Necati Alkan, The Babi and Baha’i Religions in the Ottoman Empire, Sept. 8 and 22

Sunday, Sept. 8, 2 p.m. Eastern time

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The Babi and Baha’i Religions in the Ottoman Empire based on Ottoman sources

Despite the genesis of the Babi-Baha’i Religions in Iran, from very early on important developments took place in the neighboring Ottoman Empire. This session will provide the historical context of events in the life of the Bab and Baha’u’llah. The session will be mainly based on the analysis of documents mainly at the Ottoman Archives in Istanbul/Turkey.

Sunday, Sept. 22, 2 p.m. Eastern time

Baha’u’llah’s and ‘Abdu’l-Baha‘s Responses to Ottoman Reform and their Relations with Ottoman Reformers

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Baha’u’llah, and His Son and Successor ‘Abdu’l-Baha were in contact with Ottoman statesmen and reformers from the 1860s onwards. With a claim to a new religious dispensation, Baha’u’llah, calling Himself a “World Reformer,” composed many Writings stressing not only the spiritual regeneration and advancement of humanity but also material progress. Based on these Writings, ‘Abdu’l-Baha further elaborated His Father’s ideas and promoted these among reform-minded Ottoman statesmen. A special attention in this talk are His unpublished Turkish Writings.

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.