An historical analysis of critical transformations
part testimony to the extensive transformations the religion has
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| part testimony to the extensive transformations the religion has
undergone. The book, however, was written at a rather chaotic time in the history of the faith and should be approached, therefore, with some caution, but as a testimony by an individual Babi at an early stage of Babi-Baha’i history the volume has an indispensable value.
order in which they were published by Edward G. Browne. This order is exactly the opposite to the order in which these histories were originally written. So that the reader might understand better how these histories are related to one another in the context of Babi-Baha’i history, a summary of the major points thus far discussed concerning the histories will be given in the order in which the histories were written. A brief statement will then be given concerning the basis upon which the present study will proceed regarding the reliability and relative values of these three works.
following the Bab’s martyrdom (1850), and if written by Mirza Jani, would have been written before 1852 when he suffered martyrdom. It reflects conditions in the faith at a rather unstable period in its history. This history assigns an important position to Subh-i-Azal, Baha’u’llah’s rival, whom the author regards as not only the Bab’s succes- sor but as “Him whom God shall manifest,” whose coming the Bab heralded and who Baha’u’llah later claimed to be. No English translation of this work has yet been made, but Browne edited and published the Persian text in 1910. The English reader, however, may gain some familiarity with the essential features of this work from Browne’s extensive English introduction (pages xiii-liii) to the Persian text and from Appendix II of Browne’s publication of the New History (pages 327-96), where Browne discusses the history with special reference to pas- sages suppressed or modified in the New History. Included in this Appendix is a full translation of the important section pertaining to the Bab’s nomination of Subh-i-Azal as his successor and of Subh-i-Azal’s relations to his half-brother, Baha’u’llah (pages 374-82). The New History (Tarikh-i-Jadid) was written sometime between 1877 and 1880. Browne assigns 1880 as the date. According to Abu’l-Fadl, the New History was written by Mirza Husayn of Hamadan with Abu’l-Fadl’s assistance and under the supervision of Manakji, the Zoroastrian agent in Tihran. The two manuscripts collated by Browne for publication also give evidence that a number of revisers had added material. By comparing the earlier Nuqtatu’l-Kaf with the New History, Browne observed that the introduction to the New History is “less metaphysical and more rational” than the Nuqtatu’l-Kaf’s introduction and that all mention of Subh-i-Azal is omitted from the New History except in one clearly interpolated passage in the London Codex (L.).141
chiefs in ‘Akka, probably because of its abuse of the Muslim clergy, certain reflections about the Persian Government and the Persian people, its length, and especially because its focus is on the Bab and his dispen- sation rather than on Baha’u’llah and events of the later era, which Mirza
volume of the New History which Mirza Husayn was prevented from writing because of his death in the city of Rasht in A.H. 1299 (A.D. 1881-1882). Like the New History, the Traveller’s Narrative is written anonymously by one who describes himself as a traveller in Persia who desires to set forth an account of the Bab and his religion. Browne was informed after the publication of the Traveller’s Narrative, and Baha’is now acknowledge, that the author is ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’u’- llah’s son and successor in the religion. Unlike both the earlier histories, the Traveller’s Narrative gives its major attention to Baha’u’llah, his words, and events connected with his ministry as over against the Bab and his epoch; and unlike the New History, which makes no mention of Subh-i-Azal, it takes note of this rival to Baha’u’- llah but depicts his as having enjoyed only a nominal supremacy, dis- parages his courage and judgement, and contrasts him in these respects with Baha’u’llah. The Bab is set forth as a harbinger of Baha’u’llah and a more favorable attitude is taken toward the Shah of Persia. The Traveller’s Narrative was written in or around 1886. Of these three histories, non-Baha’is generally have considered the Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, the earliest written, as having more credence in presenting an unbiased record of the religion’s earliest stages and have regarded the two latter histories, especially the Traveller’s Narrative, as “manufactured” histories to give more favor to Baha’u’llah. Baha’is however, give special importance to the Traveller’s Narrative, since it was written by one whom they regard as essentially infallible, and look upon the earlier histories as unofficial and the Nuqtatu’l-Kaf in particular as having been written during a confused period of the faith, as possibly having been tampered with, and as essentially unreliable. This difference in perspective helps explain the wide divergences often found between Baha’i and non-Baha’i accounts of the faith’s earlier history.
study will proceed on the basis that the three histories, written by members of the Babi or Baha’i communities, have each a respective value in enabling the student of the religion to trace the stages of its development. The Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, whether or not written by Mirza Jani, reflects conditions and viewpoints in the faith in the years immediately following the Bab’s martyrdom as observed or understood by one member of that faith. The possibility of its having been tampered with by Subh-i-Azal’s supporter’s is minimal, since it shows divergences from their thought and, according to Abu’l-Fadl, is inconsistent with their position regarding “Him Whom God Shall Manifest,” and since the manu- script discovered by Browne was out of circulation for a long number of years, its chances of having been tampered with are greatly lessened.
of the Baha’i chiefs, should not be given such importance as presenting the official Baha’i viewpoint, but it does have some value, excluding those features mentioned earlier as probably reasons for its lack of full approval, in throwing light upon over all trends within the movement. The Traveller’s Narrative, although it should be approached with some caution due to its evident purpose, is nevertheless highly
time of its writing by a recognized leader of the religion. Mirza Javad’s Historical Epitome In Edward G. Browne’s last book on the Baha’i faith, Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion, consisting of materials which con- tinued to flow into Browne’s hands, appears his English translation of a short historical epitome of Babi and Baha’i history, written originally in Arabic by Mirza Muhammad Javad (or Jawad) of Qazvin (or Qazwin). The original manuscript was sent by the author to Browne for his investiga- tion. Browne never met the author, but his son, Mirza Ghulam’llah, visited Browne at Cambridge for several days in January, 1901, on his way to the United States. Browne gives a good summary of what can be learned about the author from the text of the history:
Mirza Muhammad Jawad, was at Baghdad (p. 15) about 1862 or a little earlier, shortly before the removal of the leading Babis thence to Adrianople; that he was with them at Adrianople (pp. 25, 27, 28) for rather more than a year before Baha’u’llah was transferred thence to ‘Akka in August, 1868; that he was Baha’u’llah’s fellow- passenger on the steamer which conveyed him from Gallipoli to Haifa (p. 32); that he was at ‘Akka in January, 1872 when Sayyid Muhammad of Isfahan and the other Azalis were assassinated (pp. 54-5) and also at the time of, or soon after, Baha’u’llah’s death on May 28, 1892, when he was one of the nine Companions chosen by ‘Abbas Efendi ‘Abdu’l-Baha to hear the reading of the “Testi- ment” or “Covenant,” (p. 75). We also learn (pp. 35-6) that he was one of several Babis arrested at Tabriz about the end of 1866 or beginning of 1867, when, more fortunate than some of his com- panions, he escaped with a fine. This is the only mention he makes of being in Persia, and it is probable that from this date onwards he was always with Baha’u’llah, first at Adrianople and then at ‘Akka, where … his son Mirza Ghulamu’llah was born end brought up.142 As to the date of the narrative’s composition, in one place the author speaks of twelve years having passed since Baha’u’llah’s “ascension” (death) in A.H. 1309 (May 28, 1892),143 which would place the date about 1904, and at the end of the narrative, these words occur: “Finished in the month of Safar, A.H. 1322 (April, 1904), written and com- piled by Muhammad Javad of Qazvin, the Persian, at ‘Akka.”144 Yet, in another place, the author refers to an event in Safar, A.H. 1326 (March, 1908)145 and speaks of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s message “proclaimed in public in America,”146 which would be in 1912. The author, therefore, evidently wrote portions of the history at different times or did some revision before sending the manuscript to Browne.
llah’s death refused to give their allegiance to Baha’u’llah’s appointed successor, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, and who style themselves “Unitarians” but are called by their opponents “Covenant-breakers.” The term “Covenant- breakers,” however, is not restricted to them.
for covering later events not included in the earlier histories, but most important for setting forth the position of those who refused to accept ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s leadership and thus for throwing light on the con- flicts between ‘Abdul-Baha and his brothers after the “ascension” of Baha’u’llah. CHRISTIAN APOLOGIES Around the turn of the century, Baha’i influence began to be felt in the West and was given wide publicity during ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s travels in Egypt, Europe, and the United States (1910-1913) after his release in 1908, when, because of the Young Turk Revolution, all religious and political prisoners in the Ottoman Empire were set free. Between 1915 and 1932, three Christian apologetical works by missionaries in Persia made their appearance.
of Foreign Missions, U.S.A., was for thirty-two years resident in Persia and in close contact with members of the Babi-Baha’i movement. In 1915, Wilson’s Bahaism and Its Claims was published, much of which had originally appeared in various magazines and journals. A repro- duction of Wilson’s book, long out of print, was made available by AMS Press, New York, in 1970.
faith was not clearly defined. Even Browne continued to speak often of Baha’is as Babis and in his Introduction to Myron H. Phelps’ Life
preferred, Beha’i) faith.”147 Wilson, however, drew a sharp distinc- tion between the Babi and Baha’i religions, feeling that “the term Babi is not appropriate to the religion of Baha nor to his followers.” He says at the beginning of his study that Babism in reality “is dead and I do not treat of it, except as it throws light on the history and doctrines of Baha’ism.”148 To define better the relationship between the Babi and Baha’i religions will be one of the concerns of the pre- sent study.
faith with the town clock in Beirut was very apt. The face towards the Muslim quarter told the hour by Oriental reckoning whereas the face towards the Christian quarter gave time in the European way.149 Wilson then says that his concern is with the Baha’i “face towards the Christians” but adds that “historical facts are the same and the main doctrines taught in the West have no essential difference from those of Persian Baha’ism,”150 a viewpoint not shared by the following two writers.
although some of its chapters deal with historical matters. Its primary focus is on the claims made by the faith and a refutation of them from the standpoint of Christianity. As such, it is an able refutation of some Baha’i claims still being made, but is, as might be expected, far out of date on some matters from the standpoint of present Baha’i belief and policy and of course has nothing to say about the Shoghi Effendi administration and other important develop- ments since it was written.
between the publication of Wilson’s volume (1915) and the appearance of William Miller’s Baha’ism: Its Origin, History, and Teachings in 1911. ‘Abdu’l-Baha had died in 1921, and a young Oxford University student, Shoghi Effendi, then only twenty-four years old, had become the new authoritative head of the religion. William McElwee Miller visited the newly appointed successor of ‘Abdu’l-Baha in 1923 and gives a brief account of that visit in his book, describing the new leader as “very pleasant and courteous” and “quite humble.”150
notably Niku, a Baha’i for fourteen years, who, after his defection, published in two volumes his Filsifa-i-Niku (Philosophy of Niku) in Tihran in 1928, attacking the faith, and ‘Abdu’l-Husayn Avarih, a respected Baha’i historian, the author of Al Kavakebu’d-Durriyih (1923), considered for a time as official Baha’i history, who after leaving the faith published his Kashfu’l-Hiyal in 1928, in which he gives an account of his life as a Baha’i and his reasons for leaving the faith.151 Miller makes use of these works, especially the latter, in his assessment and descriptions of the faith’s character. William McElwee Miller, a missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., was stationed at Mashhad, Persia, the capital of Khurasan, and a great shrine city, where he was daily in contact with Shi‘ah Muslims visiting the shrines of Gauhar Shad and of the Imam Rida, the eighth Imam of the Ithna-‘Ashariyyih sect of Shi‘ah Islam, predominant in Persia. Travelling over northeastern Persia, he also inevitably came in contact with Baha’is, whose teachings and practices came under his study and observation. Some four years before Miller wrote his book, he was in Geneva, Switzerland, and, while looking in the show window of an attractive bookstore, was surprised to see a large, beautiful scroll enumerating the Baha’i principles and a number of Baha’i books and magazines for sale. After having had a pleasant conversation with the bookstore’s owner, who was inclined toward the Baha’i faith, believing that “in Baha’u’llah the Spirit of Christ had again
purchased about the owner of a well-known bookshop in Geneva being attracted to the Baha’i cause, with this hope expressed: “Let it be our earnest prayer that in this important world-centre the Divine Oreiflame may grow with increasing radiance.”153 The bookshop owner, Miller says, admitted to him that she had not studied carefully Baha’i history and asked his suggestions for some books she might consult. Miller remarks that “it is not surprising” that she “knew nothing of Baha’i history, for the Baha’is take but little interest in the history of their ‘cause.’”154 What did seem strange to Miller and others in Persia, he says, was to see people of the West taking up this Persian religion.”155 This glimpse of “Baha’i propaganda while in Geneva” convinced Miller of the need for a brief book on the Baha’i faith “which would make available in a convenient form the scholarly researches” of Browne and other writers.156 Miller proposed, therefore, to present the results of his own investigations and supply his readers with material concerning the faith from important out-of-print volumes.157 He also drew upon the works of more recently published Persian works attacking the faith. Miller believed in 1931 that he was writing about “a dying movement” and said that he would not have attempted to write about it “were it not for the activity of the Baha’is in Europe and America in carrying on their campaign of propaganda.”158 Miller, who now lives in Pennsylvania, has completed a revision of his book, to be published in the next few months.159 Richards’s The Religion of the Baha’is In the year after Miller’s book appeared, The Religion of the Baha’is by J. R. Richards, a missionary of the Christian Missionary Society, stationed at Shiraz, Persia, was published. Miller and Richards were good friends on their missionary field in Persia. Both had many encounters with Baha’is in their missionary work, and both felt the need of a brief non-Baha’i introduction to the faith for non-Baha’is. Richards read the manuscript of Miller’s book while in its last stages of publication, but, although sharing certain viewpoints, the two books differ in their approach to the subject. Whereas Miller is concerned about Baha’i propaganda in Europe and America and desires to place before his readers, presumably pri- marily interested persons in the West, the essential facts concerning the Persian religion, Richards writes his book “with a view to the needs of missionaries who are in dally contact with Baha’is” in the East.160
the faith, Richards avoids their use, saying: The only books available in Persian are totally unfit to use, consisting as they do of attacks on the personal lives and characters of Baha’i believers. However much truth there say be in these books, it is grossly unfair to argue from the par- ticular to the general, and, in any case, no religion can be judged by the lives of its adherents, unless we choose to judge it by its best representatives, and even then our judgement will not be fair. I have, therefore, ignored all such books, and though the historical portion of this book must, and does, con- tain narratives which show the Baha’i leaders in an unpleasant light, I have sought to omit all but those that have a bearing on the historical development of the movement.160 Unlike Wilson, who said that the “main doctrines taught in the West have no essential difference from those of Persian Baha’ism,”161 Richards maintains that “Western Baha’ism is totally distinct from that of the East.”162 Richards regards Eastern Baha’i as the authentic form of the faith and Western Baha’i as a perverted form, bearing “a distinct Christian influence.”163 This approach to the faith leads Richards to conclude that certain teachings by Western Baha’is are not Baha’i teachings. For example, Richards concludes from certain teachings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha that ‘Abdu’l-Baha does not believe in a personal God”164 and makes the sweeping statement later that “there is no belief in a personal God in Baha’ism.”165 After quoting an American Baha’i writer who in his discussion quotes words attributed to ‘Abdu’l- Baha that “prayer should spring from love; from the desire of the person to commune with God,” Richards comments: “If God is not a personal God, then communion with Him is impossible, and this quotation in no way represents the Baha’i teaching about prayer.”166 One who is wanting a statement of Baha’i teaching as presented in the West, therefore, should approach Richards with some caution, for he is concerned with what he understands as original and authentic Baha’i as over against later and Western expressions of the faith. The above conclusion, however, would not only be unacceptable to Western Baha’is but to modern Baha’is in both East and West. As Miller had reported that the Baha’i faith in Persia was “steadily losing ground” and would eventually “be known only to students of history.”167 Richards maintains that “Baha’ism is on the wane in Western countries, and census statistics show that its day is past.”168 The expectation that trends would continue and that the faith eventually would die, however, was not realized. The Baha’i faith is very much alive today.
was used provisionally for a time. An edition of the Traveller’s Narrative was published by the Baha’i Publishing Committee, New York, in 1930. Baha’is later published two important histories, Shoghi Effendi’s transla- tion of The Dawn-Breakers and Shoghi Effendi’s own history, God Passes By.
Baha’is take but little interest in the history of their “cause,”169 (which may have appeared to be the case at that time) was published, Baha’is in the United States published the 685-page Shoghi Effendi translation of The Dawn-Breakers, covering the early days of the movement up to Baha’u’- llah’s expulsion from Persia. Nabil’s history is the most extensive coverage of the Bab’s ministry accepted by Baha’is as an accurate presentation of those early days. Shoghi Effendi calls Nabil Baha’u’llah’s “Poet-Laureate. His chronicler and His indefatigable disciple.”170 Balyuzi refers to him as “the prime historian and chronicler of the Ministry of the Bab and of Baha’u’llah.”171 Muhammad-i-Zarandi, who was given the title Nabil-i-A‘zam by Baha’u’llah in a tablet addressed to him,172 was born in the village of Zarand on the eighteenth of Safer, A.H. 1247 (July 29, A.D. 1831), as he, himself, indicates in The Dawn-Breakers.173 He first heard of the Bab in A.H. 1263 (A.D. 1847) and was led to recognize the new revelation by Siyyid Isma‘il-i-Zavari’i, surnamed Dhabih, one of Mirza Jani’s brothers, in A.H. 1265 (A.D. 1848), at the age of eighteen.174 He would have set out from Tihran with Siyyid Isma‘il for Mazindaran to join the Babis in the struggle at the fort of Shaykhk Tabarsi when news arrived that the Babis there had been treacherously massacred.175 He just missed seeing the Bab when the Bab stayed for a few days in the home of Mirza Jani and Siyyid Isma‘il in Kashan.176 After the Bab’s martyrdom in 1850. he was one of a good number of Babis who advanced claims of being the one foretold by the Bab,177 but after Baha’u’llah’s declaration he became his devoted follower. Shoghi Effendi says that he was throughout his life closely associated with the leaders of the Cause.”178 He was a close friend for many years of the Bab’s amanuensis, Musa Ahmad-i-Qazvini, and when beginning his chronicle, had the personal assistance of Baha’u’llah’s brother Mirza Musa, Aqay-i-Kalim. According to Shoghi Effendi, the manuscript was begun in 1888 and completed in about a year and a half, and parts were reviewed and approved by either Baha’u’llah or ‘Abdu’l-Baha. The original work carries the history to Baha’u’llah’s death in 1892, but the Shoghi Effendi English translation covers only the first half of the original, ending with Baha’u’llah’s expulsion from Persia.
statements by George Townshend, a former Christian minister, sometime canon of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, and archdeacon of Clonfert, who became a convert to the Baha’i cause:
trious, could be in so favourable a position as this trusted Babi for collecting detailed and intimate information concerning the early believers and their doings. He stood close to the heart and centre of the Movement; he presented it with sympathy and understanding.179 Amid the great and ever-growing library of works on the Bab, the Chronicle of Nabil’s holds a most conspicuous place. … It has in the fullest degree the character of a Babi Gospel. If we possessed an authorised and large scale account of the Acts of Jesus Christ written by one of the Twelve and preserved in the form in which it came from the author’s pen, we would have a Christian Gospel as authentic in its sphere as this of Nabil’s is in its.180 Nabil, no doubt, as Townshend points out, was in a position to gather much firsthand information which would not have been easily accessible to one outside the faith. and as such it is a valuable record. It is, however, a Baha’i—not a Babi—account and represents a later stage in the developing tradition.
but the claims advanced for him are considered as ill-founded,181 and Mirza Yahya himself is described as utterly unworthy of the position claimed for him.182 As a record of Babi-Baha’i history as Baha’is today accept it, Nabil’s chronicle is indispensable. Shoghi Effendi’s God Passes By In 1944. the centenary of the Bab’s declaration, there was pub- lished Shoghi Effendi’s God Passes By, a review of the faith’s first cen- tury. Although Peter Berger dismisses the volume as containing “nothing new,”183 the importance Baha’is attach to it as an authoritative account of Baha’i history written by ‘the Guardian of the Faith,” Baha’u’llah’s great grandson and ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s appointed successor, is unexcelled. Ruhiyyih Khanum refers to it as
100 years of Baha’i history, in which every factor receives its due importance in relation to every other, a labor no one but the Guardian could ever be qualified to do.184 Amelia Collins speaks of it as “the finest flower of his [Shoghi Effendi’s] mind,”185 and Horace Holley calls it “the authentic his- torical survey of the evolution of the Faith from its origin.”186
history; rather it is a dramatized account of historical high points up to Shoghi Effendi’s own ministry and of the beginnings of the administrative order under his direction. The guardian intends to give Baha’is the perspective from which the various events of their history may be viewed. He stresses the evolutionary character of the faith and delineates its major periods. In terms of literary beauty, the history is a most masterful presentation, and as a statement of Babi-Baha’i history as the Baha’is, themselves, understand it, the volume is the prime source. NOTES TO CHAPTER II 1 Joseph Arthur Gobineau, Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l’Asie Centrale (2ème ed.; Paris: Didier et Cie, 1866). 2 William McElwee Miller, Baha’ism: Its Origin, History, and Teachings (New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1931), p. 11 (hereinafter referred to as Baha’ism); H. M. Balyuzi, Edward Granville Browne and the Baha’i Faith (London: George Ronald, 1970), p. 63 (hereinafter referred to as Browne). 3 Edward G. Browne, ed., Kitab-i Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, Being the
Ms. Suppl. Persan 1071 (Leiyden: E. J. Brill, 1910. London: Luzac & Co., 1910), pp. xiii-xiv (hereinafter referred to as Nuqtatu’l-Kaf). 4 ibid., p. xiii. 5 Edward G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia, Vol. IV: Modern Times (1500-1924) (Cambridge: University Press, 1953), p. 153. 6 Edward G. Browne, ed. and trans., A Traveller’s Narrative
lation and Notes (Cambridge: University Press, 1891), pp. x-xi (herein- after referred to as Traveller’s Narrative). 7 Edward G. Browne, A Year Amongst the Persians (3d ed.; London: Adam and Charles Black, 1950), pp. 328-29 (hereinafter referred to as
in the light of later discussion in the present work. Regarding the changed state of affairs, Browne says elsewhere: “It took me some time fully to grasp this new and unexpected position of affairs, and perhaps I should not have succeeded in doing so had it not been for the know- ledge of the former state of things which I had obtained from Gobineau’s work, and the acquaintance which I subsequently made in Kirman with five or six persons who adhered to what I may call the ‘old dispensation’ and regarded Mirza Yahya ‘Subh-i-Ezel‘ as the legitimate and sole successor of the Bab” (Traveller’s Narrative, p. xvi). 8 Robert P. Richardson, “The Persian Rival to Jesus and His American Disciples,” The Open Court, XXIX (Aug., 1915), 467. 9 Balyuzi, Browne, pp. 121-22. 10 Brackets mine. 11 Farhang Jahanpur, “Setting the Record Straight,” review of
12 See E. Denison Ross, “Edward Granville Browne, a Memoir,” in Browne, A Year Amongst the Persians, p. xv. 13 Edward G. Browne, “Bab, Bahia,” Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. by James Hastings (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1955), II, 300. 14 Browne, Traveller’s Narrative, p. xlii. 15 ibid., pp. vii-viii. 16 ibid., pp. viii-ix. 17 ibid., p. ix. 18 Edward G. Browne, ed. and trans., The Tarikh-i-Jadid or New
bridge: University Press, 1893), pp. xiv, xxxi (hereinafter referred to as New History). 19 Balyuzi, Browne, p. 10, n. 1; and Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1957), p. 28. 20 Browne, Traveller’s Narrative, p. 67. 21 ibid., p. vii. 22 Browne, New History, p. xxxii. 23 Browne, Traveller’s Narrative, p. 67, n. 1. 24 ibid., p. 20. 25 ibid., p. 3. 26 ibid., p. 4. 27 See above, the quotation at top of p. 51. 28 Cf., Browne’s list of characteristics, Traveller’s Narrative, pp. xlv-xlvi, and Wilson’s summary of Browne’s points (Samuel Graham Wil- son, Bahaism and Its Claims [New York, Fleming H. Revell Co., 1915], p. 184, n. 2.
30 Browne, New History, p. 3. 31 ibid., p. 23. 32 ibid., p. 17. 33 ibid. 34 ibid., p. 318. 35 ibid., p. 3. 36 ibid., p. 23. 37 ibid., p. 28. 38 Browne, Traveller’s Narrative, Note A, p. 194. 39 Browne, Year, pp. 344-45. 40 Balyuzi, Browne, pp. 65-66; Browne, New History, p. xxxiv. 41 Browne, New History, pp. xxxvii-xxxviii. The last statement about Mirza Husayn’s being a Babi (Baha’i) before beginning to write the New History, which is more likely, contradicts Haji Mirza Hasan’s statement to Browne (quoted above, p. 58) that the author was converted while engaged is its writing. 42 ibid., p. xxxviii. 43 ibid., pp. xxxviii-xxxix. 44 Browne points out that according to Baron Rosen’s letter cited in The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great
of the New History’s Preface extends from the beginning to line three of page three of Browne’s English translation (New History, p. xl, n. 1). 45 Browne, New History, p. xl. 46 ibid., pp. xl-xli. 47 ibid., p. 313, n. 1. 48 See Browne, New History, p. 315, n. 1, and p. xxxvii, n. 3, where Browne indicates that Manakji “appears to have come to Persia from India in 1854 (cf. the author’s statements concerning travels in Europe and India, New History, p. 3), that he had written an account of which a Persian translation was published at Bombay in A.H. 1280 (A.D. 1863) of his travels in Persia (cf. the author’s description of himself as a traveller who had come to Persia), and that according to a footnote in
acted for a while as French consul at Yazd” (cf. the author’s references to the French language, New History, p. 318). If Manakji, who was not a Baha’i, is the author of these opening and closing sections of the New History, the force of Wilson’s criticism of the Traveller’s Narrative and the New History is somewhat lessened. “We might excuse their being anonymous, to avoid possible persecution, but to make pretense that the authors are travellers who have come from afar ostensibly to investigate, and into whose mouths are put praises of the religion, is but part of the insincerity noticeable in other things” (Wilson, Bahaism and Its Claims, pp. 82-83). 49 Browne, New History, p. 313; italics and brackets mine. 50 See above, quotation at top of page 60. 51 Browne, New History, p. 313. n. 1. 52 The Azalis were followers of Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Azal), Baha’u’llah’s rival. 53 Browne, New History, pp. xlii-xliii; Browne, Traveller’s
54 Browne, New History, p. 351. 55 ibid. 56 See, for example, Browne, New History, p. 421. 57 Balyuzi, Browne, p. 18, and Browne, “Bab, Babis,” 308. 58 Browne, “Bab, Babis,” 303. 59 Edward G. Browne, “Catalogue and Descriptions of 27 Babi Manuscripts,” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, XXIV (1892), p. 684, cited by Balyuzi, Browne, p. 20. 60 Browne, New History, p. 200, n. 4. 61 ibid., p. xxiv, n. 1. 62 Browne, “Bab, Babis,” 303. 63 Edward G. Browne, comp., Materials for the Study of the Babi
reprinted by Cambridge University Press in 1961 (hereinafter referred to as Materials). Shaykh Ahmad, incidentally, was an accomplished scholar and writer and was the translator into Persian of Morier’s Hajji Baba, which Browne points out was widely used as a textbook for colloquial Persian (Materials, p. 221). 64 ibid., pp. 225-26. 65 Browne, New History, p. xli, n. 1. 66 ibid., pp. xliii-xliv. 67 Edward G. Browne, “The Babis of Persia, I. Sketch of Their History, and Personal Experiences amongst Them; II. Their Literature and Doctrines,” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, XXI (July and October, 1889), 485-526, 881-1009. 68 Browne, New History, pp. xlv-xlvi. 69 Browne, Traveller’s Narrative, Note A, p. 193. 70 Browne, New History, p. l (Roman numeral); Mirza Husayn died in A.H. 1299 (A.D. 1881-1882). 71 ibid., pp. xlviii-xlix. 72 ibid., p. 293. 73 Baha’u’llah’s Kitab-i-Iqan, written before the “Manifestation,” or declaration of his mission. 74 The date here refers to Baha’u’llah’s public declaration Baha’is generally date Baha’u’llah’s declaration in 1863 when he privately “announced to several of His followers” that he was the one foretold by the Bab (J. E. Esslemont, Baha’u’llah and the New Era [3d ed., rev.; New York: Pyramid Books, 1971], p. 43). 75 Nasiru’d-Din Shah’s first journey to Europe extended from April 20 to September 6, 1873 (New History, p. 181, n. 1). 76 Browne, New History, pp. xxx-xxxi. 77 See above, p. 59. 78 Browne, New History, p. xl. 79 ibid., p. xxxii. 80 ibid., p. 64. 81 ibid., p. xl. 82 ibid., pp. 318-19. 83 Browne, Year, p. 344. 84 ibid., p. 345.
86 See above, pp. 49-50. 87 Browne, Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, pp. xiv-xv. 88 In the phraseology of the early Babis “uplifted” or “elevated” means “deceased.” It is, of course, only used of believers. (E.G.B.) 89 Brackets are Browne’s. 90 Browne, Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, p. xvi. 91 ibid., p. xix. 92 Browne, New History, p. xxviii. 93 ibid., pp. xxx-xxxi. 94 Browne, Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, p. xxxv. 95 ibid.
96 J. R. Richards, The Religion of the Baha’is (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1932. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1932), p. 12. 97 Balyuzi, Browne, p. 62. 98 ibid., p. 63. 99 ibid., p. 69; citing Browne, New History, p. xli. 100 ibid., p. 65. 101 ibid., p. 70. 102 ibid., p. 72. 103 ibid., p. 70. 104 ibid., p. 63. 105 ibid., pp. 65-66. 106 Browne, New History, p. xxxix.; see above, p. 59. 107 Balyuzi, Browne, p. 71. 108 Browne, New History, p. 214. 109 Balyuzi, Browne, p. 64. 110 ibid., pp. 64-65. 111 ibid., p. 88. 112 See above, p. 72. 113 See above, pp. 59-60. 114 Browne, New History, p. 34; also quoted in Balyuzi, Browne, p. 65. The material in single brackets is from the London Codex (L.). 115 Balyuzi, Browne, pp. 72, 77. 116 Browne, New History, p. xxviii. 117 ibid., pp. xxxix-xl. 118 ibid., xlii. 119 See above, p. 73. 120 Browne, New History, p. xv. 121 See above, p. 76. The truthfulness or accuracy of this statement, however, is somewhat called into question by the fact that elsewhere the author of the New History says that “Haji Mirza Jani gives in his book a full description of all the wonderful things which they witnessed in those two days and nights,” when the Bab stayed in the house of Mirza Jani, whereas, as Browne points out all that Mirza Jani actually records is that in Kashan he abode two days and two nights. Wondrous and marvellous signs were shewn by that Sun of Truth. A full description of these would form a book by itself” (Browne, New History, p. 214 and note 1). 122 Browne, New History, p. xxxix, italics mine; see above, p. 76.
123 Browne, Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, p. xxxiv. 124 ibid., p. xxxvi; more detailed comparisons are given in Browne, Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, pp. xxxvii-liii, and in Browne, New History, Appen- dix II, pp. 327-56. 125 Browne, New History, p. xxix. 126 Balyuzi, Browne, p. 72. 127 ibid., p. 72, n. 1.
Oriental Translation Fund, New Series Vol. XXXVIII (London: Published by The Royal Asiatic Society and sold by its Agents Luzac & Co., Ltd., 1961), p. 71 and n. 1. 129 Browne, Traveller’s Narrative, Note V, p. 350. 130 Browne, New History, p. xlii. 131 Balyuzi, Browne, p. 77. 132 ibid., p. 72. 133 ibid. 134 ibid., pp. 72-73. 135 Browne, Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, p. xix. 136 Browne, New History, p. xix, n. 3. 137 Browne, Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, p. lxxxiii; in Nicolas’s French trans- lation of the Bayan, for example, the Bab refers to the date of his mani- festation: “C’est cela ce que Dieu a promis dans le Qoran et le commence- ment (de ce jugement dernier) est à deux heures onze minautes de la nuit du 5 Djemadi el ewel de l’année 1260 qui est l’année 1270 à dater du jour où fut suscité Mohammed” (Seyyed Ali Mohammed dit le Bab, Le Beyan Persan, traduit du Persan par A.-L.-M. Nicolas, [4 vols; Paris: Librairie Paul Geuthner, 1911-1914], I, 69). 138 Miller, Baha’ism, p. 196, n. 28. 139 Balyuzi, Browne, p. 84. 140 ibid., p, 73. 141 Browne, New History, pp. 246-47. 142 Browne, Materials, p. ix. 143 ibid., pp. 61-62. 144 ibid., p. 112. 145 ibid., p. 90. 146 ibid., p. 77.
Introduction by Edward G. Browne (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, the Knickerbocker Press, 1904), p. viii. 148 Wilson, Bahaism and Its Claims, p. 15. 149 ibid., pp. 15-16; the reference is to Henry Harris Jessup, “The Babites,” The Outlook, LXVIII (June 22, 1901), 456. 150 Miller, Baha’ism, pp. 150, 152. 151 See Miller, Baha’ism, pp. 163-64. 152 Miller, Baha’ism, p. 10. 153 ibid. 154 ibid., pp. 10-11. 155 ibid., p. 9. 156 ibid., p. 15. 157 ibid. 158 ibid., p. 9; see above, p. 25. 159 So indicated in a letter to the author from Rev. Miller, dated March 22, 1974. This work now has been published. 160 Richards, The Religion of the Baha’is, p. iv. 161 See above, p. 95. 162 Richards, The Religion of the Baha’is, p. 186. A similar statement by Richards appears on page 117. 163 ibid. 164 ibid., p. 123. 165 ibid., p. 186. 166 ibid., p. 187. 167 Miller, Baha’ism, p. 9; see above, p. 25. 168 Richards, The Religion of the Baha’is, p. 117.
171 Balyuzi, Browne, p. 44. 172 Shoghi, God Passes By, p. 176. 173 Nabil-i-A‘zam (Muhammad-i-Zarandi), The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Baha’i Revelation, trans. by Shoghi Effendi (London: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1953), p. 318. 174 ibid., p. 120. 175 ibid., p. 322. 176 ibid., p. 320. 177 Browne, Traveller’s Narrative, p. 357 and note 5. 178 Nabil, The Dawn-Breakers, p. xxxiv. 179 George Townshend, The Mission of Baha’u’llah and Other Literary Pieces (Oxford: George Ronald, 1952), p. 22. 180 ibid., pp. 40-41. 181 Nabil, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 317. 182 ibid., p. 323. 183 Peter L. Berger, “From Sect to Church: Sociological Interpretation of the Baha’i Movement” (Ph.D. dissertation, New School for Social Research, 1954), p. 56, n. 20. 184 Ruhiyyih Khanum, Twenty-Five Years of the Guardianship (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha’i Publishing Committee, 1948), p. 24. 185 Amelia Collins, A Tribute to Shoghi Effendi (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, n.d.), p. 10. 186 Horace Holley, Religion for Mankind (1st American ed.; Wil- mette, Ill.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1966), p. 60.
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