Hidden
Treasures: H-Bahai Digital Library
By Juan R. I. Cole, Web and List Editor for H-Bahai
For
historians, specialists in religion, and social scientists interested
in matters such as millenarianism or religion-state relations in
Iran, the H-Bahai digital library is increasingly becoming a treasure
trove of primary and secondary sources. Among H-Net's thriving lists
are a handful that concentrate on Middle East Studies, including
H-Turk and H-Levant. The only list so far with a specific Iran focus
is H-Bahai, which focuses not only on the Baha'i faith, but also
on the Shaykhi and Babi movements and on thinkers and groups that
intersect with these religious movements originating in the Qajar
period. The discussions have often been lively, covering topics
from the Constitutional Revolution in Iran to Shi`ite theology,
and from Baha'i conversions in India and Malaysia to controversies
of the Ni`matu'llahi Sufis.
Although the vast majority of Iranians is Shi`ite Muslim, religious
minorities have played a disproportionate cultural, social and economic
role in modern Iran. Debates over the place of non-Muslims have
also been crucial to its history. Many religious movements have
been persecuted in Iran off and on throughout the past century and
a half, but with especial ferocity since 1979. Some two hundred
Baha'is have been executed by Khomeinists in Iran, and thousands
of books and documents have been destroyed or perished, as when
the national Baha'i center in Tehran was confiscated. Tens of thousands
of Baha'I families fled abroad, leaving behind precious historical
documents to be destroyed.
Many
of the materials related to these groups cannot be published in
Iran or the Muslim world because they are seen as heretical. Some
documents are in danger of disappearing altogether. The web offers
scholars and the communities involved the opportunity to ensure
that these materials survive and are widely accessible. In addition,
many Iranian expatriates or non-Iranian adherents with an interest
in these materials can access them from places such as Taiwan and
Pakistan, so that the web functions as a global public library.
H-Bahai's web publishing program has been quite ambitious and is
perhaps the most extensive in Middle East Studies in North America
at the moment. The site is divided into pages that host Western-language
materials and those that contain Arabic, Persian and Turkish works.
The latter in turn are divided into general works of broad import
for Iranian Studies (the embryonic Iran Digital Library), and sources
specifically related to Shaykhi, Babi and Baha'i Studies. The Iran
Digital Library hosts a complete run of the important (non-Baha'i)
expatriate Iranian feminist journal Nimeye Digar. It is hoped also
to post the collected works of important Qajar-era thinkers such
as Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani.
Despite
the site's focus on Shaykhis, Babis and Baha'is, many of the literally
thousands of pages of materials here are a rich source for modern
Iranian history and culture more generally, and includes many rare
biographies of women. The site has both manuscript facsimiles and
reprinted published works. Photocopies of the manuscripts have often
been submitted by Iranian expatriate families or held in expatriate
Baha'i libraries.
Materials
found at the site can then be written to CD-Rom and copied and shared
further that way, as well as printed out and photocopied for friends.
This field of study suffers within Iranian Studies from being taboo
in mainstream Iranian society, discouraging many academics from
investigating it. Baha'is themselves suffer from strict internal
controls on discourse such as in-house prepublications censorship
('literature review') and some have been excommunicated or sanctioned
for being vocal on email lists. The combination of the taboo nature
of the subject for most Iranians and hidden authoritarian practices
within the Baha'i faith have left a fascinating corner of Iranian
religious history inadequately explored, but the Internet may finally
help reverse this situation. Although the site is blocked in Iran,
some Iranian patrons are clearly finding ways to access it. Readers
of this journal who have not seen the site are invited to peruse
it, and to use it for their research. We would publish scans of
virtually any lithograph from the Qajar era, and welcome donations
of such digitalized materials.
About
the Author
Juan
Cole is Professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian History
at the University of Michigan and is both the Web and List Editor
for H-Bahai.
See also:
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