A Most Noble Pattern

by Todd Lawson (Editor), Omid Ghaemmaghami (Editor)

Collected Essays on the Writings of the Báb,`Alí Muhammad Shirazi (1819-1850)

Contents

Introduction
Todd Lawson

1. A General Introduction to the Qayyúm al-Asmá'
Muhammad Afnan (translated by Omid Ghaemmaghami)

2. The Commentary on the Sura of Joseph
Nosratollah Mohammadhosseini

3. Khutbat al iftikhár
Introduced and translated by Khazeh Fananapazir

4. Colours in the Writings of the Báb
Vahid Rafati (translated by Omid Ghaemmaghami)

5. A Grammar of the Divine: Solecisms in the Arabic Writings of the Báb and His Thoughts on Arabic Grammar
William F. McCants

6. Secrets Concealed by Secrets: Taqiyya as Arcanization in the Autobibliographies of the Báb
J. Vahid Brown

7. The Súrat adh-Dhikr of the Qayyúm al-Asmá' (chapter 108): A Provisional Translation and Commentary
Moojan Momen

8. The Súrat al-'Abd of the Qayyúm al-Asmá' (Chapter 109): A Provisional Translation and Commentary
Todd Lawson

9. The Khutba al-Jidda (The Literary Sermon at Jeddah) of the Báb
Stephen Lambden

10. Muhammad Shah Qájár in Four Early Writings of the Báb
Sholeh A. Quinn

11. A Youth of Medium Height: The Báb's Encounter with the Hidden Imam in Tafsír Súrat al-Kawthar
Omid Ghaemmaghami

12. Phenomenology of Occultation and Prayer in the Báb's Sahífiy-i Ja'faríyyih
Nader Saiedi

13. The Báb's Panj Sha'n (Five Modes)
John Walbridge

14. Undermining the Foundations of Orthodoxy: Some Notes on the Báb's Sharia (Sacred Law)
Armin Eschraghi

15. Concealment and Burial of the Báb
Translated and annotated by Peter Terry

16. Collusion and Re-creation: Dogen and the Báb as Interpreters of Scripture
Gary Fuhrman

320 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2012

Reviews

[Rickey McKown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume of essays is a very mixed bag with contributions that range from solid, well-documented academic studies and translations produced by professional scholars, on the one hand, to narrow repetition of doctrinaire Baha'i viewpoints by (and presumably for) pious believers, on the other. Several of the academic studies (McCants, Brown, Lawson, Lambden, Quinn, Ghaemmaghami) are particularly notable for examining various works of Sayyid 'Ali Muhammad Shirazi ("the Bab") in the general context of Shirazi's Twelver Shi'i background and his specific connections with the esoteric and messianic thinking of the Shaykhi movement, although some of the translations would have benefited from more extensive notes explaining the often obscure Twelver Shi'i symbolism that Shirazi employed. This book appears most suitable for those who have a serious interest in Shirazi's works and some background knowledge on the Babi movement.