Baha'i Studies Review - Volume 20, Issue 1, 2014

Official Russian attitude towards the Babi-Baha’i religion seems to have changed dramatically between the mid- to the end of the nineteenth century. At first, in the formative years of the Babi movement in Iran in the 1840s, Tsarist Russia saw in it what British India saw later in Bolshevism, namely something that could not only destabilize Iran, but could even spill over into their own territory. Thus, Russian diplomats in Iran requested from the Iranian authorities to keep the Bab away from the Russian borders. This early attitude changed almost dramatically by the mid-1880s and onwards, when Iranian Baha’is were not only permitted to immigrate into Russian territory, but even to create their own communities under the protection of the Russian government.

One of the main reasons for this volte-face with regards to Russian policy towards the Babi-Baha’i religion seems to have been the relatively poor knowledge of that religion in its formative, or Babi years; while gradually, especially following the declaration of Baha’u’llah and with the vast majority of Babis adopting the Baha’i Faith, fears of the negative implications of the Babi-Baha’i religion made way for a more positive attitude towards it. This trend stood in direct relation to the growing flow of information on the Babi-Baha’i religion, which came not only from Russian academic circles, but growingly from a new breed of Russian officers and officials, who also had academic training in ‘oriental studies’.

One of these ‘orientalist’ officers and officials, who were tasked to collect material on the Babi-Baha’i religion and communities, was Alexander Tumanskii, who stands out in both the volume and depth of his research and findings about the Babi-Baha’i religion. His official reports were quite important for the direction of Russian policy towards the Babi-Baha’i religion, and his academic publications (and primarily the translation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas and several Tablets into Russian) are still used by scholars today. It is the purpose of this paper to try and evaluate the contribution of Tumanskii on Russian historiography, and on policy towards the Babi-Baha’i religion.

Rediscovery of contemporaneous handwritten notes by Cambridge orientalist, Edward Granville Browne, of his historic meetings with Baha’u’llah, prophetfounder of the Baha’i Faith in Akka (St Jean d’Acre), Palestine, during his stay there – which lasted from his arrival on Sunday, 13 April 1890, to Browne’s departure on Sunday, 20 April 1890 – significantly adds to our knowledge of those spiritual and momentous events. Given the fact that Baha’u’llah was to become widely regarded as the founder of a new world religion, Browne’s published account of his 16 April 1890 audience with Baha’u’llah takes on added significance as a rare first-hand description by a distinguished contemporary from the West. Although well-known to those acquainted with Baha’i history, relatively little is known regarding the sequence of events. This article will draw from Cambridge manuscripts to add some new details, and will draw a fuller picture of what transpired by use of Browne’s correspondence with Russian academics, along with known Baha’i sources judiciously compared with Azali sources. Together, a composite account of that historic encounter between scholar and prophet, Browne and Baha’u’llah, will be offered.

A brief account of Shoghi Effendi’s work as ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s secretary during the period between his arrival in Haifa from Beirut in 1918 and his departure for Europe in 1920, focusing on Shoghi Effendi’s role as English-language translator and interpreter for his grandfather.

In this paper, I start by discussing a controversy that has erupted recently over the issue of the exact point in time that Baha’u’llah became aware of his mission. The controversy revolves around the translation of a phrase in the writings of Baha’u’llah which appears to state that he does not have any ‘amr’. One side to the controversy claims that the translation of this phrase indicates that Baha’u’llah had no thought of advancing any claim as late as 1857, while the opposing party contends that this is a mistranslation of the phrase and that Baha’u’llah was fully aware of his mission from at least the time of his imprisonment in the Siyah-Chal. I intend to show in this paper that the whole controversy is an illusory one caused by the specific nature of the meaning of the word ‘amr’ and that the phrase that is the subject of dispute proves neither side’s case, however it is translated. Evolving out of my discussion of this issue, is a theological schematic of the stages of the evolution of the mission of those persons that Baha’is call Manifestations of God. I then putatively impose this schematic upon the dispensation of the Bab creating a new interpretation of his ministry.

Religions can transmit their culture by means of community religious education, writing, publication, formal scholarship and scriptural studies. This is especially important in the Baha’i Faith which is a lay religion. This essay is a preliminary survey of the history of the cultivation and evolution of religious education in the Baha’i Faith in Iran in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Key individuals who played a role in these educational processes are briefly introduced and discussed.

Many of Baha’ullah’s tablets and epistles lament his suffering, which he compares to the trials of past prophets and messengers. Baha’u’llah’s favourite point of comparison in Islam is his namesake Imam Husayn, whose suffering he likens to his own and whose return he claims to be. However, in a tablet tentatively entitled the ‘Tablet of Tribulations’, Baha’u’llah contrasts his suffering and political persecution with the worldly success of Muhammad. This tablet is translated with brief annotations.

Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice (Riḍvānu’l-‘Adl, or Riḍwān al-‘Adl; also known as Lawḥ-i Riḍvānu’l-‘Adl and Lawḥ-i ‘Adl) may be regarded as Baha’u’llah’s paradigm (‘Paradise’ or ideal) of ‘justice’. Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice transforms received notions of ‘justice’. Although typically considered a ‘secular’ concern within rather specific institutional confines, Baha’u’llah allegorizes, personifies, symbolizes and otherwise expatiates on ‘Justice’ in such a way as to vivify the concept. Justice is made sacred, deriving from the ‘Name’ of God as ‘The Just’ (al-‘ādil). Justice – encompassing, as it does, both faith and action – is the essence of the Baha’i concept of salvation, both individual and societal. As a framework of analysis, this paper is organized as follows: Introduction; Historical Context; Structure (vis-à-vis Apostrophes); Highlights of Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice; Theological Dimension of ‘Justice’; Revelatory Dimension of ‘Justice’; Authoritarian Dimension of ‘Justice’; Contemporaneous Dimension of ‘Justice’; Social Dimension of ‘Justice’; Individual Dimension of ‘Justice’; Conclusion; Appendix: Riḍwān al-‘Adl: Paradise of Justice (translated by Adib Masumian). This study demonstrates how Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice presents a significantly expanded paradigm of justice, both in precept and practice.

The Maxwells of Montreal, Vol 1. The Early Years 1870– 1922, Violette Nakhjavani with the assistance of Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (2011) Oxford: George Ronald, xx, 422, illus., 23.4 x 15.6 cm ISBN: 9780853985518 0853985518 (hbk) £25.95/$49.95 Kindle version: ASIN: B01C4R5CJK US$9.00.

The Maxwells of Montreal, Vol 2. Middle Years 1923–1937, Late Years 1937–1952, Violette Nakhjavani with the assistance of Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (2012) Oxford: George Ronald, 442, illus., 23.4 x 15.6 cm ISBN: 9780853985617 853985617 (hbk) £25.95/$49.95 http://www.grbooks.com

During the course of his thirty-six year ministry (1922–57), Shoghi Effendi personally wrote an enormous number of letters, and in addition directed one or other of his secretaries to write numerous more on his behalf – to which he normally added a personal postscript. Most of these letters remain unpublished and there has as yet been no comprehensive study of even the published letters. What follows is a brief description of what is currently available of his English-language letters during the period 1922–30. Letters and extracts from letters appearing in periodicals such as Bahá’í News, or in compilations such as Lights of Guidance, are not included, although I do refer briefly to some unpublished letters. There is as yet no English-language study of his Persian letters.