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Grupos de noticias: soc.culture.iranian

De: nhaz ...@aol.com(NHazini)

Fecha: 1997/01/26

Asunto: Babism/Baha'ism as esoteric Shi'ism universalized

Qizilbash has raised an important issue: i.e. the non-mystical, secular

motivation of much of the liberal political agenda of democratic politics

in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century Iran. However, it is not

that easy to dismiss the Babi and Baha'i movements on those grounds,

since

as first and foremost being chiliastic/millenarian (i.e messianic)

movements they were, above all, addressing a specifically Shi'i religious

ethos - and only secondarily did a social and political dimension arise.

In other words, the call to political and social reform, which bothBabismand Baha'ism addressed in different ways, was part-and-parcel of a

quintessentially religious message that continually stressed that a new

aion of religious history, or a new divine cycle, was before us now with

the advent (zuhur) of (what in Babi/Baha'i language is called) the

mazhar-i amr-i illahi (the manifestation of the command of God) in the

persons of, first, Siyyid `Ali-Muhammad Bab (as the self-proclaimed

Hidden

Imam made manifest) and later Mirza Husayn-`Ali Nuri Baha'u'llah (as the

personification and fulfillment of this divine theophanic cycle begun by

the Siyyid-i Bab). As such, it was incumbent that the need be emphasized

for the old structures of society to be reformed or replaced since the

Millenium, as such, had arrived.As a side note: every Millenarian movement in history with messianic

overtones - movements which, by the way, are always born out of an

intrinsically religious esoteric milieu - be they the Joachimites of the

Middle Ages, the Anabaptists of the Reformation, the Nizari Isma'ilis of

Alamut or the Qarmathians of Bahrain, the Jewish Sabbatians or the Babis,

always comes with a charismatic agenda for reforming society in some way

-

and usually, but not always, it entails a radical (and often democratic)

reform.

Qizibash's point about esotericism and mystism vis-a-vis the

Babi-Baha'i religion(s) takes us into some interesting and unexplored

waters. Unfortunately most modern Baha'is, let alone non-Baha'is, arecompletely unfamiliar with the rich mystical and esoteric heritage of

their religious history; a heritage which compelled the late Italian

Islamicist Alessandro Bausani (d. 1985) to conclude his impressive magnum

opus about the history and phenomenology of Iranian religions, *Persia

Religiosa* (Naples: 1968?), with the Babis and Baha'is. Also, the great

Muslim political philosopher of the sub-continent and the father of

Pakistan, Mohammad Iqbal Lahori (who had actually been a Baha'i in his

youth), wrote in his dissertation *The Development of Metaphysics in

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Persia*, that the culmination of high metaphysics and mysticism in the

Iranian religious ethos was to be found in the Babi-Baha'i movement(s),

and that he considered Baha'u'llah to be "...the Buddha [par excellence]

of Persia." Furthermore, in his *Javid-Namah* a central figure of early

Babism, Zarin Taj Baraghani Qazvini *Tahirih Qurratu'l-`Ayn*, appearstogether with Hallaj, Ghalib and Rumi as among the most perfect of the

divinely intoxicated ecstatics (mahjub), and with Hallaj she is

consideredby him the hero of the Sphere of Jupiter (which in Ishraqi cosmology is

the most proximate sphere to the Godhead).

The Shaykhi school, which Babismis in many ways an offshoot andderivation of, is perhaps the most esoteric and 'gnostic' of the schools

of Shi'i thought. Being a continuation of the doctrinal developments of

the last two centuries with 1) the School of Isfahan and 2) the

subsequent

Usuli-Akhbari controversies that divided the `ulama of the Shi'i world

into hostile camps, Shakhism saw itself in the middle-ground, as it were.

However unlike the chief figures of the School of Isfahan, Sadr al-Din

Shirazi (a.k.a. Mulla Sadra) and Muhsin Fayz Kashani, as well as the

Nimatullahi Sufi Order which was enjoying a brief renaissance at the time

- both of whom were universalists and beholden to the theosophical Sufism

of Ibn `Arabi and his school -, Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai was a through and

through sectarian Twelver Shi'ite (some might even say bigoted) and

relied

exclusivelly upon the writings and traditions of the Imams and as such

saw

himself in the role of re-establishing their long neglected

'philosophical-mystical' heritage - at least from his point of view. The

wahdat al-wujud (Unity of Existence) doctrine of Ibn `Arabi, Mulla Sadra

and the Shi'ite Sufis also posed an insurmountable theological issue to

Shaykh Ahmad, so in the majority of his philosophical endeavours he

followed the less controversial Ishraqis and especially the ideas of Mir

Damad in metaphysics - the other major figure of the School of Isfahan.

Shaykh Ahmad believed that the Fourteen Immaculate Ones (the

chahardah masumin) exist in a state of pure undifferentiated unity as a

pleromatic column of light emanating from the Godhead to the world of

creation - Suhrawardi had called this emanation the procession of

'angelic

intelligences' or Platonic forms/ideas (mithal aflatuniyyah) but Shaykh

Ahmad insisted that it was in fact the undivided essence of the Prophet,

Fatimah and the 12 Imams - and that the chahardah masumin are the

mazahir-i illahiyyeh (manifestations of God). In fact, this term was not

new at the time and was used previously by, for instance, Kulayni in the

*Usul min al-Kafi* (the compilation of the sayings of the Imams) and by

the theologian Ibn Babuya as an appelative description of the spiritualstation of the Imams; but this term was especially common among the Sufis

and their account of the station and cosmological function of the Perfect

Man (insan-i kamil) as the manifestation of the Haqiqqah Muhammadiyyah

(the Muhammadan Reality).

Standing mid-way between the pleromatic light of the Fourteen

Immaculates and the world, Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai posited the necessity for

the existence of a Perfect Shi'ite (al-shi'i al-kamil) or a Fourth

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Support

(ar-rukn ar-rabi'a) - much like the Perfect Man or murshid of the Sufis -

(fourth after Divinity, Prophecy and the Imamate) as the intermediary

between the pious Shi'i of the world (who Shaykh Ahmad saw as the chosen

people of God much like the Jews would see themselves) and the rest of

humanity.The Shi'i, the Fourth Support and the chahardah masumin, as

such,share a unific mystical relationship: the Shi'i community is the

macrocosmic body of the microcosmic Perfect Shi'i (the Fourth Support)

and

the Perfect Shi'i is the vehicle for the manifestation of the Metacosmic

will of the Fourteen Immaculates who are/is the emanation of the Godhead.

The complete details of the Shaykhi mystico-cosmology is quite

involved to go into here in any greater depth. But suffice it to say that

these Shaykhi ideas paved the way for much of later Babi-Baha'i

mystico-theosophical speculations, since the overwhelming majority of

early converts to both of these movements where Shaykhis.

It was the Islamicist and now turned suspense fiction novelist, Denis

MacEoin (known by the pen-name 'Daniel Easterman'), who first observed

that Babism-Baha'ism are (is) in essence 'esoteric Shi'ismuniversalized':

see his "Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in Nineteenth-Century Shi'ism: The

Cases

of Shaykhism and Babism," The Journal of the American Oriental Society(1990) 110:2, pp.323-9. This is quite a bold and sweeping, yet poignant,

assumption, since it is not an observation based merely on the level of

historical criticism (which is self-evidently obvious from the geneology

and sources of the two movements) but, rather, it is inherently a

'phenomenological' assumption. Whatever its interpretative problems,

however,- and MacEoin unfortunately does not expand on nor support

furtherhis assertion -, it is nevertheless a point well taken.

So what does one mean when one says that Babism-Baha'ism is in manyways esoteric Shi'ism universalized - this, in spite of the insistent

protestations of modern Baha'is to characterize themselves as an

independent and universal religion transcendening what their holy

scriptures characterize as the "Islamic Dispensation"? First, what it

does

*not* mean to say is that the Babi or Baha'i movement is nothing more

than

an offshoot sect of Shi'ism - this whole concept is laden with the most

profound structural and interpretative flaws of the first order and is

the

common, problematic conclusion of the bigoted polemical literature of the

past decades. What it does mean to say is that by modifying and

transforming the central religious motifs and dogmas of Shi'ism - the

inner architecture and archetype of Shi'ism, as it were - (and there are

many, many points of reference for anyone who cares to unbiasedly read

and

analyze Baha'i literature for themselves) (note: I am particularly

speaking of esoteric Shi'ism here), Babism-Baha'ism, by its specifichistorical and cultural situation, has incorporated and, above all,

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'universalized' Shi'ism within itself. This is part one of the analysis.

The second part entails the doctrine itself. We said above that the

concept of mazhar-i illahiyyeh appears in one form in early Shi'ite

thought and I pointed specifically to Kulayni and Ibn Babuya - it might

be

instructive in this regard to refer people to a new groundbreaking

study/monograph of early Shi'ite doctrine and thought by Amir-`Ali

Mo'ezzi, *The Early Divine Guide in Shi'ism* SUNY (Albany: 1996). Thisnotion is the central foundation - the very pivot - upon which the entire

Babi-Baha'i weltanschuuang (world-view) revolves around. Briefly: the the

Godhead as the Necessary Being (wajib al-wujud) is completely

transcendent, beyond comprehension or ontological relation to the world.

The first act of the Godhead in pre-eternity (sarmad) was to emanate His

Will - this is according to Babi-Baha'i hermenuetics the 'kun fi yakun'

(Be and It Is) of the Quran. This first act constitutes the Primal Will

(mashiyyah al-awwal) and as such is the inner reality of the Prophets or

mazahir-i illahiyyeh (manifestations of the Godhead). Note: this is not

hulul (incarnationism) since the Babi-Baha'i writings insist on a strict

emanation scheme that constantly employs the analogy of 'the Writer andhis writing' (i.e. the writing is not the Writer but the concrete

manifestation of the conceptual thought/or act of the Writer). Following

from this, there is a further emanation from the Primal Will which

engenders the world of being, origination and corruption (to use

Aristotle's phrase). After its existence, which is a perpetual process

eternally flowing from Divinity, all things in the world of creation

begin

the path of seeking their own inherent perfection (takamol) which leads

them upwards upon the path of ascent back to their origin - this is much

like Mulla Sadra's doctrine of transubstantial motion (harakat-i

jowharriyeh). Their ultimate goal of completion is self-knowledge, which

amounts to the knowledge of the manifestation of the Godhead, which is

the

inner essence of all things - there is a hadith qudsi (actually there are

a number of variations to this hadith qudsi) which has the Prophet (pbuh)

or `Ali (pbuh) saying, "man `arafa nafsi faqad `arafa rabbi" (He who

knows

my-self shall know the Lord).

Existence, as we said, is on an upward path of perfection and greater

realization. The theological consequence of this idea is two-fold: 1) the

Primal Will is the same in all the Prophets (including the Imams) hence

all the Prophets are of the same ontological reality or substance, and 2)

the word of God itself, due to the progressive upward path of existence,is eternally being rejuvenated or renewed. Consequently both the Siyyid-i

Bab and Baha'u'llah saw themselves as the manifestations of the same,

eternal Primal Will which has manifested itself at one time as Abraham,

Moses, Zardosht, Jesus, the Prophet Mohammad, the Imams, etc. This is a

very radical idea but has its roots firmly within the ethos of Shi'ite

thought - as we saw.

Next the Babi-Baha'i writings are replete with esoteric mysticism. To

give one example: The *Haft Vadi* (Seven Valleys) of Mirza Husayn-`Ali

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Nuri Baha'u'llah is on the 7 stations (maqamat) of the wayfaring mystic

first presented by `Attar in his *Mantiq-i Tayr* on the individual's

journey towards God, or God-realization. In this important treatise,

among

the issues discussed include the realization of the Perfect Man (or

manifestation of God) within ones inner being in the opening prolegomena,

the stages and pitfalls of the path, Mir Damad's concept of zaman (time)and huduth-i dahri (atemporal origination), the nature of divine and

profane love, and the stations of fana and baqa (annihilation and

subsistence in the God).There is also the *Kalimat-i Maknuneh* (the title

and theme somewhat reminiscent of Muhsin Fayz Kashani's treatise by the

same name) which is among some of the most moving and profound spiritual

exhortations of world religious literature.

Finally, let me conclude by saying that the Babi-Baha'i faith's claim

to religious universality in effect universalizes Shi'ism.

Regards, Nima

Grupos de noticias: soc.culture.iranian

De: nhaz ...@aol.com(NHazini)

Fecha: 1997/01/29

Asunto: Re: Babism/Baha'ism as esoteric Shi'ism universalized

Dear Koroush,

I know of six university libraries here in North America that have the

farsi text of *Resaleh-ye Madaniyeh*: U Michigan-Ann Arbor, UCLA,

Harvard,

Columbia, Princeton and U Texas-Austin. It was also recently reprinted by

a Baha'i publishing house in Germany - *Baha'i verlag: Hofheim-

Langenhain*

(1984). Of course, there is the well-known English translation, *Secret

of

Divine Civilization*, which is easily available and dime-a-dozen.

On Dehkhoda: he came from an Azali background, but I'm not sure if he

was actually a practicing Babi himself (most probably wasn't). My source

is from an unpublished diary (khatterat) by one Habibollah A. from Kashan

who died a few years ago (this person claimed that some of his relatives

had been Azali Babis and were related to one of Dehkhoda's relatives).

However, I once spoke with one of Dehkhoda's students who confirmed this

information. A complete study of Dehkhoda's family background and history

should yield positive confirmation - perhaps it's time to write and

publish a detailed bio-bibliographical account of him.

The information on Furughi is from a few published accounts. I

believe Mo'in mentions his Azali affliations.

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The 1.5 number is a composite based on a few sources: 1) the

research findings of Roy Mottahedeh at the Baha'i world center on Baha'i

numbers at the turn of the century based on documents of a census taken

by

Baha'i leaders in 1920-1 (author) - also see *Note on Baha'i numbers* and

the ensuing discussion in British Baha'i Studies Bulletin; 2) Fazel

Mazandarani, *Tarikh-i Zuhur'ul-Haqq* vol. 3-6; 3) archives of the NSAI(National Spiritual Assembly of Iran) [note: I have not seen the archive

census numbers of the NSAI but have been told they are available in that

source]; 4) there is also short discussions in Smith *Babi-Baha'i

religions* and Bayat *Mysticism and Dissent*.

Now it is interesting how the official numbers have shrunk

significantly over the decades. This is easily explainable. Many left or

became inactive due to the secularization/modernization (and

anti-religion) policies of Reza Shah and his son, the expansion of the

civil service sector, the rise of the secular left, and the general

persecution of Baha'is in Iran. The Azalis, on the other hand, have

shrunk

to an insignificant handful (perhaps no more than a few families). The

reason for this is long and complicated, but it began already with people

like Shaykh Ahmad Ruhi and Mirza Aqa Khan Kirmani who became secularized

just prior to the Constitutional revolution itself.

More later..

Regards, Nima