Visiting Research Faculty
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Dr. Sasha Dehghani
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
Schöpfung und Natur neu bedacht: eine Bahá’í Sicht (engl. „Creation and Nature reconsidered – a Bahá’í view“), in: Dennis Halft, Carolin Neuber, Klaus Vellguth (eds.), Schöpfung für das Leben. Schöpfungsspiritualitäten in Deutschland im Dialog, Ostfildern 2024, pp. 197-218.
This article focuses on the Baha’i understanding of creation and nature. A number of (sub-)themes, such as the significance of divine love, as well as the concepts of emanation and pre-existence are addressed. The articles also draws attention to the conflict-laden nature of this topic, which – throughout the Geistesgeschichte of Christianity, Islam and the modern Western world – has led to a state of intellectual warfare between eminent thinkers and has also hampered civilizational progress. Following the demand of Lynn White, the article presents a new and more constructive “relationship” between men and nature, which is based on the idea of a new monotheistic religion.
The seed for this special issue of Hawwa dedicated to Tahirih was planted in August 2016 when, close to the bicentenary of her birth, we organized a panel dedicated to Tahirih at the biannual meeting of the Association for Iranian Studies (AIS) in Vienna, Austria. Negar Mottahedeh chaired the panel during which Moojan Momen and Sahba Shayani presented early versions of their articles. After the conference, we invited Amin Egea, Negar Mottahedeh, Moojan Momen, Sahba Shayani, Mina Yazdani and Hoda Mahmoudi to contribute additional articles and the foreword to this special issue.
This article analyzes the significance of the Kitāb-i-Īqān, one of the central doctrinal works of the Bahā’ī Faith. It approaches the Kitāb-i-Īqān from a twofold perspective: the internal view of the Bahā’īs and the external view of Iranian Shīʿī clerics and intellectuals. In order to illustrate why this book has been perceived as a threat by the Shīʿa, the article reviews the history of Christianity’s (initial) assessment of the Qurʾān. In addition, based on a textual analysis, the article localizes the notion of “the new/modern” (jadīd) — and the Kitāb-i-Īqān’s interpretation of it — as one of the most important reasons for the antagonism of the Shīʿī clerical and intellectual establishment. The notion of “the new” is examined both within the theological frame of Shīʿī messianic expectations, and in light of Biblical passages. Finally, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of “renewal/modernity” in the Bahā’ī Faith, connections are drawn between the Kitāb-i-Īqān and other primary works, especially The Secret of Divine Civilization.
Tahirih Qurrat al-Ayn and the Women’s avantgarde in Europe”, Hawwa 21.4 (2023): 381-409.
Tahirih Qurrat al-ʿAyn has come to be seen as the first Iranian woman to openly advocate for the rights of women and the first feminist of her country. But it was among the women’s avant-garde in Europe that she first gained the stature of a feminist heroine. Discussing five cases in five nations, this article will show how Tahirih became, across cultural borders, a source of inspiration to Europe’s women avant-garde, especially throughout the second half of the long 19th century, and will suggest some reasons for the decline of public interest in the figure of Tahirih, especially in the period after the second world war.
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.
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Dr. Tiffani Betts Razavi
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 (2025) Beyond the material: The human spirit in higher education in Mark Warford (Ed.), Transglobal Humanities: Meeting the Moment (pp. 85-108). Vernon Press.
Razavi, Tiffani Betts (2024) In a Human Voice By Carol Gilligan. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2023. Peace Change. https://doi.org/10.1111/pech.12702
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.