A report on the H‐bahai digital library

Abstract

FOR HISTORIANS, SPECIALISTS IN RELIGION, AND SOCIAL SCIENTISTS INTERESTED in matters such as millenarianism or religion-state relations in Iran, the H-Bahai digital library (http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/-bahai/) is increasingly becoming a treasure trove of primary and secondary sources. Humanities and Social Sciences Online or H-Net (at http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/), a consortium of over 100 academic email discussion groups, is housed at Michigan State University and supported by that institution as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities. Among its many thriving lists are a handful that concentrate on Middle East Studies, including H-Turk and H-Levant. The only list so far with a specific Iran focus is H-Bahai, which focuses not only on the Bahali faith, but also on the Shaykhi and Babi movements and on thinkers and groups that intersect with these religious movements originating in the Qajar period. The discussions have often been lively, covering topics from the Constitutional Revolution in Iran to Shicite theology, and from Baha3i conversions in India and Malaysia to controversies of the Nicmatullahi Sufis. The discussion logs are available to academics at the main web page. The username is H-Bahai and the password is listpass. The list began in 1997 with about 70 subscribers and now has over two hundred members. Subscribers are required to have done graduate study in the social sciences or humanities. H-Net also provides the discussion lists with generous server space for web pages, but to date only H-Bahai and H-Africa have taken real advantage of the possibilities inherent in this medium. Although the vast majority of Iranians is Shicite Muslim, religious minorities have played a disproportionate cultural, social and economic role in modem Iran. Debates over the place of non-Muslims have also been crucial to its history. Shicism, a dynamic tradition, threw up a number of new religious traditions in the nineteenth century. Shaykhism synthesized religious motifs from esoteric Shicism, rationalism, and mysticism. Babism, a messianic or mahdist movement,