As a child he accepted and assimilated all the principles and dogma of the Orthodox Church. Even though he did not understand them he accepted them blindly. Tormented by the fact that he could not reconcile the beliefs of the religion of his fathers with reason, he became a nihilist as a young adult but never abandoned his search for God and true religion.

In his book, The True LIfe published in 1878, in a chapter entitled The Gospel in Brief, he openly attacked the church and demonstrated that it was the main obstacle preventing man from practicing the ideals of Christ's teachings. Through his investigations of other religions, of Buddha, of Lao-Tse, Zoroaster and Muhammad, he concluded that all of the major religions had deviated from the original teaching of their Founders.

On 5 September 1894 he received a notebook sent to him by his Turkish Translator Olga Sergeyevna Lebedova which contained a translation of an article about the Bábí Faith. His reply to her indicated that he had already heard of it but there is no evidence of when or from where. In 1852 two newspapers, La Revue de Genève (4 November) and the Journal de Genève had given accounts of the martyrdom of the Báb, perhaps he had seen these articles. He asked her for additional information.

In April 1898 he was visited by three people well-known in European literary circles. These three writers noted his interest in the Bábí Faith and sent him a book on the subject. [LTBF18]

By 1901 he was excommunicated and so in the same year he published A reply to the Synod's Edict of Excommunication and to Letters Concerning it that was a succinct expression of his religious ideas. [LTBF11]

Gabriel Sacy, a Frenchman of Syrian origin, living in Cairo, who had been born a Jew, converted to Islam, then to Christianity and then embraced the Bahá'í Faith, wrote to him 13 May 1901 to share his beliefs. This would have been the first time that Tolstoy heard of the Bahá'í Faith from a believer. At this time he considered that the Bábí Faith was a religious movement limited to the East, an attitude prevalent at the time. [LFBF22-23]

Tolstoy was in Gaspra in the Crimea recovering after a serious illness when on 27 May 1902 he was approached by a merchant named Kasím Basiravov, a Bahá'í who had decided to contact him. This was the first time that he had met with a believer. [LFBF26]

A few months later, on 14 September, he was visited by a Persian merchant named Mirza Azizu'lláh Jadhdháb Khurasáni. He left a full account of the five days he spent with Tolstoy. They discussed the fulfillment of prophecy, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the principles of the Faith, the administration, the example of Bahá'í life functioning in Isahqábád, and the station of 'Abdu'l-Bahá from whom he brought this message, "Act that your name may leave a good memory in the world of religion." Tolstoy asked for more writings and Mirza Azizu'lláh offered to contact Mirza Alí-Akbar Nakhjavani in Bákú who was capable of corresponding with him in Russian. [LTBF26-31; EB185-190]

The nineteenth century saw a flowering of anarchist thought broadly characterized by a “rejection of the familiar norms and structures, especially the political ones, of their age” and a belief that humanity ought to live free of government structures and in accord with nature. His writings were the basis for what has been called Christian socialism. In her work among the poor, Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper came in contact with John Kenworthy, an influential person in this area and someone who had visited Tolstoy twice. 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote to her in 1901 with advice for Mr. Kenworthy on how to approach Tolstoy. [BCBI226; LTBF53]

The drama “Báb” by Isabella Grinevskaya was published in May, 1903, and was mounted in one of the principal theaters in St. Petersburg in January, 1904. It was this drama that brought to Count Leo Tolstoy a knowledge of the Bahá’í teachings. He read the book and at once wrote to Mrs. Grinevskaya expressing his appreciation for her great drama and his sympathy with the Bahá’í Movement. The letter was subsequently printed in the Russian press. [BW6p707].
See as well Count Leo Tolstoy and the Bahá'í Movement by Martha Root in Bahá'í World Vol 5 p642.

On 4 April 1904 Hippolyte Dreyfus sent Tolstoy his newly published French translation of the Kitáb-i-Iqán (Le Livre de Certitude). He replied to Dreyfus that the book "put him off Bahá'u'lláh's teachings". It contradicted his belief that Abraham, Moses, Christ, Mohammad had all been ordinary men and not divine Messenger. Notwithstanding this, he continued to recommend the study of the Faith to his correspondents, nor did he stop investigating the Faith himself. [LTBF33-34]

By December of 1908 Tolstoy's opinion of the Bahá'í Faith had somewhat evolved, he said, in part, "Baháism...is one of the highest and purest of religious teachings." He had a particular respect for the Bahá'í Faith because of its acceptance of all of the former religions, but did not appear to have grasped the concept of progressive revelation. Within a year's time he had a clearer idea about the three central figures of the Faith and their functions and roles. [LTBF40, 43, 52]

There is no evidence of any communication from 'Abdu'l-Bahá to Tolstoy, however he did refer to his work in many tablets and offered advice to those who wanted to meet or correspond with him. Mirza 'Alí-Akbar Nakhjavani, a resident of Baku, wrote to 'Abdu'l-Bahá for such council. He advised him to treat him with the utmost courtesy and fair-mindedness and suggested he give him a copy of a letter He had addressed to the believers in the East and the West that had been translated into Russian. (This tablet can be found in Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá #225 p283-295; Tablet of the Two Calls; Russian translation here) Tolstoy replied to Nakhjavani's correspondence on 22 September 1909 stating that he had the intention of writing a book about the Bahá'í Faith but It appeared that he had some reservations that prevented him from complete acceptance of the Faith. In all likelihood he could not accept the idea of a manifestation from God. The promised book was not finished at the time of his passing. [LTBF49-50, 55; ABBAS88-89]

Tolstoy died on 20 November 1910 at the age of 82. Two thousand people attended his funeral. Three choirs sang. There were no eulogies, as per the family's request, although 100 students had asked to speak. According to some sources, Tolstoy spent the last hours of his life preaching love, non-violence, and Georgism. A 2009 film about Tolstoy's final year, The Last Station based on the 1990 novel by Jay Parini, was made by director Michael Hoffman with Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as Sofya Tolstoya. Both performers were nominated for Oscars for their roles. [Wikipedia]

The Tolstoy bibliography.

The book Leo Tolstoy and the Bahá'í Faith was written by Luigi Standard and translated from Russian, Persian and French to English by Jeremy Fox. It was published by George Ronald in 1985.

For further information on the development of the Manchester Bahá'í community see BCBI p62-65; 131-139.

For an account of the beginning of the Bahá'í Cause in Manchester see The Bahá'í Dawn - Manchester by E T Hall.

On the day he arrived at Haifa he was ill with a dysentery. ‘Abdu’l-Baha sent His own physician to him and visited Himself. 'Abdu'l-Bahá had told him on his previous visit that "...health is the expression of equilibrium; that the body is composed of certain elements, and that when these elements are in the right proportion, health results; and that if there is any lack or preponderance in these elements, sickness results." He went on to say that "... there is still another cause of illness, Illness may be caused by nervous factors. Anything that shocks us or affects our nerves may also affect our health." [Memories of 'Abdu'l-Bahá by Stanwood Cobb p9-10

For obvious reasons, the treatment of aviation matters was a subject at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The conference was the first political effort to develop the doctrines of international law relating to aerial navigation. Delegates disagreed about the right of foreign aircraft to fly over national territory. It was resolved to create an Aeronautical Commission charged to prepare a convention on international aerial navigation. The result was the creation of the International Commission for Air Navigation under the authority of the League of Nations. This Paris Convention was the first successful attempt at common regulation of international air navigation and laid the foundations of air law.

A proposal was formally taken up by France and submitted to the other principal Allied powers who received it favourably. This action then resulted in the drawing up of the International Air Convention, which was signed by 26 of the 32 Allied and Associated powers represented at the Paris Peace Conference and was ultimately ratified by 38 States. It should be noted that this Convention took over all the principles that had already been formulated by the Conference that had been held in 1910 in Paris. The Convention was ultimately in force for thirty-three States by 1940.

The U.S. government extended an invitation to 55 States to attend an International Civil Aviation Conference in Chicago in 1944. Known then and today more commonly as the 'Chicago Convention', this landmark agreement laid the foundation for the standards and procedures for peaceful global air navigation. It set out as its prime objective the development of international civil aviation "…in a safe and orderly manner", and such that air transport services would be established "on the basis of equality of opportunity and operated soundly and economically." On 4 April 1947, upon sufficient ratifications to the Chicago Convention, the International Civil Aviation Authority came into being. The first official ICAO Assembly was held in Montreal in May of that year. On 3 October 1947 the ICAO became a UN specialized agency.

Today the ICAO has 193 Members States with headquarters located in the Quartier international de Montréal of Montreal, Quebec, Canada with seven Regional Offices throughout the world. [Chicago Convention; 1919 Paris Convention; ICAO website]

The publication in 1865 of the Comte de Gobineau's (1816-1882),Les Religions et Les Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale created an interest in Europe. A scholar that was inspired by Gobineau was E.G.Browne. He travelled to Iran and also visited Bahá'u'lláh in Akka in the latter days of His life. He translated two histories of the new religion and published two other books as well as a number of articles. He also made an important collection of manuscripts that he gave to Cambridge University Library. Bahá'ís have criticized Browne's work for being too sympathetic to Azal, Baha'u'llah's half-brother and implacable enemy. One of the books that Cobineau for Les Religions... was Násikhu't-Taváríkh (the 'history to abrogate all previous historiies') by Lisánu'l-Mulk. This book had been condemned by Bahá'u'lláh as a falsification of history one which even an infidel would not have had the effrontery to produce. [SUR36-37]      

A.L.M. Nicolas (1864-1939) was a French consular official in Iran who researched and wrote a biography of the Báb as well as translating three of the Báb's major works into French.

     Just as the Báb was the centre of the scholarly interests of Gobineau, Browne and Nicolas, some Russian scholars who were more interested in Bahá'u'lláh. Baron Viktor Rosen (1849-1908), the director of the Oriental Department of the University of St. Petersburg was assisted by Aleksandr Tumanski (1861-1920). He spent a great deal of time with the Bahá'í community of Ashkhabad and with Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani. Although he did not write as much as Browne or Nicolas, what he did write was derived from a very deep and thorough investigation. [L&E43-83]

See An Officer and an Orientalist: Alexander Grigorevich Tumanskii and His Contribution to Russian Historiography on and Policy towards the Babi-Baha'i Religion by Soli Shahvar, Bahá'í Studies Review 20 (1), 3-19

     There was much interest in scholarship in the early days of the Faith because almost all of the most important disciples of the Báb were Islamic religious scholars, as were many of the leading converts to the Bahá'í Faith in later years. The most important of these was the above mentioned Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani (1844-1914). He was learned in the Zoroastrian and Jewish scriptures and spent some time in the Christian West at the request of 'Abdu'l-Bahá prior to His visit.

     During the 1930s to 1960s, a second generation of Iranian Bahá'í scholars, such as Fadil Mazandarani (1881-1957), 'Abdul-Hamid Ishraq-Khavari (1902-1972), and 'Azizu'llah Sulaymani (1901-1985) systematized Bahá'í theology and law, developed aids for scholars such as dictionaries of Bahá'í terminology, and wrote histories and biographies. This was of course a more traditional style of scholarship than is current in the West, but it continues to be useful to all present scholars.

     The above-described initial flurry of interest in the Bábí and Bahá'í religions in the West was not sustained and from the 1920s to the 1970s, there were no Western scholars who were as deeply engaged as the above-named ones and only a handful of studies that can be said to have done much to advance knowledge. From the 1970s onward, there gradually emerged a new stream of scholars who can be said to be a fusion of the above two groups, the Western and the Bahá'í scholars. This new generation of scholars mostly began as Bahá'ís, although some have subsequently left the religion. They use Western academic methodology and most operate from within Western universities but they have access to insider information and resources. Apart from these individuals, the Bahá'í Faith has been very little studied by Western scholars of religion.

Early Bahá’í Scholarship in North America

   The study of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States and Canada began almost as soon as the religion arrived on the continent in the late‑19th century. Early scholars were a mix of missionaries, journalists, university professors, and curious laypeople who sought to understand a new religious movement that was still largely unknown in the West.

    In 1901 the British orientalist student of E G Browne, Edward Denison Ross, wrote a concise overview of “Babism” for The North American Review. The article was later reproduced in the 1912 volume Great Religions of the World, where Ross added a brief pre‑face describing ʻAbdu’l‑Bahá’s recent travels in the United States. Ross’s piece is one of the earliest academic treatments of the movement in a mainstream American periodical. [USMERCED]

   During the early twentieth century, a number of America's religious thinkers were in touch with Sarah Farmer or visited Green Acre and participated in the dynamic exchange of ideas that took place there. Among them were the Harvard scholars William James and W.E.B. Du Bois, two of the most prominent and influential American writers and philosophers of the time. William James, in turn, invited Ali Kuli Khan, an Iranian diplomat and prominent member of the Bahá'í community, to give presentations on the Bahá'í Faith at Harvard University.

   Du Bois, who had been a student of James, received his doctorate from Harvard and was the first African American to do so, graduating in 1895. His work as the founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) brought him into contact with 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who gave a speech at its fourth conference in 1912. Du Bois, as pointed out by Guy Mount in his research, later published the speech in the official magazine of the NAACP, along with a photograph of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

   A contemporary and close colleague of Du Bois, Alain Locke was also among the most eminent thinkers of the time. Locke was the first African American Rhodes Scholar, and he is often remembered as the "Dean" of the Harlem Renaissance. In a biography on Locke, Christopher Buck suggested that Du Bois may have been the one who introduced Locke to the Bahá'í Faith. He received his PhD from Harvard in 1918, the same year he became a Bahá'í. Du Bois and Locke's profound contributions to philosophy were recognized widely—the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. compared their influence to that of Plato and Aristotle.

   The early American Bahá'í community also included Albert Vail and Stanwood Cobb, graduates of the Harvard Divinity School and prior Unitarian ministers. Vail published an impressive article on the Bahá'í Faith emphasizing its principle of unity in the Harvard Theological Review in 1914. While the Harvard University and Green Acre represented significant meeting points for leading writers and philosophers of the time, Dehghani's lecture also noted that the influence of the emerging discourse on unity reached other prominent thinkers in the northeastern United States.

   A word must also be said about what passes for scholarship on the Bahá'í Faith in Iran and to a lesser extent in the rest of the Middle East. Bahá'ís have been persecuted in many Middle Eastern countries and rejected by Islamic leaders, and one form of this discrimination has involved the manipulation of information. For most of the last 100 years, deliberately distorted or falsified information and documents have been created mostly by some within the Islamic religious establishment and then distributed as though these were facts about the Bahá'í Faith. Since the Bahá'ís have had no ability to respond to this material in the Middle East, these distortions have gradually become accepted in the Middle East as the truth. One example is the forged memoirs of Count Dolgorukov, the Russian ambassador to Iran in the 1840s to 1850s.

   This and other contradictions were so clearly spurious that even some Iranian scholars debunked them when they were first published in the 1940s. But despite this, they are often regularly cited by Middle Eastern writers up to the present day as though they are a reliable source for the history of the religion.

   Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, this manufacturing of disinformation and forged material has increased greatly with programs in the media, articles, and books appearing on a frequent basis, especially in the government-run media. The result is that there is almost nothing published in the Middle East that has reliable information about the Bahá'í Faith in it. A little of this sort of scholarship has also appeared in the West; some Christian missionaries, notably Reverend William McElwee Miller(1892-1993)(Also see WOB83) have written anti-Bahá'í material and ex-Bahá'ís have published academic work that is calculated to make the Bahá'í community resemble a cult as portrayed in the anti-cult campaigns that were carried out in the Western media in the 1980s. [The above was copied from the website Patheos and has been edited for brevity. It was contributed by Dr. Natalie Mobini]