The Bab and the Babi Community of Iran
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Fereydun Vahman, The Bab and the Babi Community of Iran, bahai-library.com.
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The Báb and the Bábí Community of Iran

Fereydun Vahman, editor

Oneworld Academic, London, 2020

1. The three items from this book currently online (in earlier versions)

Interpretation as Revelation:
The Qur'an Commentary of the Báb, by Todd Lawson

Social Basis of the Bábí Upheavals in Iran (1848-1853): A Preliminary Analysis, by Moojan Momen

The Bábí-State Conflict at Shaykh Tabarsí, by Siyamak Zabihi-Moghaddam (see also 2002 version and audio)

2. Complete contents, for reference (from bahai.works)

Biographies

Acknowledgments

A Note on Transliteration

Map

Preface

1. THE BAB: A SUN IN A NIGHT NOT FOLLOWED BY DAWN

Fereydun Vahman
translated by Adib Masumian

The Bab Discontinues his Formal Education and Begins his Mercantile Work

Epiphany, Piety, and Intuition

The Bab’s Journey to the Sacred Shrine Cities of ‘Iraq

The Bab’s Return to Shiraz and Marriage

The Declaration of the Bab’s Cause: The Birth of a New Religion

After the Declaration of the Bab’s Cause

Mulla ‘Ali Bastami

The Bab’s Eventful Journey to Mecca

The Bab’s Return from Pilgrimage and the Events of Shiraz

The Bab in Isfahan

From Isfahan to Azarbaijan

The Trial of Tabriz

The Return to Chihriq Prison

The Execution of the Bab in Tabriz

Bibliography

2. THE WORLDVIEW OF THE BAB: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF RELIGION AND SOCIETY

Nader Saiedi

Reconstruction of the Idea of Religion: Dialectical Logic and Historical Consciousness

Reconstruction of the Idea of the Human Being and Human Identity

Rationalism and Humanism

Equality of the Believers and Canceling of the Authority of the Clerics

Centrality of the Word and the Rejection of Miracles

Reconstruction of Heaven, Hell, and the Day of Resurrection

Reconstruction of the Concept of the Occultation and Return of the Imam

Equal Rights, Social Justice, and Ethics

Station of Women, Rejection of Patriarchy

The Ethical Maxim: For the Sake of God

Culture of Affirmation

Development and Modernization: Perfection and Refinement

Conclusion

Bibliography

3. THE SHAPING OF THE BABI COMMUNITY: MERCHANTS, ARTISANS, AND OTHERS

Abbas Amanat

The Changing Economy

The Babi Merchants

The Babi Artisans

Converts from the Government Ranks

The Babi Community: An Assessment

Selected Bibliography

4. FROM A PRIMAL POINT TO AN ARCHETYPAL BOOK: LITERARY TRAJECTORIES THROUGH SELECT WRITINGS OF THE BAB (1819-50)

Stephen N. Lambden

The Writings of the Bab, Some Preliminary Observations

Bayan/Mubin (“Crystal Clear”) yet “Abstruse, Bewilderingly Abstruse (sa‘b mustasa‘b)”: Exegetical Clarity and Esoteric Depth in the Writings of the Bab

The Shahada (Testimony of Faith) and its Alphabetical Mysteries

Esoterica, the Abstruse, Sciences of the Unseen (‘ulūm al-ghayb)

The Style, Grammar, and Syntax of the Bab

Personal Letters, “Scriptural Tablets” (Lawh, pl. Alwah)

Letters or Scriptural Tablets

The Genesis of the New Shari‘a (Laws), the Khasa’il-i Sab‘a (mid. 1845)

The All-Comprehensive Bayan (Exposition) of the Bab

The Five Modes of Revelation

Devotional Writings of the Bab

Tafsir Sūrat al-Hamd (Praise) or al-Fatiha (“The Opening,” Q.1)

“We indeed proffered thee al-Kawthar (The Abundance).”

Hadith Commentary

Commentaries on Hadith Texts by the Bab

Sūrat al-Ridwan

Khutbas, Literary Orations

The Khutba al-Jidda (Literary Oration Nigh Jeddah)

The Khutba on ‘ilm al-huruf (On the “Science of the Letters”)

Select Treatises (Risala, pl. Rasa’il), Epistles (Ṣahifa, pl. Ṣuhuf) and Other Scriptural Communications

The Risala fi’l-nubuwwa al-khassa (A Treatise on the Specific Prophethood of Muhammad)

Epistles, Treatises, Booklets (Ṣahifa, pl. Ṣuhuf)

The Persian Dala’il-i sab‘a (Seven Proofs)

The Arabic al-dala’il al-sab‘a (Seven Proofs)

Kitab al-asma’/Kull shay’ (The Book of the Divine Names, the “All Things”)

Kitab-i panj sha‘n (The Book expressive of Five Modes of Revelation)

The (Lawh-i) Haykal al-din (“Temple of Religion”) (1266/early-mid-1850)

The Late Messianism of the Bab

The Wasiyyat-nama (Will and Testament) Attributed to the Bab

Concluding Summary Note

Bibliography

5. INTERPRETATION AS REVELATION: THE QURAN COMMENTARY OF THE BAB, SAYYID ‘ALÍ MUḤAMMAD SHÍRÁZÍ (1819-50)

Todd Lawson

Life of the Báb

The Shaykhí School

Shaykhí Teachings

Tafsír Works

Tafsír súrat al-baqara

Tafsír súrat Yúsuf

Conclusions

Bibliography

6. THE SOCIAL BASIS OF THE BĀBĪ UPHEAVALS IN IRAN (1848-53): A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

Moojan Momen

Introduction

The Shaykh Ṭabarsī Upheaval: 1848-49

Total Number of Bābīs at Shaykh Ṭabarsī

Rural/Urban Origin of Bābī Participants at Shaykh Ṭabarsī

The Nayrīz Upheavals of 1850 and 1853

Occupations of Bābī Participants in the Two Nayrīz Upheavals

Origins of Participants at the Two Nayrīz Upheavals

Total Numbers of Bābī Participants at the Two Nayrīz Upheavals

The Zanjān Upheaval: 1850-51

Occupations of Bābī Participants at Zanjān

Origins of Bābī Participants at Zanjān

Total Numbers of Bābī Participants at Zanjān

The Tehran Episodes of 1850 and 1852

The Seven Martyrs of Tehran, 1850

The Tehran Executions of 1852

Occupations of the Bābīs Executed in Tehran in 1852

Conclusions

A Comparative Analysis

The Role of Women

Other Social Groups

The Social Basis of Babism

7. THE BABI-STATE CONFLICTS OF 1848-50

Siyamak Zabihi-Moghaddam

Babi Clashes with the State: Neither Social Protest nor Offensive Holy War

Review of the Primary Sources of the Babi Upheavals

An Outline of the Conflict at Shaykh Tabarsi, September 1848—May 1849

The Objectives of the Babis at Shaykh Tabarsi

The Calm between Storms: May 1849-May 1850

The Nayriz Conflict of May—June 1850

An Analysis of the Objectives of Vahid and the Babis in Nayriz

Hujjat and the ‘Ulama’ of Zanjan

The Zanjan Episode of May 1850—January 1851

An Analysis of the Objectives of Hujjat and the Zanjani Babis

Conclusion

Bibliography

8. FROM BABI MOVEMENT TO THE BAHA'I FAITH: SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF A NEW RELIGION

Armin Eschraghi

Some General Observations on the Bab’s Sacred Law

Messianism in the Bab’s Writings

The Later Development of the Babi Movement

Baha’u’llah After the Bab’s Martyrdom

Babi Messianism and the Question of Leadership

Some General Observations on Baha’u’llah’s Sacred Law

Some Further Observations on the Baha’i Faith’s Evolution from the Babi Movement

Messianism

Ritual Impurity (najasah)

Holy War and Religious Legitimization of Violence

Conclusion

Bibliography

9. “THE HAND OF GOD IS NOT CHAINED UP”: NOTES ON TWO SALIENT THEMES IN THE PROSE WRITINGS OF ṬÁHIRIH QURRATU’L-‘AYN

Omid Ghaemmaghami

Introduction

Progressive Revelation

Love, Friendship, and Forbearance

Bibliography

10. BABI-BAHA’I BOOKS AND BELIEVERS IN E. G. BROWNE’S A YEAR AMONGST THE PERSIANS

Sholeh A. Quinn

Introduction

Terminology and Identifications

Isfahan

Shiraz

Books in Shiraz

Reading in Shiraz

Yazd

Kirman

Conclusion

The Texts Browne Encountered in Iran

Bibliography

Index

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-- The Bab and the Babi Community of Iran (Used by permission of the curator)