THE EARLIEST STUDIES OF THE BAHAI RELIGION
https://archive.org/details/materialsforstud00browuoft/page/n9/mode/2up
Life and teachings of Abbas effendi; a study of the religion of the Babis
by Phelps, Myron Henry, 1856-1916. [from old catalog]
https://archive.org/details/lifeandteaching00phelgoog/mode/2up
Publication date 1903
Topics ʻAbd ul-Bahā ibn Bahā Ullāh, 1844-1921. [from old catalog], Bahai Faith, Babism
May 24, 2015
Subject: a mixed reception
This book was popular among early Baha'is because it was the first account of Abdul-Bahas' life and teachings by any Westerner. But Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, thought it not advisable to publish this book in any language, as it was "full of inaccuracies" (see http://bahai-library.com/khanum_phelps_abbas_effendi). The persian to english interpreter also testified that Phelps would "write as he pleased" (see 'The Master in Akka' published by Kalimat: https://books.google.co.cr/books?id=WVrQ1gfZPfgC&pg=PR22&lpg=PR22&ots=fSMjKSFfPu&focus=viewport&dq=phelps+khanum#v=onepage&q&f=false). The book is an accurate record of Phelps' personal reflections on his talks with Abdul-Baha, not an accurate record of Abdul-Bahas' words.
Resurrection And Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850.
by Abbas Amanat
https://archive.org/details/resurrectionandrenewalthemakingoft/mode/2up
The Emergence Of The Babi Baha’i Interpretation Of The Bible
https://archive.org/details/TheEmergenceOfTheBabiBahaiInterpretationOfTheBible/page/n1/mode/2up
Topics Bible, Bahaism, Islam, Tafsir, Babism,
ABSTRACT
'Some Aspects of Isra'Iliyyat and the Emergence of the Babi-Baha'T
Interpretation of the Bible'
Stephen N. Lambden
This thesis deals with Islamic Isralliyyat ("Israelitica") literary traditions, the Bible and
the relationship to them of two closely related post-Islamic movements, the Babr and Bahal
religions. It concerns the Islamic assimilation and treatment of pre-Idamic, biblical and related
materials and their level of post-Islamic Babi-Bahal assimilation and exposition. More
specifically, this thesis focuses upon select aspects of the biblical and Islamo-biblical
("Islamified", "Islamicate") traditions reflected within the Arabic and Persian writings of two
Iranian born 19th century messianic claimants Sayyid 'All Muhammad Shirazi, the Bab (1819-
1859) and Mirza Husayn 'All NOrT (1817-1892), entitled Bah'-Allah, the founders of the BabT
and Baha'T religions respectively.
The presence of Islamo-biblical citations and the absence of canonical biblical citations
within the writings of the Bab will be argued as will the emergence of the Baha'T interpretation
of the canonical Bible though its founder figure Bah'-Allah who first cited an Arabic Christian
Bible version whilst resident in Ottoman Iraq (Baghdad) towards the end of what has been
called the middle-BabT period (1861-2 CE). This laid the foundations for the Bahl interpretation
of the Bible which was greatly enriched and extended by oriental Bahl apologists , Bah'-
Allah's eldest son 'Abd al-Baha' Abbas (d. 1921) and his great-grandson Shoghi Effendi (d.
1957) who shaped the modern global Baha'T phenomenon. Over a century or so the neo-Shn
millennialist faction that was Babism (the religion of the Bab) evolved into the global Baha'T
religion of the Book
Throughout this thesis aspects of Isralliyyat will be analysed historically and the
Islamic, especially Shi sT-ShaykhT background to and the BabT-Baha'T messianic renewal of the
Isra'Tliyyat rooted tradition of the ism Allah al-a'gam (Mightiest Name of God) will be noted and
commented upon.
The Organizational Hierarchy of the Bābīs during the period
of Ṣubḥ-i-Azal’s residency in Baghdad (1852 – 1863)
https://archive.org/details/theorganizationalhierarchyofthebabi/mode/2up
N. Wahid Azal
© 2018
Abstract
This article discusses the organizational hierarchy of the Bābīs during the
period of Ṣubḥ-i-Azal’s (d. 1912) concealment from the public and his
residency in Baghdad between the years 1852 to 1863. It pursues an
analytic historiographical and textual critical approach by mainly
utilizing primary and secondary sources in Arabic, Persian and English
belonging to both the Bayānīs (i.e. Azalīs) and the Bahāʾīs alike. First by
offering some brief context, it will explain this organizational hierarchy
of the Bābīs during the Middle Bābī period (1850-66), highlighting the role
and function of the witnesses of the Bayān (shuhadāʾ-i-bayān). More
importantly, it will introduce a hitherto unknown work (and primary
source) of Ṣubḥ-i-Azal’s from that era, namely the kitāb al-waṣīya (the
Book of the Testament), wherein seven to eight prominent Bābīs of that
period were appointed to the rank. The two presently known MSS of this
work will be discussed, as well as extensively quoted in translation, with
the individuals named in it identified. The sectarian narratives (with their
conflicting authority claims) dividing the Bayānīs (i.e. Azalīs) and Bahāʾīs
over the history of the period will be critically evaluated while also
briefly revisiting the ‘episode of Dayyān’. It will conclude by proposing
the untenability of the terms ‘Azalī’ and ‘Azalī Bābism’. This study
supplements Denis MacEoin’s two articles on the subject published during
the 1980s
https://archive.org/details/TheReligionOfTheBayanAndTheClaimsOfTheBahais/page/n21/mode/2up
