Denis MacEoin about Balyuzi's dishonesty in dealing with the Babi militancy

But the present book is described by the publishers as a work of scholarship and does not appear to be intended solely for internal consumption. It is, therefore, probably worth saying that, for the non-believer, particularly the academic, there are several irritating features in this study that might perhaps have been played down or even removed by more radical and sensitive editing. The account of Babism presented in the early chapters, for example, is extremely derivative and quite uncritical, failing as it does to identify and discuss the real social and religious roots of the movement or to pay attention to the question of Babi militancy. This last is a point of some importance, since it is vital to an understanding of Baha' Allah's reformation of early Babism to know that he rejected political activism in favour of a rigidly quietist stance. Balyuzi deals neither with the original militancy nor, consequently, with the radical shift from it, and thus deprives his work of an important indicator of Baha' Allah's role in the movement.

(Baha'u'llah: The King of Glory by Hasan Balyuzi, Review by: Denis MacEoin)