leadership of ‘Abdul-Baha at the time. Indeed, the opposition of the traditional Shi‘i clerical establishment to the modernization of Iran was, and continues to be closely tied to its violent persecution of the Iranian Baha’i community, aimed at its eradication as a supposed “heresy” and “foreign conspiracy”. ,Q WKH DOPRVW WZR FHQWXULHV VLQFH WKH %DKD¶L UHOLJLRQ ¿UVW emerged in Iran, there has been an attempt to erase from history any trace of its contributions to Iranian society and to otherwise portray its followers as enemies and traitors in the collective memory of Iranians. In this process of erasure DQG GHPRQL]DWLRQ SROLWLFDO ¿JXUHV UHOLJLRXV OHDGHUV DQG some so-called scholars have each played a distinct role. In respect of biased and selective scholarship, there has been a FRQVSLFXRXV IDLOXUH WR DGGUHVV WKH VLJQL¿FDQW FRQWULEXWLRQV RI ‘Abdul-Baha to Iran’s modern intellectual movements, and LWV IDU UHDFKLQJ LQÀXHQFH RQ WKH LGHDV DWWLWXGHV DQG PRtivations of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1905. It would not be an exaggeration to characterize ‘Abdul-BaKD DV D XQLTXH KLVWRULFDO ¿JXUH FRQVLGHULQJ WKH UHPDUNDEOH WUDMHFWRU\ RI KLV OLIH $PLGVW WKH WXPXOWXRXV EDFNGURS RI D ¿YH decades of exile from his native Iran throughout the Ottoman Empire, and a childhood shaped by tremendous sufferLQJ KH DVVXPHG VLJQL¿FDQW UHVSRQVLELOLWLHV XSRQ WKH SDVVLQJ of his father Baha’ullah, stepping into the leadership of the nascent and persecuted Baha’i community. Demonstrating XQSDUDOOHOHG HUXGLWLRQ HYHQ ZLWKRXW WKH EHQH¿W RI D IRUPDO education, he displayed consummate mastery over religious, philosophical, and mystical matters, as evidenced by his proOL¿F FRUUHVSRQGHQFH ZLWK OHDGHUV RI WKRXJKW DQG SURPLQHQW ¿JXUHV RI KLV HUD LQ DGGLWLRQ WR KLV FRPSRVLWLRQ RI QXPHURXV volumes of Writings. Even in that historical period, with its WHFKQRORJLFDO OLPLWDWLRQV KLV LQWHOOHFWXDO LQÀXHQFH H[WHQGHG ZHOO EH\RQG KLV JHRJUDSKLFDO FRQ¿QHV SHUPHDWLQJ ERWK (DVWern and Western intellectual movements. Following his release from prison in 1908, he journeyed to Europe and North America (1911-1913), delivering numerous eloquent address-
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