Hermann Zimmer was an early pioneer of the Baháʼí Faith in Germany. Zimmer is one of a few Baháʼís who revived the efforts of Ruth White to oppose

Shoghi Effendi Shoghí Effendi (; ;1896 or 1897 – 4 November 1957) was Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith from 1922 until his death in 1957. As the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, he was charged with guiding the development of the Baháʼí Faith, in ...

, claiming that the ''

Will and Testament of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá The ''Will and Testament of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá'' was a seminal document of the Baháʼí Faith, written in three stages by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. Several sections were written under imminent threat of harm. The first section was probably written in 1906. T ...

'' was forged.

Opposition

Zimmer was a Baháʼí in good standing during World War II, and as a German, traveled to Berlin to unsuccessfully lobby the Nazi government to rescind their ban of the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

. By 1971, however, he wrote a book titled ''A Fraudulent Testament devalues the Baháʼí Religion into Political Shogism'', which criticized the

Baháʼí administration The Baháʼí administration is a system of elected and appointed institutions to govern the affairs of the Baháʼí Faith, Baháʼí community. Its supreme body is the Universal House of Justice, elected every five years. Some features set ...

. Zimmer based his claims partly on the work of criminologist Charles Ainsworth Mitchell, who Ruth White had hired to review photocopies of the original ''Will and Testament of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá''. Mitchell had compared the photocopies to original samples of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's handwriting. Mitchell's provisional report indicated that the ''Will'' was a forgery, pending inspection of the originals. White later placed Mitchell's signed report with the U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in 1930. Mitchell could not read

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, however, and the claims of a forgery were not taken up by many other Baháʼís opposed to Shoghi Effendi at that time, most notably including Ahmad Sohrab. Hermann Zimmer remained one amongst a small group of Baháʼís to question the authenticity of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's ''Will''. Zimmer attempted to establish a group called " Free Baháʼís" or the "World Union of Universal Religion and Universal Peace" along with Charles Seeburger of Philadelphia, but it is not clear that it actually came into being.

Impact

Zimmer's own work was further taken up by Francesco Ficicchia in ''Der Bahā'ismus-Religion der Zukunft? Geschichte, Lehreund Organisation in kritischer Anfrage'', a work which

Denis MacEoin Denis M. MacEoin (26 January 1949 – 6 June 2022) was a British academic, scholar and writer with a focus on Persian, Arabic and Islamic studies. He authored several academic books and articles, as well as many pieces of journalism. Since 2014 ...

notes "did indeed do a lot of damage to the public image of the Baháʼís" in German-speaking Europe and "damaged the Baháʼís and distorted their cause in certain quarters, mainly within the Catholic and Protestant churches." Zimmer and Ficicchia's works were funded and distributed by evangelical Christian organizations in Germany. The work had such a negative impact on the Baháʼí community that a lengthy apologetic response came from Schaefer, Towfigh, and Gollmer in ''Making the Crooked Straight: A Contribution to Baháʼí Apologetics''.

Works

References

{{morecat, date=June 2024 Bahá'í divisions History of the Bahá'í Faith

Opposition

Impact

Works

See also

References