|
Abstract: On the content of the Kitab-i-Ahdi, its manuscript history, and textual variants; Andalib's eyewitness account of its unveiling; Tumanski's scholarly work; contemporary attestation of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's successorship by Tumanski and other Russian notables. Notes: See also Posledneye Slovo Bekha-Ully [Bahá'u'lláh's Last Word]. Purchase online from the publisher, ingentaconnect.com. Also posted by author at academia.edu. While the date shown on the PDF is 2013, actual publication was 2017. |
The 1893 Russian Publication of Baha'u'llah's Last Will and Testament:
An Academic Attestation of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Successorship
by Christopher Buck and Youli A. Ioannesyan
published in Bahá'í Studies Review, 19, pages 3-442017
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. In the Kitáb-i 'Ahdí ('Book of My Covenant'), Bahá'u'lláh designated his eldest son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, as successor. Bahá'u'lláh died on 29 May 1892 in Bahjí, Palestine, and the Kitáb-i 'Ahdí was read aloud nine days later. In 1893, Russian orientalist Aleksandr Tumanski published this document, in the original Persian, with Russian translation, together with a eulogy composed by the celebrated Bahá'í poet. Since 'Andalíb was an eyewitness to the events he describes, his eulogy may be treated as a historical source. Tumanski's scholarly publication of the Kitáb-i 'Ahdí is discussed in the context of Russian scholarly and diplomatic interests.
Download: buck_ioannesyan_russian_will.pdf.
|
|
