Modernity and the Millennium

This text charts the evolution of the Baha’i faith – a millennarian movement founded by the 19th-century Iranian prophet Baha’u‘llah – and its transformation against the backdrop of modernity. The insights behind the Baha’i response to change illuminate not only the genesis of a new-world religion but also emphasize important facets of Middle Eastern – particularly Iranian – social and cultural shifts in the 19th century. The author illustrates the force with which modernity swept over the Middle East, recalibrating intellectual, economic and bureaucratic boundaries set by Islamic rule. In assessing the Baha’i response to these shifts, Cole spells out five themes central to modernity: the struggle over the relationship between religion to the state, the move from absolutism to democracy, the rise of sovereign nation-states, the advent of nationalism and the women’s movement. He also explores industrialized warfare and genocide, state-sanctioned religious persecution, class conflict, chauvinism and the marginalization of women, and xenophobia.
Cole demonstrates that modernity did not originate from European-led changes in a traditional Middle East, but from the appropriation by one dynamic culture of the elements of another. Specifically, the book demonstrates how movements, including the Ottoman constitutionalist movements and revolutions by Egypt’s Urabi and the Iranians, led to greater strides toward parliamentary governance and individual freedoms. It also shows how the Baha’i faith – while adopting these modern principles – embraced a utopian critique of nationalism, colonialism and war.

Author Biography

Juan R. I. Cole is professor of modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan.