in the person
> of Bahá.
> 
> This first phase of Nicolas's work may be considered to have
> been completed in 1914 by the publication of the last volume of Le Beyan Persan.
> After this there is a hiatus, and when Nicolas began writing again on this subject,
> in 1933, his articles were very obviously hostile and bitter towards the Bahá'ís
> and, although not strongly advocating the claims of Mírzá Yahyá in
> the way that Browne did, Nicolas was obviously not unfavourable to them.
> 
> The main reason for Nicolas's hostility to the Bahá'ís
> at this time appears to have been twofold. Firstly he seems to have acquired
> a profound dislike for 'Abdu'l-Bahá's historical work A Traveller's
> Narrative, and he loses no opportunity to attack this. But secondly, and
> much more importantly, Nicolas was deeply hurt at the disparagement and neglect
> that he felt the Bahá'ís showed towards the Báb. Nicolas
> considered that in A Traveller's Narrative and other Bahá'í works,
> the Báb's station and importance had been belittled, making him but the
> insignificant forerunner, the John the Baptist, of Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> Towards the end of Nicolas' life, however, he was sent copies
> of two important works by Shoghi Effendi: a translation of Nabil's Narrative of
> the life of the Báb, and The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh,
> in which the Báb's station as an independent Messenger of God, equal in
> essence to Bahá'u'lláh is stated emphatically. Nicolas was, of
> course, overjoyed. To the lady who sent him these books, Miss Edith Sanderson,
> he wrote:
> I do not know how to thank you nor how to express
> the joy that floods my heart. So it is necessary not only to admit but to love
> and admire the Báb. Poor great Prophet, born in the heart of Persia, without
> any means of instruction, and who, alone in the world, encircled by enemies,
> succeeds by the force of his genius in creating a universal and wise religion.
> That Bahá'u'lláh succeeded Him eventually may be, but I want people
> to admire the sublimity of the Báb, who has, moreover, paid with his life,
> with his blood, for the reforms he preached. Cite me another similar example.
> At last, I can die in peace. Glory be to Shoghi Effendi who has calmed my torment
> and my anxieties, glory be to him who recognizes the worth of Siyyid 'Alí-Muhammad,
> the Báb. I am so happy that I kiss your hands that have written my address
> on the envelope which carried Shoghi's message. Thank you, Mademoiselle; thank
> you from the depths of my heart.
> 
> It is difficult to be certain that the following list represents
> the entirety of Nicolas's writing on the subject of the Bábí and
> Bahá'í religions, as he makes reference to a few works which the
> present author has been unable to trace and therefore assumes were never printed.[4]
> 
> Works by A.L.M. Nicolas
> 
> HISTORIES[5]
> 
> Seyyed Alí Mohammed dit le Báb, Paris 1905. 458
> pp.
> A history of the Bábí movement up to 1852. Nicolas
> gives a list of sources for this book on pp. 48-53. It is interesting to note
> that among his oral sources are four of the leading Bahá'ís of
> that period, who had been designated by Bahá'u'lláh as 'Hands of
> the Cause': Mírzá 'Alí-Muhammad, 'Ibn-i-Asdaq: Mullá 'Al-Akbar-i-Sháhmírzádí, Hají Akhund;
> Mírzá Muhammad-Táqíy-i-Abharí, 'Ibn-i-Abhar;
> and Mírzá Hasan-i-Adíb.
> 
> The other two oral sources named are Siyyid 'Ismu'lláh, who was presumbly
> Siyyid Mihdíy-i-Dihají, and Mírzá Yahyá, Subh-i-Azál.
> 
> TRANSLATIONS OF THE WRITINGS OF THE BÁB[6]
> 
> 1. Le Livre des Sept Preuves, Paris 1902. 68 pp. A
> translation of the Báb's Dalá'il-i-Sab'ih
> 
> 2. Le Beyan Arabe, Paris 1905. 235 pp. A translation of the Arabic
> Bayán.
> 
> 3. Le Beyan Persan, 4 vols., Paris 1911-14. A translation of the
> Persian Bayán.
> 
> MONOGRAPHS[7]
> 
> 1. Qui est le successeur du Báb?, Paris 1933.
> 16 pp. Written to demonstrate that Mírzá Yahyá was
> the true successor of the Báb.
> 
> 2. Massacres de Bábís en Perse, Paris
> 1936. 42 pp. Accounts of several of the most important persecutions and martyrdoms
> of the Bábís and Bahá'ís.
> 
> ARTICLES[8]
> 
> 1. “A propos de deux manuscrits 'Bábís' de
> la Bibliotheque Nationale” Revue de l'Histoire des Religions,
> Vol. 47, Paris 1903, pp. 58-73. Concerning the controversial manuscripts of Nuqtatu'l-Kaf.
> 
> 2. “Sur la Volonte Primitive et l'Essence Divine d'apres le Báb” Revue
> de l'Histoire des Religions, Vol. 55, Paris 1907, pp. 208-12. Abridged version
> of a lengthy note by Nicolas explaining some of the terms in the Bábí writings.
> 
> 3. “Le Club de la fraternite” Revue du Monde Musulman,
> Vol. 13, Paris 1911, pp. 180-184. Translation of an article by Atrpet in the
> Armenian periodical Sourhandag refuting the suggestion that the Bahá'ís played
> an important part in the constitutional upheavals.
> 
> 4. “Le Dossier russo-anglais de Seyyed Ali Mohammed dit le Báb” Revue
> du Monde Musulman, Vol. 14, Paris: 1911, pp. 357-63. Documents found in the
> British and Russian Consulates in Tabríz relating to the episode of the
> Báb: frequently quoted in the present work.
> 
> 5. “Abdoul-Beha et la situation” Revue du Monde Musulman Vol.
> 21, Paris 1912, pp. 261-7. Translation of an article in the Persian periodical Fikr that
> contained an alleged exchange of letters between 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Mírzáá Ghaffar
> Zanuzí. Published under pseudonym 'Ghilan’.
> 
> 6. “Le Behahis et le Báb”; Journal Asiatique,
> Vol. 222, Paris 1933, pp. 257-64.
> 
> 7. “Quelque Documents relatifs au Bábisme”. Journal
> Asiatique, Vol. 224, Paris 1934, pp. 107-42. Some extracts from the works
> of the Báb, as well as some Persian Government correspondence.
> 
> 8. “Le Báb astronome” Revue de l'Histoire des Religions,
> Vol. 114, Paris 1936, pp. 99-101.
> 
> NOTES
> 
> [1] Taken
> from The Bábí and Bahá'í Religions: Some Contemporary
> Western Accounts. Edited by Moojan Momen (Oxford : George Ronald, 1981),
> pages 36-40. Captured from the International Bahá'í Library site
> (http://library.bahai.org/sc/nic1.htm - nic4.htm) on Thursday, December 7, 2000.
> (MW's Note)
> 
> [2] Gobineau
> describes J. B. Nicolas as 'un drole' - a rascal (letter to his sister,
> see Hytier, Les Depeches Diplomatiques p. 148n) (Momen's Note).
> 
> [3] Presumbly
> at the French Legation (Momen's Note).
> 
> [4] Nicolas
> apparently published an article entitled
> "Une Causerie sur le Báb", which the editor has been
> unable to trace. There is also a reference in “Quelque Documents relatif
> au Bábisme” (see the following list) to a work that Nicolas
> had prepared for publication entitled “La voie doloureuse de Seyyed
> 'Alí Mohammad, dit le Báb, which he describes as 'crammed with
> numerous unedited documents', but which no editor had accepted. The article “Quelque
> Documents” therefore consists of some extracts from this longer work,
> which presumably was never published (Momen's Note).
> 
> [5] Taken
> from The Bábí and Bahá'í Religions: Some Contemporary
> Western Accounts. Edited by Moojan Momen (Oxford : George Ronald, 1981),
> pages 36-40. Captured from the International Bahá'í Library site
> (http://library.bahai.org/sc/nichis.html) on Thursday, December 7, 2000. (MW's
> Note)
> 
> [6] Ibid.
> (MW's Note)
> 
> [7] Ibid.
> (MW's Note)
> 
> [8] Ibid.
> (MW's Note)
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views15216 views since posted 2006-09-22; last edit 2025-01-20 16:18 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../momen_work_alm_nicolas;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *The Work of A.L.M. Nicolas (1864-1937) (Used by permission of the curator)*