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Presentation made at the `Irfan Colloquium, London, 2001Mysticism and the Bah' Community
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Religion has played many roles in human history. One of its roles has been that ofassisting and promoting the spiritual development of the individual - helping toput the individual in touch with the spiritual side of their being, placing theindividual into a higher, better relationship with Transcendent Reality. In mostreligions, a minority of the members of religion have made this aspect of thereligion their main concern and have organized themselves for the better pursuitof this aspect. This has resulted in the emergence of Christian and Buddhistmonasteries and Sufi orders in Islam.In the Bah' Faith, mysticism has been brought forward to a central role in the
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 religion. Indeed, Shoghi Effendi has defined "that mystical feeling which unitesman with God" as "the core of religious faith" (Hornby 1988, 506, no. 1704). It isthus the concern of all Bah's rather than that of just a minority. In this
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 paper, we will leave aside the examination of personal spirituality and mysticism(the use of prayer, fasting and meditation in order to achieve spiritual progress)and concentrate upon the communal aspect, the organisation of the Bah's as a
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 mystic community. We will begin with a brief look at the Islamic mysticalcommunity, the Sufi orders and at Bah'u'llh's historical interactions with these
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 and with Sufi mystics, especially those wandering dervishes who were a familiarsight in nineteenth century Iran. Then we will examine the general features of theorganisation of mystical orders and communities in the different religions of theworld and Bah'u'llh's criticism of these. Lastly, we will look at the way that
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 Bah'u'llh organised the Bah' community in such a way as to be a new type of
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 mystical community.
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Bah'u'llh and Mystics
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There is much evidence that Bah'u'llh was sympathetic to and had close relations
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 with many Muslim mystics, Sufis, during his lifetime. The clearest evidence forthis comes from the Baghdad period. When Bah'u'llh left Baghdad because of
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 disunity among the Bbs, he took up the lifestyles of a wandering dervish among
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 the Sulaymaniyyah mountains. He soon became regarded as a Sufi shaykh and wasinvited by the head of the Khalidiyyah (Naqshbandiyyah Order) in the Kurdish townof Sulaymaniyyah to stay in their takiyyah (retreat). While there, Bah'u'llh
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 expounded on the great mystical text, the Futht Makkiyyah of Ibn al-`Arab. He
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 also composed a poem, the Qasdah-yi Warq'iyyah (Ode of the Dove), in the style
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 of the T'iyyah, a famous poem of the Sufi master, Ibn Frid. Although the Bbs
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 of Baghdad managed to persuade Bah'u'llh to return there, he continued his ties
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 with the Kurdish Sufis, who visited him from time to time in Baghdad. He was intouch not only with the Naqshbandiyyah Order but also with the Qdiriyyah Order,
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 since, during these years in Baghdad, he wrote the Four Valleys for a Kurdish Sufileader whom he had met in Sulaymnyyih, Shaykh `Abdu'r-Rahmn Tlabn of Kirkk,
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 the head of the Talabns, a prominent Kurdish family, and leader (shaykh) of the
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 Qdir Sufi order in Kurdistan. Bah'u'llh also wrote the Seven Valleys for
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 Shaykh Muhiyu'd-Dn, a Sufi of the Qdir order, who was to succeed his father as
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 a Sufi shaykh in Gilzarda. In these texts, Bah'u'llh showed himself to be
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 perfectly at home with Sufi terminology and concepts.During the rest of Bah'u'llh's sojourns, he remained in touch with Sufi
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 initiates and shaykhs. Hj Mrz Rid Qul Saf, a well-known Sufi shaykh of the
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 Ni`matu'llh order, visited him in Istanbul, Hj Muhammad `Al Przdih, a
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 celebrated Sufi, boarded Bah'u'llh's ship at Alexandria to pay his respects, and
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 Hj Muhammad `Al Sayyah, visited Bah'u'llh in Akka. Many Ottoman officials
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 were inclined to Sufism and several of these came to regard Bah'u'llh very
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 highly on account of the spirituality they observed in him. Among these wasSulayman Pasha, a Sufi of the Qdiriyyah Order, who was governor of Edirne, while
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 Bah'u'llh was there and Bah'u'llh instructed `Abdu'l-Bah to respond to a
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 request from Safvet Pasha for a commentary on an Islamic Tradition much favoured
 
by Sufis ("I was a Hidden Treasure . . .).Among those who became Bah's during the time of Bah'u'llh, there were many who
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 were either Sufis, or were inclined towards Sufism. Among these was the famouscalligrapher Mrz Muh@ammad H@usayn Mishkn-Qalam, who was a Sufi of the
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 Ni`matullh order, Sulaymn Khn, later known as Jaml Effendi, and Ahmad Yazd,
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 to whom the Arabic Tablet of Ahmad was addressed, together with several of thecompanions of Bah'u'llh in his journeys, including Darvish Sidq `Al, Mrz
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 Muhammad-`Al Isfahn, and Hj Muhammad Khan Balch. Many other prominent
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 disciples of Bah'u'llh either showed interest in Sufism or wore the garb of
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 dervishes for a time. These include Mull Muhammad Zarand Nabil-i A`zam and Mull
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 Muhammad Q'in Nabl-i Akbar.
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There were also a number of conversions among Iranian Sufi dervishes, who, evenafter conversion, continued as wandering dervishes. Hj Qalandar of Hamadan, upon
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 becoming a Bah' took to the road and lived the life of a wandering dervish,
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 meeting with and converting other dervishes. He visited Akka on several occasions,once in the company of another Bah' dervish Sdiq-`Al Qazvn (Mazandarn
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 n.d., 6:711-12). Hj `Abdu'l-Karm of Qazvin, a twenty-year-old man from a
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 wealthy family, met Hj Qalandar and was converted both to the Bah' Faith and
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 the dervish way of life. Leaving behind all his property, he took the Sufi name of`rif-`Ali and began to travel. After a time, a certain Ism`l joined him as
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 student, taking the Sufi name Hj Tayfr. These two travelled through the Ottoman
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 domains eventually reaching Akka, where Bah'u'llh gave Hj `Abdu'l-Karm the
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 name of Hj Mu'nis (Mazandarn n.d., 6:554-5). In Baghdad, the two travellers
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 met and converted Hj Tavangar, another dervish from Qazvin and four of his
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 companions (Mazandarn n.d., 6:555-6). In this way, the Bah' Faith gradually
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 spread among the dervishes. On one occasion, a group of six Bah' dervishes
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 appeared in Akka to visit Bah'u'llh.
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It would appear that Bah'u'llh looked to Sufism and mysticism as a way of
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 attracting Sunnis to the Bah' Faith, since Sunnis were usually hostile to
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 anything that emerged from Iran and which they therefore considered tainted withShi`ism. This process started in Baghdad where Bah'u'llh produced several
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 mystical works in a style familiar to Sufis. But it was from Akka that Bah'u'llh
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 appears to have organised and directed a campaign to spread the Bah' Faith among
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 Arab, Turkish and Indian Sunnis through Bah' mystics, who would travel through
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 these lands in the garb of dervishes, speaking to the people and hoping to guide afew to the Bah' Faith. They would, of course, use Bah'u'llh's Seven Valley and
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 Four Valleys as well as his mystical poetry for this. Among those who appear tohave been specifically instructed by Bah'u'llh to carry out this campaign were
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 Hj Qalandar, who after visiting Bah'u'llh, travelled through Syria, Iraq and
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 Anatolia (Mazandarn n.d., 6:711-12); Jamal Effendi, who was instructed by
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 Bah'u'llh to travel in the garb of a Sufi dervish throughout the Ottoman domains
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 and to teach the Bah' Faith thus (1871-5; Samandar, Tarikh, 213 and Momen 1999-
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2000, 50) and who was later instructed to continue in the same way throughoutIndia, south-east and central Asia (Momen 1999-2000); Hj Eliyh who, after
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 visiting Bah'u'llh in Akka, travelled throughout the Sunni world in dervish
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 dress (Mazandarn n.d., 6:674); and Sayyid Hshim of Kshn, who spent seven
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 years, on Bah'u'llh's instructions, wandering through Iraq, Syria and the
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 Arabian peninsula dressed as a darvish, (Vahid-Tehrani n.d., 1-2). None of theseindividuals appears to have had any great success, however, except for Jaml
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 Effendi's efforts in India and Burma. Later, `Abdu'l-Bah appears to have
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 abandoned this plan in favour of using Mrz Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygn to approach the
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 more orthodox Sunni Muslims at the Azhr University in Cairo.
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The Social Organisation of Mystical OrdersInsofar as we can discern similarities in the social organisation of the mysticismin the various religions of the world, these would consist of:1. A hierarchical structure with a leader who is regarded as being farthest alongthe spiritual path and who is thought capable of guiding others along that path.
 
One of the main features of mysticism in the religions of the world is the factthat they usually result in some form of hierarchical organisation. In Theravadaand most forms of Mahayana Buddhism, the spiritual path can only be successfullytrod in a monastery under the guidance and authority of an abbot or senior monk.In many forms of Hinduism, true mysticism only occurs under the tutelage of aguru. Absolute obedience of his commands is required. In Christianity, thetraditional path for mystics was to join one of the more mystical monastic orders,such as the Franciscans and the Carmelites. These orders often stressed disciplineand obedience to the hierarchy of the order. Islamic mysticism, Sufism, isorganised into orders, each of which has a shaykh (pr, murshid) or leader. The
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 fact that progress along the mystical path can only be attained under theauthority and guidance of a shaykh is emphasised by such sayings as: "He who hasno shaykh has the Devil as his shaykh".One of the aspects of the master-initiate relationship that is thus set up is thatof confession, laying oneself emotionally and psychologically bare before themaster. This practice forms an important part of Christian mystical and monasticorders, but is also to be found in Sufi orders. Another aspect is the completesubmission and obedience shown by the initiate towards the master. It was notunusual, for example, for the initiate to prostrate themselves before the master.Rules about how initiates are to behave, especially towards the master are part ofChristian, Sufi and Buddhist orders. A typical text explaining the relationship ofmaster to initiate is the following description of Sufism:This relationship draws the novice from the turmoil of the world into the refugeprovided by the master's spiritual presence and protection. This result demands,however, that two conditions be fulfilled: (1) confession and (2) compliance withthe master's guidance. (Ajmal 1987: 295-6)
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2. The insistence that it is only by personal, oral transmission of the teachingand experience of the community that one can really make progress along thespiritual path. It is not something that can just be learned from books. Thisprinciple is held by mystics and mystical orders from Buddhism and Hinduismthrough to Islam and Christianity. Thus for example, Honen, the Japanese BuddhistMaster and founder of the Jodo school of Buddhism, said:A man who reads about the doctrines of the Jodo without receiving oral instructionwill miss the thing really necessary to the attainment of Ojo (enlightenment).(Shunjo 394)All mystical orders are to some extent gnostic - they hold to a secret orknowledge or wisdom which is only transmitted through their order. Indeed evenwithin the order, there is sometimes an elite inner circle that has full access tothis esoteric knowledge, while the outer circle merely benefits and obtains agrace and blessing through being associated with the inner circle. There is thususually a distinct elitism associated with these mystical orders. This state ofaffairs is described thus by Frithjof Schuon:. . . although esotericism is reserved, by definition and because of its verynature, for an intellectual elite necessarily restricted in numbers, one cannothelp observing that initiatory organizations have at all times included in theirranks a relatively large number of members . . . this leads to a distinction,within the brotherhoods between inner and outer circles, the members of the latterbeing scarcely aware of the real nature of the organization to which they belong .. . (Schuon 1984: 33-4)These mystical orders usually relate this secret or esoteric knowledge to thefounder of their religion, sometimes saying that it is a secret teaching that thefounder transmitted to those who were ready to hear it or else that the foundertransmitted in a dream or vision.
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3. An inclination towards monasticism or asceticism. In so far as these mysticalorders perceive the world and its distractions to be a hindrance to their quest,these groups try to isolate themselves from the world. In the monastic setting
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