Propagative Methods Used by Founder of Baha’i Faith among Zoroastrians: An Analysis of the Employment of Zoroastrian Symbols and Themes in Collection of Tablets in Honor of Zoroastrian Baha'is
- Author(s)
- Mohammad Hadi Nejati Gerani; Mahdi Lakzaee; Mohammed Soori
- Year
- 2026
- Language
- Persian
- Journal
- Journal of Religious Research
- Issue
- e251682
- DOI
- 10.22034/jrr.2023.283335.1870
Description
Although Baha’i Faith formed against a Shiite background, severe opposition from Shiite scholars and Iranian people with the religion caused it to turn to other faiths, ethnicities and nations. They did not gain much success in attracting Christians to their religion, yet to the Baha’is utter surprise and without their efforts, Zoroastrians and Jews converted to their religion due merely to socializing with them. The founder of Baha’i Faith, Mirza Hussein Ali Nuri, better known as Baha’ Allah, paid attention to the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism to some degree. From the time of Seyyed Ali Muhammad Bab, one Zoroastrian person had converted to Baha’i Faith, but during Hussein Ali Nuri, conversion to this religion increased. Zoroastrian converts to Baha’i Faith would regard it as a Persian religion and see commonalities between Zoroastrianism and Baha’i Faith, which motivated them to convert to the latter. Hussein Ali Nuri exploited this notion of commonalities and in his letters to Zoroastrians, later called Collection of Tablets in Honor of Zoroastrian Baha'is (Alvah-i Yaran-i Parsi), invited them to embrace Baha’i Faith, using Zoroastrian symbols and themes, the most important of which are the Zoroastrian promised, glorification of fire, Persian descent, and pure Persian writing (sari nivīsī). In the present article, the collection of these letters and the method used by the founder of Baha’I Faith are investigated and the Zoroastrian symbols are analyzed.