A Survey of Eastern and Western

A Survey of Eastern and Western Bābī-Bahā’ī Istidlāliyya (“Scriptural Testimonia”) Treatises

Over the last 150 years many Bābīs and Bahā=īs have compiled istidlāliyya ("apologetic testimonia") works basically intended to show that messianic expectations, eschatological prophecies and apocalyptic events have come to pass in recent history. This in the course of arguing for the truth of the messianic and theophanic missions of the Sayyid `Alī Muhammad Shirazi (1819-1850) the Bab, and Mirza Husayn `Alī Nūrī, entitled Bahā'-Allāh (“The Splendour of God”, 1817-1892). A massive corpus of oriental and occidental literature has resulted much of it remaining in manuscript. Such sometimes succinct tracts and often bulky volumes date from the very earliest years of the Bābī-Bahā'ī era. Prophecy-fulfilment treatises and compilations were set down by such pre-eminent Bābīs (and Bābī martyrs) as Mullā Ḥusayn Bushrū’ī (d. 1849) and Fātima Baraghānī, better known as Ṭāhirih (d. 1852), as well as others among the first disciples of the Bāb, the `Letters of the Living’ (ḥurūfāt al-ḥayy). The production of such variously entitled testimonia texts or endeavours was fully in line with the admonitions of both the Bāb and Bahā'-Allāh who both bade their followers defend and propagate their religions in writing. The following Bahā'ī quotations will partially illustrate this;

“The Point of the Bayān [= the Bāb] directed that in the year nineteen [1269 AH = 1852-3 CE] all in the Bayān [= the Bābī Faith] should write for each other a treatise (lit. `book’ kitābī) in establishment [of the truth] of [the Cause of] man yuẓhiru-hu Allāh (the messianic] (Him Whom God shall make manifest).. [1]

"We decree in this Tablet that most of the [Baha=i] friends should write tracts (lit. `tablets, alwāḥ) in establishment of this Cause and send them unto the [various] countries perchance thereby none should be veiled from attaining the Encounter with God (liqā’-Allāh [ through Bahā'-Allāh), the Mighty, the Beauteous.(Arab. text AQA 4:195, cited Behmardi, ibid, prov. trans. Lambden).

To date this fascinating Istidlāliyya literature has been little studied. There is no comprehensive list of Bābī-Bahā’ī Istidlaliyya writings and no analysis of the arguments they contain. The massive volume of Islamic and Christian (often missionary) anti-Bābī and /or Bahā’ī literatures has likewise received little attention. It is the aim of this essay to go some way towards rectifying this situation.

Aside from making the composition of Istidlāliyya texts obligatory upon their learned and pious devotees, both the Bab and Bahā'-Allāh themselves directly and indirectly attempted to prove the truth of their claims and missions.

The Bāb's frequent and multi-faceted interpretations of apocalyptic eschatology are numerous and foundational for Bahā=ī doctrine. In 1260 / 1844 this Sayyid of Shīrāz claimed to inaugurate a new era of communication with the occulted twelfth Imām (of Twelver Sh§`ism) whom he sometimes referred to as the Dhikr (ARemembrance@). Some four years later (1848) in various letters and in the Persian Bayān and other writings he openly claimed to be the awaited messianic Qā'im ("Ariser") and Maḥdī ("[rightly] Guided One"). The Bāb himself in his Persian Dalā=il-i Sab`ih (Seven Proofs) as well as Baha=u=llah in his Sūrat al-Fatḥ (Tablet to Fatḥ al-A`ẓam) and in other Tablets, both explicitly confirm his gradual disclosure of his theophanic claim to be a Messenger or Manifestation of God (maẓhar-i ilāhiyya).

The complex first writing of the Bāb, the celebrated 111 chapter Arabic Qayyūm al-asmā' or Tafsīr sūra Yūsuf ("Commentary on the Sūrah of Joseph" Q. 12; mid. 1844) is a no mere commentary in the classical sense. It is fundamentally a new sacred text (neo-Qur'ān) infused with promise and fulfilment intimations. It is indicative of a new era of divine revelation (waḥy) to be consummated by a new Joseph (= "Ḥusayn") of celestial Beauty. Many other of the Bab=s numerous works communicated during a six year period contain expositions of Islamic prophecy and apocalyptic. The Tafsīr sūrat al-kawthar (ACommentary on the Surah of Abundance@ Q. 108), for example, includes lengthy citations and interpretations of traditions expressive of Islamic eschatological expectations -- often rooted in Judaeo-Christian scripture.

Within the Bāb's later Dalā'il-i sab`ih ("The Seven Proofs" c. 1848?) various prophetic and other texts are succinctly interpreted as eschatological prophecies. Included is an interesting chronologically oriented interpretation of the abjad ("numerical") value of the first seven sets of qur=anic al-hurūfāt al-muqaṭṭa`ah (`mysterious=, `isolated= or `disconnected letters) Q.2 A-L-M --> Q. 13 A-L-M-R which are made to yield, in the light of a tradition transmitted by Abī Labīd Makhzūmī from the 6th (Twelver) Imām Ja`far al-Muhammadādiq (d. 148/765), the year [1, 267=] 1260 AH (= 1844 CE), the year of the commencement of the mission of the Bāb. [1]

For Bahā’īs the well-known verse of the Khuṭbat al-ṭutunjiyya (loosely, `Sermon of the Gulf=) ascribed to Imam `Alī (d. 40/661) predicting the eschatological advent of the divine Being who conversed with Moses on Mount Sinai (mukallim al-ṭūr; which Bahā'u'llāh applied to himself in scores of his writings) is also quoted in this work (Dalā'il, 46). The eschatological “sign” of the `rising of the sun in the west (mentioned in many authoritative Sunnī (Bukharī + Muslim + Tirmihdi, etc + and Shī`ī `traditions) is given a concrete though non-literal interpretation (Dalā'il, 51). [2]

The Bāb frequently acknowledged and affirmed the veracity of the doctrine of the Khatam al-nabiyyin, (The seal of the prophets, of Q. 33:40b). Yet he reinterpreted or transcended the traditional Muslim doctrine of the `finality of prophethood. He proclaimed an eternally continuing, an unending succession of theophanies of envoy-Messengers (rasūl) as major messianic figures. Their advent or manifestation represents the ABeatific Presence@, the sublime vision. Through their person and revelations is the (indirect) Aencounter with God@ (liqā= Allāh) realized and new religions successively called into being. From age to age at a time known only to God there should appear successive advents of man yuẓhiruhu- Allāh ("Him whom God shall make manifest"; a Sufi term) whose birth and prophetic mission expresses the divine theophany.

In various writings, it should be noted, the Bāb saw his own religious dispensation (ultimately for Bahā=īs 1844-1852 CE) as a kind of eschatological messianic interregnum. While he appeared as the Qā=im (AAriser@; although a Manifestation of Divinity), He would be succeeded by al-Qayyūm (`The deity self-subsisting() an exalted theophany who represents a supreme (though indirect, `subordinate() manifestation of the Divinity -- in numerous writings the Bāb and Bahā(u(llāh denied the possibility of the earthly presence of that Ultimate Godhead Who is `Wholly Other.

In his later writings the Bāb gives non-literal interpretations to the general qiyāma or "resurrection" from the "dead" frequently anticipated in the Qur'ān and numerous Islamic traditions. A number of the sections of the Persian and Arabic Bayāns ("Expositions"; Bayān-i farsī; Bayān `arabī, late 1840s) deal directly or indirectly with resurrection and associated eschatological events.

For the Bāb the expected `Day of Resurrection' (yawm al-qiyāma) had been or would be gradually spiritually realized as would the `Divine Judgement(.The individual end-time resurrection is expounded by the Bāb non-literally. Persian Bayān II:7 (see Bayān-i farsī, 30-33) is headed "Concerning the Day of Resurrection" (yawm al-qiyāma). It is explained that what is intended by the Day of Resurrection is the "Day" of the "theophany" or "Manifestation"(yawm-i ẓuhūr) of the "Tree of [Divine] Reality" (shajarat-i ḥaqīqat). It indicates the time and era of a divine theophany; the advent and dispensation of a "Manifestation of God" (ẓuhūr-i shajarat-i ḥaqīqat). In their literalism Shī`ī Muslims had misunderstood its significance.

The Bāb is very precise in giving the commencement of the Bābī "Day of Resurrection" as the dispensation or era of the Bayān. It commenced with his (semi-secret) advent (as the Qā'im, Shī`ī messiah) "when two hours and 11 [15] minutes had passed [from the eve of Friday] the fifth of Jumādī al‑Awwal, 1260 AH (= May 22, 1844), which is the year 1270 from the Call of the Prophet Muhammad . It will continue until it reaches its "perfection" with the coming of the Bābī messiah man yuẓhiru-hu Allāh ("Him Whom God shall make manifest") when the "resurrection of the Bayān" (qiyāmat-i bayān) will take place (Bayān-i farsī II:7; SWB:106-108).

Arabic Bayān II:7 on the "Day of Resurrection" (yawm al-qiyāmat) states that its significance is beyond the comprehension of the people. On a fundamental level it indicates the period

"From the onset of the dawning forth of the Sun of Beauty-Splendour (shams al-bahā') until its setting. This [period] is superior in the Book of God (kitāb Allāh) to every [succeeding] "Night" [of declining faith] if thou be of such as comprehend. God did not create anything save for this very Day for all shall then realise the "Encounter With God" and [consequently prove able to] act according to His good pleasure (liqā'-Allāh thumma riḍā'ihi). (Bayān-i `Arabī, [Hasānī] 84).

While Persian Bayān II:8 is concerned with the numerous literal and symbolic meanings of "death" (ḥaqīqat al-mawt) II:9 concerns of "reality [real significance] of the tomb" (ḥaqīqat al-qabḍ) (see Bayān-i farsī, 41-45). Both senses of the Arabic word ba`ath, [1] "resuscitation"/ "resurrection" and [2] "sending" / "commissioning [of Prophets-Messengers]" are evident in the Bāb's explanation. It is explained here that every [personalized] "spirit" (ha rūḥ) has a "tomb" (qabr) appointed relative to the limit of its own localized levels [`places']. When a Prophet figure appears this [personalized = collective] "[S]sprit" is raised when he is commissioned (= `raised up=) by God.

The Prophet Muhammad and all under his shadow were raised up when the "Point of the Bayān" (nuqṭih-yi bayān) became the locus of the theophanic "Manifestation of Divinity" (maẓhar-i uluhiyya). At that moment when man yuẓhiruhu'llh ("Him Whom God shall make manifest") appears all pure persons will be collectively represented by such "a Soul" (nafs) the "resuscitation [`raising'; `resurrection']" (ba`ath) of which [= whom] constitutes the "raising" (ba`ath), the collective "resurrection" of all pure believers. The emergence of this single yet universal "Soul" from the constraints of the "tomb" is symbolic of the emergence of all from the "tomb" of religious limitations .

When the first believer in the Bāb came to faith this was a "resurrection" event. It symbolically inaugurated the "resurrection" of the "body" of all future believers from the "tomb" of materiality. This teaching of the Bāb appears very similar to the Pauline and wider New Testament doctrine of the "death" and "resurrection" of all Christians "in Christ" as the new Adam [humanity]. One is reminded of the Pauline statement "as in Adam all die, so in Christ [the second Adam] shall all be made alive." (I Cor. 15:22) and of the Bahā'ī non-literal interpretation of the resurrection of Christ as symbolic that of the "body" of his followers (see `Abdu'l-Bahā in SAQ Chs. 23; 29 ).

Detailed interpretations are likewise given to a host of other apocalyptic expectations in the numerous writings of the Bāb which cannot be registered here.

Of great significance for its early citation of prophetic proof-texts is the monumental Arabic Jawāhir al-asrār ("The Essence of the Mysteries") of Bahā'-Allāh. This fairly lengthy Arabic treatise is an epistle set down in reply to a number of written questions about the expected Muslim messiah, the Mahdī figure, posed by a certain Sayyid Yūsuf‑i Siddihī (Iṣfahānī), a one time resident of Karbalā= (Tārīkh‑i Zarandī, unpublished; RB 1:151). It was written around 1277 (=1860/1) before Bahā'-Allāh had met its addressee (AQA 3:20) and while the Bab=s followers were expecting "Him Whom God will make manifest". It certainly pre‑dates the Kitāb-i īqān (1862) which is partly based upon it and which refers to it (KI : 13 / trans. 17; cf. Ganj.. 28, RB. 1:151). In the colophon of a manuscript copy of the Jawāhiral-asrār reference is made to the year al-bahiyy (= abjad [numerically] 17, hence 1260+17 = 1277 AH =) indicative of 1860‑61 CE (refer INBMC 46:40). The Jawāhir al-asrār has much in common with both Bahā'-Allāh=s Book of Certitude ( see below) and the Haft vadī (`Seven Valleys=; c. 1275/1858).

The need to understand biblical and qur'anic eschatological prophecies non‑literally is argued in detail. As in the Kitāb-i īqān, the extreme Muslim view of the "corruption" (taḥrīf) of the Bible is radically modified. Various New Testament texts are cited in Arabic and sometimes commented upon non‑literally and in detail (e.g. Matt 24:29f; Luke 21 :25f; Jn 15:26f; Rev 1:14f cf. KI: 19ff/tr.16ff).

A considerable number of spiritual interpretations (`demythologizations=) of messianic and apocalyptic eschatology are to be found in the Jawāhir al-asrār. Baha'u'llah teaches that Muslim students of prophecy should not repeat the errors of Jewish and Christian literalists who in their exegetical rigidity failed to recognise Messengers of God.

Like previous Messengers the Bāb fulfilled many of the messianic prophecies contained in the Qur'an and traditions non‑literally. He was indeed the expected Mahdī. Like all the Manifestations of God on a spiritual level he is that Muhammad, [expected twelfth Imam] who is the son of Ḥasan al‑Askarī (the eleventh Imam d. 260/874) come from the Jābulqā= of Athe power of God" (qudrat Allāh) and Jābulsā= of the AMercy of God" (raḥmat Allāh, see AQA 3:41ff). Mystically speaking the Bāb came from these allusive realms; these unknown Acities@ where Shī`ī tradition locates the hidden messianic imam. These twin cosmic realms of Jābulqā= and Jābulsā are not concrete celestial localities but symbolic expressions suggestive of dimensions of the Divine Power and Mercy. The hidden Imām is a himself an essentially symbolic figure who will ere long also be manifested as the Bābī messiah figure,"Him Whom God will make manifest" (man yuẓhiru=llāh = Bahā'u'llāh; see ibid 3:43).

In the Jawāhir al-asrār it is stated that the alleged finality of prophethood is not, in reality, implied in the qur'ānic designation of Muhammad as "the seal of the prophets" (khātam al-nabbiyyīn). The qur=ānic indication of the eschatological advent of Divinity (the liqā=-Allāh, "encounter with God") indicates the parousia of the supreme Manifestation of God who is the expected man yuẓhiru-hu Allāh, AQA 3:49f ).

Among other things the true meaning of "life", "death" and the significance of "resurrection" ( John 3:5b‑7 is cited) are expounded by Baha'u'llah (AQA 3:53f). In the Jawāhir.. Baha'u'llah affirms that the "Day of God" has arrived and that the "Tree of Life" (shajarat al-ḥayāt) is planted in the midmost‑heart of the Paradise of God conferring true "life" in all realms (cf. Rev 22:2).

Bahā'u'llāh's foremost Istidlāliyya text, the Persian Kitāb-i īqān (ABook of Certitude).

Rapidly composed around 1862 CE. and reflecting the (Persian) Seven Proofs of the Bab (cf. above) is Bahā'u'llāh's foremost Istidlāliyya ("Testimonia"), his Persian Kitāb-i īqān ((Book of Certitude). This seminal work contains many and varied proofs of the prophetic missions of Muhammad and the Bāb in the light of both biblical and qur'ānic texts. Matthew 24:29-31a (+ synoptic Gospel parallels) is given a detailed explanation incorporarting a spiritual interpretation of (oppression(; (the darkening of the sun and the moon(, (the falling of the stars(, (the shaking of the [powers of the] earth( the advent of the (Son of Man( (Jesus) in the (clouds of heaven( and the coming of (angels( with the sound of a great (trumpet( blast. It must suffice to quote one of the main explanations given to (angels):

“And now, concerning His words: "And He shall send His angels...." [Matt 24: 31a]. By "angels" [Ar. malā’ikat] is meant those [exalted souls] who, reinforced by the power of the spirit [quwwat-i ruḥāniyyih ], have consumed, with the fire of the love of God [ nār-i muḥabbat-i ilāhī], all human traits and limitations, and have clothed themselves with the attributes of the most exalted Beings [`aliyyīn] and of the Cherubim [karrubiyyin ].@. (Baha'u'llah, KI 61, trans. 78‑79)

As with Jesus the worldly Asovereignty” of the promised messianic Qā’im is essentially his transformative spiritual power.

In thousands of Baha’-Allāh’s later Persian and Arabic writings many specific apocalyptic events are deemed to have taken place or are interpreted relative to the future. In, for example, that Tablet referred to as one about the ahl‑i bāṭin ("[Sufi] Esotericists")' he seems to associate identification with and recitation of the al-ism al-a`ẓam ((the greatest name [of God])@ as the repetition of the word Bahā= (= A[radiant] glory-beauty-splendour), representative of the Logos-like locus of his Being. Such, it is suggested, as contrasted with Sufi Dhikr (`ecstatic recitation=) is the definitive acme of piety and devotional spirituality. This powerful evocation is such that it causes `apocalyptic catastrophes= to be symbolically realized (see further below). The contextual implication would appear to be that the power of the greatest name is indicative of the redundancy of any elitist or exclusivist Sufi claims before the theophany of Bahā'-Allāh , the personification of the Greatest Name of God,

".. The foundation of pious actions (riḍā=-i afāl) and the diadem of goodly deeds (iklīl‑i a`māl) hath ever been the dhikr ("utterance, recitation...") of the Greatest Name (ism‑i a`zam) whether [this be] outwardly or inwardly (ẓāhir va bāṭin). It is assuredly the Logos‑Word (kalimat) by virtue of which

`Abdu=l-Bahā likewise dictated many thousands of Tablets (alwāḥ) in which Biblical and qur'ānic prophecies are interpreted in creative and sometimes multi-faceted ways. He had a detailed and intimate knowledge of the Bible and the Qur'ān. His view of the Bible is summed up in the beautiful rhyming Persian words he wrote in the Pulpit Bible of the City Temple in London in September 1911;

The importance of biblical learning was underlined when `Abdu(l-Bahā exhorted Baha(is to study the Bible. He certainly held that, "Undoubtedly the friends and maidservants of the Merciful [Bahā(īs] should know the value of the Bible." (TAB 1:218).

In order to illustrate `Abdu'l-Bahā's own detailed knowledge of Abrahamic religious texts and their eschatological interpretation in terms of fulfilment in the religion founded by his Father, it must suffice to cite two portions from his many thousands of often lengthy letters or `Tablets(. The first will illustrative his detailed knowledge of the New Testament -- their being frequent allusion to the Book of Revelation -- only a few select references will be indicated;

(O ye beloved of God! O ye children of His Kingdom! Verily, verily, the new heaven and the new earth are come. The holy City, New Jerusalem, hath come down from on high in the form of a maid of heaven, veiled, beauteous, and unique, and prepared for reunion with her lovers on earth. The angelic company of the Celestial Concourse hath joined in a call that hath run throughout the universe, all loudly and mightily acclaiming: `This is the City of God and His abode, wherein shall dwell the pure and holy among His servants. He shall live with them, for they are His people and He is their Lord.'

He hath wiped away their tears [Rev. 21:4], kindled their light, rejoiced their hearts and enraptured their souls. Death shall no more overtake them neither shall sorrow, weeping or tribulation afflict them. The Lord God Omnipotent hath been enthroned in His Kingdom and hath made all things new [Rev. 21:5] This is the truth and what truth can be greater than that announced by the Revelation of St. John the Divine?

He is Alpha and Omega [Rev. 1:8]. He is the One that will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life and bestow upon the sick the remedy of true salvation. He whom such grace aideth is verily he that receiveth the most glorious heritage from the Prophets of God and His holy ones. The Lord will be his God, and he His dearly‑beloved son.

Rejoice, then, O ye beloved of the Lord and His chosen ones, and ye the children of God and His people, raise your voices to laud and magnify the Lord, the Most High; for His light hath beamed forth, His signs have appeared and the billows of His rising ocean have scattered on every shore many a precious pearl.

The following passage from a lengthy Tablet is illustrative of `Abdu(l-Baha(s celebration of the realization of certain of the prophecies registered in the Islamic sacred book, the Qur(ān:

(He hath laid down the foundations of the lofty Citadel, He hath inaugurated the Cycle of Glory, He hath brought forth a new creation on this day that is clearly Judgement Day ‑ and still do the heedless stay fast in their drunken sleep.

The Bugle [al-ṣūr] (Q. 39:68) hath sounded, the Trumpet [al-nāqūr] (Q.74:8) hath been blown, the Crier hath raised his call, and all upon the earth have swooned away ‑ but still do the dead, in the tombs of their bodies [qubūr al-asjād] , sleep on.

And the second clarion [al-nafkhaḥ] (Q. 39:68) hath sounded, there hath followed the second blast after the first, (Q. 79:6) and the dread woe hath come, and every nursing mother hath forgot the infant at her breast (Q.22:2 ) -- yet still the people, confused and distracted, heed it not.

And the Resurrection [al-qiyāma] hath dawned, and the Hour [al-sa`at] hath struck, and the Path [al-ṣiraṭ] hath been drawn straight, and the Balance [al-mīzān] hath been set up, and all upon the earth have been gathered together (Q. 34:39) ‑ but still the people see no sign of the way.

The light [al-nūr] hath shone forth, and radiance floodeth Mount Sinai [al-ṭūr], and a gentle wind bloweth from over the gardens of the Ever‑Forgiving Lord; the sweet breaths of the spirit are passing by, and those who lay buried in the grave are rising up ‑ and still do the heedless slumber on in their tombs.... It is He Who hath made for you the new creation (Q. 29:19 ) and brought on the woe (Q. 79: 34 ) that surpasseth all others, and gathered the holy together in the realm on high. Verily in this are signs for those who have eyes to see.

And among His signs is the appearance of omens and joyous prophecies, of hints and clues, the spreading of many and various tidings, and the anticipations of the righteous, they who have now attained their goal...

Head of the Bahā’ī Faith for 36 years Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (d. 1957; the great-grandson of Bahā'-Allāh) was well read in the Bible, Qur’ān as well as oriental and occidental Bābī-Bahā’ī istidlāliyya literatures. As will be seen, he further clarified many aspects of Bābī and Bahā’ī teaching pertaining to prophecy and fulfilment. The Authorized (King James) version of the Bible (1611 CE) was dear to him (Rabbani, Priceless Pearl, 37). It is recorded that he kept a copy near his bed and in his study. Its style and vocalulary markedly influenced his numerous English writings.

When translating certain of Bahā'-Allāh’s works Shoghi Effendi often utilized biblical phrases in his highly evocative and sometimes paraphrastic renderings from Arabic or Persian scriptural Tablets. Examples of this include his use of the biblical phrases “Ancient of Days” (Dan 7:9ff; Heb. `attiq yomīm; Arab. al-qadīm al-ayyām [trans. Van Dyck]; Per. qadīm-i ayyām) and Desire[s] of all nations (Heb. ḥemdat kal ha-goyyīm; (Ar. [trans. Van Dyck].. ) mushtahā kull al-umam; (Per.) faḍīlat jamī`-yi ummathā, [lit. `Excellences of all nations=]; Haggai, 2:7aβ see Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, 95).^{^[5]}

The influence of the Danielic epithet “Ancient of days” is five times evident in Shoghi Effendi’s well-known 1931 English translation of the Kitāb-i īqān (The Book of Certitude). A few examples include:

“They are sent forth through the transcendent power of the Ancient of Days (sulṭān-i qadim, lit. `Ancient Sovereign”), and are raised up by the exalted will of God, the most mighty King. This is what is meant by the words: "coming in the clouds of heaven." (Baha'u'llah, KI:52 / 43).

“The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days (`irfān-i dhāt-i azal lit. `Gnosis of the Eternal [Divine] Essence( ADD ), being thus closed in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite grace, according to His saying: "His grace hath transcended all things...( (Baha'u'llah, KI: 74/64).

Thus also in his translation of the Kitāb-i aqdas the abovementioned Haggai reference is evident; ADD

An Apostle of Bahā'-Allāh , the poet, apologist and hagiographical historian Mullā Muhammad Nabīl Zarandī wrote many things that were much informed by istidlāliyya considerations. Comissioned by Bahā’Allāh in the late 1880s, his history part of which was edited and translated by Shoghi Effendi (d. 1957) as the Dawn-Breakers has an omnipresent and distinctly hagiographical and istidlaliyya tone and content. It opens with materials relating to Baha’-Allah’s name Ḥusayn and includes speculations oriented around the al-ḥurūfāt al-muqaṭṭa`ah (“mysterious letters”) of the Qur’ān.

Apparently an (honorary?) bishop [Dr.] Fāris Effendī (dates unknown) was one of the earliest and most important Christian converts to the Bahā’ī religion. He was taught his faith in 1868 by the eminent Bahā’ī poet, historian and apologist Nabīl-i Zarandī (d. 1892) and received a number of highly significant alwāḥ (scriptural “Tablets”) from Bahā'-Allāh to whom he addressed an eloquent Arabic testimony of faith -- which was early disseminated by Bahā'-Allāh himself (see Lambden, `A Further Tablet...).

Another apostle of Bahā'-Allāh and one foremost among the oriental Bahā’īs who composed Istidlāliyya treatises, stands the best-known and renowned Bahā’ī apologist Mīrzā Abu’l-Faḍl Gulpayigānī (1844-1914). He was one of the primary architects of the Bahā’ī Interpretation of the Bible. As early as 1887-8 he had written a Sharh-i āyāt-i muvarrikhih (Commentary on the Chronological Proof texts) (Shanghai, 1344/1925 etc) and the Risāla-yi `Ayyūbiyya (`Jobite Treatise' mss.) in order to attract Jews (of Hamadan, etc) Christians and others to the Bahā’ī religion. Subsequently he exhibited a profound knowledge of Jewish and Christian scripture and history, and wrote a number of other significant apologetic works; including, for example, his lengthy Persian Kitāb al-farā’id, (“Book of Incomparability”; Cairo, 1897-8) and the Faṣl al-Khiṭāb (The Decisive Discourse) ([Samarkand] n.d. [completed, 1893-4]; Dundas, 1995).

The Aaronite Jewish convert to the Bahā’ī Faith (c.1878), Ḥāj Mihdī Arjmand (c. 1861-1941) was so knowledgeable in the Bible that the American Protestant missionary Dr. G.W. Holmes (d. 1910) who engaged in a two year debate with him about Biblical proof-texts, reckoned that `he spoke as if he had written both the Torah and the Gospels" (Masabih.. IV: 462). Such is illustrated in his important volume (highly praised by `Abd al-Bahā’) as the Gulshān-i haqā'iq ("Rose Garden of Realities" in which aspects of these debates are summed up. Various Bahā’ī interpretations of eschatological prophecies and apocalyptic signs were interpreted in the course of these debates (Ayman,`Ḥāj Mihdī Arjmand in Scripture and Revelation, 1997:1ff). [1]

Anong the other other important Jewish converts who wrote apologetic and related writings stands Yuhanna Dāwūd , a Bahā’í for many years resident in London, whose Derek Ḥayyim ("The Way of Life") exists in manuscript in Judaeo-Persian (Persian written in Hebrew script).

The fervent Syrian Christian Bahā’ī convert Gabriel Sacy (Jibrān Sāsī) wrote a 35 page Arabic Istidlāliyya which was published in Cairo around 1902 and was early translated into French (cf. Browne, Materials, 185-6).

Among other numerous oriental Bahā’īs who contribured significantly to the Istidlāliyya literature should also be numbered Muhammad Kāzim-i Samandar (1844-1918).

Mīrzā `Alī Ashrāf Lahijānī, `Andalib (d. 1920) wrote an Istidlāliyya work for a Shaykhī Muslim known as Shaykh Bahā’ī and another for the Cambridge orientalist Edward Granville Browne (1862-1926) which appears to have been lost (see. Rice, `A Babi Pamphlet( CMI., Aug. 1902, 564ff).

While Mīrzā Muhammad Sidihi, Nā'im ("Delight") Isfāhānī (d.1915/16) composed verse and prose testimonia,

Sayyid Aḥmad Mūsawī Hamadānī entitled Muhammadadr al-`Ulamā( [al-ṣudūr] ("Foremost of `Ulamā([Hearts] d. Tehran, 1325/1907) was the author of several Istidlāliyya works (one pub. Tehran: BPT., 1324/1906).

The pious `Angel of `Akkā’ Ḥajjī Mīrzā Ḥaydar `Alī Iṣfahānī (d. Haifa, 1921) composed an apolgetic testimonia entitled Dalā’il al-irfān fī ẓuhūr al-ḥujjat wa’l-tibyan ("The Evidences of the Testimony regarding the Manifestation of the Proof and the Evidence (Bombay, 1313[2] 1895-6; see Behmardi, 1997).

The wide-ranging Istidlāliyya text entitled Baḥr al-irfān... (“The Ocean of Gnosis”, 287pp) of Ḥajjī Mīrzā Muhammad Afshār (d. ) appeared not long after the passing of Bahā'-Allāh (n. p. [Bombay] n.d. [189?]).

Finally, though not at all exhaustively in this connection, mention should be made of the numerous works of `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāvarī (1902-1972). A Bahā’ī from 1927, a number of his various writings and compilations contain materials touching upon the Bahā’ī exegesis of prophetic and apocalyptic texts of the Abrahamic religions (cf. Rafati, EIr. VIII: 641-2).

From the United States during the 1890s and 1900s, than especially after the centennial (1950) celebration of the martyrdom of the Bāb in 1850 CE, many prominent western Bahā’īs continued to add significantly to the body of Bahā’ī scriptural testimonia literatures. The Bahā’ī exegesis of a considerable number of eschatologically or apocalyptically oriented biblical and qur’ānic texts and traditions was further developed in the west.

Important in introducing the Bahā’ī religion to the West as represented by America / the USA., were the often biblically rooted and oriented writings of the somewhat (by modern Bahā’ī standards) heterodox works of the Syrian Christian convert Ibrahim G. Kheiralla (d. 1919; became Bahā’ī 1890). He achieved great success in spreading the Bahā’ī Faith in America subsequent to his arrival there in December 1892 (Stockman, BFA 1:26).

Reference may be made by way of example to the writings of the one-time Anglican canon of St. Patrick's Cathederal Dublin, George Townshend (d. 1957) who authored The Promise of All Ages (1st ed. London: Simpkin Marshall n.d. [1934])

Appointed by Shoghi Effendi a `Hand of the Cause’ in 19XX, William Sears (d. 1992) penned his Thief in the Night, or the Strange Case of the Missing Millennium (1st ed. London: George Ronald, 1961) over forty years ago. This slim work has been one of the best-selling Bahā’ī books produced in the west and has inspired by western Christians to convert to the Bahā’ī religion.

Townshed and Sears were both leading Bahā’īs or `Hands of the Cause [of God] and they also wrote other significant things about the fulfillment of religious prophecies and the eschatological "signs" in Bābī and Bahā’ī fulfillment. .

In both the east and the west Bahā’īs have argued that that a new era, a promised eschatological Day has come. They have reckoned that biblical, Islamic and other prophecies are being or have been fulfilled. …. ADD

^{^[1]} Trans. Lambden from an unpublished Tablet of Bahā'-Allāh to Zayn al-Muqarrabín contained in a mss. compilation of Nūr al-Dīn Zayn cited Behmardi article, `Dalā’il al-Ifrān..’ in Khoosh-i-Hā’i az Kharman.. 8 :57.

^{^[2]} The reader is referred back by the Bāb to his Sharḥ-i Kawthar or Tafsir Sūrat al Kawthar (`Commentary on the Surah of the Abundance; Q. 108) (see Dalā=il, 48-9).

^{^[3]} The Bāb himself interpreted this Asign@ in his Persian Seven Proofs as his appearance, the theophany of the ASun of Truth@(shams-I ḥaīíqat) in the province of Fars (SW Iran) which is Awest@ relative to its earlier rising in Mecca (Arabia), the place of the eastern Arising@ of the Prophet Muhammad who was also the ASun of Truth@ (see Dalā=il, 51-2)..

^{^[4]} Trans. Lambden. This Bible was destroyed during WWI but a photograph of the Persian inscription is reproduced in a number of publications (see for example, White, 1946; cf. Balyuzi, 1971:145).

^{^[5]} `Desire of all nations' is not of course exactly a literal rendering of the Hebrew of Haggai, 2:7b which may mean something like Athe treasure[s] (= `desirable things’) of all nations@ (so RSV). The Arabic and Persian translations usually reflect the traditional Latin (Vulgate) and other versions. Details cannot be gone into here. The traditional Christian rendering has been thought to have messianic implications.