E-raamat: Bab and the Babi Community of Iran

Biographies



Acknowledgments



A Note on Transliteration



Map



Preface



 



1  The Bab: A Sun in a Night Not Followed by Dawn | Fereydun Vahman



· The Bab Discontinues his Formal Education and Begins his Mercantile Work



· Epiphany, Piety, and Intuition



· The Babs Journey to the Sacred Shrine Cities of Iraq



· The Babs Return to Shiraz and Marriage



· The Declaration of the Babs Cause: The Birth of a New Religion



· After the Declaration of the Babs Cause



· Mulla Ali Bastami



· The Babs Eventful Journey to Mecca



· The Babs 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 Bįb: 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 (181950) | Stephen N. Lambden



· The Writings of the Bab, Some Preliminary Observations



· Bayan/Mubin (Crystal Clear) yet Abstruse, Bewilderingly Abstruse (sab
mustasab): 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 (ulm alghayb)



· The Style, Grammar, and Syntax of the Bab



· Personal Letters, Scriptural Tablets (Lawh, pl. Alwah)



·· Letters or Scriptural Tablets



· The Genesis of the New Sharia (Laws), the Khasail-i Saba (mid. 1845)



· The All-Comprehensive Bayan (Exposition) of the Bab



· The Five Modes of Revelation



· Devotional Writings of the Bab



· Tafsir Srat 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



· Srat 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. Rasail), Epistles (ahifa, pl. uhuf ) and
Other Scriptural Communications



· The Risala fil-nubuwwa al-khassa (A Treatise on the Specific Prophethood
of Muhammad)



· Epistles, Treatises, Booklets (ahifa, pl. uhuf )



· The Persian Dalail-i saba (Seven Proofs)



· The Arabic al-dalail al-saba (Seven Proofs)



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



· Kitab-i panj shan (The Book expressive of Five Modes of Revelation)



· The (Lawhi) Haykal aldin (Temple of Religion) (1266/earlymid-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 Qurįn Commentary of the Bįb, Sayyid
Alķ Muammad Shķrįzķ (181950) | Todd Lawson



· Life of the Bįb



· The Shaykhķ School



· Shaykhķ Teachings



· Tafsķr Works



·· Tafsķr sśrat al-baqara



·· Tafsķr sśrat Yśsuf



· Conclusions



· Bibliography



 



6  The Social Basis of the Bb Upheavals in Iran (184853): A Preliminary
Analysis | Moojan Momen



· Introduction



· The Shaykh abars Upheaval: 184849



·· Total Number of Bbs at Shaykh abars



·· Rural/Urban Origin of Bb Participants at Shaykh abars



· The Nayrz Upheavals of 1850 and 1853



·· Occupations of Bb Participants in the Two Nayrz Upheavals



·· Origins of Participants at the Two Nayrz Upheavals



·· Total Numbers of Bb Participants at the Two Nayrz Upheavals



· The Zanjn Upheaval: 185051



·· Occupations of Bb Participants at Zanjn



·· Origins of Bb Participants at Zanjn



·· Total Numbers of Bb Participants at Zanjn



· The Tehran Episodes of 1850 and 1852



·· The Seven Martyrs of Tehran, 1850



·· The Tehran Executions of 1852



·· Occupations of the Bbs Executed in Tehran in 1852



· Conclusions



·· A Comparative Analysis



·· The Role of Women



·· Other Social Groups



·· The Social Basis of Babism



 



7  The BabiState Conflicts of 184850 | 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 1848May 1849



· The Objectives of the Babis at Shaykh Tabarsi



· The Calm between Storms: May 1849May 1850



· The Nayriz Conflict of MayJune 1850



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



· Hujjat and the Ulama of Zanjan



· The Zanjan Episode of May 1850January 1851



· An Analysis of the Objectives of Hujjat and the Zanjani Babis



· Conclusion



· Bibliography



 



8  From Babi Movement to the Bahai Faith: Some Observations About the
Evolution of a New Religion | Armin Eschraghi



· Some General Observations on the Babs Sacred Law



· Messianism in the Babs Writings



· The Later Development of the Babi Movement



· Bahaullah After the Babs Martyrdom



· Babi Messianism and the Question of Leadership



· Some General Observations on Bahaullahs Sacred Law



· Some Further Observations on the Bahai Faiths 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 įhirih Qurratul-Ayn | Omid Ghaemmaghami



· Introduction



· Progressive Revelation



· Love, Friendship, and Forbearance



· Bibliography



 



10  Babi-Bahai Books and Believers in E. G. Brownes 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

Fereydun Vahman is Professor Emeritus at Copenhagen University and former Iranian Studies Fellow at Yale University. He has taught and researched old Iranian religions and languages for more than forty years, and has published many books, in several languages, including 175 Years of Persecution: A History of the Babis & Bahais of Iran, which is also published by Oneworld. He is the editor of the Religion and Society in Iran series, and co-founder and President of the Danish-Iranian Society.