Bibliography: #FMCPQDDC

key	FMCPQDDC
title	Bahā'u'llāh's Conversion in Kurdistan, 1854-1856 : A Study of Bahā'u'llāh's Persian Poems
author	Schrager, Ami-Menashe
item type	Thesis
publication year	2017
date	2017-12
abstract note	The subject of this dissertation is the study of Bahā'u'llāh's Conversion in Kurdistan. One of the important moments in the birth of the Bahā'ī faith is Bahā'u'llāh's revelation in the Black Pit, a prison in Tehran. During his imprisonment in 1852 the maiden of heaven, huriyah revealed herself to him. She apprised him that he is the revelation of God. That was his first moment of conversion in which he stopped being Mīrzā Husayn 'Alī Nūrī and became Bahā'u'llāh. Yet it seems that this vision was not enough. The maid of heaven that visited Bahā'u'llāh vanished, and Bahā'u'llāh's confidence in his divine mission vanished with it. He had left Iran and settled in Baghdad with his family and members of the Bābī community until 1854. One night Bahā'u'llāh left Baghdad without telling anyone and headed to Kurdistan. This study will show that Bahā'u'llāh travelled to Kurdistan in order to try to meet again the maiden of heaven. He followed the path of previous prophets, such as Mūsā and Muhammad, who had also experienced divine revelations. Like them, Bahā'u'llāh went into solitude in a mountain cave in Sargalu to increase the chances of another divine encounter with the maiden of heaven. He needed another divine authorization. The first vision was meaningful yet not complete. Bahā'u'llāh needed more divine guidance before the start of his mission The main source that can teach us about the mystical experience of Bahā'u'llāh during his stay in Kurdistan, 1854-1856, is the eight Persian poems that were written by him during his solitude. The analysis of these poems reveals the inner mystical and mental world of Bahā'u'llāh during this period. This study will show that Bahā'u'llāh's sojourn in Kurdistan can be divided into three main parts: sorrow, conversion and revelation. In the first three poems, Bahā'u'llāh demands from the cupbearer (sāqī) divine knowledge. He is willing to sacrifice everything for this information, yet his request is denied. This refusal causes Bahā'u'llāh sorrow and grief. In the fourth and fifth poems, Bahā'u'llāh is having a dialogue with the divine beloved. She is in fact the maiden of heaven that Bahā'u'llāh was waiting for. She expresses concern for Bahā'u'llāh's mental state. She notes that Bahā'u'llāh was strong in prison and yet now he is sad. She wants to know the reason. Bahā'u'llāh explains in these poems that the reason for his grief is the fact that she did not acknowledge his efforts. These two poems end with what Bahā'u'llāh was hoping for: divine knowledge is bestowed upon him. He is once again informed that he is indeed the manifestation of God. Due to that, the last three poems are praises to the manifestation of God. Bahā'u'llāh reveals in the last poem some of the divine knowledge the maiden of heaven has brought to him. He is starting his divine mission, yet he is still hidden. During all these period it is stressed that it is not yet time for Bahā'u'llāh to reveal his divine status. In 1856, Bahā'u'llāh returned to Baghdad. His state of mind is changed. He had left in sorrow, searching for divine answers. He returned full of confidence, with some answers that he shared with his companions in the Bābī community. The encounters with the maiden of heaven continued. Many of Bahā'u'llāh's writings in this period (1854-1863) are dedicated to the maiden of heaven. Only in 1863, when Bahā'u'llāh was ready, he received the divine authorization from the maiden of heaven to start his mission publicly. The last poem in this study was not written in Kurdistan as some scholars claim but, as will be shown, is more suitable to Bahā'u'llāh's revelation in the garden of Ridvān (1863), in which he revealed his divine status to a company of his dedicated followers. After 1863, the central part played by the maiden of heaven in the writings of Bahā'u'llāh was reduced. He has finished his divine tutelage, and there is no more need for her divine guidance. [slightly revised from the original abstract] Bibliographer's Note: The Maid of Heaven continued to play a significant role as a symbol in Bahá'u'lláh's later writings.
number pages	[7], 259, [5]
publisher	The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
place	Jerusalem
language	English
manual tags	MYSTICISM; SCRIPTURE; BAHA'U'LLAH; POETRY; MAID OF HEAVEN (HURI, HURIYYIH); PERSIAN LANGUAGE; KURDISTAN; 1854-1856

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