Bibliography 2: #BIB00095

Key	BIB00095
Reference type	Journal Article
Title	Rapport sur les Travaux du Conseil de la Société Asiatiqué, le 28 Juin 1865
Journal	Journal Asiatique (Paris)
Author	Mohl, Jules
Year	1865
Date	juillet 1865
Volume	ser. 6, 6
Notes	"Babis:" p. 73n. Translation of title: Report on the Work of the Council of the Asiatic Society. Footnote refers to a collection of 161 manuscripts given to the library of Saint Petersburg in 1864 by Mr. Khanikof (H. v. Chanykov) that includes the “Koran of the Babis,” presumably meaning the Arabic Bayan. The catalog of the collection, edited by von B. Dorn, and entitled, “Die Sammlung von morgenlaendischen Handschriften, welche die Kaiserliche öffentliche Bibliothek zu St Petersburg im Jahre 1864,” contains extracts from the Bayan. Jules Mohl writes the following about the Babis (rough translation): "This is a modern and extremely curious sect of the Persians. Officially, the movement does not exist, and its proponents are mainly exterminated today, but we will still hear it spoken of, because it is only one symptom of an interior work being done in the center of Islam. It appears that the quietism of Sufism no longer satisfies the spirits that revolt against Islamic doctrine…. One sees in the doctrines of the Babis and other secret sects of today a mixture of religious and political aspirations that make them very remarkable. We are still imperfectly informed of the doctrines of the Bab, and the extracts that Mr. Dorn gives are the first authentic data we have on them. It is significant that the Bab, though Persian of race and born in Shiraz, wrote in the Arabic language, thus proving that he was writing above all to the classes of well-read women. Soon we will know more in detail about this mysterious movement. Mr. Kazim Beg, in Saint-Pétersbourg, wrote of its history in Russian, and has prepared a French edition of this work; later he will publish the writings of Bab and other supporting documents [see #22919-22923]. On his side, the count Gobineau is at this moment publishing a work on modern Persia [see #20360], in which he will insert translations and analyze the dogmatic writings of the Babis."
Language	French
Keywords	BABI FAITH; IRAN
Pages	11–112
Legal note	11.

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