CHAPTER 1 Introduction

Per-Olof Åkerdahl BAHĀ’Ī IDENTITY AND THE CONCEPT OF MARTYRDOM Uppsala 2002 Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy presented at Uppsala University in 2002. ABSTRACT Åkerdahl, P-O. Bahā’ī Identity and the Concept of Martyrdom. 263 pp. Uppsala ISBN 91-7444-128-0 The Bahā’īs have been persecuted in Iran for the greater part of the existence of this movement, especially during the 1850’s and the period after 1979. The persecution has been a dominating part of the Bahā’ī history and an active part of the creation of a special Bahā’ī identity. This persecution could probably have been avoided if the Bahā’īs had chosen to hide their religious believes but this has generally not happened and this makes a difference from the Shī’a identity. The Bahā’ī identity seems to form the basis of a martyr ideology as well as a servant ideology. The martyr ideology is, however, not an independent ideology but is rather an aspect of the servant ideology of Bahā’ī and can be traced to early Bābī texts. The servant ideology in Bahā’ī has been used in the building of the special Bahā’ī administration, that has been developed gradually from the time of Bahā’u’llāh. This administration has been used as a tool to keep together the two different Bahā’ī identities: the Western identity, based on Christian Messianic expectations, and the Eastern identity based on Mahdi expectation in Shī’a Islam. The Bahā’ī administration has been used as a tool to diminish the effects of the persecutions in Iran and in this way the persecutions have served as an agent to unite these separate identities. The reaction of the Bābī and Bahā’ī movement has differed during different periods. During the first period, the 1840’s, the Islamic concept of jihad still existed among the Bābīs who met the persecution in some instances with sword in hand in defence. This was not in accordance with the instruction of the Bāb and in the persecution of the 1850’s there were no attempts from the Bābīs to defend themselves in any way. Important for the change of attitude among the Bābīs was the conference 1848 in Badasht, where Bahā’u’llāh was the driving force. What made the Shah in Iran avoid any more national persecutions was probably the reaction of representatives of Western governments, but the persecutions continued on a local level. When the persecutions started on a larger scale again in 1979 the servant ideology of the Bahā’īs in Iran took the form of a martyr ideology and the Bahā’ī communities in other parts of the world could co-operate with the international community with the goal to stop the persecution, using diplomatic ways, by drawing upon the servant ideology that functioned as the motivating force in the Bahā’ī communities. © the author ISBN 91-7444-128-0 Cover by Sina Bahrami To Ishráq Acknowledgements This dissertation has been written from the inspiration of a discussion on comparative martyr studies at the department of History of Religion in the University of Uppsala. Professor Peter Schalk and the late Professor Jan Bergman were the ones that kept this discussion going and were a double source of inspiration, each with his own focus of interest. During the process of writing this dissertation there has, however, been many faults, mistakes and misunderstandings by me, which he patiently has corrected. Unfortunately there might still be such shortcomings left and for this I am fully responsible myself. Professor Jan Bergman was also an important source of support. He was always present at the seminars where I presented my material and he was always enthusiastically open to discussions that could help me in the process of writing. The discussions on the material that I presented to these seminars in general have been very helpful and have been a great help to me. Dr. Örjan Widegren at the University of Linköping has been kind enough to read the manuscript from an aspect of sociology. I have also had the possibilities to present parts of my material at conferences in Bahā’ī Studies. At these conferences I have received important reflections. The conferences have been organised by Association of Bahā’ī Studies, English speaking Europe, in United Kingdom except for two conferences arranged by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Copenhagen respectively. The conference in Jerusalem was arranged by the holder of the chair of Bahā’ī Studies in that university, Professor Moshe Sharon, and the one in Copenhagen by Professor Margit Warburg. Ms Elham Malekzadeh has helped me by reading the manuscript from the aspect of checking if I have used the English language in a correct way or not and I am very grateful to her for this. During this period I have received a lot of support from the school where I work, Västergårdgymnasiet in Södertälje. The support I have felt has come from colleagues who have been ready to discuss these matters with me and from the students that have accepted to try out my ideas and experiences from my studies. During the years I have been working with this project the librarians at the school have taken active part of the search for materials and for this I am very grateful. A fundamental support has come from my wife who has not only given me a general support and encouragement – important as it has been – but who has also assisted me in a number of practical ways, particularly in those parts of my study, which have dealt with the field of Iranian language and culture. Per-Olof Åkerdahl BAHĀ’Ī IDENTITY AND THE CONCEPT OF MARTYRDOM 7 CHAPTER 1 Introduction..................................................................................11 1.1 The Theme......................................................................................................11 1.1.1 The Persecution of the Bahā’īs in Iran.....................................................13 1.1.2 Scholarly Background to the study of the Persecution of the Iranian Bahā’īs..............................................................................................................15 1.2 Method............................................................................................................19 1.2.1 Outline of the Study.................................................................................21 1.2.2 Statements................................................................................................23 1.2.3 The Martyr in Society..............................................................................25 1.2.4 Taking on the Role of Martyrdom ...........................................................25 1.3 The sources.....................................................................................................26 1.3.1 Language situation...................................................................................26 1.3.2 Bābism and Bahā’ī...................................................................................27 1.3.3 The Writings of Bahā’u’llāh....................................................................28 1.3.4 Bahā’ī Hermeneutics ...............................................................................29 1.3.5 Pilgrim Memoirs......................................................................................31 1.3.6 Martyrologies...........................................................................................32 1.3.7 Conflicting Sources .................................................................................34 1.3.8 The concept of Martyrdom ......................................................................35 1.4 Aspects of Terminology .................................................................................37 CHAPTER 2 Religious Identity.........................................................................46 2.1 Continuity and discontinuity...........................................................................46 2.2 Identity Based on Ideas...................................................................................49 2.3 Role Taking as Individual Achievment ..........................................................56 2.4 Islamic and Bahā’ī Identity.............................................................................59 2.5 The Ideal Role: the True Servant Prepared for Martyrdom. ...........................60 CHAPTER 3 Martyr Ideology and Servant Ideology ........................................62 3.1 Background of Bahā’ī Identity .......................................................................64 3.2 Religious Persecution and Religious Identity.................................................66 3.2.1 Experiences of religious persecution .......................................................70 3.3 The Structure of Religious Identity in Bahā’ī.................................................80 3.3.1 The ideal Bahā’ī.......................................................................................81 3.3.2 Opposition in the Bahā’ī community.......................................................83 3.4 Servant Ideology in Bahā’ī .............................................................................90 CHAPTER 4 Two Waves of Religious Persecution ..........................................96 4.1 Persecuted and Persecutors.............................................................................96 4.2 Background of the Persecution.......................................................................98 4.2.1 The Renewal of Shī’a Islam in Iran .......................................................100 4.2.2 The Attitude of the ‘Ulamā’

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