Baha’ism in the Eye of the Iranian Researchers

Davoud Mehrvarz

Iranian historians and researchers have expressed two different views  concerning the ties between Bab and the early Babism to the colonialist centers. A group  of them relying on a group of historical evidences and  witnesses which cannot be ignored easily, has introduced and involved colonialist powers in the genesis and  establishment of the original Babist movement ,and  the other group considers Babism to  be a spontaneous  movement fundamentally and believes that the arrogant powers  involved in this movement after its genesis and  expansion. However, typically these historians and  researchers are almost unanimous about involvement of colonialist states in creation of Bahaism (or at least its consolidation and progress), and even those who termed  Babism as a so-called popular and revolutionary movement have made it clear that Baha’ism basically had a colonialist root. Dr. Muhammad Javad Sheikholeslami remarking on the support by the British ambassador for them said during the recent century the Babists and Bahaists have always followed the British political policy in the east and the praise of the British ambassador for them is quite natural. Ahmad kasravi, too, believed the Bahaist leadership was tied and bound to Tsar Colonialism at the beginning, whereas they joined the British Empire in the following ages (particularly late in the World War I) , Esmaeil Raeen in a similar comment believed that  during the developments and fractions which took place  after the murder of Ali Mohammad Bab among his followers and supporters, the Bahaists emerged as the portion of the Tsar Russia and Azalis particularly after domination of Britain over Cyprus(and seizing it  from the Ottomans ) emerged as the potion of Landon. Dr. Fereidoun Adamiyat has a highly negative outlook particularly toward Bahaists .In his opinion the  two Bahaist and Azali  creeds from Babism are two political  religions  which have been connected to the Russian and British colonialism in the history and supported by  them. The view of Mohammad Reza Fashahi about the Bahaist sect is basically too negative .Meanwhile, Ehsan Tabari does not have a positive interpretation of the opposition of Hussein Ali Baha to national and religious prejudices, which is a pride by Bahaists and believes that this teaching causes closure of any  uprising and war and deviation of nations from their social-political struggles Briefly, researchers with different intellectual and political  tendencies have reached a consensus about such common viewpoints.

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