An interview with Seyyed Saeed Zahid Zahedani:
The Baha’i study is placed in the framework of the analysis of the growth of the deviant movements which are supported by various internal and external factors. Cultural poverty, political instability and the severe economic pressure were of the effective internal factors that caused the influence of colonial forces. Supporting the Baha’ism by the colonists is also justified and explained in this framework. Supporting Baha’ism was done with the aim of confronting with the productive and supportive force of religious resistance against the domination of the colonialists. Misusing the internal agents and resources also made this support less expensive and noticeable; something that the colonists desperately needed.
In this interview, Dr. Seyed Saeed Zahid Zahidani, a member of the academic faculty of Shiraz University having Ph.D. in sociology from England, has explained the grounds of Baha’i formation, its goals and dimensions emphasizing on internal vulnerability.
-Dr. Zahid, please tell me, basically, what are the needs and benefits of discussing about movements such as Babism and Baha’ism now, and what lessons and wisdom can be learned from this discussion?
In the name of God. The question is very appropriate and can be a good entry for our discussion. Babism (and in its continuation: Baha’ism) emerged as a social movement (with intellectual and religious dimensions) in 13th century A.H. (19th AD) in Iran and continued its life as a parallel trend, but opposed to the religious and social traditions and customs ruling our country. Due to this “destructive” position, this movement practically confronted against the authentic national-Islamic culture of Iran.
After Iran was defeated by Russia and England the wars in the Caucasus and Herat, a group of Iranians (such as Mirza Malkam Khan and his disciples) came into contact with the European culture and civilization in a “passive” (and not scholarly and critical) manner and were influenced by Its material and apparent power, thinking of achieving progress and development, somehow came into conflict with the great cultural and social heritage of their country and fell into the line of “destruction”. Simultaneously, with the growth of this passive movement, the growing hatred of the Muslim people of Iran for the oppression and corruption of the ruling regime in the country, and their increasing confrontation (under the leadership of religious scholars) against the manifestations of tyranny and colonialism, provided the ground for the emergence and growth of reform movements in Iran. The justice movement leading to constitutionalism emerged from the political horizon of this land. At this time, when the Iranian society was in the turmoil of its social life (caused by breaking ” the ancient order” and moving towards the establishment and stabilization of “the new order”), those who were fascinated and intimidated by the West took the opportunity to speed up the process of destroying and changing the national-religious culture of the country in order to create non-religious and secular innovations.
The emergence and spread of the west-centered trend that is hostile to the traditions and national-religious beliefs of the Iranian people in the constitutional era, also brought an opportunity to renew the activities of the aforementioned cults (Babism and Baha’ism, and to be more precise: Azali and Baha’i) to be alongside with the imported secular and tradition-breaking movements and to destroy or distort the revival movements of national-religious traditions; something that was completely aligned with the ambitions and interests of the colonial countries in our country, and more clearly, with the policy of “swallowing Islamic Iran” by the Russian and British imperialism. The aforesaid cults with such a thought and practice, naturally – acted as spies of the Colonialists, even if they were not dependent on the foreign domineering powers from the foundation and origin point of view.
You asked me about the necessity of studying and investigating the religious and pseudo-religious movements in Iran, including Baha’ism. I must say that religion and (also in the contemporary periods of time) ideology play a significant role in creating social movements and political organizations and directing them. One of the important aspects of distinguishing between political groups, factions and parties is their creed or ideology. Each religion or ideology – depending on the level of influence in the society – creates a social movement for itself and assigns itself an area of political geography. A glance at Iran’s social movements in the last two centuries shows that all of them have been influenced by some kind of religious or ideological orientation. Because since the establishment of the Safavid government on, the policy of our country (in different ways) was mixed with religion.
– Has the influence of religion and ideology been the same in our country?
Never. A glance at the history of secular ideologies in Iran, and the way the people of this land perceive them and their approach to these ideologies, indicate the failure of such ideals and related movements in our country. The intensity of the Iranian people’s avoidance of secular ideologies is so great that in the history of the last fifty years of our country, the political powers have easily been able to omit the leaders and followers of these ideologies and even they accuse them of depending on this group of ideas in order to make the repression of their (non-secular) opponents appear legitimate. For example, we can mention the extensive and rapid repression of the affiliates and supporters of the Tudeh party after the coup Mordad 28, 1332 S.H. and accusing the political opponents of the Pahlavi regime of belonging to this party in the 1340s and 1350s, and finally the labeling “Islamic Marxists” as his religious opponents by Mohammad Reza Shah to repress them in the same years.
This issue shows that the use of religion and pseudo-religious cults is far more effective than secular ideologies to create stable political movements in the political geography of Iran.
– What you said about the place of religion in Iran’s society and politics is assigned to recent centuries or does it cover the distant past and even ancient Iran?
This issue is not specific to recent centuries. A glance at the numerous pages of Iran’s history, from ancient times to today, shows the clear and permanent influence of religion in the domain of policy and society in our country. For example, the powerful Sassanid Empire was sustained by relying on the Zoroastrian religion, and we can observe this issue in another way in the powerful government of Cyrus and the Achaemenid Empire, too. The Bani Umayyad and Bani Abbas governments ruled Iran and its neighboring countries for several centuries by the name of Islamic caliphs, and after the collapse of the dynasties in which almost all recited Friday prayer sermons in the name of the Caliph of Baghdad, the first stable national government in Iran came into existence with the establishment of the Safavid government and on the basis of recognizing Shi’ite religion formally and lasted for about two hundred years (despite the opposition and violent attacks of Iran’s powerful and proliferating neighbors).
After Nader Shah’s government which was the one in haste, the next Shah (Karim Khan Zand), who saw the strong attachment of people to the Sadat Safavi dynasty, called himself merely Wakil al-Dawlah (Viceroy) and considered the kingdom belonged to Safavid prince. The next relatively long-lasting dynasty (that is, the Qajar dynasty) continued to consolidate the foundation of the government by asserting religiousness and adhering the scholars and religious rituals. As such, two important and history-making revolutions of our country in the last century (constitutionalism and the Islamic revolution of Iran) took place by the name of Islam and based on religious teachings and Islamic leadership, and transformed the political system of its time. This absolute and continuous historical fact shows the importance of the influence of religion and the religious movements in our country and also draws our attention to this fact that these two factors (religion and religious movements) have always been involved in the emergence of stable movements and as a result stable changes in this land.
– Don’t actors and unworthy people also use religion and actually misuse it?
Yes, unfortunately, it happens sometimes, and that’s exactly what I’m talking about. In addition to what has been said, I must remind that this fact is a double-edged sword because both true reformers and wise religious scholars are able to take advantage of this rule to improve the situation, and unworthy and false reformers can take advantage of it in line of imprisoning the nation and dividing its ranks, and looting its wealth. Investigating the “why” and “how” of the emergence, durability and growth or decline of these movements informs us about the rules governing them and in this way provides a more precise guide to the politicians and sympathizers of the country and the nation, which lead the way from the well, and recognize the guide from the misguided as best and deeper as possible and see the colonialist hidden conspiracy, and neutralize them if necessary.
