Abstract:
Studies about the Baha’i Faith in the fields of phenomenology, sociology, theology, and historiography among the Western scholars are as old as about one hundred and fifty years! In her book, The Citizens of the World, Warburg seeks to reflect these studies and to introduce and examine the Bahai Faith based on the results of the researches. Identifying Western sources and references in the field of Baha'i studies and the challenges they face, both the Baha'i academic scholars and other independent scholars, is an issue that is addressed in this paper from Ms. Warburg's viewpoint.
Machine summary:
She has written in this regard: This material (the book 'The Global Citizen') includes extensive interviews with members of the Baha'i community of Denmark in the years 1981-1982, regular participation and objective observation in their meetings and assemblies from 1980 to date, and an analytical and demographic study in 1999.
Although no comprehensive book on Babi and Baha'i history has been published so far, Denise MacEwen, in an unpublished 50-page work, has presented a precise review of the course of Baha'i studies up to 1979.
Joseph Arthur Gobineau (1816-1882), a French diplomat who had spent several years (1855-1858 and 1862-1863) in Iran as a political agent, devoted half of his book titled "The Religions and Philosophies of Central Asia," which he wrote in 1865, to an engaging description of the Babi movement, its discourse, main leaders, and the primary wars between the Babis and government forces.
Several researchers have commented on this matter, but the best of these reviews is by Denis MacEwen in the book Sources for the Study and Investigation of Early Babi History and Beliefs, published in 1992.
One of the obstacles and difficulties in studying and examining early Babi and Baha'i history is that the original text of Tarikh-i-Nabil, upon which Shoghi Effendi's "The Dawn Breakers" is claimed to be written, is not available to any researcher and is only at the disposal of the members of the Baha'i House of Artifacts at the Baha'i World Centre, and they have not shown it to anyone else.
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