Visiting Research Faculty

The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace is delighted to welcome Dr. Sasha Dehghani as a Visiting Research Professor.

Dr. Dehghani received a M.A. degree in Islamic Studies, Political Science, Protestant Theology/Religious Studies from the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and earned a ‘summa cum laude’ Ph.D. in Arabic Studies from the Free University of Berlin.

Dr. Dehghani has taught and conducted research at leading academic institutions in Germany, the Middle East and the United States, such as the American University of Beirut, the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research in Berlin or the Centre for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. Since 2012 Dr. Dehghani has been a researcher and project manager at the Centre for the Study of the Sacred Texts at the Baha‘i World Centre in Haifa. His most recent appointments include the Forum Humanum Visiting Professorship at the Academy of World Religions at the University of Hamburg in 2020/2021.

Dr. Dehghani published a series of articles and books which take a comparative approach within the fields of Baha’i studies, Islamic Studies, the Abrahamic faiths, addressing themes such as religion and (non-)violence, the role of women, political philosophy and pluralism. Among his book publications are “Martyrium und Messianismus” (2011) and “Martyrdom in the Modern Middle East” (2014). His current focus is on prevalent academic theories at the interface of Religion, Philosophy and Civilization since the end of the second world war – such as Samuel Huntingtons Clash, Edward Saids Orientalism or Karl Jaspers Axial Age, to name only a few – examining to what extent their works have had a peaceful-unifying or divisive-disintegrational effect on the academic world and beyond.

Publications

Bahá’u’lláh's Súratu’l-Haykal: Leib, Frieden und ‘International Body Politic’ [Bahá’u’lláh's Súratu'l-Haykal: Body, Peace and ‘International Body Politic’”]: in Ahmad Milad Karimi, Maryam Palizban (eds): Leibverständnis und Leibvergessenheit. Interdisziplinäre Zugänge. Falsafa: Horizonte islamischer Religionsphilosophie, Karl Alber Verlag, Baden-Baden 2022, pp. 131-151

This article focuses on Bahá’u’lláh’s Súratu’l-Haykal. Particular attention is given to his message to Queen Victoria, in which he addresses the notion of a “lesser” and “greater” peace. The essay describes the Haykal as a universalized extension of Christianity’s and Islam’s “body politic” and further elucidates its meanings in light of Abrahamic traditions and Renaissance philosophy. The article concludes by referencing The Secret of Divine Civilization, which emphasizes that only an internationally binding covenant, regarded as sacrosanct by all the member-states of a united nations system, can be a solution for humankind.

“Me, We”: Jenseits von Exklusivismus“ [“Me, We”: Beyond Exclusivism], in: Th. Knauth, G. Fermor, R. Möller, A. Obermann (eds.): Dialog und Transformation. Pluralistische Religionspädagogik im Diskurs, Waxmann Verlag, Münster/New York 2022, pp. 136-155.

This article explores the idea of religious pluralism as a foundation for dialogue and civilizational transformation. Based on the Universal House of Justice’s “The Promise of World Peace”, and complemented by the considerations of historians like Toynbee and Küng, the inter-relatedness of religion and human progress is described in detail. In addition, the Bahá’í Faith’s pluralistic proclivities are emphasized and key differences between Christian thought are explained.

Ṭáhirih Qurratu’l-ʿAyn im deutschsprachigen Europa: Faszination der Orientalistik und Inspiration der Frauenbewegung [Ṭáhirih Qurratu’l-ʿAyn in German-Speaking Europe: Fascination of Oriental Studies and Inspiration of the Women’s Movement], in: U. Tworuschka, M. Klöcker (eds.), Handbook of Religions. Churches and other Religious Communities in Germany and German-speaking Countries. Peer Reviewed Journal. Westarp Science Fachverlag, Hohenswarsleben 2022, March 2022, nr. 71: pp. 1-23.

After the martyrdom of Ṭáhirih Qurratu’l-ʿAyn (d. 1852), her story soon attracted the attention of orientalists and female activists. Qurratu’l-ʿAyn’s commitment to women’s causes and her championing of a new religion earned her renown in German-speaking Europe; her life was widely examined during the period leading up to the Second World War. In Austria, Qurratu’l-ʿAyn became a center of attention for leading women’s activists such as Marianne Hainisch and Marie von Najmajer, and in Germany she was described by leading orientalists like F. C. Andreas and Th. Nöldeke. After the second world war, however, her public memory faded – though her story was kept alive by scholars like Annemarie Schimmel.

Progressive Revelation, in: R. Stockman (ed.), The World of the Bahá’í Faith, Routledge, London New York 2022, pp. 188-201

This chapter shows why progressive revelation is a central principle of the Bahá’í faith; the article explores the meaning of the concept in the Bahá’í Writings, tracing its origins in the sacred scriptures of the Abrahamic faiths and their intellectual representatives in St. Augustine and Ibn al-Arabi. The essay sets forth the two distinct aspects of progressive revelation – the eternal and the temporal – and describes the three-stage progressive markers within Bahá’u’lláh’s ministry. The article further touches on the social, mystical, legal, and philosophical implications of progressive relation, contrasting the Bahá’í understanding of religion and civilization with that of modern philosophers and historians such as Hegel, Jaspers, Toynbee, and Armstrong.

The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace is pleased that Dr. Tiffani Betts Razavi is continuing as a Visiting Research Professor.

Dr. Razavi holds a D.Phil in psychology from the University of Oxford (Values and Occupational Stress: The Role of Individual-Organizational Value Congruence in the Workplace), has lectured in psychology, research methods, and organizational behavior at the University of Southampton, and coordinated values-based curriculum development for the spiritual education of children.

Dr Razavi’s research and writing explore people and their environments, the changing nature of work and education, women and peace. She is especially interested in human values, and in the conversations that connect observation and insight with practice. As a staff writer for The International Educator, in recent articles she has reviewed critical thinking skills, progress in education prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the health crisis on global happiness.

This year, she collaborated with the Chair to conduct a case study of the undergraduate course, The Problem of Prejudice, as part of a discussion of the Bahá’í concept of peace and its pedagogical implications for peace educators. She also published “A Bahá’í Perspective on the Meaning of Work and Values” as a chapter in the edited volume, The University of Haifa Lectures in Bahá’í Studies, and is working on various pieces examining the themes of the Chair, in particular the equality of women and men, peace and the process of social change.

Publications

Razavi, Tiffani Betts (2024), The lost boys? A call to examine gender equality attitudes and the men of Gen Z. SN Soc Sci 4, 11

Razavi, Tiffani Betts and Hoda Mahmoudi (2023), What can be learned from looking for gender differences in peace education data? Lessons from a Bahá’í-inspired undergraduate course. Journal of Peace Education

Razavi, Tiffani Betts (2023) , Parity, paradigms, and possibilities: a constructive approach to advancing women’s equality. SN Soc Sci 3, 49

Razavi, Tiffani Betts & Hoda Mahmoudi (2022): A Bahá’í concept of peace as a resource for peace education: Case study of ‘The Problem of Prejudice’, Journal of Peace Education

Razavi, Tiffani Betts. 2021. “A Bahá’í Perspective on the Meaning of Work and Values.” in The University of Haifa Lectures in Bahá’í Studies, edited by S. Shahvar. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.

This is a Version of Record that has been published in The University of Haifa Lectures in Bahá’í Studies edited by Soli Shahvar. The original work can be found at: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1059205 © Peter Lang AG, 2021.