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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Tahirih, Qurrat al-ayn,
By C.nijland (Voorschoten, NL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tahirih: A Portrait in Poetry: Selected Poems of Qurratu'l-'Ayn (Hardcover)
It is rather difficult for me to write a review at this time. I am reading the book in connection with another book about Qurrat al-Ayn by Sorya Adembaken. This last book was published in Berlin last year. The title of this book and its subtitle are: Qurrat al-`Ayn, Eine Studie der religiösen und gesellschaftlichen Folgens ihres Wirkens. I hope to be of more use to you at the end of this year. C.Nijland
2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Significant contribution in the bibliography of Iran's greatest mystic and feminist,
By
This review is from: Tahirih: A Portrait in Poetry: Selected Poems of Qurratu'l-'Ayn (Hardcover)
The publisher (Kalimat Press), the two translators, and especially Professor Emeritus (UCLA) Amin Banani are to be commended and praised to the highest celestial heavens for producing this significant volume of poetry by Iran's greatest woman revolutionary mystic and Babi martyr. Long overdue, this volume brings together for the first time ever over a dozen of Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn's (d. 1852) most important surviving poems, giving a Western audience for the first time a glimpse at the rich literary spiritual legacy of this great, towering woman of 19th century Iranian religious history, whom I have dubbed the Houri (Angel-Celestial Damsel) of Badasht.
While a very significant contribution to the growing bibliography on the subject, where this volume suffers is precisely in the choice of its selections. The editors and translators have not, for example, consulted *Qurratu'l-'Ayn: In Memory of the 100th Anniversay of a Genius of an Era* (Tehran: 1948) which was published by the Iranian Bayani community in the late 1940s. The majority of the poems seem to have come directly from the selection of Baha'i Nuqaba'i, which was far from exhaustive. Given that the publisher, editor and the translators are one and all Baha'is, this point is one where this volume ought to be treated with some level of caution, particularly in the editors introduction. Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn was the 17th Letter of the Living of the initial Babi hierarchy established among the first 18 individuals who came to believe in him by Siyyid 'Ali Muhammad Shirazi, the Essence of the Seven Letters, the Bab (d. 1850). Tahirih was martyred by a servant of the Qajar deputy Mahmoud Khan-i-Kalantar on the orders of Nasiruddin Shah (d. 1896) in the summer of 1852, well over a decade and a half before Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri Baha'u'llah (d. 1892) made his prophetic claims, which ruptured the nascent Bayani (i.e. Babi) community led by the Bab's legitimately appointed successor Subh-i-Azal (d. 1912), thus splitting this community into the rival Azali-Baha'i factions. Several panegyric poems by Tahirih addressed to Azal (one of which I have translated and which will be appearing in a publication by me in 2006) clearly demonstrate that the Baha'i twist on Tahirih's life and religious sentiments is rather ahistorical, not to mention obfuscatory. Baha'i sources, from Pseudo-Zarandi (i.e. Nabil's Narrative which ought to be regarded in its present version as an independent work by Shoghi Effendi instead), have sought to portray Tahirih as a proto-Baha'i saint. Much of what animates these portrayals have been motivated by Baha'i sectarian legitimacy claims, thus the argument could be made that Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn has indeed been re-Imagined and re-sculpted ( or "conflated," rather to use Denis Maceoin's term) to reflect such motivations by the Baha'is. While the introduction of this volume largely stays away from explicitly purusing sectarian agendas of one sort or another, the 'presences' (a la Derrida's *Of Grammatology*) underlying such Baha'i biases and re-Imaginations are somewhat apparent in this volume. As such the reader should be cognizant of these issues whilst ploughing through the volume. Withal, this is a stage-setting contribution to the field and as such one should expect more flowers to bloom in the near future in the gardens of the Eternal Badasht explicating on its Divine Houri, Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn! Wahid Azal Ecclesia Gnostica Bayani Universalis Eastern coast, Australia
3 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Tahirih, The Point of Divine Knowledge and return of Fatima,
This review is from: Tahirih: A Portrait in Poetry: Selected Poems of Qurratu'l-'Ayn (Hardcover)
Although Amin Banani, J.Kessler, and T. Lee in their book Tahirih: A Portrait in Poetry: Selected Poems of Qurratu'l-'Ayn, beautifully bring together many of the surviving writings of Tahirih, the book associates her with the Baha'i Faith when there is no evidence that she ever considered herself associated with Baha'i when she was martyred in 1852, a good many years before the Baha'i movement began. Thus her writings and life should stand on their own before the Baha'i Faith subsumed Her figure and works. This is a very important distinction that needs to be made to understand Her true status.
In one of Tahirh's writings - a communiqué with the Godhead, Tahirih praises the Source for the honor of being called into being at the Soul level of the representation of the Word and Primal Point and writes: "...I am melted, my God, by that mercy whereby Thou dist create me at a time when nothing existed save it. I was formed whirling, after a pattern that no one besides Thee had fashioned, so that Thou mightest set me in motion. Thus might I be brought out of the world of the veils of glory by the attraction exercised by Thy preexistent essence, and thus might I transcend the station of allusions by means of love for Thy shining countenance." And "My God, Thine imperative is the answer to my call; Thy "perhaps" is the salve for my misery, and Thine advent is the decree of my religion and the success of my Cause." The omission of the true status of Tahirih-Qurratu'l-Ayn as the Word (Maid of Heaven) or animating impulse of the Promised One in these works only adds to further conceal the Female aspect of Deity and perpetrate patriarchy in the 21st century, a time, when it is so necessary to move beyond such outdated constructs and be inclusive instead of exclusive. A close investigation of Tahirih's life will reveal that she was not only a Letter of the Living, but rather she was a Leader who was known as the return of Fatima and the "Point of Divine Knowledge". These points are made in the work entitled: "Tahirih TheAlogy Female Cosmic Christ Spirit of the Age Concealed No Longer" which can be ordered on Amazon.com All works and reviews that do not reveal Tahirih in Her full light as the Maid of Heaven who opened the Gate (portal), which allowed for all people to connect once again with the Source within, is not only incomplete but fails by omission. Such omission works in oppositon to the revealed Word and the progress of humanity in creating a civilization of harmony and balance. I agree with Banani that Tahirih's Writings were expressed through the iconology and mystical knowledge existent in the culture in which she appeared. However, Tahirih's writings should not be confined to the culture in which they were expressed, nor should the figure of Tahirih ever be restricted to historical accounts, in that Her teachings are relevant to all the people living now. Her glorious appearance in the 1844 period was foretold in many scriptures as the second coming of the Spirit which was expected by many. Her Spirit and mission is living with us today. May we all be in touch with that Spirit as a means of moving civilization forward! Sincerely, Betty Butler
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