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- Title
The 1893 Russian Publication of Baha'u'llah's Last Will and Testament: An Academic Attestation of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Successorship.
- Authors
Buck, Christopher; Ioannesyan, Youli A.
- Abstract
This study concerns the publication of a document that may well be unique in the history of religions: the written designation of a successor by the charismatic founder of a world religion. M?rz? ?usayn-'Al? (1817-1892), known as Bah?'-All?h (more commonly, Baha'u'llah, 'Splendor of God'), prophet-founder of the Bah?'? Faith. In the Kit?b-i 'Ahd? ('Book of My Covenant'), Baha'u'llah designated his eldest son, 'Abb?s Effend?, known as 'Abdu'l-Bah? (1844-1921), as successor. Baha'u'llah died on 29 May 1892 (at 3:00 a.m.) in Bahj? (near 'Akk?), Palestine (now modern-day Israel), and the Kit?b-i 'Ahd? was read aloud nine days later. In 1893, Russian orientalist, Aleksandr Grigor'evich Tumanski (1861-1920) published this document, in the original Persian, with Russian translation, together with a eulogy composed by the celebrated Bah?'? poet, M?rz? 'Al?-Ashraf-i L?h?j?n?, known by his sobriquet, 'Andal?b ('Nightingale'; d. 1920). Since 'Andal?b was an eyewitness to the events he describes, his eulogy may be treated as a historical source. Tumanski's scholarly publication of the Kit?b-i 'Ahd? is discussed in the context of Russian scholarly and diplomatic interests. The present study is presented as follows: (1) Introduction; (2) Aleksandr Grigor'evich Tumanski; (3) Contents of the Kit?b-i 'Ahd? and Brief Commentary; (4) 'Andal?b's Eyewitness Account of the Reading of the Kit?b-i 'Ahd?, 1892; (5) The St. Petersburg Edition of the Kit?b-i 'Ahd?; (6) The Original Manuscript of the Kit?b-i 'Ahd? and the Textus Receptus; (7) Textual Variants Between the St. Petersburg Edition of the Kit?b-i 'Ahd? and the Textus Receptus; (8) The Cambridge Manuscript of the Kit?b-i 'Ahd? in the E. G. Browne Collection; and (9) Conclusion: Contemporary-Historical Attestation of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Successorship by Tumanski and other Russian Notables
- Subjects
TANZANIA; ACQUISITION of Russian publications; HA (African people); ETHNOLOGY; COVENANTS (Christianity); BROWNE, Edward Granville, 1862-1926
- Publication
Baha'i Studies Review, 2013, Vol 19, Issue 1, p3
- ISSN
1354-8697
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1386/bsr.19.1.3_1