Bibliography 2: #BIB00861

Key	BIB00861
Reference type	Book Section
Title	Muhammedanism (in Persia)
Book title	Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
Author	Shedd, W. A.
Editor	Hastings, J.
Year	1908
Publisher	Clark ; New York : Scribner
Place published	Edinburgh
Abstract	Important events in recent Shī'ite Islām have been the growth of Shaikhīism, the birth of Bahāism, and the attempt to join Western constitutional government to Islām.... ...Other sects that should be mentioned are the 'Alī Illāhīs and the Bahāīs.... The following figures are given as an approximation: Sunnites, 1,000,000; Shiites, Persians, Lūrs, etc., 5,000,000; Tatars, 2,000,000; 'Alī Illāhīs, 300,000; Bahāīs, 100,000. ...'Alī Illāhīs and Bahăīs, widely different in other respects, may be classed together as being Muslim in only a modified sense. The former recognize none of the Imāms except 'Alī, care nothing for the sharī'ah, pay no attention to Ramadān or the prayers , and have their own yearly feast, in connexion with which a common religious meal is eaten. Among Shī'ites they conform more or less, but in private they claim that they are not Shī'ite. They believe in an incarnation, but it is not very clear whether the connexion with ' Alī is not a blind.... The Bahāīs are too well known to require description. For them Muhammad and the sharī`ah are superseded. They are found in the cities and among the more educated classes, less often in the villages, and not at all among the nomads. They are increasing. Though only a fraction of the less numerous classes of society, their influence is not to be measured by their numbers. The Azalīs are practically extinct, and the Bahāīs, with insignificant exceptions, follow 'Abbās Efendi. Both these sects practise taqiyyah, or religious deception.... The influence of Christianity mediated by commerce, politics and literature, and missionary effort must not be forgotten. This had its part in Bābism and still more in Bahāism. See, further, artt. BĀB, BĀBIS, SHI'AHS, ŞUFIISM.
Notes	Bahá'í Faith: VIII:897-898.
Language	English
Keywords	IRAN; ISLAM
Pages	VIII:897–898
Section	10.

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