RESOURCE MOBILIZATION: BÁBÍ IDEOLOGY

RESOURCE MOBILIZATION: BÁBÍ IDEOLOGY

Mobilization theory emphasizes the effect and form, rather than the specific content, of the beliefs and doctrines propounded by a particular movement. This approach to content reflects the belief that official ideology is not a good guide to the reasons why individuals join particular movements. Mobilization theory de-emphasizes the importance of motivation. It indicates that movement members are often found to hold

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a diversity of beliefs, to be variously motivated, and to hold beliefs which are highly discrepant from those of their leaders. [6O] Thus, as a mobilizing factor, the significance of movement ideology is held to lie in its adaptability and in its provision of conceptual certitude. [61]

Certitude—which enhances commitment—is provided by an all-embracing meaning system which eludes falsification. Such, certainly, the Bábí movement appears to have had, though the intricacies of its validation strategies have yet to be studied. Adaptability facilitates the coexistence of a common rhetoric (to symbolize the movement's unity) with the diversity of ordinary members' beliefs. If a set of beliefs is structured too tightly the movement is exposed to the danger of schism. [62] Again, though the diversity of Bábí popular belief has yet to be properly evaluated, it is clear that beneath the unitary symbol of belief in the Báb, there existed a great array of beliefs by which Bábís expressed simultaneously the appeals of messianism, esoteric rationalism, pietism, legalistic reformism, and popular thaumaturgy. The very diversity of those who embraced the movement provides an adequate testimony to the adaptability of its appeal. Adaptability can also find expression in a "split-level" ideology. [63] In the case of Babism, this found formal recognition in a distinct hierarchical structure of belief. The esoteric truths accepted by the Bábí elite was only gradually revealed to the rank and file.

If a movement lacks a distinctive ideology of its own it is unlikely to preserve its unity and independent existence. Unity requires that there be a clear locus of ideological authority beyond the individual adherent. Independence requires that there be a distinction between adherents and nonadherents. Among Bábís, the primary focus of authority was provided by the person of the Báb. However diverse the interpretations of Bábí doctrine, and in whatever manner the Báb's claims may have been understood by his adherents, he himself stood at the center

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of their system of meaning. He was the measure by which truth was to be distinguished from falsehood. Those Bábís who relied on alternative sources of authority found continued commitment to his cause difficult to sustain. After the Báb had been executed, there was no longer a point of unity and the movement rapidly fragmented.

As to the distinction between believers and unbelievers this again centered on belief in the Báb. During the movement's Islamic phase, those who rejected the Báb were thought to have ceased to be Muslims and were thus ritually impure. They were assigned to hell. In practice, however, this belief (and many others) was generally concealed by the provisions of the Shi'i doctrine of pious dissimulation (taqiyya). The Bábís might know themselves to be the true elect, but to outward seeming they at first appeared to be Shaykhi sectaries, distinguished as much by their pietistic legalism as by the radical nature of their religious beliefs. As Gerlach and Hine have argued, in a hostile environment, ideological ambiguity can play a crucial role in a movement's survival and successful propagation. [64]

As against the more utilitarian statements of mobilization theory, we would contend that the content of ideology—at least at a general level—is of considerable significance. Religious innovation occurs within a preexisting context of traditional belief. For adherents to be gained, a new religious movement must at least possess ideological plausibility. Its doctrines must possess an elementary accessibility to its potential membership. In this area the Báb was eminently successful. Though heterodox in the eyes of the custodians of religious orthodoxy, the Bábís articulated many of the traditional concerns of popular Shiism and Shi'i dissent. The adaptability and ambiguity of its ideology augmented its appeal. To Shaykhis and others in this tradition of dissent, Babism reinterpreted the concerns of esoteric Shiism with its ideas of true knowledge, perfect men, and prophetic evolution. To all Shi'is, it reasserted the traditions of messianic

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expectation, pietistic devotionalism, and charismatic leadership. Its adherents came to witness to its truth with the blood of martyrdom, consciously reenacting the traditions of Karbala. In an age which readily accepted the miraculous, those who sought miracles from its grace found what they sought.

There is a clear continuity between many of the central teachings of Shaykhism and those of Babism, especially during the period of its early development. Ali Muhammad Shirazi may not have been a distinguished cleric, nonetheless he forcefully reasserted the Shaykhi concern with charismatic leadership. Like the Shaykhi masters, he laid claim to supernaturally derived authority, differing from them only in the unambiguous uniqueness and openness of his claim. Like them, he offered veracious knowledge from the Imams of guidance and the unveiling of the inner meaning of scriptural truth. Again like them, but more explicitly, he challenged the newly established scholastic orthodoxy of the Usúlí school. As part of the continuing tradition of dissent, he asserted the potency of divinely inspired knowledge.

In terms of motifs, he continued the powerful polar and esoteric concerns of Shaykhism, thereby appealing directly to the now leaderless Shaykhis. [65] When compared with the other

claimants to Shaykhi leadership, he gave more radical, and probably more popular, emphasis to these motifs. As a non-cleric, his claim to supernaturally derived knowledge represented a far more radical critique of the legalistic scholasticism of the Usúlís. Unlike Shaykh Ahmad and Sayyid Kazim, a distinctly anticlerical element entered his teachings. Unlike Karim Khán, he asserted that access to religious truth did not require an elaborate array of acquired knowledge. It required only the spiritual perception of the true believer.

Such concerns had a general appeal beyond the Shaykhi circle. The quest for charismatic authority was common to both official and popular nineteenth-century Iranian religiosity. [66]

Esotericism remained a potent theme in Shi'i life. At a time

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when the Usúlí establishment sought to regularize and control these motifs, the Bábís vigorously reasserted them. Similarly, Babism gave powerful expression to Shi'i millenarianism, giving it a further linkage to the popular religiosity of the time. Though mahdist anticipation remained normative in official Shiism, it presented a potentially unstable enthusiasm which the ulama preferred to control. In announcing his mission in the prophetic year 1260 A.H. (1844)—a full millennium after the concealment of the Hidden Imám—the Báb directly addressed the popular millenarian speculation of the time. [67] Moreover, as actual mahdist expectation and enthusiasm were apparently mounting at this time—perhaps particularly after the Ottoman sack of the holy city of Karbala in 1843—the Bábí missionaries were able to directly address and interpret popular sentiment in their own terms, and to considerable effect. [68] Indeed, it is notable that pre- Bábí Shaykhism itself appears to have been affected by adventist speculation, and a definite tension between the proponents and opponents of adventism seems to have emerged. Whether or not the Bábís were correct in later attributing adventist themes to the oral teachings of the Shaykhi masters, it is clear that a number of Shaykhis had become adventists prior to 1844, and that these individuals were among those who became Bábís. Correspondingly, those Shaykhis who had been opposed to adventist expectation were amongst the Báb's chief opponents. [69]

One further motif in early Bábí teachings which may be assumed to have contributed to the movement's initial appeal was that of "pietistic legalism." [70] Despite the novelty of his claims and

his ultimate abrogation of Islamic law, the Báb at first advocated a strict observance of the law. His followers were initially distinguished more by their fervent devotionalism than by any obvious deviation from the accepted codes of Islamic practice. Only with the radicalization of the movement did this situation change, and the Bábís' heterodoxy become fully revealed.

As the radical nature of Bábí doctrine became more evident,

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those who found its innovations reprehensible abandoned the movement, or rose up in opposition. The Báb's failure to appear in Karbala in 1845, the radical nature of the validation of his authority, the esoteric interpretation of the messianic tradition, the Báb's later claims to be a new divine messenger, and the abrogation of the Islamic holy law all broke conceptual norms. This placed strains on the process of recruitment and engendered defections from the movement. Some of these strains were lessened, however, by the gradual progression in the Báb's claims. According to the Báb's own account, his later and more extreme claims were initially concealed as a matter of deliberate policy so that "men might not be disturbed by a new book and a new

Báb's more radical claims became widely known, the Bábís were already integrated into the movement. If the Báb's higher claims had been known from the start, it is unlikely that he would have been able to gain so ready an audience, or his disciples gain so many recruits.

At the same time, however, radicalization gave even greater emphasis to the polar and millenarian motifs. Appearing now as a theophany, the Báb gave potent expression to ideas of extreme charismatic legitimacy, which, while far removed from orthodoxy, were not unknown in popular religious culture. More specifically, as opposition mounted, the Bábís perceived the antagonistic arrays of Shi'i apocalypticism come into being:

the hosts of the Mahdi confronted the forces of Antichrist. By the Bábí doctrine of "return" (raj'a), the cosmic roles of the fourteen Very Pure (Muhammad, Fatima, and the Imams) were reenacted in the persons of the Letters of Living, while Karim Khan and Haji Mirza Aqasi enacted the roles of their opponents—Dajjal and the hideous Sufyani. [72] Specific acts, such as the march of Mullá Husayn and his companions out of Khurasan bearing a black standard, made literal appeal to messianic prophecy. [73]

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Appeal was now also made to the Shi'i motif of pious martyrdom. The powerful symbolism of blood sacrificed in the struggle against the enemies of true religion was readily evoked. The Bábís saw themselves as being like the Imám Husayn and his followers, cut down at the battle of Karbala in 680 by the Umayyads. Shaykh Tabarsi was Karbala reenacted. The Qajars had become latter day Umayyads seeking to extinguish God's religion. This symbolism won sympathizers, even among the armies of the "latter-day Umayyads." [74]