[287] "Observations of a Bahai Traveller," p. 53.
[288] _Ibid._, p. 172.
[289] _S. W._, August 1, 1912.
[290] "The Oriental Rose," pp. 185-186, 197.
[291] _The Moslem World_, 1912, p. 238.
[292] "Glad Tidings," p. 91.
[293] Chicago Edition, p. 89.
[294] Grundy's "Ten Days in Acca."
[295] "Answered Questions," by Abdul Baha, Barney, pp. 198-199.
[296] _S. W._, Dec. 12, 1913; April 9, 1914, p. 21.
[297] "The Bahai Revelation," p. 123.
[298] _Ibid._, p. 144.
[299] "Bahai Movement," p. 69.
[300] Grundy, _Ibid._
[301] Mohammed wrote to the rulers of Constantinople, Persia, Egypt, and
Syria. That which was a bold and striking act on the part of Mohammed is
a weak imitation on the part of Baha.
[302] They become what they accused the Shiah Mullahs of being; "Dead
men's heirs, consumers of endowments, and collectors of tithes and
'thirds.'"
[303] Dreyfus, p. 131.
[304] "Ishrakat," p. 33.
[305] Remey, p. 61.
[306] Kheiralla, p. 433.
[307] "The Bahai Revelation," p. 32.
[308] The word "priest" is used loosely for an officer of religion.
Bahais use no special term. Abdul Baha says ("Universal Principles," p.
38): "The making of specific laws is apportioned to the House of
Justice. The members will not form laws and statutes according to their
own opinions and thoughts, but by the power of inspiration."
[309] "Tablets," Vol. I, pp. 1 and 6.
[310] "Brilliant Proof," p. 26.
[311] _S. W._, July 13, 1913, p. 121.
[312] Abdul Baha justified Mohammed's use of the sword, saying,
"Mohammed commanded his followers to carry the religion of God by the
sword. It is right to inflict injury to save a man's life," therefore to
save his soul by force.
[313] "Daily Lessons at Acca" (Goodall and Cooper), p. 72.
VII
Bahaism and Woman
Baha Ullah in a letter to one of his wives:--This writing is to the
Exalted Leaf, who hath tasted My Most Holy and Wonderful Saliva. We
have given thee to drink from My Sweetest Mouth, O thou blessed and
sparkling leaf. We have bestowed upon thee such a station as no woman
had who preceded thee.--_In Prayers, Tablets and Instructions, 1900._
There is a touch of oriental luxury of admiration in some estimates of
Kurrat-ul-Ayn, who in important moral characteristics did not rise
above the level of her time and place. And in its results Babism has
not exalted woman.--_R. E. Speer, "Missions and Modern History" Vol.
I, p. 150._
Abdul Baha while in Europe and America had much to say about the
relation of man and woman. In New York City, after referring the
audience to various books of the Bahai religion, he said: "Similarly all
the other tablets of Baha Ullah contain _new_ teachings, which have not
been revealed in any books of the past Prophets. The sixth new teaching
is the equality between men and women. This is peculiar to the teachings
of Baha Ullah, for all other religions placed men above women."[314] In
the exposition of Bahai teachings at Clifton, England, he declared: "His
Highness, Baha Ullah, established certain precepts or principles."[315]
"The sixth principle of Baha Ullah regards the equality of the sexes.
God has created the man and the woman equal. In the animal kingdom the
male and the female enjoy suffrage [laughter]; in the vegetable kingdom
the plants all enjoy equal suffrage [laughter and applause]. The male
and the female of the human kingdom are equal before God. Divine justice
demands that men and women have equal rights."
My first thought on reading these statements was one of surprise, for
they contradict my observations during thirty years' residence in
Persia, in close touch with Bahais. I decided to make a thorough
investigation of the teachings and practice of Baha Ullah bearing on the
relation of the sexes, to determine definitely whether these claims of
the "inspired interpreter" were valid or not. A considerable body of
Bahai literature and "revelation" is accessible. Examination of the
chief books, the "Kitab-ul-Akdas," the "Ikan" and the "Surat-ul-Haykal"
disclose no such teaching. Neither the 155 paragraphs of the "Hidden
Words," nor the "Seven Valleys" have any such delectable thoughts for
Oriental women. Neither the six "Ornaments"[316] of the faith nor the
four "Rays,"[317] nor the nine "Effulgences,"[318] nor the eleven
"Leaves of the Words of Paradise," nor the nine precepts of the "Tablet
of the World," nor the fifteen "Glad Tidings"--though they announce many
blessings, from freedom to cut the beard as you please to constitutional
monarchy as the best form of government--give the teaching of the
equality of woman with man. Neither Mirza Abul Fazl in his "Bahai
Proofs," representing the new Bahais of Abdul Baha, nor Doctor Kheiralla
in his ponderous volume on Beha Ullah, representing the old Behais, in
this bitter and rancorous schism; nor Myron Phelps in his "Life of Abbas
Effendi," nor Professor Browne of Cambridge University in his learned
and impartial investigations regarding the religion makes the statement
that Baha Ullah teaches the equality of man and woman. On the contrary,
investigation confirmed my previous conviction that the position of
woman under Bahai laws and customs is inferior to that she holds in
Western lands and that her lot is far less desirable and less blest than
in Christian civilization. I reached the conclusion that this doctrine
as enunciated by the "Interpreter" is a late addition to Bahaism,
intended to attract the attention and tickle the ears of audiences in
Europe and America.
Of the two or three thousand Americans who are following the cult of
Bahaism, most are women. Concerning this Abdul Baha says in a tablet:
"Today the women of the West lead the men in the service of the cause
(Bahaism) and loosen their tongues in eloquent lectures."[319] The
editor adds, "Nine-tenths of the active workers in the cause are
women."[320] Hence it is timely to consider the teaching and practice of
Baha Ullah with regard to women.
I. I will first take up the _subject of education_, for in regard to it
the law of Bahaism justifies, theoretically, their boast of maintaining
the equality of the sexes. In this it is, however, simply imitating the
law of enlightened Christian lands, nor does their practice at all keep
pace with their precepts. In the seventh Ishrak (Effulgence) it is
"enjoined upon all to instruct and educate their children."[321] The
"Kitab-ul-Akdas" decrees "that every father must educate his sons and
daughters in learning and in writing" and also in the Bahai religion.
Education is to be compulsory and if neglected by the parents must be
attended to by the "House of Justice." But, notwithstanding this law,
most Persian Bahais have allowed their girls to grow up in ignorance,
while educating many of their boys. Even at Acca,[322] Syria, the
headquarters of the sect, where Baha had a school for boys, no like
opportunity was furnished to the girls for an education. The fact that
modern schools for girls could not be opened in Persia is no adequate
excuse, for private tutors could have been employed, as is the custom in
many Persian Shiah families, or the fathers could at least have taught
their daughters to read. Lately American Bahais have begun to stir them
up. They have organized the Persian-American or Orient-Occident
Educational Society. It raises funds in America for Bahai schools and
hospitals. With exceeding lack of candour, it poses as simply a
philanthropic enterprise and conceals its primary and ulterior object,
which is the propagation of Bahaism. Its missionaries make their reports
of their work in the _Bahai News_ or _Star of the West_, of Chicago.
They have one or more schools for girls in Persia and several scores of
girls in attendance. The American Bahai missionaries are residing in
Teheran and Tabriz,[323] directing the propaganda and working for the
elevation of the girls and women through the Bahai religion.
II. I pass to the consideration of _the civil and domestic rights of
woman under Bahaism_, and will review the customs and regulations
regarding marriage--so fundamental in the constitution of human society.
(_a_) Marriage seems to be obligatory, according to the
"Kitab-ul-Akdas." It says: "A solitary life does not meet God's
approval; adhere unto what the trustworthy Counsellor commands. Deprive
not yourselves of that which is created for you."[324] Monks and nuns
are called upon to marry that they may have children "to celebrate the
praise of God." A tablet says: "Nor must they refrain from marriage
which causes procreation and multiplication of the servants of
God."[325] Mirza Abul Fazl, the learned philosopher of the dispensation,
interprets the law to mean: "He has enjoined upon the people of Baha
abstinence from monkhood as well as from ascetic discipline. He has
commanded them to marry."[326] Professor Browne says: "Marriage is
enjoined upon all." In like manner the "Bayan" of the Bab previously
made marriage obligatory, but unlawful with an unbeliever.
(_b_) Marriage is declared to be conditioned on the consent of both
parties and of the parents. But in practice the matter of consent is
still one-sided. Take, for example, an incident in the life of Abbas
Effendi.[327] The mother and sister were very desirous that he should
marry and looked about and found a girl of whom they approved. The
sister narrates that "without consulting my brother, I invited the girl
to visit us. After a wearisome journey, she and her brother reached
Haifa. We commenced quietly to make preparations for the marriage
without making known to my brother the arrival of the girl. My brother
saw that there was something unusual afoot, so he demanded of us with
considerable energy, 'What is this? What are all the people smiling
about? Are you again planning to get me a wife? If you are, give it up;
I will not marry.' We pleaded and reasoned with him. At length we said,
'She has come, what shall we do?' He hesitated and finally said: 'Well,
since you have brought her here, she belongs to me, and I will give her
in marriage to some one else.' At length my brother brought about her
marriage to a husband of his own selection." The "consent" of the girl
in this case seems to have been considered about as much as in ordinary
Oriental usage.
(_c_) Baha Ullah advised against child-marriages, yet, strange to say,
seems to have tolerated child-betrothals. Among Persians it is a common
custom to betroth children. Abbas was after this manner betrothed to his
cousin in infancy. When the household of Baha thought the time had come
for the marriage, Abbas thought differently and refused to agree to it.
This incident[328] occurred before the one narrated above and is
concerning a different girl. Curiously it was a girl named Moneera, who
had been betrothed to another in infancy who finally became the wife of
Abbas Effendi. She had been promised to her cousin Mohammed Tagi, and
after she had reached the age of maturity, the youth urged on the
marriage. The wedding was celebrated and the bride brought to the
groom's house. Then, so the story goes, the husband refused to see his
bride and continued in stubborn neglect and denial of marital rights
till his death--six months afterwards. Later Baha Ullah persuaded Abbas
to take the "sweet and amiable" virgin-widow for his wife and he is said
to have attained to "a warm affection and regard" for the woman he was
asked to marry.[329] Did I wish to assume the role of higher critic, I
might suggest that the latter incident, like that in "When Knighthood
was in Flower," is apocryphal, and intended to create a legend of her
virginity up to the time she became the "leaf" of the "Greatest Branch
of God."
Another account I have gathered from a Syrian disciple of Baha. He
reports that Abbas Effendi would not marry the girl his parents had
betrothed him to, because he had a love affair with Moneera, the wife of
Mohammed Tagi. The speedy demise of the husband was attributed to poison
administered by his wife, who thereupon became the wife of Abbas
Effendi. Her title among Bahais is "Holy Mother."
(_d_) Another part of the marriage law gives directions as to the number
of wives a man may take. The "Kitab-ul-Akdas" says: "God hath decreed
you to marry. Beware of marrying more than two, and whosoever is content
with one, attaineth peace for himself and her."[330]
Mr. Phelps[331] calls attention to this fact that the Book of Laws
permits of taking two wives. This limitation of the man to bigamy is
deemed an improvement on the law of Islam allowing polygamy.
But Bahai law does not permit a wife to have two husbands. This
absolutely invalidates the claim and declaration of Bahaism concerning
the equality of the sexes. It proclaims the woman the inferior, not the
equal. No equality can exist in a household under such a license. Where
is the boast of progress and superiority, when the most essential unit
of human society is nullified? "Twain shall be one," says the Gospel of
Christ. Can we believe that the "Incarnated Father of all" has revealed
a new "Most Holy Book" in which bigamy is permitted? _Akstag fur Allah!_
God forbid!
I will now give some details from the history of the Babi and Bahai
"Manifestations" to show their practice in regard to marriage.
After the execution of the Bab, 1850, the rival claimants to prophethood
were Mirza Yahya, surnamed Subh-i-Azal, and Mirza Husain Ali, surnamed
Baha Ullah. They were sons of Mirza Abbas of Nur,[332] called Mirza
Buzurk. He had a wife and a concubine. Yahya was the son of the wife and
Husain Ali of the concubine. This was under the law of Islam. The
subsequent enmity of the half-brothers exhibits one of the evil results
of polygamy.
Subh-i-Azal was the "Lord of two wives," whose names and condition are
recorded in the pension records[333] of the Turkish and British
Governments in Cyprus. The first was named Fatima and her companion wife
was Rukayya. They had fourteen children. Besides the two, who were with
Azal in Cyprus, it seems there were two others. Of the third wife he
says[334] in his personal narrative: "My wife, who was taken captive and
was released, has now grown old in Persia without an interview being
possible." The fourth quarrelled with her lord and accompanied the
Bahais to Acca.[335] After several of the Azalis, with whom she was
living, were murdered by the Bahais,[336] she was sent on to
Constantinople with a surviving Azali.[337]
Baha Ullah, like Mohammed, surpassed his own law. He had three wives, or
two wives and a concubine. Bahai writers generally omit this information
in describing his life and character. Kheiralla has a chapter on his
household and gives the names and titles of his children, twelve in
all, but fails to mention the fact that he had two wives, though he
says: "Like Abraham, by establishing his household, Baha Ullah perfected
the laws of man, and fulfilled the prophecies of scripture."[338] C. M.
Remey passes over the subject with the remark: "As a man he lived a life
in harmony with his Oriental environment."[339] Abbas Effendi in his
"Traveller's Narrative," Abul Fazl, Dreyfus, Sprague, Thornton and
others fail to inform their readers of the truth and this omission is
evidently with definite purpose. Phelps is more candid. He says that
"Baha Ullah had two wives; that the Book of Laws permits it."[340]
Professor Browne refers to the three, giving the honorary titles
conferred upon two of them. He makes a quotation[341] from Hasht Behasht
which reads: "Among the titles conferred by Baha Ullah are the
following:--on his wives, Madh-i-Ulya, 'the Supreme Cradle,' and
Varaka-i-Ulya, 'the Supreme Leaf.'" And in the "New History," he says:
"The title of Varaka-i-Ulya was conferred by Baha Ullah on one of his
wives."[342] The name of the first wife was Aseyeh or Nowab. She was the
mother of Abbas Effendi and six other children.[343] According to
Subh-i-Azal's narrative[344] she was a niece of the Shah's vizier. She
survived Baha and suffered much from the children of the other wife,
according to Abbas Effendi.[345] The first marriage was in Teheran in
1835. He took a "companion for her" in 1850. Her title was Madh-Ulya.
She was the mother of Mirza Mohammed Ali, Mirza Badi Ullah and other
sons and daughters. The manuscript, "Life of Baha Ullah," continues: "In
the last year at Bagdad (1867-68) before the exiling of our Lord to
Constantinople, the sister of Mirza Mahdi of Kashan was honoured to be
His wife." It appears that she was sent by a rich believer from Persia
to be a maid-servant in Baha's household. The Persian Consul in Bagdad,
Mirza Buzurk Khan Kasvini[346] desired to take her as his wife or
concubine. Baha himself took her as a concubine. Because he was
thwarted, the Consul showed special enmity to Baha and his followers.
The only child of this wife, a girl, was born at Acca in 1873. The three
wives survived Baha. After his death one of them suffered gross
indignities at the hands of Abbas Effendi, being furiously attacked by
him in his own house, so that she fled precipitately. This, at least, is
the report of Khadim Ullah, the lifelong amanuensis of Baha Ullah.[347]
It should be noted that all of Baha's wives[348] had children, and that
the first wife had a living son (Abbas) when he took the second wife, so
that the usual excuses cannot be pleaded in palliation. For it is common
for Bahais in Persia to quote their law, in speaking to a Christian, as
meaning that a man may take an additional wife if the first one is
childless. Mr. Phelps pleads[349] in extenuation for Baha Ullah that
"his second marriage occurred early in his life and under peculiar
circumstances, the exact nature of which I do not know." Such an excuse
might be accepted for a man like Mullah Mohammed Ali, the Babi leader of
the Zenjan insurrection, for, as far as is known, he entered upon his
polygamous life while he was a Mohammedan. Two of his wives[350] were
shot by a cannon ball and were buried with him in a room of his house,
while his third wife, with children, escaped and lived at Shiraz. But
for Baha Ullah the excuse of Mr. Phelps is inadmissible, for he was no
longer a Moslem when he took the second wife, and was thirty-three years
old, and he was fifty when he took the third wife in Bagdad, having been
born in 1817. At that time Baha had been for many years a leader in the
Babi religion, had written the "Ikan," and announced his mission. Nor
was this polygamous union a passing phase of his life, but one continued
through thirty or forty years. It would have concerned us little to know
the private life of Baha Ullah so long as the religion presented itself
merely as aiming at a reformation of Islam, for it may readily be
admitted that it is somewhat less of an evil to have two wives and one
concubine than the four wives and unlimited concubines that the Koran
allows, or the nine to thirteen wives that Mohammed took, and that if
Bahaism should cut off the temporary concubines, which disgrace Islam,
it would be doing a good thing--so far forth--but when the "Interpreter,
the centre of the Covenant," Abdul Baha, comes and stands in Christian
churches in London and New York and proclaims Bahaism as a new and
superior gospel, it is expedient that Baha's real life should be made
known to the women of Christian lands.
It is well to note the sentiment of Oriental Bahais with regard to
plural marriage. The opinion of those at Acca can be understood from Mr.
Phelps' narrative.[351] Abbas Effendi (Abdul Baha) had two sons and six
daughters. The sons died. After this, as his sister Behiah Khanum
narrates, "Many influences and those of the very strongest character
have been brought to induce my brother (Abdul Baha) to take another
wife. Believers have urged it strongly for several reasons. _Very many
of them wish to take a second wife_ themselves. Then there is a general
wish that the Master might have a son to succeed him. The pressure
brought to bear upon him has been very great, greater than you can
imagine." Baha desired that Abbas should take a second wife, but he
refused to do so unless Baha should command it. There is deep pathos in
the words of Abbas[352] welling from his sorrow-stricken heart. "If it
had been God's will that I should have a son, the two that were born to
me would not have been taken away." Albeit he was forgetful of his
theology which proclaims Baha as "God the Father incarnate." Why did not
Baha preserve alive one of the sons rather than wish him to marry a
companion-wife in order to have another? Mr. Phelps[353] attributes
Abbas Effendi's refusal to adopt polygamy, notwithstanding these "very
powerful influences which have urged him to do so" to "his appreciation
of the sufferings and discontent which it causes among women."[354]
Certainly the animosity and bitter quarrellings between the wives of
Baha and their respective children, resulting in a permanent split in
the family and a schism[355] in the Bahai community, were sufficient to
impress Abbas and his followers with the evil effects of plural
marriage. The narrative shows, however, that public sentiment among the
believers at Acca strongly favoured taking more than one wife. They
evidently had no desire to give up the license granted to them by the
"Kitab-ul-Akdas." They inclined to follow it and the example of Baha
Ullah rather than the example of Abdul Baha.
In conclusion, it is evident that the law and example of Baha Ullah both
sanction polygamy. By this the social _inequality_ of the sexes is
fixed. Any claim that Bahaism teaches and establishes equal rights for
man and woman is vain and groundless boasting.
III. _The regulation of divorce_ is another matter that vitally affects
the relation of man and woman. The divorce law of Baha, as prescribed in
the "Kitab-ul-Akdas," is a loose one. I again quote from Professor
Browne's translation.[356] It will be noticed that the conditions of the
law are set forth from the standpoint of the man. "If quarrels arise
between a man and his wife, he may put her away. He may not give her
absolute divorce at once, but must wait a year that perhaps he may
become reconciled to her. At the end of this period, if he still wishes
to put her away, he is at liberty to do so. Even after this he may take
her back at the end of any month so long as she has not become the wife
of another man." "The practice of requiring a divorced woman to cohabit
with another man before her former husband can take her back is
prohibited." (This abolishes one of the vile laws of Mohammedanism.) "If
a man is travelling with his wife and they quarrel, he must give her a
sufficient sum of money to take her back to the place they started from
and send her with a trustworthy escort." From these quotations it is
evident that the wife is dependent on the good pleasure and whim[357] of
the man. He may put away; he may take back. The law says nothing of her
right to divorce him. It does not appear that she has the right to
divorce her husband even in case he is guilty of adultery. The penalty
for adultery is slight. A fine of nineteen miscals of gold, equal to
fifty to sixty dollars, is imposed for the first offense and this is
doubled for the second offense. The fines are to be paid to the "House
of Justice." According to the "Bayan" of the Bab the husband must pay
the divorced wife a dowry of ninety-five miscals of gold ($300) if they
are city folks, and ninety-five miscals of silver ($10) if they are
villagers. These are paltry sums even on the basis of Persian poverty. I
may say, in passing, that the Laws of Inheritance give to the father a
greater portion than to a mother, to a brother greater than to a
sister, and gives the family residence to a male heir.
Freedom from the marriage bond is made easy by desertion. "Married men
who travel must fix a definite time for their return and endeavour to
return at that time. If their wives have no news from them for nine
months, after the fixed period, they can go to another husband. But if
they are patient it is better, since God _loves those_ who are patient."