Select Language

Directory Apply Give

The Bab, Bib. Supp. 1 Pre-Islamic Abrahamic religions: Responses to the Bābī-Bahā’ī religions.

SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS

Stephen Lambden UC Merced.

In Progress - last updated 03-09-2019

Bib. Supp. I Part I .

Pre-Islamic Abrahamic religions -

Jewish and Christian Responses to the Bābī-Bahā’ī religions.

Western Christian Missionary Sources pertaiing to the Bab and the Babi Religion. This secong supplement will list bibliographical data generated by missionaries (several utilizing Azali sources or with Azali associations) or persons and groups with missionary connections. This will again include both positive, empathetic as well as negative polemical materials written by Christian missionaries pertinent to the study of the religion of the Bab.

Supplement II. 3 Islamic Anti-Babi-Baha'i polemic and related materials in western languages.

Supplement II. 4 Shaykhism and Anti-Babi Polemic : Writings of followers of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i and his Kirmani and other devotees and adherents in western Languages.

Pre-Islamic, Abrahamic religions, Responses to the Bābī-Bahā’ī religions

JUDAISM

On Judaism, Jews and the Babi-Baha’I religions.

Habib Levi/Levy = Ḥabīb Lavī ‏‏لوي، حبيب (1275 Sh./1896-1984).

‏‏Tarikh-i Yahud-i Iran, 3 vols., Tehran: Ibrūkhīm, 1956-1960. Several reprints and translations. It is vol.3 that contains data of interest.
تاريخ يهود ايران ‏ = Tārīkh-i Yahūd-i Īrān. Tehran: Kitab Farwashi Ibrukhim. 3 vols. Up till the time of Rida Shah Pahlavi. Vol.1 (in 2 bks. xvi pages = Inex and bib., 210 + 211-366 pages), 5716 AM/ 1334 Sh./1956. Vol.2 412 pages, 5720 AM/1339 Sh./1960 CE. Vol.3 5721 AM/1339 Sh. / 1960. xxviii /kh = 28 +1055 pages.
‏‏تاريخ يهود ايران ‏ = Tārīkh-i Yahūd-i Īrān. 2 vols in 1. / 3 vols, Reprint of the Tehran, Burūkhīm, 5716-5721/ 1956-1960. Contents: Jild-i 1. Kitāb-i 1. Tārīkh-i mukhtaṣar-i ʻahd-i bāstānī-i Banī Isrāʼīl tā vurūd bih Īrān. Kitāb-i 2. Tārīkh-i Yahūd-i Īrān az ibtidā-yi vurūd-i jamʻīyat-i Isrāʼīl va Yahūdā bih Īrān tā ākhar-i silsilah-ʼi Hakhāmanishī. Jild-i 2. Kitāb-i 3 va 4. Az ibtidā-yi tasalluṭ-i Silūkīdʹhā dar Īrān tā inqirāz̤-i silsilah-ʼi shāhanshāhān-i Ashkānī va tasallut-i Aʻrāb ilā muqaddimah-i ḥamlah-ʼi Mughūl. -- Jild-i 3. kitābʹhā-yi 5 va 6 va 7. Az zamān-i Sulṭān Sanjar tā ʻaṣr-i kunūnī-i salṭanat-i farkhundah Aʻlā Ḥazrat-i Muḥammad Riz̤ā Shāh Pahlavī.
تاريخ يهود ايران = Tārīkh-i Yahūd-i Īrān. 3 vols. Bivirlī Hilz, Kālīfurniyā [= Beverly Hills, CA.] : Sazmān-i Farhangī Īrāniyān-i Yahūd-i, 1984.
Tārīkh-i jāmiʻ-i Yahūdīyān Īrān : guzidah-ʼi tarikh-i Yahud-i Iran. Beverly Hills, CA : Cultural Foundation of Habib Levy, 1387/1997. 45, 622 pages.
Tārīkh-i yahūd-i Īrān = The Comprehensive history of the Jews of Iran, The outset of the Diaspora. Abridged and edited from the Persian by Hooshang Ebrami, Trans. George W Maschke Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publ. 1999. Xix.597 pages.
Habib Levy : A personal chronicle of Jewish life in Iran from the late 19th century to the Islamic revolution. Ḥabīb Lavī; Nāhīd Pīrnaẓar; George W Maschke. Los Angeles, California : Habib Levy Cultural and Educational Foundation, 2015. xvi, 390 pages. Also known as Khāṭirāt-i man.

Patai, Raphael (Born: 1910, Forest Hills, New York, United States d. 1996).

A prominent cultural anthropologist and authority on Jewish cultures around the world. The Raphael Patai papers, 1937-1999 Archival material (23.8 linear feet , 32 boxes) in Hungarian, Hebrew, German, and French can be found in the New York Public Library System (NYPL), New York, NY 10018 (USA).

Historical Traditions and Mortuary Customs of the Jews of Meshhed. By Raphael Patai. [In Hebrew, with a summary in English.]. Jerusalem, 1945. 27 pages.
The jews of Kurdistan an ethnoligical study = Yehudy Kurdystn, by Erich Brauer. Compl., ed. and transl. by Raphael Patai ( = Studies in folklore and ethnology, 2). Jerusalem Palestine Intitute of Folklore and Ethnology 1947. 323 pages.
`Three Meshhed Tales on Mulla Siman-Tobh’ in Folklore, v57 no. 4 (1946): 179-184.
Jadid al-Islam. Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 2015. “In 1839, Muslims attacked the Jews of Meshhed, murdering 36 of them, and forcing the conversion of the rest. While some managed to escape across the Afghan border, the majority adopted Islam only outwardly. Jadid al-Islam is the fascinating story of how this community managed to survive, at the risk of their lives, as crypto-Jews in an inimical Shi'i Muslim environment.” Contains record some interesting traditions about Babi-Baha’i conversions to Judaism.

Persian-Iranian Jews and Baha'is.

`Abd al-Hamid Ishraq Khavari,

Hamadan ...

Amanat, Mousa (b. Kashan, 1915 - d. Santa Monica, CA., USA., 2002) = امانت، موسی

بهائیان کاشان / Bahāʼīyān-i Kāshān. ed. Noura Amanat-Samimi. Introd. Abbas Amanat and Preface Mehrdad Amanat. Foundacion Nahal [Spain], 1391 Sh./2012, 512+ pages.

Amanat, Mehrdad.

Negotiating identities : Iranian Jews, Muslims and Baha'is in the memoirs of Rayhan Rayhani (1859-1939). Ph. D. University of California, Los Angeles 2006. ix, 332 pages.
Jewish identities in Iran : resistance and conversion to Islam and the Baha'i faith. London; New York : I. B. Tauris, 2013. xi, 279 pages . “Introduction 1. Messianism and Assimilation: The Jewish Presence in Iran during the Pre-Islamic and Medieval Periods 2. Forced and Voluntary Conversion of Jews in the Safavid and Early Qajar Periods 3. Historical Background to Jewish Baha'i Conversions4. Group Conversions to Christianity and the Baha'i Faith 5. A Pedlar Living through Critical Times: Reflections in Converts' Memoirs Epilogue Notes Bibliography.

Moshe Sharon

Supplement I Pt. II.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY SOURCES

Western missionary sources pertaining to the Bab and the Babi religion.

Wright. Rev. Dr. Austin H. (b. Hartford, Vermont, 1811- d. Urumiyya, 1865). American Missionary to the Nestorians in Persia.

1851 `A Short Chapter in the History of Babeeism in Persia'. This presentation then paper was read around May 1851 and subsequently published in The Literary World, June 14, 1851. It constitutes one of the earliest mentions of the religion of the Bab in the west and concludes with some interesting details as to the transmission of the writings of the Bab: "I sent you a specimen of the· papers which Bāb wrote·during his confinement at Charee [= Chihriq, Adhirbayjan], It is said that several horseloads of such papers were found after his removal from that place. The British Consul, resident at Tabreez, having obtained a number of them, gave to me [Dr. Wright] those I now forward. They have been shown to a Mollah here, who is a good Arabic scholar; but he is unable to decipher tbem; or to extract any meaning from them." See lso Momen, BBR1844-1944:10; TSBBF/ Bahaipedia...

Shedd, William, Ambrose (1865-1918) & John. Haskall Shedd (d. 1895).

W. A. Shedd DD., ws a US born Presbyterian missionary.

1902-3. `Islam and the Oriental Churches: Their Historical Relations; Students Lectures on Missions, Princeton Theological Seminary 1902-3'. Contains a few lectures of Shedd (spanning 280 or so pages).
1915 `Memorandum of J.H.Shedd’ cited in `An Interesting Document on the Bab [A Letter of W. A. Shedd to the Editor of the Muslim World’ in MW 5 (1915),112; also Browne, Materials 1918: 260-2 and Momen, Babi and Baha’I religions 1981: 497-8.

John Haskell Shedd (b. Gilead, Ohio, July 9th 1833- d. Urumia, Persia, April 12th 1895).

This (ABCFM) Presbyterian missionary arrived in Persia in 1859. He was a missionary of the “Nestorian Mission” at Urumiyya (from 1870) and it was from a memorandum found among his papers that, from around 1910 (if not considerably earlier), E. G. Browne became convinced of the Bāb’s biblical awareness. This on the basis of an account of an alleged interview between the Bāb and the British physician resident at Tabriz, William Cormick (d.1294/1877). Cormick allegedly told John Shedd that the Bāb "was seen by some Armenian Carpenters, who were sent to make some repairs in his prison [presumably at Chihriq], reading the Bible". The Bāb, it was apparently said, "took no pains" to conceal his reading the Bible but allegedly informed the Armenian carpenters accordingly (Shedd, `Memorandum‘, 12. See `An Interesting Document on the Bāb [A letter of W.A. Shedd to the Editor of the Muslim World, dated Urumia, Persia, August 28th, 1914]’ in The Moslem World, Vol.5 (1915), pp.111-12, also cited in Browne, Materials.. 260-2). William Cormick and two other Persian physicians had been sent to ascertain, apparently on behalf of the Shāh and the Muslim divines of Tabriz ( before July 9th 1850), whether or not the Bāb was of sound mind and thus fit for execution. Cormick must have communicated his favourable impression of the Bāb to John Shedd between 1870 and 1877 (on Cormick see Momen EIr. IV:275-6). On John Haskell Shedd see further the the New Schaff Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (XXX), vol. X p. 388.

William Ambrose Shedd (1865-1918), DD., a US Presbyterian missionary.

Writing in c. 1909 in the New Schaff Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (XXX), vol. VII in his article `Persia' (pp. 470-4), states, "Here [Persia] the history is one of dissent, of schism, of heresy, of new doctrines and strange survivals, of bold speculations and political mysticism. Within the last century Babism, developing into Baha'ism, has been offered by Persia to the world as a universal religion. The claims made for it are extravagant, and it is making little progress, but it testifies to the fertility of the Persian mind, to its discontent with Islam as a social system, and in some of its teachings to the influence of Christianity." (p. 474). A few lectures ) of Shedd (spanning 280 or so pages) were compiled in the volume `Islam and the Oriental Churches: Their Historical Relations; Students Lectures on Missions, Princeton Theological Seminary 1902-3'.

Jessup, Henry Harris (1832–1910).

A Yale and Union Theological Seminary educated American Protestant Missionary. For a while he was a Beirut based missionary especially famous amongst Baha'is for his early public mention of Baha'-Allah before a western audience at the 1893 `Parliament of the World's Religions' (opened September 11th) in Chicago, USA. He was one of the founders of the Syrian Protestant College (now the American University of Beirut) where the young Shoghi Effendi (1895-1957), later the Baha'i Guardian, was for a while educated. Among his better known writings is the 1910 published Fifty-Three Years in Syria which contains mention of the Babi and Baha'i religion(s). Here and in a number of artricles in missionary periodicals, he often engaged in anti-Babi-Baha'i polemic. See, for example,

"'The Babites'." The Outlook (London) 68 (22 June 1901): pp.451-56. 574.

"A hostile account by an American Presbyterian missionary based in Beirut, this article records an interview with 'Abd al-Baha'. The author argues for a link between Babi/Baha'i and Nusayri doctrine. [move?] Condensed version as 'Babism and the Babites', (give item number below) in Missionary Review of the World, vol.25, Princeton, N.J., Oct. 1902, pp.771-5" (MacEoin, BBRAB No.100).

"'Babism and the Babites'." The Missionary Review of the World (Princeton, N. J.) 25 (Oct. 1902): 771-75. Condensed version of 'The Babites' (item x).(MacEoin, BBRAB No.101).

Römer, Hermann (b. Tubingen July th 1880- XXXX).

Die Babi-Baha'i. Eine Studie zur Religionsgeschichte des Islams. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Tübingen. Potsdam : Verlag des Deutschen Orient-Mision, 1911. 193 pages.

Sell, Edward. Rev. Anglican orientalist (b. Wantage, Berks. 24 January 1839 – 15 February 1932) and one-time fellow of the Univ. of Madras, India. See S. M. Zwemer, `Obituary Notices: The Reverend Canon Edward Sell, D.D." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1932): 730- 731.

Canon Edward Sell (d. Bangalore, India, 1932) an Anglican priest.

The Báb and the Bábís. Madras : S.P.C.K. Press, 1895. 51 pages.
`The Babis' in The Church Missionary Intelligencer (London: CMS / Church Missionary Society), 1896, vol. 47/21, pp. 324-335
Baháism. London : Christian Literature Society for India, 1912. 50 pages.
Ithna ʻAsharíyya, or, The twelve Shiʻah Imams. Madras, India : Christian Literature Society for India, 1923. 66 pages.
The Druses. London : Christian Literature Society for India, 1910. 65 pages.
Druses, Sufiism, the cult of Ali, Hanifs, Bahaism. comp in one vol. 1910-12.
The faith of Islam : an analysis of the Korán : the sects, traditions & foundations of Islam. London: Trübner & Co., / Addison & Co., Madras. 1880. xiv. 269. The Faith of Islam ... 3rd. ed. revised and enlarged. pp. xvi. 427. S.P.C.K.: London; Madras [printed], 1907 + Reprint Magic Lamp Press, 2008.
The Faith of Islam. New York, NY : Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2018.
Studies in Islám. London : Church Missionary Soc. 1928. 266 pages. Reprint New Delhi : Rima Publishing House, 1992.

St. Clair Tisdall, W.

`The sources of Islam : a Persian treatise', translated and abridged by William Muir. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark,1901. [14], 102 pages.
A word to the wise : being a brief defense of the "Sources of Islám". London : Christian Literature Society for India, 1912. 76 Pages.
`Islam in Persia,' in The Muhammedan World of To-Day, edited by S.M. Zwemer, E.M. Wherry, and James L. Barton. New York: The Young People’s Missionary Movement, 1906.
A Manual of the Leading Muhammadan Objections to Christianity. London : SPCK, 1915.

Wilson, Samuel Graham (b. Indiana, Pa. USA., 1858-d. Tabriz, Persia. July 2nd 1916).

An anti-Babi-Baha'i Protestant missionary for many years resident in Iran. .

Persian Life and Customs. With scenes and incidents of residence and travel in the Land of the Lion and the Sun ... With map and illustrations. 2nd ed. Edinburgh & London : Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1896. 333 pages. + New York AMS Pr. 1973.
Bahaism and its claims, a study of the religion promulgated by Baha Ullah and Abdul Baha. New York : F.H. Revell, 1915. 298 pages.
Modern movements among moslems
'The Bayan of the Bāb'. Princeton Theological· Review 13 (1959): 633-54.
Bahaism : an antichristian system

Peter Zaccheus Easton (b. New York 1846-d. Tabriz [Persia], 1916).

American Presbyterian missionary. The Baha'i scholar and apologist Mirza Abū al-Faḍl Gulpāyigānī wrote (in Syria) on December 28th 1911 his Persian Burhan[-i] Lami` (Burhäne Lämé), "The Brilliant Proof" for this anti-Baha'i missionary. Text downloadable in PDf from Google Books: Gulpaygani-Burhan lami`.pdf

The brilliant proof, burhane lame : in reply to an attack upon the Bahai revelation by Peter Z. Easton. English and Persian, xxiii, 72 pages.
The brilliant proof, (Burhäne lämé) : written December 28, 1911, in Syria. Chicago : Press of Bahai News Service, 1912. 35, [1], 35 pages.
Mirzá Abuʼl-Fadl Gulpáygání, The brilliant proof, Burhān-i lāmi + Peter Z Easton, "Bahaism--a warning: p. 73-80. Los Angeles : Kalimát Press,1998. xxiii, 80 pages

Zwemer, Samuel Marinus (b. Vriesland, Michigan, 1867 – April 2, 1952). He founded and for 37 years edited the journal The Moslem World.

Alan Neely, “Zwemer, Samuel Marinus,” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 763.

See http://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/w-x-y-z/zwemer-samuel-...

Mohammed or Christ. An account of the rapid spread of Islam in all parts of the globe, the methods employed to obtain proselytes, its immense press, its strongholds, suggested means to be adopted to counteract the evil : With an introduction by C.H. Stileman. London : Seeley, Service, 1916. 292 pags.
`The Open Road in Persia'. London: Church Missionary Society, 1933.
The impact of Christianity on non-Christian religions. Toronto : Canadian's Council, Laymen's Missionary Movement, 19XX?.10 pages.
The Mohammedan missionary problem : with a chart. New York : E. Scott., 1898.
Report of a mission tour down the Euphrates : from Hillah to Busrah. "Reprinted from the Christian intelligencer of January 4th and 11th, 1893. 8 pages. So WorldCat.

Rev. J[ohn?]. R. Richards (XXXX), C. M. S., Anglican Missionary at Shiraz, Persia who later lived in the UK and retired in Wales. He was the author of the polemical `The Religion of the Baha'is'. London : S.P.C.K., 1932 and `The Open Road in Persia'. London: Church Missionary Society, 1933.

The religion of the Bahá'ís. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York, Macmillan Co. 1932. xx, 242 pages.

Miller, William McElwee (December 12, 1892 – July 7, 1993).

He was an anti-Babi-Baha'i Presbyterian missionary in Persia for around forty years. Several of his writings contain materials about the Bab and the Babi religion. Cf. Earl E. Elder (1882-1968).

William MacElwee Miller collection of Bābī writings, 1832-1919.

Princeton University Library (Princeton, NJ 08544 United States / USA). Third Series of Islamic Manuscripts. Description: 3 linear ft. (46 v.). William Miller Mss. Collection. Archival material : Persian. "Consists of 46 bound volumes of original Babi texts in Arabic and Persian composed or copied between 1832 and 1891 into a number series of 44 octavo and two quarto bound books." (so World Cat. https://www.worldcat.org/title/william-macelwee-miller-collection-of-bab... ).

Abstract in World cat.

"Consists of 46 bound volumes of original Babi texts in Arabic and Persian composed or copied between 1832 and 1891 into a number series of 44 octavo and two quarto bound books. One volume is a blue line copy of an original text. Most of the volumes contain multiple texts so that the total number of works may number more than 1000...".

Jelal A. Azal papers, 1967-1971 or “Azal’s Notes”.

“Consists of original and Xerox copies of letters by Azal in Cyprus to William McElwee Miller, Presbyterian missionary, regarding the Babi-Bahai movement, documents referred to in the letters”. “The letters contain Azal's comments on Miller's translations of Bahai material, suggested amendments to Miller's writings, and historical background on the development of the Bahai movement. Azals notes = Correspondence regarding the Babi-Bahai movement, Jelal A. Azal to W.M. Miller”. So. World Cat. Copies are held at UCLA.

Baha'ism : its origin, history, and teachings. New York : Fleming H. Revell, 1931.
The Baha'i Faith : Its History and Teachings. Pasedina: William Carey Library, 1974.

William Miller and Jalal Azal (d. April 5th 1971), grandson of Mirza Yahya.

Jalal Azal (Celal Ezel) was the son of 'Abdu'l-'Alī, also known as 'Alī Effendi, (b. 1857-8. - d. Famagusta, 1956), a son of Mirza Yahya and his (perhaps) fourth wife Fātima (Mulk-i Jahān, Malakih Khānum, d. Famagusta, Cyprus, 1868) of Shīrāz. Jalal Azal "went to visit 'Abdu'l-Bahā' and through him was employed in the Palestine civil service. Some time after 1948, he returned to Cyprus and was employed at a radio monitoring station in Cyprus - m. 'Ismat, daughter of Badī'u'llāh, son of Bahā'u'llāh" (Momen, Cyprus Exiles, 99)

In his `The Cyprus Exiles' (BSB Vol 5 No. 3-4 and 6:1 June 1991, pp. 84-113) Momen writes: "Jalal Azal provided information to Dr Imani from Beirut who was researching a book attacking the Bahā' ī Faith. Later in America, Dr Imani was in contact with Rev William Miller. Imani put Miller in touch with Jalal Azal. Between March 1967 and February 1971, the latter provided Miller with a great deal of material with which to attack the Bahā'ī Faith in his book, The Baha'i Faith: its history and teachings' ... Miller also arranged for the material that Jalal Azal bad sent him to be deposited in Princeton University Library." (pp. 102-3).

XXXXXX

II

Supplement II. Part 1.

Pre-Islamic, Abrahamic religions, Responses to the Bābī-Bahā’ī religions

On Judaism, Jews and the Babi-Baha’I religions.

Habib Levi/Levy = Ḥabīb Lavī ‏‏لوي، حبيب (1275 Sh./1896-1984).

‏‏Tarikh-i Yahud-i Iran, 3 vols., Tehran: Ibrūkhīm, 1956-1960. Several reprints and translations. It is vol.3 that contains data of interest.

تاريخ يهود ايران ‏ = Tārīkh-i Yahūd-i Īrān. Tehran: Kitab Farwashi Ibrukhim. 3 vols. Up till the time of Rida Shah Pahlavi. Vol.1 (in 2 bks. xvi pages = Inex and bib., 210 + 211-366 pages), 5716 AM/ 1334 Sh./1956. Vol.2 412 pages, 5720 AM/1339 Sh./1960 CE. Vol.3 5721 AM/1339 Sh. / 1960. xxviii /kh = 28 +1055 pages.

‏‏تاريخ يهود ايران ‏ = Tārīkh-i Yahūd-i Īrān. 2 vols in 1. / 3 vols, Reprint of the Tehran, Burūkhīm, 5716-5721/ 1956-1960. Contents: Jild-i 1. Kitāb-i 1. Tārīkh-i mukhtaṣar-i ʻahd-i bāstānī-i Banī Isrāʼīl tā vurūd bih Īrān. Kitāb-i 2. Tārīkh-i Yahūd-i Īrān az ibtidā-yi vurūd-i jamʻīyat-i Isrāʼīl va Yahūdā bih Īrān tā ākhar-i silsilah-ʼi Hakhāmanishī. Jild-i 2. Kitāb-i 3 va 4. Az ibtidā-yi tasalluṭ-i Silūkīdʹhā dar Īrān tā inqirāz̤-i silsilah-ʼi shāhanshāhān-i Ashkānī va tasallut-i Aʻrāb ilā muqaddimah-i ḥamlah-ʼi Mughūl. -- Jild-i 3. kitābʹhā-yi 5 va 6 va 7. Az zamān-i Sulṭān Sanjar tā ʻaṣr-i kunūnī-i salṭanat-i farkhundah Aʻlā Ḥazrat-i Muḥammad Riz̤ā Shāh Pahlavī.

تاريخ يهود ايران = Tārīkh-i Yahūd-i Īrān. 3 vols. Bivirlī Hilz, Kālīfurniyā [= Beverly Hills, CA.] : Sazmān-i Farhangī Īrāniyān-i Yahūd-i, 1984.

Tārīkh-i jāmiʻ-i Yahūdīyān Īrān : guzidah-ʼi tarikh-i Yahud-i Iran. Beverly Hills, CA : Cultural Foundation of Habib Levy, 1387/1997. 45, 622 pages.

Tārīkh-i yahūd-i Īrān = The Comprehensive history of the Jews of Iran, The outset of the Diaspora. Abridged and edited from the Persian by Hooshang Ebrami, Trans. George W Maschke Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publ. 1999. Xix.597 pages.

Habib Levy : A personal chronicle of Jewish life in Iran from the late 19th century to the Islamic revolution. Ḥabīb Lavī; Nāhīd Pīrnaẓar; George W Maschke. Los Angeles, California : Habib Levy Cultural and Educational Foundation, 2015. xvi, 390 pages. Also known as Khāṭirāt-i man.

Patai, Raphael (Born: 1910, Forest Hills, New York, United States d. 1996). A prominent cultural anthropologist and authority on Jewish cultures around the world. The Raphael Patai papers, 1937-1999 Archival material (23.8 linear feet , 32 boxes) in Hungarian, Hebrew, German, and French can be found in the New York Public Library System (NYPL), New York, NY 10018 (USA).

Historical Traditions and Mortuary Customs of the Jews of Meshhed. By Raphael Patai. [In Hebrew, with a summary in English.]. Jerusalem, 1945. 27 pages.

The jews of Kurdistan an ethnoligical study = Yehudy Kurdystn, by Erich Brauer. Compl., ed. and transl. by Raphael Patai ( = Studies in folklore and ethnology, 2). Jerusalem Palestine Intitute of Folklore and Ethnology 1947. 323 pages.

`Three Meshhed Tales on Mulla Siman-Tobh’ in Folklore, v57 no. 4 (1946): 179-184.

Jadid al-Islam. Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 2015. “In 1839, Muslims attacked the Jews of Meshhed, murdering 36 of them, and forcing the conversion of the rest. While some managed to escape across the Afghan border, the majority adopted Islam only outwardly. Jadid al-Islam is the fascinating story of how this community managed to survive, at the risk of their lives, as crypto-Jews in an inimical Shi'i Muslim environment.” Contains record some interesting traditions about Babi-Baha’i conversions to Judaism.

Amanat, Mehrdad.

Negotiating identities : Iranian Jews, Muslims and Baha'is in the memoirs of Rayhan Rayhani (1859-1939). Ph. D. University of California, Los Angeles 2006. ix, 332 pages.

Jewish identities in Iran : resistance and conversion to Islam and the Baha'i faith. London; New York : I. B. Tauris, 2013. xi, 279 pages . “Introduction 1. Messianism and Assimilation: The Jewish Presence in Iran during the Pre-Islamic and Medieval Periods 2. Forced and Voluntary Conversion of Jews in the Safavid and Early Qajar Periods 3. Historical Background to Jewish Baha'i Conversions4. Group Conversions to Christianity and the Baha'i Faith 5. A Pedlar Living through Critical Times: Reflections in Converts' Memoirs Epilogue Notes Bibliography.

Moshe Sharon

Supplement Pt. II. 2.

MISSIONARY SOURCES

Western missionary sources pertaining to the Bab and the Babi religion.

Shedd, William, Ambrose (1865-1918) & John. Haskall Shedd (d. 1895).

W. A. Shedd DD., ws a US born Presbyterian missionary.

1902-3. `Islam and the Oriental Churches: Their Historical Relations; Students Lectures on Missions, Princeton Theological Seminary 1902-3'. Contains a few lectures of Shedd (spanning 280 or so pages).

1915 `Memorandum of J.H.Shedd’ cited in `An Interesting Document on the Bab [A Letter of W. A. Shedd to the Editor of the Muslim World’ in MW 5 (1915),112; also Browne, Materials 1918: 260-2 and Momen, Babi and Baha’I religions 1981: 497-8.

John Haskell Shedd (b. Gilead, Ohio, July 9th 1833- d. Urumia, Persia, April 12th 1895).

This (ABCFM) Presbyterian missionary arrived in Persia in 1859. He was a missionary of the “Nestorian Mission” at Urumiyya (from 1870) and it was from a memorandum found among his papers that, from around 1910 (if not considerably earlier), E. G. Browne became convinced of the Bāb’s biblical awareness. This on the basis of an account of an alleged interview between the Bāb and the British physician resident at Tabriz, William Cormick (d.1294/1877). Cormick allegedly told John Shedd that the Bāb "was seen by some Armenian Carpenters, who were sent to make some repairs in his prison [presumably at Chihriq], reading the Bible". The Bāb, it was apparently said, "took no pains" to conceal his reading the Bible but allegedly informed the Armenian carpenters accordingly (Shedd, `Memorandum‘, 12. See `An Interesting Document on the Bāb [A letter of W.A. Shedd to the Editor of the Muslim World, dated Urumia, Persia, August 28th, 1914]’ in The Moslem World, Vol.5 (1915), pp.111-12, also cited in Browne, Materials.. 260-2). William Cormick and two other Persian physicians had been sent to ascertain, apparently on behalf of the Shāh and the Muslim divines of Tabriz ( before July 9th 1850), whether or not the Bāb was of sound mind and thus fit for execution. Cormick must have communicated his favourable impression of the Bāb to John Shedd between 1870 and 1877 (on Cormick see Momen EIr. IV:275-6). On John Haskell Shedd see further the the New Schaff Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (XXX), vol. X p. 388.

William Ambrose Shedd (1865-1918), DD., a US Presbyterian missionary.

Writing in c. 1909 in the New Schaff Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (XXX), vol. VII in his article `Persia' (pp. 470-4), states, "Here [Persia] the history is one of dissent, of schism, of heresy, of new doctrines and strange survivals, of bold speculations and political mysticism. Within the last century Babism, developing into Baha'ism, has been offered by Persia to the world as a universal religion. The claims made for it are extravagant, and it is making little progress, but it testifies to the fertility of the Persian mind, to its discontent with Islam as a social system, and in some of its teachings to the influence of Christianity." (p. 474). A few lectures ) of Shedd (spanning 280 or so pages) were compiled in the volume `Islam and the Oriental Churches: Their Historical Relations; Students Lectures on Missions, Princeton Theological Seminary 1902-3'.

Jessup, Henry Harris (1832–1910).

A Yale and Union Theological Seminary educated American Protestant Missionary. For a while he was a Beirut based missionary especially famous amongst Baha'is for his early public mention of Baha'-Allah before a western audience at the 1893 `Parliament of the World's Religions' (opened September 11th) in Chicago, USA. He was one of the founders of the Syrian Protestant College (now the American University of Beirut) where the young Shoghi Effendi (1895-1957), later the Baha'i Guardian, was for a while educated. Among his better known writings is the 1910 published Fifty-Three Years in Syria which contains mention of the Babi and Baha'i religion(s). Here and in a number of artricles in missionary periodicals, he often engaged in anti-Babi-Baha'i polemic. See, for example,

"'The Babites'." The Outlook (London) 68 (22 June 1901): pp.451-56. 574. "A hostile account by an American Presbyterian missionary based in Beirut, this article records an interview with 'Abd al-Baha'. The author argues for a link between Babi/Baha'i and Nusayri doctrine. [move?] Condensed version as 'Babism and the Babites', (give item number below) in Missionary Review of the World, vol.25, Princeton, N.J., Oct. 1902, pp.771-5" (MacEoin, BBRAB No.100).

"'Babism and the Babites'." The Missionary Review of the World (Princeton, N. J.) 25 (Oct. 1902): 771-75. Condensed version of 'The Babites' (item x).(MacEoin, BBRAB No.101).

Römer, Hermann (b. Tubingen July th 1880- XXXX).

Die Babi-Baha'i. Eine Studie zur Religionsgeschichte des Islams. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Tübingen. Potsdam : Verlag des Deutschen Orient-Mision, 1911. 193 pages.

Sell, Edward. Rev. Anglican orientalist (b. Wantage, Berks. 24 January 1839 – 15 February 1932) and one-time fellow of the Univ. of Madras, India. See S. M. Zwemer, `Obituary Notices: The Reverend Canon Edward Sell, D.D." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1932): 730- 731.

Canon Edward Sell (d. Bangalore, India, 1932) an Anglican priest.

The Báb and the Bábís. Madras : S.P.C.K. Press, 1895. 51 pages.

`The Babis' in The Church Missionary Intelligencer (London: CMS / Church Missionary Society), 1896, vol. 47/21, pp. 324-335

Baháism. London : Christian Literature Society for India, 1912. 50 pages.

Ithna ʻAsharíyya, or, The twelve Shiʻah Imams. Madras, India : Christian Literature Society for India, 1923. 66 pages.

The Druses. London : Christian Literature Society for India, 1910. 65 pages.

Druses, Sufiism, the cult of Ali, Hanifs, Bahaism. comp in one vol. 1910-12.

The faith of Islam : an analysis of the Korán : the sects, traditions & foundations of Islam. London: Trübner & Co., / Addison & Co., Madras. 1880. xiv. 269. The Faith of Islam ... 3rd. ed. revised and enlarged. pp. xvi. 427. S.P.C.K.: London; Madras [printed], 1907 + Reprint Magic Lamp Press, 2008.

The Faith of Islam. New York, NY : Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2018.

Studies in Islám. London : Church Missionary Soc. 1928. 266 pages. Reprint New Delhi : Rima Publishing House, 1992.

St. Clair Tisdall, W.

`Islam in Persia,' in The Muammedan World of To-Day, edited by S.M. Zwemer, E.M. Wherry, and James L. Barton. New York: The Young People’s Missionary Movement, 1906.

Wilson, Samuel Graham (b. Indiana, Pa. USA., 1858-d. Tabriz, Persia. July 2nd 1916).

An anti-Babi-Baha'i Protestant missionary for many years resident in Iran. .

'The Bayan of the Bāb'. Princeton Theological· Review 13 (1959): 633-54.

Peter Zaccheus Easton (b. New York 1846-d. Tabriz [Persia], 1916).

American Presbyterian missionary. The Baha'i scholar and apologist Mirza Abū al-Faḍl Gulpāyigānī wrote (in Syria) on December 28th 1911 his Persian Burhan[-i] Lami` (Burhäne Lämé), "The Brilliant Proof" for this anti-Baha'i missionary. Text downloadable in PDf from Google Books: Gulpaygani-Burhan lami`.pdf

Zwemer, S. M.

Rev. J[ohn?]. R. Richards (XXXX), C. M. S., Anglican Missionary at Shiraz, Persia who later lived in the UK and retired in Wales. He was the author of the polemical `The Religion of the Baha'is'. London : S.P.C.K., 1932 and `The Open Road in Persia'. London: Church Missionary Society, 1933.

The religion of the Bahá'ís. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York, Macmillan Co. 1932. xx, 242 pages.

`The Open Road in Persia'. London: Church Missionary Society, 1933.

Miller, William McElwee (December 12, 1892 – July 7, 1993).

He was an anti-Babi-Baha'i Presbyterian missionary in Persia for around forty years. Several of his writings contain materials about the Bab and the Babi religion. Cf. Earl E. Elder (1882-1968).

William MacElwee Miller collection of Bābī writings, 1832-1919.

Princeton University Library (Princeton, NJ 08544 United States / USA). Third Series of Islamic Manuscripts. Description: 3 linear ft. (46 v.). William Miller Mss. Collection. Archival material : Persian. "Consists of 46 bound volumes of original Babi texts in Arabic and Persian composed or copied between 1832 and 1891 into a number series of 44 octavo and two quarto bound books." (so World Cat. https://www.worldcat.org/title/william-macelwee-miller-collection-of-bab... ).

Abstract in World cat.

"Consists of 46 bound volumes of original Babi texts in Arabic and Persian composed or copied between 1832 and 1891 into a number series of 44 octavo and two quarto bound books. One volume is a blue line copy of an original text. Most of the volumes contain multiple texts so that the total number of works may number more than 1000...".

Jelal A. Azal papers, 1967-1971 or “Azal’s Notes”.

“Consists of original and Xerox copies of letters by Azal in Cyprus to William McElwee Miller, Presbyterian missionary, regarding the Babi-Bahai movement, documents referred to in the letters”. “The letters contain Azal's comments on Miller's translations of Bahai material, suggested amendments to Miller's writings, and historical background on the development of the Bahai movement. Azals notes = Correspondence regarding the Babi-Bahai movement, Jelal A. Azal to W.M. Miller”. So. World Cat. Copies are held at UCLA.

Baha'ism : its origin, history, and teachings. New York : Fleming H. Revell, 1931.

The Baha'i Faith : Its History and Teachings. Pasedina: William Carey Library, 1974.

William Miller and Jalal Azal (d. April 5th 1971), grandson of Mirza Yahya.

Jalal Azal (Celal Ezel) was the son of 'Abdu'l-'Alī, also known as 'Alī Effendi, (b. 1857-8. - d. Famagusta, 1956), a son of Mirza Yahya and his (perhaps) fourth wife Fātima (Mulk-i Jahān, Malakih Khānum, d. Famagusta, Cyprus, 1868) of Shīrāz. Jalal Azal "went to visit 'Abdu'l-Bahā' and through him was employed in the Palestine civil service. Some time after 1948, he returned to Cyprus and was employed at a radio monitoring station in Cyprus - m. 'Ismat, daughter of Badī'u'llāh, son of Bahā'u'llāh" (Momen, Cyprus Exiles, 99)

In his `The Cyprus Exiles' (BSB Vol 5 No. 3-4 and 6:1 June 1991, pp. 84-113) Momen writes: "Jalal Azal provided information to Dr Imani from Beirut who was researching a book attacking the Bahā' ī Faith. Later in America, Dr Imani was in contact with Rev William Miller. Imani put Miller in touch with Jalal Azal. Between March 1967 and February 1971, the latter provided Miller with a great deal of material with which to attack the Bahā'ī Faith in his book, The Baha'i Faith: its history and teachings' ... Miller also arranged for the material that Jalal Azal bad sent him to be deposited in Princeton University Library." (pp. 102-3).

Supplement Pt. II.3

Anti-Babi-Baha'i Polemic in Islamic and Related sources in Western Languages.

Dolgorouki (Dolgorukov), 'Dālgorūkī, Dimitri Ivanovich , (1797- d. 1867). Russian Minister in Teran 1846-1856.

See: World Cat: http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n87129786/

Originating in 1930s Iran, the so-called `The Confessions of Dolgoruki' are a fictitious polemical, anti-Babi-Baha'i narrative of memoirs or political confessions. They first surfaced within the Khurasan Year Book which appeared in Tehran and Mashhad. In one form or another this material has been repeadtedly printed in 20th-21st cent. Iran.

Iʿtirāfāt-i siyāsī yā yāddāshthā-yi Kinyāz Dolqorūkī ("Political confessions or memoirs of Prince Dolgorukov"). 1st ed. Mashhad : Khurasan Year Book, 1322 Sh./1943.

Dānistanīhāʼī darbārah-ʼi naqsh-i siyāsī-i rahbarān-i Bahāʼī. Aḥmad A. Murtidà. Tehran: : Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah, 1344/1965. 127 pages.

'Dālgurūkī, Kinyāz-i , Gusha-hā-yi fāsh-fāshnashuda-ī az tārīkh-i chand chasha-i ʿamaliyyāt-i ḥayrat -angīz-i Kinyāz-i Dālgorūkī, jāsūs-i asrār āmīz-i Rūsiyya-yi tarzārī, wa nukāt-i jāleb-i tawajjuh az paydāyish-i maḏhab-i Bābī wa Bahāʾī dar Īrān. 3rd ed. Tehran, nd. (so MacEoin, Sources, 252).

Gūshahʹhā-yi fāsh nashudahʼī az tārīkh : chand "chishmah" az ʻamaliyāt-i ḥayratangīz-i Kīnyāz Dālgūrkī jāsūs-i asrārāmīz-i Rūsīyah-i Tizārī : va nukāt-i jālib-i tavajjuh az paydāyish-i maz̲hab-i!!! Bābī va Bahāʼī dar Īrān. Tehran : Kitābfurūshī-i Ḥāfiẓ, 197-? 45 pages. Copy in UCLA (World Cat.

Gūshahā-yi fāshnashuda-ī az tārīkh. Chand chasma az ʿamaliyyāt-i ḥayrat -angīz-i Kenyāz Dālgorūkī, jāsūs-i asrār āmīz-i Rūsiyya-yi tizārī, wa nokāt-i jāleb-i tawajjuh az paydāyish-i maḏhab-i bābī wa bahāʾī dar Īrān, 3rd ed., Tehran, n.d.

Yaddasht-ha-yi Kinyaz Dalgorki ya asrar peiydayesh mazahab bab va baha dar Iran. Tehran: [publisher not identified], 1986? (World-Cat.).

Select appraisals and critical refutations.

Anon. Baḥthī dar radd-i yād dāshthā-yi maj`ūl muntasib bi- Kinyāz-i Dālgurūkī. Tehran 129 BE/ 1972-3. An anonymous discussion of the (MacEoin, Sources, 171.fn.64).

National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran.

Iʻtirāfāt-i siyāsī-i Kīnyāz Dālfūrkī Tehran: Maḥfil-i Rūḥānī-i Millī-i Bahāʼīyān-i Īrān, 1324/ 1946. An 82 page commentary on Iʻtirāfāt-i siyāsī of Kīnyāz Dālgūrkī (Memoirs of Dolgorouki). There exists a copy of this document in Princeton Univ. Library. So World Cat.

`An Untitled Response to the Dolgorukov Memoirs.Tehran: Mahfil-i Rowhani-ye Melli-ye Baha'ian-e Iran (National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran): January-February, 1946. Unpublished manuscript. duplicated on (Cole) H-Baha'i, `Documents on the Shaykhi, Babi and Baha'i Movements, Vol. 16, no. 1, (March, 2012).

https://www.h-net.org/~bahai/docs/vol16/An%20Untitled%20Response%20to%20...

MacEoin, Denis.

1992. The Sources for Early Bābī Doctrine and History. A Survey, Leiden: Brill, 1992, 170-71.

Kazemzadeh, Firuz (?)

`Excerpts from Dispatches Written During 1848-1852 by Prince Dolgorukov, Russian Minister to Persia.' World Order (Fall 1966): 17-24.

Moojan Momen

1995 + 2011. `Dolgorukov Memoirs' in EIr. Vol. VII/5, 477-478.

Mina Yazdani

`The Confessions of Dolgoruki: Fiction and Master narrative in Twentieth-Century Iran' Iranian Studies Vol. 44, No. 1 (Jan. 2011), 25-47.

Religious Contentions in Modern Iran, 1881-1941. Phd thesis Toronto : University of Toronto, 2012.

`The Confessions of Dolgoruki: The Crisis of Identity and the Creation of a Master Narrative', Ch. Pt. IV of Abbas Amanat; Farzin Vejdani (ed.), Iran facing others : identity boundaries in a historical perspective. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.xiii, 292 pages.

The Islamic Revolution's Internal Other: The Case of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Baha'is of Iran 1. Journal of Religious History, v36 n4 (2012), 593-604.

`Anti-Bahā'ī Polemics and Historiography' in Baha'i Studies Review, v17 n1 (2012), 87-100

`The Confessions of Dolgoruki: The Crisis of Identity and the Creation of a Master Narrative', Ch. in Pt. IV (pp. 245-266) of Abbas Amanat; Farzin Vejdani (ed.), Iran facing others : identity boundaries in a historical perspective. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.xiii, 292 pages.

ISLAMIC ANTI-BABI-BAHA'I POLEMIC

Najafī, Sayyid Muhammad Bāqir,

بهائيان = Bahā'iyān. Tehran : Kitābhāna-i Ṭahūrī, 1969. X, 778 pages.

Bahā'iyān. Tehran : Kitābkhānah-i Ṭahūrī, 1357/1978 or 9. X, 778 pages. Has 40 unnumbered pages of plates.

Niaz, A. Q.

The Babee and Bahaaee religion. Rabwah : Ahmadiyya Muslim Foreign Missions Office, 1960 + Rabwah, West Pakistan : Vakil-al-Tabshir, 1967. 77 pages. English ed. Qadian, Punjab, India : M.W. Ahmad, 1975.

Nūrī, Yaḥyā / Ayatollah Allameh Yahya Noori

Finality of prophethood and a critical analysis of Babism, Bahaism, Qadiyanism [= khātamīyat-i payāmbar-i islām wa ibṭāl-i taḥlīlī-i bābīgarī, bahā'igarī, qādiyānīgarī. Tehran : Maidan-i Shuhada. c. 1987.

The Bab, Bib. Supp. 1 Pre-Islamic Abrahamic religions: Responses to the Bābī-Bahā’ī religions.

♦

Additional Links

Academics

Administration