power no one who had seen him could entertain a doubt.”1 Upon the passing of ‘Abdul-Baha, Browne wrote that it had: …deprive[d] Persia of one of the most notable of her children and the East of a remarkable personDOLW\ ZKR KDV SUREDEO\ H[HUFLVHG D JUHDWHU LQÀXence not only in the Orient but in the Occident than any Asiatic thinker and teacher of recent times.2 It is unfortunate that while admired by leaders of thought the world over, in his native Iran, ‘Abdul-Baha’s profound and HPDQFLSDWRU\ YLVLRQ RI D JORULRXV IXWXUH ZDV HLWKHU YLOL¿HG RU disregarded by those whose interests it served to keep Iranians backwards and ignorant. Even today, the hatred and violence against the Baha’i community in Iran persists at the hands of those who use religious fanaticism as an instrument of power, perpetuating yet further this historical injustice. In EULQJLQJ WR OLJKW WKH VLJQL¿FDQW FRQWULEXWLRQV RI µ$EGXO %Dha to this early period in the enlightenment of Iran, this book seeks to address this historical blind-spot, and provide an opportunity to reconsider the past in light of the present SUHGLFDPHQW LQ ZKLFK WKH ,UDQLDQ SHRSOH ¿QG WKHPVHOYHV Fereydun Vahman Copenhagen, Denmark 26 June 2023. 1 Edward G. Brown, The Traveller’s Narrative written to illustrate the episode of the Bab. (ed.) vol. II (Cambridge University Press 1891.). xxxvi. 2 ibid. “Sir ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbas: Died 28th November, 1921.”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, new series, Vol. 1 (January 1922), 145–46.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA1OTk2