A Review of Religious Scholar's Role in Dealing with Babiism and Bahaism

Different factors contributed to the formation of the misguided sect of Bahaism. Among the factors which are worth mentioning are: misconception of the doctrines of Mahdism and awaiting the savior, the emergence of Sheikiyyah sect, in addition to some cultural and social factors like poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, and superstition. Regarding the political factors, we can refer to the weakness of government and multidirectional domination of foreign powers over the court and national resources on one hand and to the support offered by foreign powers for any deconstructive movement which targeted the strength of the government and religious scholars on the other hand. The mistake committed by some historians and the false claims of some followers of the misguided Bahaism has made some think that such religious scholars like Sheikh A‘zam Ansari did not adopt a rigid stance in dealing with leaders of Bahaism and Babism. The present paper tries to investigate these claims, and comment on them in the light of the existing evidence.