Let me turn to the book [of Hatcher and Martin] itself. The authors begin with a woefully short (5-page) examination of the 'Islamic background' to Baha'ism that fails utterly to do justice to the topic. This chapter touches inadequately and amateurishly on only one or two general aspects of Islam that have some bearing on the origins and systems either Babism or Baha'ism. There is no discussion of the concept of religious law (Shari'a) or any of its components, such as ritual prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, marriage, inheritance, or other aspects if socio-economic legislation. Shi'ism is treated largely as a millenarian movement, whose main function seems to have been to prepare for the advent of the Bab in 1844: there is no attempt to look closely at Shi'ite theories of prophethood and imamate (especially the use of the term mazhar ilahi), at the 'covenant' system of succession, or at concepts of cyclical time, all of which have an immense relevance to our subject. It would also have been extremely useful to have said at least a little about the development of Shi'ism in Iran, especially with regard to conditions in the nineteenth century. The result of all this is that, when certain topics such as prayer, pilgrimage, or the 'Baha'i covenant' are discussed later in the book, the reader is left with the false impression that these are wholly independent developments, where they are, in fact, extensions of standard Islamic theory and practice.
Generally speaking, the writers show either explicit ignorance of matters Islamic or give the impression that they are simply quite unaware of those many areas in which Baha'ism shares its world-view with Islam. Thus, for example, we are told that 'the early nineteenth century was a period of messianic expectation in the Islamic world as well as in the Christian world' (p.6); that the development of a covenant system of succession (wilaya) is 'the distinguishing feature of the Baha'i religion (p.50: it is, in fact, closely modelled on the Shi'ite imamate); that 'the Baha'i focus on achieving world unity and a world civilization... is both contemporary and unique' (p.132: in fact all of the basic themes involved occur in some form within Islam); that 'one of the teachings of its [the Baha'i Faith] founder.. is that God's greatest gift to humankind is reason' (p.xvi: this is a basic Islamic teaching).
(Denis MacEoin (1987) Article, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Bulletin, 13:2, 193-208, DOI: 10.1080/13530198708705441)
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