In this second installment, Moojan Momen explores how Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings reshaped early Bahá’í community life in Iran and inspired new forms of collective action.
BAHÁ’Í WORLD CENTRE — The second part of this two-episode conversation in the Insights from the Field podcast continues a discussion with Moojan Momen, drawing on themes from his recent paper, “The Bábí-Bahá’í Revolution in Iran,” published in the Iranian Studies journal of Cambridge University Press.
Building on the historical foundations introduced in Part 1, Dr. Momen explains that beginning in the late 19th century, the early Bahá’í community gradually developed new patterns of cooperation, decision-making, and service that contrasted sharply with the hierarchical norms of the time. These shifts unfolded patiently over decades, as Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá guided the community toward forms of collective action grounded in consultation, participation, and an ethos of service to humanity.
Dr. Momen describes how Bahá’u’lláh wrote that the prevailing social order in the world was “lamentably defective,” requiring not adjustments but a fundamentally different way for people to organize their affairs.
Early Bahá’ís in Iran formed consultative bodies whose authority rested in collective decision-making rather than individual leaders. At the local level, community members met to reflect on their circumstances and plan efforts to contribute to the well-being of the wider population. These patterns of life steadily revealed the viability of collective progress based on cooperation rather than competition.
These developments were accompanied by a broader reorientation of human identity through Bahá’u’lláh’s affirmation of the oneness of humanity.
Dr. Momen also examines a redefinition of the concept of religion itself, explaining how Bahá’u’lláh emphasized that the essence of religion lay not in rituals but in cultivating spiritual qualities and working collectively for the betterment of society. Efforts to advance women’s education, expand access to schooling, and foster social cooperation were therefore expressions of faith, and yet they often drew hostility. Misrepresentations principally by religious authorities contributed to both historical and ongoing persecution of the Bahá’í community in Iran.
Despite these pressures, Dr. Momen highlights the posture of “constructive resilience” the community has maintained: upholding principles, serving society, and seeking unity even under the severest restrictions. Looking back across 150 years, he observes that the significance of these developments becomes visible only in retrospect: a quiet but determined effort to build patterns of life founded on shared decision-making, equality, and service, offering insights into humanity’s search for more just and cooperative ways of living.
