Baháʼí Faith in fiction

[1] An estimated third of these references have a significant relationship with the religion in the way that these forms of fiction show the Baháʼí Faith as a crucial aspect of the story.

The first known occurrence is perhaps in the writings of Marie von Najmajer, who wrote a poem dedicated to Tahirih in Gurret-úl-Eyn: Ein Bild aus Persiens Neuzeit which was published in 1874.

[3] In modern times the first known occurrence is of a short story by non-Baháʼí Tom Ligon The Devil and the Deep Black Void,[4] - he also wrote a sequel The Gardener.

The Saddlebag: A Fable for Doubters and Seekers, a published review of the 2000 publication[14] notes: [A] day in the life of nine 19th-century characters traveling between Mecca and Medina in this engaging first novel.

Though they come from a wide variety of religious, national, and socioeconomic backgrounds, all find themselves in the same caravan when it is beset by a sandstorm and a brutal bandit attack.

Each chapter recounts these events from the perspective of its title character, a device Nakhjavani uses skillfully; not only does she avoid the tedium that could result from multiple retellings, but she also turns the bit player in one narrator's story into the complicated hero of another... Nakhjavani shows how God uses their respective religious orientations and the secrets bundled in a saddlebag to reveal life-changing truths to each of them.

The writer adopts the revolving points of view, of the mother, sister, daughter and wife respectively, to trace the impact of this woman's actions on her contemporaries and read her prophetic insights regarding her times, and perhaps ours too.

[17][18] Sarah Bernhardt, the best-known French actress of her day, asked two of her contemporary authors, Catulle Mendès and Henri Antoine Jules-Bois, to write a play about Tahirih and the Bábís for her to portray on stage.

As ʻAbdu'l-Bahá is one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith and these are works of fiction, it is certainly the case that at least two of Gibran's, and his most famous, are properly mentioned here.

It's very prophetic, it seems to be in line with a more modern understanding of Jesus that readers of The Course in Miracles and Marianne Williamson are a large part of vocalizing.

Thomson wrote a diary, one of the central records of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West as well as a portrait and Tudor Pole played a significant role in saving his life in World War I.

[25] Among Tom Ligon's many short and medium-sized works (and one award-winning science fact article published[26] in relation to Fusion rocket technology and advocate of Inertial Electrodynamic Fusion), two published in 1986 and 1993, The Devil and the Deep Black Void,[4] and The Gardener[5] in Analog Magazine, are science fiction stories which are about a Shiʻa Muslim terrorist organization in a largely Muslim space-faring civilization where Baháʼís are space colonists who undertake terraforming on a planet they named Mazra'ih (though there is a brief mention of a United States National Spiritual Assembly back on Earth.

)[1][27] The prequel, For a Little Price[28] about how terrorists are prevented from crashing a spaceship into the Earth (long predating the events of the 11 September 2001 attacks) was anthologized in 2008 though work began on it in 1986.

In the succeeding stories, some of the terrorists are instead driven to an unusual world orbiting a neutron star where Baháʼís live which eventually reveals that civilizations have reached great levels of technology and then mysteriously disappeared.

[27] One character, who takes on the name of the historical Bábí who performed an assassination attempt on the life of the Shah of Iran, chooses the path of violence in defense of the population by way (as portrayed) of matching a strength of the Baháʼí Faith in acceptance of science compared to a weakness of Shia Islam of superstition.

Hoping to give Hab, our hero, some hint of faith back, not to mention some much-needed feminine companionship, I devised a story to show what he'd been up to in seven years of self-imposed exile on a remote continent of a planet just begging for life."

[30] Bohnhoff's first work to use the Baháʼí Faith as a central aspect of a story may be her 1991 published "Home Is Where..." novelette summarized as "A Baha'i family from the year 2112 is on a time travel research assignment in the midwest USA, in 1950.

While similar to other stories of the triumph of women it has several unique qualities most particularly a central male character being her benefactor and teacher and not an obstacle she has to overcome.

[35] Baháʼí Joseph Sheppherd[36] uses his wide experience living in many countries[37][38] and professional knowledge as an anthropologist and archaeologist[36] to write an embracing story about the adventures and discoveries of spiritual leaders bound to an island off Africa.

It follows the form of addressing life at different times and thus a kind of science fiction, but like other entries in this article emphasizes the inward issues and spiritual discoveries more than the quasi-magical or technological leaps made as part of the plot.

It is set in the year 1933, in an alternate history Europe, where magic is real, feudalism persisted, and the Protestant Reformation was crushed by a still politically powerful Roman Catholic Church.

[41] Nelson compares a central character Genevieve with the role of the Baháʼí Faith - of trying to bring about unity[42] but the story is not used as a means to proselytize the religion.

[43] Official synopsis:[1][44] "After one of his friends is killed in Iraq, Geoffrey Waters prays for help in understanding God's purpose for humanity.

The people on the planet he visits explain that God's kingdom will be established on Earth no matter what, even if a horrible calamity must occur."

There are several quotes and paraphrases from the Baháʼí writings as well as examples of attitudes among various characters that believe as guided by these references, and the book was approved by the Special Materials Review Committee.

Ralya has also published[44] children's stories, two full-length musicals, a weekly newspaper column in a Minnesota paper for about 2 years, and a novel for 9- to 15-year-olds which also has significant reference to the Baháʼí Faith.

On the one hand, she has envisioned an attainable utopia (that is, not completely perfect) with specifics based on suggestions made in writings of the Baháʼí Faith.

A particularly strong analysis is made of marital fidelity vs the divine law against adultery vs intense love and friendship between a man and a woman not married, though many topics are addressed including the moral and practical need for war, sustainable economics if children and mothers are of central importance to society, attitudes of the oneness of humanity vs racism, the importance of the arts and so on.

She relates this to the "once and future king" concept with the introduction of the quest that forms the overall theme for the series: the search for Eliander, a Carotian prince magicked away long ago to a place outside normal space-time.

Remaining books in the series and their settings include "The Life of the Smith" (ancient Greece); "The Floodwaters of Redemption" (Mu right before it founders); "The Treasure of Mobius" (a world projected by a powerful projective telepath; yes, it has one-sided buildings); "Dwellers in the Underdark" (the Underdark, home of the terrifying Azhur race); and "The King That Will Be" (variously the planes of incarceration of the quest's nemesis and Eliander as well as a home on Carlos).