The Baháʼí Faith and related topics have appeared in multiple forms of fiction. The mention of this religion can be seen in science fiction, fantasy, short stories, novelettes, novels, and TV series. In 2005, an estimated value of 30 references could be found relating Baháʼí Faith to different forms of fiction. 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. After a series of works covering the events of the Bábí period, most of the focus shifted towards Baháʼí specific related connections. Soon Khalil Gibran wrote two books - The Prophet and Jesus, The Son of Man. There is some second-hand evidence for the sustained influence of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in these works. In modern times the first known occurrence is of a short story by non-Baháʼí Tom Ligon The Devil and the Deep Black Void,Found in Analog (New York), v.106 no.1 (Jan. 1986) - he also wrote a sequel The Gardener.Found in Analog (New York), v. 113 no. 11 (Nov. 1993) The next fictional publication, in 1991, which references the Baháʼí Faith may be a short story "Home Is Where..." by Baháʼí Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff,
Initially and occasionally since, reference has been made to the events and figures of the Bábí Faith. As the history and events and coverage of these events in Persia made their way to Europe, coverage tended to shift to the events and figures of the Baháʼí Faith.
Bábí focus
Early writers
Austrian Marie von Najmajer wrote a poem dedicated to prominent Bábí and poet Tahireh in Gurret-úl-Eyn: Ein Bild aus Persiens Neuzeit published in 1874. José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, a well-known Portuguese novelist in the 19th century, wrote a novel Correspondência de Fradique Mendes in 1889 and spends several pages discussing the religion of the Báb and its impact. The material could not all have been derived from the most widespread review of the religion of the day, the work of Arthur de Gobineau. It is speculated Queiroz encountered followers of the Baháʼí Faith in Egypt sometimes from late 1869 to January 1870. The story is set in 1871. A more extensive reference to the events of the Bábí Faith comes from an obscure writer, A. de Saint-Quentin, in the book Un Amour au Pays des Mages in 1891 in the background of many events of the Bábí period. Polish/Russian playwright Isabella Grinevskaya wrote the play Báb based on the life and events of the founder of the Bábí Faith which was performed in St. Petersburg in 1904 and again in 1916/7, and lauded by Leo Tolstoy and other reviewers at the time. In 1904 Edith Wharton published a short story titled “The Descent of Man” with mention of the Bábí Faith. As early as 1908 [Letter 1908, Nov. 23d, St. Joseph, Missouri [to] Editors, Scribners Magazine [manuscript], (An inquiry about the return of the manuscript The Bab.) Constance Faunt Le Roy Runcie attempted to publish a romance novel about the Báb and "Persia's celebrated poetess Zerryn Taj" , a handwritten text by Constance Fauntleroy Runcie, circa < 1908. while living in Missouri, USA. The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Indiana, 28 September 1913, printed a story "Number Thirteen by the Master of Mysteries" on pages 64 and 67 of which discusses a note that seemed to indicate the involvement of a Baháʼí woman in a situation.
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani's books The Saddlebag: A Fable for Doubters and Seekers, a published review of the 2000 publication 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 novel's Baháʼí message is beautifully rendered in these tales of multiple paths leading to one destination.
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani has published six books - some academic and at least two fictional, as well as articles and poetry.
Another is La femme qui lisait trop (The Woman Who Reads Too Much) in 2007. It tells the story of Táhirih. 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.
Others Nazanin Afshin-Jam was set to play a role as Tahirih in a film by Jack Lenz named Mona's Dream about the life story of Mona Mahmudnizhad.
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.
Baháʼí focus
Khalil Gibran's books A published account notes about Khalil Gibran:
It was on 6 April 1943, in her studio-room, upstairs at the front of the house, that Juliet shared with me and a few other guests, these memories of Khalil Gibran...
"He lived across the street from here," said Juliet Thompson, "at 51 West 10th. He was neither poor nor rich - in between. Worked on an Arab newspaper; free to paint and write. His health was all right in the early years. He was sad in the later years, because of cancer. He died at forty-nine. He knew his life was ending too soon.
"His drawings were more beautiful than his paintings. These were very misty, lost things - mysterious and lost. Very poetic.
"A Syrian brought him to see me - can't even remember his name. Khalil always said I was his first friend in New York. We became very, very great friends, and all of his books - The Madman, The Forerunner, The Son of Man, The Prophet - I heard in the manuscript. He always gave me his books. I liked The Prophet best. I don't believe that there was any connection between ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and The Prophet. But he told me that he thought of the ʻAbdu'l-Bahá all through. He said that he was going to write another book with 'ʻAbdu'l-Bahá as the center and all the contemporaries of 'ʻAbdu'l-Bahá speaking. He died before he wrote it. He told me definitely that [the book] The Son of Man was influenced by 'ʻAbdu'l-Bahá."
It is known that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá also sat for portraits at the request of Gibran. From the above, it may be concluded that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Gibran knew each other more than in passing, but that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá made no formal or informal claims or suggestions about Gibran's writing but cooperated whenever asked (as for sitting for the drawings.) So the influence is really at the choice of Gibran - he could as well have chosen and mentioned any other source of inspiration for his book. It seems he chose ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. 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.
There are many reviews of this famous book, The Prophet. Here's one: Khalil Gibran's The Prophet is a book that has touched many people very deeply since its publishing in 1923. It has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American edition alone has sold more than four million copies. It is considered both by Gibran himself and by the general public to be his literary masterpiece. The Prophet is about a man who is leaving a small town called Orphalese where he has made his home for the past twelve years. He has, for that period, been waiting for a boat to take him back to the land of his youth. We are not told where that land is, only that he has been waiting to return there for twelve years. The entire book occurs on the date of his departure. As he is about to leave, the townsfolk stop him in the town and request that he tell them about certain things. He talks to them about life's lessons and imparts his wisdom to them. He is asked about giving, and he tells the people to give without recognition because their reward is their joy. He also talks about things like marriage, work, friendship, and also love. He speaks about each, and more, describing the way that people should deal with each issue. This book is interesting. It is ninety-three pages of life's lessons set down in writing. These are words to live by and tell others to live by. This book is certainly a book that everyone should read. Even if people don't agree with some of the beliefs, they should still read the book, if only to get their mind thinking about life and its many quandaries from a different perspective. This book is not unlike the musings of an aging man imparting his life's lessons to an audience of just about anyone whom he can gather to listen to him. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its lessons and stories are wise beyond the ages, and still, hold up to be as true today as they were when Gibran wrote them in 1923. The lessons enumerated within these pages are lessons that one would hope were followed by the general population, and I know that if more people read this book, then the world as a whole might become a more easily survivable place.
Here is one of many reviews of Jesus, The Son of Man:
I find it amazing that he wrote this in the period he did. 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. But even fundamentalists would enjoy this book... being how it is written from the opinion of 80 different points of view, many of which do proclaim him the Son of God. Ultimately, any view can be thoughtfully stimulating because the people of any opinion have personalities and background given that support why they view Jesus with their perspective. The overall impression I received from this beautiful prose is the beauty and message of Jesus, the devotion, admiration, gratitude, and love inspired by him, and the grace which he exuded with confident compassion. And whether he was God, man, a combination of both that we all are potentially, or a combination we can only idolize with an envious self-debasing distorted form of humility, this book shows him to be nothing less than relevant to our comprehension.
Curiously, this is not the only case where someone associated with the Baháʼí Faith wrote a speculative work about things the New Testament is silent on in regards to Jesus. Contemporaries of Gibran Juliet Thompson and Wellesley Tudor Pole wrote books about Jesus. Thompson wrote I, Mary Magdalen and Tudor Pole wrote The Silent Road, A Man Seen Afar, and Writing on the Ground as well as some pamphlets though these were written later in the 20th century. Both Thompson and Tudor Pole knew ʻAbdu'l-Bahá well having interviewed him and worked with him. 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. Indeed, the whole relationship between ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Jesus was one ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was at pains to clarify both to the general public and among early Baháʼís.
Tom Ligon's trilogy