if this is a sign of the direction in which Baha'i studies may be moving, it does not augur all that well for the future.

Since the 1950s or so, however, the situation in the West has changed somewhat, largely with the advent of a new generation of better-educated converts eager to study their religion in a more systematic and academic manner than has hitherto been the case. Such an approach is encouraged by doctrinal approval for 'the harmony of science and religion' and 'an unfettered search after truth'. In spite of the very real difficulties of pursuing such principles within the context of a movement that also places a high premium on a belief in infallible knowledge enshrined in scriptural texts guarded by 'divinely-ordained' institutions possessed of considerable coercive powers, some younger Baha'i scholars have succeeded in pioneering fresh academic work in the subject. Since the completion of M.Zabih's doctoral dissertation entitled Die Losung der sozialen Frage auf Grund der Baha'i-Lehren at Stuttgart in 1949, over 30 doctoral and master's theses have appeared dealing with Babi and Baha'i topics (for details up to 1982, see bibliographies by P.Smith, BRISMES Bulletin, 6:2 [1979], pp.129-30 and 9:1 [1982], pp.98-90). With only a few exceptions, these studies have been carried out by members of the sect, and at the moment the present writer is the only non-adherent engaged in full-scale research or writing on the subject. That, clearly, is an unhealthy situation and one that must be remedied before long.

[…] I am aware that Baha'i authors have problems in getting their materials past official 'reviewing committees' and that the publishers are in the difficult position of trying to promote academic scholarship in face of opposition from powerful fundamentalist elements within the Baha'i ranks; but if this is a sign of the direction in which Baha'i studies may be moving, it does not augur all that well for the future. … for example, … Peggy Caton's article entitled 'Baha'i Influences on Mirza 'Abdu'llah, Qajar Court Musician and Master of the Radif'…. It is an excellent, illuminating, and scholarly piece of writing by a Westerner with a rare knowledge of Persian music, but, for all it tells us about Mirza Abd Allah Farahani and his role as a court musician under Nasir al-Din Shah, or about Persian music in general, or Qajar court life in particular, it is rather forced in its attempt to relate any of this to the fact that the subject of the article was a Baha'i convert. He seems to have done nothing conspicuous within the movement, nor does his conversion appear to have had any clearly discernible effect on his music.

-Denis MacEoin

Source: Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 13, No. 1 (1986), pp. 85- 91
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/194982