'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎113r] (230/610)

a kind of free masonry among themselves, conceal their religion
from strangers and practise dissimulation (taqiya), so it is im
possible to estimate their numbers. They are, however, quite
numerous and several men holding high positions in Govern
ment departments are believed to be Baha’is.
Such is the history of Babiism, an extreme sect of Shrah
Muhammadanism, and of Baha’ism, which has superseded it
with a guise of universality. It is of interest owing to its
very remarkable spread in modern times as a new religion
gaining some hundreds of thousands of converts in the course
of a few years, whereas Christian missions, which have been
long established in Persia, can only count their converts by
tens. Its tenets, and, despite its recent origin, even the
1 history of their growth and change, are vague, undetermined,
and conflicting, but its breadth and freedom from ritual
and priestly hierarchy render it attractive. Its success
is in part due to a religious revival and reaction against
the fanaticism, corruption, and retrograde nature of orthodox
Shi’ism and to its adaptation to the Persian mind, and also
to the subtle mode of its attack. It makes no distinction
of race and creed, but asserts the basic truth of all religions
and the Manifestation of Baha’ullah as their consummation.
The Divine unity is incomprehensible and can only be
revealed to man through its ‘Manifestations.’ “Revelation
is regarded as progressive and, as the human race progresses,
a fuller measure of truth and ordinances more suitable to the
age are vouchsafed.” All the great prophets and religious
leaders of the world, in different parts of it and at different
ages are all. regarded as “Manifestations,” and the most
recent and most perfect “Manifestation,” whose recognition
is the supreme duty of the age, is Baha’ullah.
Its ethical teaching is compiled from other religions, chiefly
Muhammadanism and Christianity, contains no novelties, and
is full of vague aspirations towards the adoption of an universal
language and universal brotherhood. Monogamy is not enforced,
but the attitude of Baha’is towards women and their treatment
of them is more enlightened than among the Muhammadans,
although their “efforts to improve the social position of women
hav£ been much exaggerated. ” Their intelligence and inte
grity are above the average in Persia, and European officials
employing Persians ceteris paribus usually prefer a Baha’i as
more likely to prove reliable.
1 Due in part to deliberate falsification by the partisans of one or other side
in the schisms which have occurred.