Sunday, Oct. 13, 2 p.m. Eastern time
Listen to the audio on SoundCloud
Based on the research done at the Research Dept. of the Baha’i World Centre, there are four types of Turkish writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha: 1) Tablets to Baha’is; 2) Tablets to non-Baha’is; 3) letters to non-Baha’is; and 4) poems. The only published collection of Turkish tablets and prayers by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was printed twice by the Iranian Baha’i Publishing Trust, in 1948-49 and 1970-71. It contains several tablets and prayers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which were written in the Arabic-Persian script, and some of which are bilingual, i.e. Turkish and Persian or even trilingual, i.e. Turkish, Persian and Arabic. These include tablets to individual Baha’is and groups in the Caucasus such as Baku/Azerbaijan, Erivan/Armenia and Nakhjavan; Zanjan/Iran, Saysan/Iran and other places. These texts are mostly short announcements of the glad tidings of Baha’u’llah’s coming.
I have been fascinated with Bahá’í Studies, especially history, since my youth. Studying Islamic Studies and History, then, at the university, opened new vistas for me. By learning Arabic, Persian and in particular Ottoman Turkish, beside my native Turkish and almost native (education) language German and English, I felt equipped to delve into Bahá’í Studies. I have been publishing since 2001 about various topics but I consider as my main and pathbreaking achievement my MA Thesis about the relationship of the Bahá’í Faith to Islamic reform movements in the 19th century (1998) and in a more deepened and extended fashion my PhD Thesis (2004) about the Bábís and Bahá’ís in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, 1844-1920s. The latter was published in 2008 revised and with the title “Dissent and Heterodoxy in the late Ottoman Empire: Reformers, Babis and Bahá’ís” (ISIS Press: Istanbul, 2008). I regard my postgraduate research up to my current research as crucial because the genesis of the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions in the Ottoman context had been rather not researched.
Leave a Reply