Baha'i Faith, Scholarship on
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Bahá'í Faith, Scholarship on

Moojan Momen

1995

Babi Scholarship

Scholars and
scholarship were intimately connected with the Babi movement from its earliest
days. All eighteen of the "Letters of the Living" (q.v.) had been students
of the Shaykhi leader, Sayyid Kazim Rashti, studying
at Karbala, one of the foremost centres of learning in the Shi`i
world. The new religion was then spread by this group through their social
network of relatives and friends who consisted mainly of other `ulama
(lit. learned persons). Thus many of the other prominent early converts
were also `ulama, including some who had gained the status of mujtahid,
the highest grade of learning in the Shi`i world. These included Sayyid
Yahya Darabi Vahid (q.v.), Hujjat Zanjani (q.v.), Mirza Ahmad Azghandi
and Mulla Muhammad Taqi Haravi. All were persons who had established religious
leadership and authority.
This learning was put to the benefit of the new religion
in the form of numerous treatises written by these scholars. These treatises,
most of which have unfortunately not survived, were mainly polemical in
nature, seeking to prove the new religion using methods of argument and
reasoning current in Shi`i scholarship. The Bab himself gave every
encouragement to such activity and it is even reported that, during his
incaceration in Chihriq, the Bab instructed forty of his followers
to compose treatises to demonstrate the validity of his mission (DB 304).

Early Bahá'í Scholarship

The
stream of conversions of Muslim `ulama slowed a little after the intense
persecutions of the Babi period but it by no means stopped. Several of
the most prominent followers of Bahá'u'lláh had previously been important
Muslim clerics. Of the 19 persons named by Shoghi Effendi as "Apostles
of Bahá'u'lláh" (q.v.), at least ten were `ulama and of these four had
been prominent mullas or mujtahids before their conversion. Many of these
scholars became muballighs, teachers, and exponents of the
Bahá'í Faith who frequently travelled from place to place. Through such
persons the stream of scholarly works continued. The exigencies of the
times however determined that these were mostly still introductory and
polemical works.
Of major importance among the activities of the Bahá'í
scholars of this period was the work of Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani (q.v.)
in relating the prophecies in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles to the Bahá'í
Faith. This opened the way to the conversion of Jews and Christians in
Iran, Syria, and Egypt. Gulpaygani's other notable achievements include
his conversion of a number of Sunni scholars of the al-Azhar University
in Cairo and his presentation of the Bahá'í teachings to the Bahá'ís of
the West during his four-year sojourn in America.
Other important Bahá'í scholars of this period included
Shaykh Muhammad Qa'ini Nabil-i-Akbar (q.v.), Shaykh
Muhammad `Ali Qa'ini (q.v.) and from a somewhat later period Mirza Asadu'llah
Fadil-i-Mazandarani (q.v.). Many others wrote istidlaliyyihs, works
written in proof of the Bahá'í Faith usually written from the viewpoint
of a particular religion. Among such authors were Haji Mirza Muhammad Afshar
(from an Islamic viewpoint), `Andalib (Christian), and Mirza Mihdi Arjumand
(Jewish and Christian).
Bahá'u'lláh himself gave encouragement to the development
of scholarship and on some occasions referred questions that had been asked
of him to scholars such as Gulpaygani to answer.

Western Scholarship on the Bahá'í Faith

The first accounts of the Babi movement to be published in scholarly
journals were a brief notice by the American missionary, Dr Austin Wright,
published in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl?ndishe Gesellschaft
(vol. 5, 1851, pp. 384-5) and notes concerning some Babi manuscripts by
Bernard Dorn published in Russia in 1865.
Of much greater importance in alerting the West to the
rise of the Babi movement was the book Les Religions et les Philosophies
dans l'Asie Centrale (Paris, 1865) by Arthur, Comte de Gobineau (q.v.).
More than half of the book is devoted to the Babi movement. In the same
year, a Russian scholar from the Caucasus, Mirza Kazem-Beg, produced a
book on the Babis,
Bab i Babidui (St Petersburg, 1865), which also
came out in French translation in the Journal Asiatique in 1866.
These two works were to remain the main source of information on the Babi
movement in the West for many years. They mark an important turning-point
in that the accounts that had appeared before this gave the general impression
of the Babis as revolutionary communists and anarchists. Gobineau was the
first to demonstrate that there was some considerable substance in the
teachings of the Bab as well as heroism in the actions of the Bab and the
Babis. He did this so well that a number of European intellectuals became
very interested in the Babi movement.
Edward Granville Browne (q.v.) was the first academic
to concentrate on the new religion. He travelled to Iran in 1887-8 and
subsequently in 1890 to Cyprus to meet Azal and to `Akka to meet Bahá'u'lláh.
He was the first to appreciate and document the nature of the change that
had transformed the Babi movement into the Bahá'í Faith. He published the
results of his researches in a number of papers and books. His later work
on this subject was, however, somewhat biased towards the claims of Azal
and against the Bahá'í position.
Equally assiduous in his efforts although concentrating
almost exclusively on the Bab was the French consular official and writer,
A.-L.-M. Nicolas (q.v.), who had been born and raised in Iran. He wrote
a history, Seyyed Ali dit le Bab (Paris, 1905), as well as translating
a number of the Bab's most important works. He is also the first to have
written at any length on the
Shaykhis, Essai sur le Cheikhisme
(4 vols., Paris, 1910-1914). Nicolas also adopted a somewhat hostile attitude
towards the Bahá'í although not adopting the same pro-Azali position that
Browne had done. However it is reported that late in life, he was reconciled
to the Bahá'ís.
In contrast to Browne and Nicolas who concentrated their
efforts on the Bab, there were, at this time in Russia, a number of scholars
who were concentrating more on the Bahá'ís. Baron Victor Rosen (1849-1908)
in the course of cataloguing the collections of Arabic and Persian manuscripts
at St Petersburg, took a close interest in the Bahá'í movement and wrote
a number of papers on the subject as well as arranging for a collection
of the writings of Bahá'u'lláh to be published. Aleksandr Tumanski was
a Russian soldier and orientalist who took a close interest in the Bahá'ís
and spent some time with the Bahá'í community in Ashkhabad. He published
the text and a translation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas as well as a number of
papers.
A number of other Western oriental scholars also wrote
important articles about the new religion at this time although none of
them had a sustained interest in the subject: Prof. V.A. Zhukovski of St
Petersburg; Prof. Clement Huart of Paris; Hermann Roemer of T?bingen; Prof.
Ignaz Goldziher of Budapest; and Prof. Arthur Christensen of Copenhagen.
There were also some who were considered eminent scholars
in such fields as religion, but who were not oriental scholars, and who
also wrote about the Bahá'í Faith. These included such figures as Dr. Benjamin
Jowett, Prof. Thomas Cheyne and Prof. John Carpenter of Oxford; Prof Auguste
Forel (q.v) of Switzerland; and the philosopher Leo Tolstoy (q.v.) of Russia.
Among the nascent communities of Western Bahá'ís, the
most proficient scholar was the Frenchman, Hippolyte Dreyfus (q.v.). He
succeeded in gaining a mastery of Persian sufficient to investigate the
teachings of the Bahá'í Faith in their original language. There exist some
articles and letters that indicate that he was interested in research but
the needs of the time dictated that his main efforts were in the field
of translation of the Bahá'í scriptures.

Anti-Bahá'í Polemical scholarship

Just as the earliest followers of the religion of the Bab were `ulama,
so the earliest oppponents of the religion were also Muslim clerics. Foremost
amongst these in this early period was the Shaykhi leader
Haji Muhammad Karim Khan Kirmani (q.v.), who wrote four treatises
against the Bab, the first in 1845. Since that time many Muslim scholars
have written treatises against both the Babi and Bahá'í Faiths, such as
the Miftah Bab al-Abwab by Mirza Mahdi Khan Za`imu'd-Dawlih
(Cairo, 1321/1903-4). Muslim anti-Bahá'í polemic has increased in the years
since the Iranian Revolution.
From the early decades of this century, this stream of
Muslim anti-Bahá'í polemic has been joined a rising amount of Christian
anti-Bahá'í polemic. This was initiated by Christian missionaries in Iran
such as S.G. Wilson and J.R. Richards, but has been extended in recent
years to Christian theologians especially those from a Protestant fundamentalist
background. Polemic from other religious groups against the Bahá'í Faith
has not thus far been of major importance although it is anticipated that
this may increase in the future.
In addition, there have been attacks on the Bahá'í Faith
made by secular opponents. The largest volume of such material was generated
in the Soviet Union as part of the communist anti-religion drive.
Also to be included in this category are the works of
"Covenant-Breaker" (q.v.) groups. These begin with Azali polemic in the
19th century such as the Hasht Bihisht of Mirza Aqa
Khan Kirmani. For other examples see Ahmad Sohrab, Broken Silence
(1942); and Herman Zimmer,
A Fraudulent Testament devalues the Bahai
Religion into Political Shoghism (1973).
Lastly, there remain a number of works written by apostates.
`Abdu'l-Husayn Avarih, for example, was a Bahá'í who wrote an important
history of the Bahá'í Faith, the Kavakibu'd-Durriyyih. He later
left the Bahá'í Faith and wrote the Kashfu'l-Hiyal. Other
examples include the works of Subhi and Niku.

Modern Bahá'í Polemical Scholarship

During much of the period of Shoghi Effendi's leadership there were comparatively
very few works of scholarship produced by the Bahá'ís. In part, this may
have been due to the prodigious output of Shoghi Effendi himself who produced
numerous works in English and Persian, including histories, commentaries,
and translations of scripture. Although Shoghi Effendi made appeals for
the emergence of "a more profound and coordinated Bahá'í scholarship" in
order to explore the "deeper teachings" of the Bahá'í Faith and present
them "intelligently and enticingly" (Gift of Teaching, p. 25) and
although there were intellectuals in the Bahá'í community, there was very
little response to this appeal from Shoghi Effendi. Most scholarship in
the Bahá'í community continued to be mainly geared to producing polemical
and introductory literature along lines that had, by the middle of the
20th century, become somewhat stereo-typed and out-dated.
Among Iranian Bahá'í scholars, there was some diversification
away from works of polemic to commentaries on scripture and histories.
In particular should be noted the voluminous output of `Abdu'l-Hamid Ishraq-Khavari
(q.v.) and the historical works of `Azizu'llah Sulaymani, Muhammad `Ali
Faydi, and Muhammad-`Ali Malik-Khusravi. In more modern times a
number of scholars with training in more modern academic disciplines arose
and began to disseminate writings (mainly in the form of articles) informed
by such areas as western philosophy. Notable among these are `Abbas `Alavi,
`Ali-Murad Davudi, Badi`u'llah Farid, and Kamalu'd-Din Bakhtavar.
In the West, Dr. John E. Esslemont (q.v.) did considerable
research in writing his book,
Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era (London,
1923), the book that has universally been regarded as the textbook of the
Bahá'í Faith until recent times. A few further introductory books were
published in the next few decades, the most notable being those of George
Townshend (q.v.).
In the period following the passing of Shoghi Effendi,
the number and variety of books published has increased markedly. The area
of history and biography has been well served. A start has been made in
the area of applied scholarship: the application of the social teachings
of the Bahá'í Faith to areas such as social and economic development and
education. However, up to the present, the area of theology and philosophy
have been comparatively neglected.

Modern Western Academic Scholarship on the Bahá'í Faith

After the death of E.G. Browne in 1926, the scholarly
study of the Babi and Bahá'í Faiths lapsed in the academic institutions
of the West. A small number of theses on the Bahá'í Faith were produced.
The thesis of Mikhail Ivanov, Babidsjie vosstaniya v Irane (1848-1852),
was published in Moscow in 1939. Among the Bahá'ís also there was little
scholarly activity, the only exceptions being Alessandro Bausani in Italy
and Adelbert M?hlschlegel and Hermann Grossmann in Germany. The needs of
the Bahá'í community dictated that the majority of the literature which
it published, apart from scripture, was either introductory or polemical
in nature.
This state of affairs continued until the 1970s when the
Bahá'í community grew to the extent that it could sustain the "luxury"
of a more analytical type of scholarship and there was a renewed upsurge
in such studies. This renewal was was initiated by the writings of Hasan
Balyuzi (q.v.). It has been carried on to a large extent (but not exclusively)
by young Bahá'í scholars seeking to study their religion at post-graduate
level.
A number of important theses on the Shaykhi,
Babi, and Bahá'í movements have been written in recent years. A measure
of the change in level of academic activity can be gauged from the fact
that between 1920 and 1970 only eight Ph.D. theses were produced while
between 1970 and 1982, twelve were completed (between 1983 and 1987, a
further seven theses were produced). Some of these theses have now been
published: Peter Smith, The Babi and Bahá'í Religions and Abbas
Amanat, Ressurection and Renewal. In addition, an increasing number
of papers have appeared in academic journals, such as Iran, International
Journal of Middle East Studies, Religion, The Journal of
Religious History, Zygon, and Conflict Quaterly. The
series
Studies in Babi and Bahá'í History (now renamed Studies
in the Babi and Bahá'í Religions), and more recently the Journal
of Bahá'í Studies (Ottawa, Canada) has provided an important additional
place for the appearance of academic material. Research notes and preliminary
papers have been circulated in the Bulletin of Bahá'í Studies (Newcastle,
England).
At the University of Lancaster in England, annual seminars
on Bahá'í studies took place between 1977 and 1980. Informal Bahá'í groups
studying the Bahá'í Faith at varying academic levels have been meeting
in Britain since the early 1970s, and in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s.
The recent establishment of Bahá'í Chairs at the University
of Mysore in India (1990) and at the Centre for International Development
and Conflict Resolution at the University of Maryland (1993) signals an
important new development in this area.
The Bahá'í Encyclopedia began as a project of the
Bahá'í Publishing Trust of the United States in 1983. The National Spiritual
Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States agreed to sponsor the project
in 1984 after the plan was endorsed by the Universal House of Justice.

Associations of Bahá'í Studies

A significant step in the development of Bahá'í studies occurred with the
setting up in Canada in 1974 of the Canadian Association for Bahá'í Studies,
which was renamed in 1981 the Association for Bahá'í Studies. This initiative
has spread and there are now some seventeen Bahá'í studies associations
around the world with the Association for Bahá'í Studies office in Ottawa
acting as a coordinating center.
These Associations for Bahá'í Studies aim to improve all
levels of scholarship in the Bahá'í Community. They have tended to concentrate
upon developing polemical scholarship and what can be termed applied scholarship
(applying the Bahá'í social teachings to the problems of the world). They
have made a tentative start in the area of promoting the academic study
of the Bahá'í Faith.

Bibliography.

A listing of Ph.D.
theses on Bahá'í-related topics can be found in Bahá'í World, vol.
18, pp. 890-1; Collins, Bibliography, 303-310. An account of the
Lancaster seminars can be found in BW 18:204-5 (see also references at
the end of this article). On the Association for Bahá'í Studies, see BW
18:194-200.

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-- Baha'i Faith, Scholarship on (Used by permission of the curator)