# Political Divisions and Schisms

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Syed Ameer Ali, Political Divisions and Schisms, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Political Divisions and Schisms
> 
> Syed Ameer Ali
> published in The Spirit of Islam: A History of the Evolution and Ideals of Islam, with a Life of the Prophet pp. 357-59, 482, 491
> 
> London: Christophers, 1902
> 
> [page 357]
> 
> The Wahabis have been depicted in rather favourable colours
> by Mr. Palgrave, in his Travels in Central Arabia, but, in fact,
> they are the direct descendants of the Azárika, who, after
> their defeat by Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, had taken refuge in the
> recesses of Central Arabia. Abdul Wahab's doctrines bear the
> closest resemblance to those held so fiercely by the followers of
> Nafe ibn al-Azrak. Like them, the Wahabis designate all
> other Moslems as unbelievers, and permit their despoilment
> and enslavement. However commendable their revolt against
> the anthropolatrous usages in vogue among the modern
> Moslems, their views of religion and divine government, like
> those of the Ikhwán of the present day in Nejd, are intensely
> morose and Calvinistic, and in absolute conflict with progress
> and development.
> 
> Babism, which made its appearance in Persia in the early
> part of the nineteenth century, has been represented in widely
> divergent colours. According to the Moslem authorities, it is
> nothing but a new form of Mazdakism, an Eastern socialistic
> communism. Its mixed gatherings of men and women are
> regarded in the same light as the ancient Agape of the primitive
> Christians were considered by the followers of the older faiths.
> On the other hand, a European scholar of great research and
> learning, who has studied the religious literature of the Babis,
> and mixed familiarly with them, represents Babism as the
> latest expression of an eclectic evolution growing out of the
> innate pantheism of the Iranian mind.
> 
> During the reign of Mohammed Shah,2 the hypocrisy and
> vices of the national clergy, says this writer, had reached
> such a pitch that a change was inevitable. The political
> and social condition of the people was deplorable. In this
> 
> 2. The third Kajar King of Persia, who ascended the throne on the death
> of his grandfather, Fathi Ali Shah.
> 
> [page 358]
> 
> state of affairs a young Mullah of Shiraz, Mirza Ali Mohammed, supposed to be a Fatimide by descent, who had
> studied much, had travelled a great deal and made the
> pilgrimage to the holy cities, and had for many years resided
> in Arabia and Syria, began to preach a social and moral
> reform. He denounced the hypocrisy of the ordinary mullahs,
> and their reception of the most doubtful traditions to justify
> practices condemned by Islam. His words struck a sympathetic chord in minds already prepared for the reception of
> his views, and evoked extraordinary enthusiasm. He obtained
> numerous disciples, among them a young lady of Kazwin,
> whose learning and eloquence supplied a powerful support to
> his cause. She is venerated now as Kurrat-ul-'Ayn, "Light of
> the Eyes." Mirza Ali Mohammed, either carried away by the
> enthusiasm of his followers, or unhinged by his own exaltation,
> in a fit of pantheistical insanity, assumed the title of Bab
> Hazrat-i-a'ala, and styled himself a part of the Divinity. His
> followers rose in arms against the constituted authorities and
> failed. The fanaticism of the clergy and political expediency
> gave rise to a persecution, for which even Gobineau thinks the
> Babis were primarily responsible. The Bab was killed with
> most of his prominent disciples. But his teachings have
> survived. His social precepts are said by Gobineau to be
> much in advance of the received doctrines. He attached great
> importance to the marriage-relations, and during the continuance of the first marriage he allowed the taking of a second
> wife only under certain conditions. He absolutely interdicted
> concubinage, forbade divorce, and allowed the appearance of
> women in public. The custom of seclusion, as Gobineau justly
> observes, creates infinite disorders, and exercises a pernicious
> influence on the early education of children. The usage itself
> does not depend on any religious prescription, it is simply a
> convenience. The ancient kings of Persia observed it as a sign
> of grandeur, and the Moslem sovereigns and chiefs imitated
> their example, and adopted the custom. Among the Arabs
> the women of the tribes are perfectly free to move about as
> they wish. The ladies of the Prophet's family conversed with
> the disciples, received their visits, and often shared in the
> repasts of the men. Mirza Ali Mohammed therefore, says
> 
> [page 359]
> 
> Gobineau, made no innovation in endeavouring to free women
> from the bondage of a mischievous custom. His religious
> doctrines are essentially pantheistic, and his code of morals,
> far from being lax, is strict and rigid.1
> 
> Some Moslem writers have divided the religious sects into
> two comprehensive groups, viz. the Ahl-ul-bátin, the Intuitionalists, and the Ahl-uz-zahir , those who look into the meaning of
> precepts, and those who look only to the literal sense. The Ahl-ul-bátin, however, must not be confounded with the Batinis.
> The Ahl-ul-batin include the mystical Sufis, the philosophical
> mutakallimin, and the Idealists in general, "all those," to use
> the words of Zamakhshari's comment, "who strive to implant
> in their hearts the roots of divine perfection," who strive and
> struggle to attain the highest standard of human excellence,
> and who, whilst conforming to the prescriptions of the law,
> perceive in them the divine intent to promote concord and
> harmony among the races of the earth, peace and goodwill
> among mankind.2
> 
> 1. The most recent account of this remarkable religious movement, from
> the Babi point of view, is to be found in Professor E. G. Browne's New History
> of the Bab, which purports to be a translation of a Babi work called Tarikh-i-Jadid. Professor Browne's Introduction is extremely interesting. From the
> Tarikh one can picture the fascinating personality of Kurrat-ul-'Ayn; see
> Appendix III. This great scholar has given to the world in his new work,
> called Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion, considerable additional
> information regarding its development and diffusion. Bahaism, its latest
> phase, which flourishes chiefly in the United States of America, appears to
> have largely assimilated the doctrines of Christian Science.
> 2. See post, chap. xi.
> 
> APPENDIX III
> 
> [page 482]
> 
> Whatever the sins of the Babis may have been, their punishment, in
> its barbarous inhumanity, far exceeded their deserts — a punishment
> borne with sublime fortitude which cannot help evoking the admiration
> of every heart not steeped in racial or religious fanaticism and which is
> bearing its natural fruit. The sect, instead of dying out, is increasing
> in number, and judging from the few professed Babis I have met,
> actuated with bitter hatred against the Mullahs whom they believe to
> be the primary cause of their persecution.
> 
> The cruelties to which the Babis were subjected were the acts of an
> ignorant populace and a frightened governor hounded on by fanatical
> priests. In China, in our own times, under the eyes of the civilised
> world, disciplined troops of certain civilised Powers perpetrated the
> most diabolical and nameless horrors upon unoffending citizens and
> helpless women and children. Crimes like these destroy one's faith in
> humanity and progress. (p. 359)
> 
> [page 491]
> 
> Bábis. — The Babis, who have now split up into several
> sections, are to be found chiefly in foreign countries. They are said
> to abound in the United States ; many of them are settled in Beyrout
> and not a few in Bombay and Calcutta. The greatest authority in
> England on Babism, Professor E. G. Browne, says that the Babi cult
> has nothing in common with Sufism. One fundamental difference
> between the two cults lies in their mentality; whilst Sufism shows
> great charity towards differing systems, Babism is intensely exclusive,
> not to say fanatical.
> 
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> Views6151 views since posted 2012-10-14; last edit 2025-01-20 16:22 UTC;
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> — *Political Divisions and Schisms (Used by permission of the curator)*