Legation of the United States of America Teheran, Persia
January 8, 1925
Department of State Department of Near Eastern Affairs
The Honorable The Secretary of State,
Washington.
Sir:
I have the honor to submit for the information of
the Department A CONSIDERATION OF THE BAHAI RELIGION, ITS TENETS, THE
CHARACTER OF ITS FOLLOWERS, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF ITS SPREAD IN PERSIA
AND ELSEWHERE.
A treatment of this topic at the present time appears
to be particularly opportune owing to the fact that, as the Department is
aware, Bahá'ísm formed the background of the Imbrie incident, and that the
late Vice Consul's denunciation as a Bahá'í at the Sakha [sic] Khaneh
probably resulted in his tragic death.
[page 2]
In discussing the
matter with the Bahá'ís of Teheran, they have repeatedly stated that they
consider Mr. Imbrie to have been a martyr to the cause. It is claimed that
the Mohammedan clergy had prepared a list of more than one thousand
Bahá'ís and designated them for massacre on the tenth day of Moharrem
(August 12, 1924); and that the premature explosion of fanatical fury
which resulted in the death of Mr. Imbrie relieved for the same time being
the pressure upon them and doubtless saved their lives.
There is some
reason to give credence to this statement of the Bahá'ís, owing to the
incident with which Mr. Imbrie was connected in affording protection to
Dr. Susan I. Moody,
and ardent American Bahá'í, who has lived in Teheran for more than fifteen
years. It appears from Dr. Moody's own story that, as a result of certain
rumors which had reached her ears as to the intention of a certain
fanatical group of Moslems to murder her upon July 12, she appealed to
the American Voce Consul some days previously, requesting that he assure
her adequate protection. Vice Consul Imbrie immediately addressed himself
to the Chief of Police and requested that an ample guard be stationed in
the
neighborhood of Dr. Moody's house. During the night of July 12 a mob,
estimated by Dr. Moody to exceed two hundred and fifty persons, gathered
outside her door demanding her blood. Thanks, however, to the intervention
of the police, who arrived in a flying column to her rescue, the mob was
immediately dispersed and no damage was done. A significant phase of the
affair was that the column was led by a prominent Bahá'í officer which
doubtless accounted for its efficient action. In the succeeding days, and
until the killing of Mr. Imbrie, Dr. Moody was constantly
[page 3]
threatened in the streets, and she heard even children remark "they
are going to kill Dr. Moody".
The above mentioned incident raises the
question which is an exceedingly difficult one, namely, of protecting
American Bahá'ís in Persia. The Department will recall the unfortunate
experience in 1913 of two American Bahá'í women, Dr. Sarah A. Clock, and
Miss Lillian F. Kappes, the latter being at the time the Director of the
Bahá'í Girls' School in Teheran, who were cruelly beaten and
robbed.
Dr. Moody, despite her advanced years, appears to be a lady of
unwonted courage, and seems even to thrive under the constant threats of
violence made against her by the Mohammedan masses.
Instead of living in discreet seclusion in some out of the way part of
town, Dr. Moody has her office on the Nasserieh, one of the principle
business streets leading to the bazaar, and over the drug-store of a
prominent Persian Bahá'í. In this way she has
scarcely been able to draw near her windows without attracting the
attention of passersby below in the street who rarely fail to brandish
their fists at her and threaten her with violence. She has been living for
the past years with Miss Elizabeth H. Stewart, a Bahá'í trained
nurse.
The Legation was much relieved when both ladies left Teheran
last November to return to the United States, ostensibly only for a visit.
It is hoped however that they will decide not to return to Persia inasmuch
as it is extremely difficult to guarantee them adequate protection in
this fanatical country. Like many converts to a new religion, Dr. Moody is
a militant champion of her adopted faith, which she preaches with the
energy of a Carrie Nation.
[page 4]
One of
the most remarkable features of Bahá'ísm in this country has been the
active interest evinced in its propagation by the Bahá'ís of American.
Aside from Dr. Moody's medical activities, their principal efforts have
been concentrated upon the Bahá'í Girls' School founded in 1907, and which
has, until very recently, always had an American woman as its head. Miss
Kappes was until her death in December 1920 the director of that turbulent
institution, and during the summer of 1922, Dr. G. Coy, her successor, a
young women of unusual scholastic attainments and enthusiasm for the
cause, arrived to carry on the work. Owing to the constant friction with
the Persian authorities and obstructions placed in her way she decided
last year to return to America. I am informed
that the Bahá'ís are at the present time negotiating with their American
co-religionists for the dispatch to Persia of Miss Coy's successor.
As
was to be expected, the activity of American Bahá'ís in Persia has aroused
the bitterest antagonism of the American Christian missionaries in the
country who regard the presence of their non-Christian compatriots in the
country as damaging evidence to the Moslems of the lack of solidarity in
the Christian world.
Before proceeding to a consideration of Bahá'ísm
as such, which is the last of five purely Persian religious movements in
the Persian Empire, during the period of three thousand years, it may well
to refer in brief to the four preceding movements, two of which
successfully invaded Europe.
From the point of view of religious
inspiration, Persia remains incomparable among the nations of the ancient
and modern world. Zoroaster, who was their first and greatest
[page 5]
prophet, was born in Urumia in about 660 B.C., and
founded a religion which was destined to hold undisputed sway in Persia
for a thousand years and to the persist even to the present day.
About
a half century before the Christian era, a modified form of Zoroastrianism
called Mithraism, whose followers worshipped Mithra, the god of Light and
Prosperity as well as the protector of monarchs, made its appearance in
Rome where it gained a considerable following among the common people. It
interesting that, for more than a century, Mithraism and Christianity were
bitter rivals for the religious conquest of Europe, and that the outcome
of the struggle between these two faiths was at first by no means a
foregone conclusion.
The third religious movement of Persian origin,
and the second to make a successful invasion of Europe, was the cult
founded by Mani, whose followers were styled Manichaeans. He was born in
215 A.D., converted the contemporary Persian monarch, Shapur, and acquired
a considerable following in his own country. His religion has been styled
a Christianized Zoroastrianism, although its outstanding feature was its
rigid asceticism which prohibited marriage in the belief that the
extinction of the human race and its reabsorption into the God-head was
for the best of humanity.
Manichaeism spread eastward
into Tibet, where it is still practiced, and westward into southern
France where its followers were the Albigenses against whom a crusade for
their destruction was led by Simonde Montfort in 1209.
The fourth
great movement, this time religio-communist in character, was that of
Mazdak, born about the middle of the fifth century, A.D., who, during the
reign of King Kobad
[page 6]
in 487 of the Christian era,
converted thousands to his doctrines. According to these, all men were born
equal and had the right to maintain their equality through life.
consequently property and women should be held in common. On the more
spiritual side he taught abstemiousness, devotion and the sacredness of
animal life.
King Kobad who had meanwhile been converted to the new
cause, finally ordered the massacre of the Mazdakites in 523 A.D. owing to
a conspiracy to depose him.
The founder of the Bahá'í religion, Seyid
Ali Mohammed, the son of a grocer of Shiraz, was born in that city in
1820. Owing to his early piety and intelligence he was sent to Karbela,
the sacred Shia city of Iraq, to be educated where, at the age of
twenty-four, he proclaimed himself to be the "Bab" or Gate, a term
doubtlessly intended to convey the idea that he was the Gate to Heaven
and the expression of the Divine Will on earth. He shortly thereafter
proceeded to Mecca, and upon his return to Persia began to preach the new
faith at Bushire, where he rapidly acquired a considerable following. His
success, as in the case of Christ, immediately aroused the alarm of the
orthodox clergy who set a trap for him in order to be able to accuse him
of heresy. He was asked to write down a statement of his claims, which he
consented to do. When it was examined it was found to be illegible, so he
was immediately seized and thrown into prison.
He was conveyed a
prisoner to Maku, in the province of Azerbaijan, where he remained until
his transfer to Chirik near Urumia. It was there that he declared himself
to be the twelfth Imam whose coming the orthodox Mohammedans
are
[page 7]
awaiting in the same fashion as do the Jews the
Messiah and the Christians the Christ.
He was finally executed in
Tabriz in the year 1850, and his remains were secretly borne to the Holy
Land and inter red on Mount Carmel.
The Bab has always been regarded
by the Bahá'ís as merely a forerunner of one greater than him who was to
succeed him. He is the John the Baptist of the Bahá'ís.
He was
succeeded by Mirza Yahya, a youth of nineteen, known as the
Subh-i-Ezel (Morning of Eternity), who was apparently nominated by the
Bab to be his successor. He appears to have held unquestioned away over
the faithful until 1866 when his authority was disputed by his elder
brother, Baháullah (Glory of God), born in
Teheran in 1817, who succeeded in deposing him and in assuming full
authority as the Bab's successor. Owing to the hostility of both the Shiah
and Sunni Mohammedans, the latter was interred at Acre where he died in
1892.
Baháullah was succeeded by his son Abdul-Bahá, who was born in
Teheran in 1844. During the greater part of his life he remained at Haifa
in the holy Land. In 1912 however he made a tour of Europe and the United
States and is said, during an address in California in October of that ye
ar, to have prophesied in the following words the outbreak of the World
War within two years:
"We are on the eve of the Battle of
Armageddon referred to in the sixteenth chapter of Revelations. The time
is two years hence, when only a spark will set aflame the whole of
Europe. The social unrest in all countries, the growing religious
scepticism antecedent to the millennium, and already here, will set aflame
the whole of Europe as is prophesied in the Book of Daniel and in the Book
(Revelation) of John. By 1917 kingdoms will fall and cataclysms will rock
the earth."
[page 8]
A further interesting pronouncement of
Abdul-Bahá was made in November of that year in Cincinnati when he is said
to have foretold in the following words that America would be the
instigator of the League of Nations:
"America is a noble nation, a
standard bearer of peace throughout the world, shedding her light to all
regions. Other nations are not untrammelled [sic] and free of intrigues
like the United States , and are unable to bring about Universal Peace.
But America, thank God, is at peace with all the world, and is worthy of
raising the flag of brotherhood and International Peace. when the summons
to International Peace is raised by America, all the rest o f the world
will cry: `Yes, we accept.' The nations of every clime will join in
adopting the teachings of Bahaullah, revealed over fifty years ago. In His
Epistles He asked the Parliaments of the world to send their best and
wisest men to an international
world-parliament that should decide all questions between the peoples and
establish peace. then we shall have the Parliament of Man of which the
prophets have dreamed."
After the World War and the acquisition of
Palestine by the British Abdul-Bahá was knighted in 1920 by the British
Government and given the designation K.B.E. He passed away in
1921.
The first Bahá'í missionary to America appears to have been Arab
Ebrahim Khairullah who went to the United States about thirty years ago
and made nume rous converts at Chicago, which has remained the center of
the American Bahá'ís since that time. He was later followed by a second
Bahá'í missionary named Amirza Abdul Fazl who was accompanied by Ali Kuli
Khan, Nabil-ed-Dowleh. The latter is doubtless known
to the State Department as the Persian Charge d'Affaires in Washington
responsible for the engagement in 1911 of the Schuster financial
mission.
In addition to the United States where Bahá'ís have been most
successful outside of Persia there have been
considerable converts in Turkestan, India, Burmah, Germany, Italy,
Switzerland, and France.
[page 9]
Owing to the persecutions to
which the Bahá'ís have been subjected in Persia, it is exceedingly
difficult to estimate exactly their number here. They have been forbidden
moreover by Baháullah to divulge the names of their fellow-Bahá'ís. It may
be well however to quote so great an authority on Persia as Lord Curzon
who, in his work "Persia and the Persian Question", published in 1892, the
year of Baháullah's death, states:
"The lowest estimate places the
present number of Babis in Persia at half a million. I am disposed to
think, from conversations with persons well qualified to judge, that the
total is nearer one million. They are to be found i n every walk of life,
from the ministers and nobles of the Court to the scavenger or the groom,
not the least arena of their activity being the Mussulman priesthood
itself... If Babism continues to grow at its present rate of progression,
a time may conceivably come when it will oust Mohammedanism from the
field of Persia. This, I think, it would be unlikely to do, did it appear
upon the ground under the flag of a hostile faith. But since its recruits
are won from the best soldiers of the garrison whom it
is attacking, there is greater reason to believe that it may ultimately
prevail."
Bahá'ísm is an eclectic religion, which can, in my opinion,
lay little claim to originality. Its universal and all-embracing character
has however been of great advantage in proselytizing among the Jews,
Zoroastrians, and Christians. This is expressed by Abdul-Bahá in the
following words:
"It is not necessary to lower Abraham to raise Jesus.
It is not necessary to lower Jesus to proclaim Baháullah. We must welcome
the Truth of God wherever we behold it. The essence of the question is
that all these great Messengers came to raise the Divine Standard of
Perfections. All of them shine as orbs in the same heaven of the Divine
Will. All of them give Light to the world."
The Bahá'ís have always
contested the claim that their religion is primarily an oriental one and
adapted only to
[page 10]
the needs of Eastern peoples. In
refutation of this opinion, Abdul-Bahá stated:
"As to the meaning of
the cause of Baháullah, whatever has to do with the universal good is
divine, and whatever is divine is for the universal good. If it be true,
it is for all; if not, it is for no one; therefore a divine cause of
universal good cannot be limited to either the East or the West, for the
radiance of the Sun of Truth illumines both the East and the West, and it
makes its heat felt in the South and in the North - there is no difference
between one Pole and another. At the time of the Manifestation of Christ,
the Romans a nd Greeks thought His Cause was especially was especially for
the Jews. they thought they had a perfect civilization and nothing to
learn from Christ's teachings, and by this false supposition many were
deprived of His Grace. Likewise know that the principles of Christianity
and the Commandments of Baháullah are identical and that their paths are
the same. Every day there is progress; there was a time when this divine
institution (of progressive revelation) was in embryo, then new-born, then
a child, then an intellectual youth;'
There is in Bahá'ísm a striking resemblance to
Christian Science in the attitude of its adherents towards evil which they
claim to be non-existent.
While there would appear to be little that
is new in Bahá'ísm, it adheres to
certain principles that have a ring of progress and modernity unknown to
unreformed Islam. These outstanding features are that:
- It is a
religion of tolerance; Abdul-Bahá has said that "any religion which is not
the cause of love and unity is no religion";
- It advocates the
complete emancipation and equality of women;
- It espouses the cause
of a universal language and calendar;
- It advocates the
establishment of a League of Nations, the realization of which was
forecaste [sic] as early as 1875. Of the character of such a League, the Baháullah
has to say:
"In such a universal treaty the limits of the borders and
boundaries of every state should be fixed, and the customs and laws of
every government; all the agreements
and affaires of state and arrangements between the various
[page 11]
governments should be propounded and settled in due form; the size
of the armaments for each government should likewise be definitely agreed
upon, because if in the case of any
state there were to be an increase in the preparation for war, it would
be a cause for alarm to the other states. The basis of this powerful
alliance should be so fixed that, if one of the states afterwards broke
any of the articles of it, the rest of the nations of the world would
rise up and reduce it to submission. Yea, the whole human race would band
its forces together to overthrow that government."
- It has preached
the limitation of armaments in the following words of Abdul-Bahá:
"By
a general agreement all the governments of the world must disarm
simultaneously. It will not do if one lays down its arms and the others
refuse to do so. The nations of the world must concur with each other
concerning this supremely important subject, so that they may abandon
together the deadly weapons of human slaughter. As long as one nation
increases her military and naval budget other nations will be forced into
this crazed competition through their natural and supposed
interests."
- Though advocating non-resistance, it has consistently
justified righteous warfare, of which Abdul-Bahá writes as
follows:
"Even war is sometimes the great foundation of peace, and
destroying is the cause of rebuilding. this war may be essentially attuned
to the melodies of peace; and then verily this fury is kindness itself,
this oppression is the essence of justice and this war is the source of
reconciliation. Today, the true duty of a powerful king is to promote
universal peace; for verily this signifies the freedom of all the people
of the world."
- Finally, in discussing the struggle between capital
and labor, Abdul-Bahá has advocated profit-sharing with the employees in
order to prevent wasteful strikes and lockouts. With regard to the latter,
while in Dublin, New Hampshire, in 1912, he spoke as follows:
"Now I
want to tell you about the law of God. According to the divine law,
employees should not be merely paid by wages. Nay, rather they should be
partners in every work. The question of socialization is very difficult.
It will not be solved by strikes for wages. All the governments of the
world must be united, and organize an assembly, the members of which shall
be elected from the parliaments and the noble ones of the nations. these
must plan with wisdom and power, so that neither the capitalists suffer
enormous losses nor the labourers become needy. In the utmost moderation
they should make the law, then announce to the public that the rights of
the working people are to be effectively preserved; also
the
[page 12]
rights of the capitalists are to be protected,
when such a general law is adopted, by the will of both sides, should a
strike occur, all the governments of the world should collectively resist
it. Otherwise the work will lead to much destruction, especially in
Europe. Terrible things will take place. One of the several causes of a
universal European war will be this question. The owners of properties,
mines and factories, should share their incomes with their employees, a nd
give a fairly certain percentage of their profits to their working-men, in
order that the employees should receive, besides their wages, some of the
general income of the factory, so that the employee may strive with his
soul in the work."
During the reign of Mozaffer-ed-Din, Baháullah
prophesied in the following words the establishment of a Persian
republic:
"Soon affairs will be changed in thee, and a republic of men
shall rule over thee."
These words proved to be an effective weapon
against the republican movement of 1924, and the accusation that the
entire plan was a Bahá'í conspiracy was frequently heard. This led to a
denouncement of Sardar Sepah as a Bahá'í and to the secret publication of a
falsified photograph of him wearing the port rait and insignia of
Baháullah. Realizing the danger of such propaganda among the fanatic
populace, the Prime Minister instigated the Shiah clergy of Karbela and
Nejaf to present him with a portrait of the Imam Ali, as reported in the
Legation's despatch No. 815 of December 26, 1924.
I have been
informed by prominent Bahá'ís in Teheran that the Prime Minister secretly
cherishes a high regard for the cause, but that, owing to political
considerations, he dares not express himself. It is said that at the time
when he was a simple Cossack on duty at the Roshanee hospital, a Bahá'í
institution, he was greatly impressed by the kindliness and
humanitarianism of the Bahá'í attendants which he has never
forgotten.
[page 13]
Be that as it may, the fact is that he
has permitted Bahá'í officers of unquestionable ability to rise to high
rank in the army. The outstanding of these are:
Colonel Shoa-ed-Din
Khan Alai, Chief of Accounts, Ministry of War.
Colonel Ataollah Khan
Alai, recently returned to Teheran from France where he was sent with the
delegation of Persian officers sent to Saint Cyr.
Major Rahmatollah
Khan Alai, Inspector.
Major Rouhollah Khan, Special Adjutant to the
War Minister.
Owing to the fact that Bahá'ísm is a proscribed religion
in this officially Islamic state, no professed Bahá'í can be a deputy in
Parliament or act as a member of the Cabinet. The most prominent Bahá'ís
moreover are inclined to adhere to the admonition of Baháullah that they
withdraw entirely from political activity. Owing to the high moral
qualities and ethical standards of the Bahá'ís in contrast with the
orthodox Mohammedans, this withdrawal from public life is greatly to be
regretted. Among the leading Bahá'ís outside the army are:
Nabil-ed-Dowleh, Ali Kuli Khan, and Madam Moraveh-os-Saltaneh (an
American).
Ezzatollah Khan Alai, Department of Accounts, Ministry of
Posts and Telegraphs.
Valiollah Khan Vargha, First Drogman, Turkish
Embassy
Azizollah Khan Vargha, farmer.
Hass an Khan Ahiai,
Imperial Bank of Persia.
The Bahá'ís, who had placed great hopes in the
former religious liberalism of the Prime Minister, have now lost all faith
in him as a reformer. Since the collapse of the republican movement his
defection from their cause has been complete, and he has left no stone
unturned in order to
[page 14]
integratiate [sic] himself with the
corrupt Orthodox clergy. A recent evidence of this was his ostentatious
visit to the holy shrines of Iraq after his campaign in Arabistan
and his visit to the shrine of Sh'Abdul Azim outside Teheran before
entering the city.
Even to the casual student of Islam it is obvious
that Mohammedanism is in hopeless decay, more hopeless than was
Catholicism before the Reformation.
If it is to be saved at all, there must arise an oriental reformer who
will denounce the Islamic `indulgences' as did Luther the Papal
ones.
The disinterest of Bahá'ís, though in origin a Moslem sect, in
the reform of Allah's faithful is a somewhat discouraging omen. Their
striving for an all-expansive universality, though comprehensible, has so
diluted their force in Persia as to diminish greatly their beneficent
influence. One is constrained to remark that if they had concentrated less
on Europe and
America and more on morally bankrupt Persia their efforts would be more
praiseworthy.
On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that Islam,
a Semitic religion that has never been adapted to Aryan needs as has
Judaism through the teachings of Christ, has always remained a misfit on
this light-hearted, imaginative Aryan people, who, to escape the yoke of
the Caliphate, created that absurd schism called Shiism.
Failing
therefore the ideal remedy for Persia's present religious decadence,
namely a national renaissance of their great historic religion
Zoroastrianism, Bahá'ísm, in which there are signs of a Protestant
Reformation, and
[page 15]
which after all is of purely
Persian origin, may prove itself to be the best solution under the
circumstances.
I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
(signed) W. Smith Murray
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