Abstract
Scrutinizing the literature of a modern religious movement this article argues that postcolonial theory can effectively be brought to the analysis of religions and religious writing. The case study focuses on the way in which colonialism impacted the Bahai faith in a specific and formative way, causing its leadership to present aspects of the faith’s development by employing the codes of Western Orientalism. Drawing on nineteenth and early twentieth-century European orientalist texts composed either about their own faith, or the Islamic society out of which it grew, the article demonstrates how these led Bahais “themselves [to]… adopt [..] an essentially Orientalist vision of their own community and of Iranian society”. Edward Said’s Orientalism throws light on an enduring situation in which mutual othering has crossed from culture and religion into politics, however since the late 1990s critics have demonstrated that Orientalism can function in more varied ways than Said allowed. Finally, the possibility is discussed as to whether there can be such a thing as a postcolonial Bahai scholar.
Highlights
The aim of this article is to demonstrate how postcolonial approaches, which since the beginning of the new millennium have been insightfully deployed in the study of Christianity, can be usefully applied to other world religions
We have argued Shoghi Effendi was out of touch with the broader currents in Iran, it is undoubtedly the case that the oriental culture he had lived and imbibed among Iranian émigrés in Palestine already inclined him towards deference to Western scholarship
On the level of its propagation in the West in the twentieth century the foundational Bahai narrative operated within the orbit of the dominant Western discourse of its time, mimicking what many of the intelligentsia of Western countries had been saying for a long time with respect to the Islamic Middle East and other Muslim populations
Summary
The aim of this article is to demonstrate how postcolonial approaches, which since the beginning of the new millennium have been insightfully deployed in the study of Christianity, can be usefully applied to other world religions. Performance of his role as Guardian of the faith coincided with the situation of “double colonialism” in which the British administered the native Arab and oriental populations while the Zionist movement took over the land of Palestine Probably unavoidable given the continuing hostility to which the Bahais were subject in Iran and to a lesser extent elsewhere in the region, through being couched in Orientalist terms and inflected with Christian motifs this narrative oriented the Bahai faith in a new, pro-Western direction From his reading of Western writers he borrowed and incorporated into his writings the classic Orientalist division of progressive civilization (implicitly recognized as embodied in the modernity authored by the West) regarding de haut en bas a backward, rigid and fanatical Orient. Well might he recollect the halcyon days . . . seated on a donkey, and parading through the bazaars and maydans of his native land . . . (Shoghi Effendi 1961, p. 68)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
