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H®OJJATIYA,aShi¿ite religious lay association founded by the charismatic cleric Shaikh Mahámud H®alabi (q.v) to defend Islam against the Bahai missionary activities. H®ojjatiya exerted considerable, albeit indirect and unintended, influence on the education and world-view of the lay elite leadership of the 1979 Islamic revolution. The association was founded in the aftermath of the coup d'e‚tat of 1953 (q.v.). The explicit goal of H®ojjatiya was to train cadres for the "scientific defense" of Shi¿ite Islam in the face of the Bahai theological challenge (author's interview with Mahámud H®alabi, July 1994). Bahai missionaries (moballeg@s) argued that Shi¿a's awaited savior (Mahdi, also referred to as Hazµrat-e H®ojjat [qq.v.]) had already emerged and that Islam had been superceded by the Bahai faith. H®ojjatiya sought to defend the Shi¿ite position based on both Islamic and Bahai texts. H®alabi's own sensitivity to this controversy stems from a personal encounter. As a seminarian he and his colleague Sayyed ¿Abba@s ¿Alawi had been approached by a Bahai missionary, who had succeeded in persuading the latter to convert. Alarmed by this experience, H®alabi abandoned the normal course of his studies and immersed himself in the study of Bahai history and original texts with the intention of composing a comprehensive Islamic response to the Bahai challenge. H®alabi's original plan to train a group of seminarians to discharge these duties was rebuffed by the clerical establishment in Qom. H®alabi then embarked upon recruiting a corps of volunteer lay disciples adept at both substantive arguments and debating skills. This is the group that came to be known, after the Islamic revolution, as Anjoman-e háojjatiya .
Although the primary stages of H®alabi's project evolved in his native Maæhad, he met with little enthusiasm there. It took him six months to recruit and train his first serious student (author's interview with Mahámud H®alabi, May 1978). H®alabi's decision to move to Tehran proved a strategic success. The first circle of his students in Tehran were comprised of religious merchants and professionals (author's interview with H®osayn Ta@jeri, June, 2002). They, in turn, succeeded in recruiting from a talented pool of ardent students from religious as well as secular high schools. By the late 1960s the second generation of H®ojjatiya recruits had entered universities and embarked upon modernizing and standardizing the management of the association. Therefore, the early 1970s witnessed organizational reforms within the association that reflected increasing complexity and division of labor. Graduates of the basic instruction on Shi¿ite and Bahai history and theology were recruited in specialist teams of operations. The latter included: The Guidance Team (Goruh-e eræa@d), that was charged with debating Bahai missionaries, persuading Bahais to return to Islam, and neutralizing the effects of Bahai missionary activity on those exposed to it. The Instruction Team (Goruh-e tadris) along with the Authorship Team (Goruh-e nega@-reæ) jointly worked to standardize instructional material and levels. These came to include basic instruction (pa@ya), the intermediary training (vi‘a), and the graduate training (naqd-e Iqa@n; q.v.). Most of the instructional material was distributed, in typed and copied form (poly-copy) in classes that met weekly in private homes across the country. They were retrieved within a week so that no copies would leave the provenance of the association. Students were instructed not to share or discuss the material with outsiders. The public speaking team (Goruh-e sokòanra@ni) organized weekly public gatherings in various venues that featured trained H®ojjatiya speakers discussing Shi¿ite theology, critiquing Bahai positions, and fielding questions. The intelligence team, named the Investigation Team (Goruh-e taháqiq) operated, in three distinct regiments, as a fifth column within the Bahai ranks and succeeded in thoroughly penetrating the Bahai hierarchy. Unbeknownst to Bahai's, some members of the H®ojjatiya had advanced to the rank of prominent Bahai missionaries (author's interview with Aság@ar S®a@deqi, June 2000). There were, also, smaller service-providing units within H®ojjatiya such as the bureau of contact with foreign countries, bureau of libraries and archives, and bureau of publications. Thus, the most salient specialists in the association were known, in the jargon of H®ojjatiya, as: polemical activists (moba@rez), public speakers (sokòanra@n), instructors (modarres), and intelligence operatives (mo-háaqqeq). Most full-fledged H®ojjatiya members carried out at least two of the above duties in the course of weekly meetings. Bahais, reacted to the emergence of H®ojjatiya by adopting a more defensive and reserved posture and by avoiding open debates and confrontations. This response further emboldened the H®ojjatiya members and reassured them of the effectiveness of their approach (author's interview with Mansáur Pahlava@n, August 2001). The organization steadily grew and by the early 1970s had spread throughout Iran and a few neighboring countries such as Pakistan and India. Indeed, in certain parts of Iran, H®ojjatiya grew disproportionately to the Bahai threat and bred resentment among other Islamic organizations, that intended to mimic its success or to recruit from the same pool of talented religious youths (account of Ha@æem AÚqa@jari about his involvement with H®ojjatiya).Iranica.com - H®OJJATIYAHow long have you been a member, Irman?
Regards,
Scott
Although the primary stages of H®alabi's project evolved in his native Maæhad, he met with little enthusiasm there. It took him six months to recruit and train his first serious student (author's interview with Mahámud H®alabi, May 1978). H®alabi's decision to move to Tehran proved a strategic success. The first circle of his students in Tehran were comprised of religious merchants and professionals (author's interview with H®osayn Ta@jeri, June, 2002). They, in turn, succeeded in recruiting from a talented pool of ardent students from religious as well as secular high schools. By the late 1960s the second generation of H®ojjatiya recruits had entered universities and embarked upon modernizing and standardizing the management of the association. Therefore, the early 1970s witnessed organizational reforms within the association that reflected increasing complexity and division of labor. Graduates of the basic instruction on Shi¿ite and Bahai history and theology were recruited in specialist teams of operations. The latter included: The Guidance Team (Goruh-e eræa@d), that was charged with debating Bahai missionaries, persuading Bahais to return to Islam, and neutralizing the effects of Bahai missionary activity on those exposed to it. The Instruction Team (Goruh-e tadris) along with the Authorship Team (Goruh-e nega@-reæ) jointly worked to standardize instructional material and levels. These came to include basic instruction (pa@ya), the intermediary training (vi‘a), and the graduate training (naqd-e Iqa@n; q.v.). Most of the instructional material was distributed, in typed and copied form (poly-copy) in classes that met weekly in private homes across the country. They were retrieved within a week so that no copies would leave the provenance of the association. Students were instructed not to share or discuss the material with outsiders. The public speaking team (Goruh-e sokòanra@ni) organized weekly public gatherings in various venues that featured trained H®ojjatiya speakers discussing Shi¿ite theology, critiquing Bahai positions, and fielding questions. The intelligence team, named the Investigation Team (Goruh-e taháqiq) operated, in three distinct regiments, as a fifth column within the Bahai ranks and succeeded in thoroughly penetrating the Bahai hierarchy. Unbeknownst to Bahai's, some members of the H®ojjatiya had advanced to the rank of prominent Bahai missionaries (author's interview with Aság@ar S®a@deqi, June 2000). There were, also, smaller service-providing units within H®ojjatiya such as the bureau of contact with foreign countries, bureau of libraries and archives, and bureau of publications. Thus, the most salient specialists in the association were known, in the jargon of H®ojjatiya, as: polemical activists (moba@rez), public speakers (sokòanra@n), instructors (modarres), and intelligence operatives (mo-háaqqeq). Most full-fledged H®ojjatiya members carried out at least two of the above duties in the course of weekly meetings. Bahais, reacted to the emergence of H®ojjatiya by adopting a more defensive and reserved posture and by avoiding open debates and confrontations. This response further emboldened the H®ojjatiya members and reassured them of the effectiveness of their approach (author's interview with Mansáur Pahlava@n, August 2001). The organization steadily grew and by the early 1970s had spread throughout Iran and a few neighboring countries such as Pakistan and India. Indeed, in certain parts of Iran, H®ojjatiya grew disproportionately to the Bahai threat and bred resentment among other Islamic organizations, that intended to mimic its success or to recruit from the same pool of talented religious youths (account of Ha@æem AÚqa@jari about his involvement with H®ojjatiya).Iranica.com - H®OJJATIYAHow long have you been a member, Irman?
Regards,
Scott
