Bibliography: #J45Z874R

key	J45Z874R
title	The Re-Visioning of a Chain of Memory : Shoghi Effendi and Bahā'ī History
author	Momen, Moojan
authority control	Moojan Momen
item type	Journal article
publication year	2023
date	2023
publication title	Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam
abstract note	Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahā’ī Faith from 1921 to 1957, despite having a multitude of other tasks and responsibilities, devoted a great amount of time to translating and annotating a voluminous history of the Bābī movement, The Dawn-Breakers (published in 1932). This article examines Shoghi Effendi’s leadership of the Bahā’ī Faith, in particular his plan for establishing an organisational structure for the Bahā’ī community and spreading the religion to all parts of the world so as to be able to have an adequate basis for the election of the Universal House of Justice. This paper suggests that the publication of The Dawn-Breakers was a necessary step in Shoghi Effendi’s plan. He needed to establish a communal memory (a “chain of memory”) of the early history of the Bahā’ī Faith – a myth of heroism and sacrifice – as a prelude to asking the Bahā’īs, in particular the Western Bahā’īs, to make the sacrifices necessary in carrying out the planned expansion of the Bahā’ī Faith to new parts of the world. The paper examines the writings of Shoghi Effendi to bring to light the manner in which he used The DawnBreakers, his exhortations to the North American Bahā’ī community to study the book, and his creation of the idea that the North American Bahā’īs were the “spiritual descendants of the Dawn-breakers”. This in turn created the enthusiasm and readiness among the North American Bahā’īs to leave their comfortable homes for an often remote “pioneer post” in less developed countries where they would face difficult and uncomfortable circumstances.
pages	387-414
volume	54
language	English
manual tags	HISTORY; SHOGHI EFFENDI; MEMORY; NABIL-I-A'ZAM. THE DAWN-BREAKERS

summary view details

browse all, summary view browse all, detaled view