An Accommodating Religion
THE historical roots of Baha'ism lie in Persian Shi'ism and its belief that the last of the legitimate Imams—the descendant of Ali, the fourth Caliph —is not dead but withdrawn, and that he will manifest himself again on earth. Shi'ism is thus a religion with strong eschatological expectations. When, therefore, a merchant of Shiraz announced in 1844 that he was the Bab, a new Manifestation of God, he soon attracted a following. His claim seems to have frightened the Persian Government, who persecuted the Babis, imprisoned the Bab and then executed him in 1850. It soon transpired, however, that the Bab was only a precursor, and that one of his followers, a young man of noble family, was in reality the awaited Manifestation. He came to be known as Baha'u'llah, and was likewise persecuted and finally exiled from Persia. He ended his days in Acre in the Ottoman Empire. His followers, the Baha'is, are now to be found all over the world. This book is by one of them, the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles.
To an outsider Baha'ism seems amiably syncre- tistic and accommodating. Its roots in Shi'ite Islam incline it to a vague cosmic mysticism, which this author wishes to distinguish both from pantheism and from personal union with the Godhead. The same origin may perhaps account for the absence in Baha'ism of that intimate sense of sinfulness so powerful in Judaism and Christianity. The contact of Baha'u'llah and his son, Adbul Baha, after their exile, with advanced European thought of the time, would seem to account for the Baha'i view that there is no con- flict between science and religion. It may be that the same influence accounts for the Baha'i vision of what they call the Most Great Peace. This would seem to coincide with the ideals of the movement for world government. Baha'is add to these the ideal of a world language.
Baha'ism, then, seems to know neither spiritual heights nor spiritual depths : evil is necessary, that good may result; revelation is progressive. It seems a moderate and equable religion. A religion for those who need one and yet do not wish to be encumbered with dogma or mystery or difficulty.
ELIE KEDOURIE
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