Who Was a Baha’i in the Upper Echelons of Qajar Iran?

What is it about?

This paper throws up two questions: first, that of the nature of religious identity in a traditional society; and second that of who can be identified as having been a Baha'i in the upper echelons of Qajar Iran. The paper identifies five criteria by which individuals can be identified as having been Baha'is and suggests that since none of these are fool-proof, more than one of the criteria should be fulfilled before we label someone as a Baha'i. The various grades of being a Baha'i are also examined. The paper lists a number of examples of people from the Qajar royal family and from among the highest echelons of the Qajar administration who fulfil these criteria. It also looks at two individuals who have not been claimed to be Baha'is in the usual Iranian and Baha'i histories and yet, if a close study of their lives is made, considerable evidence can be accumulated that they may have been crypto-Baha'is. In all, this paper indicates that there may have been many Baha'is in the upper strata of Qajar society, that this is a factor that has not previously been sufficiently recognized and needs to be examined for the light that it may shed on other matters.

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Why is it important?

The extent of the influence of the Baha'i community in Iran in the Qajar period is underappreciated at present.