arthra

The same questioner said: "I have read much of Tolstoy and I see a parallel between his teachings and yours. In one of his books he speaks of the Enigma of Life, and describes how life is wasted in our endeavour to find the Key. But Tolstoy goes on to say: 'There is a man in Persia who holds the secret.'"

"Yes," said 'Abdu'l-Bahá, "I received a letter from Tolstoy, and in it he said that he wished to write a book upon Bahá'u'lláh."

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 94


"When very young, Leo Tolstoy took a great interest in Near Eastern culture. He started to learn Turkish and Arabic, successfully passed his entrance exams in 1844 and has become for a while a student of the Turkish-Arabic section of Kazan University, then the best Oriental studies center in Russia....


Even more he was attracted in 1898-1909 by the Bahai movement, and for some time he fostered
an idea of writing a book about this radical offshoot of Islam. There are sources on
Bahai history and doctrine in Yasnaya Poliana’s library, incuding the research of
F.C. Andreas and a Russian translation of Bahaulla’s Kitab-i Aqdas by A. Tumansky.4
Tolstoy could not help but sympathized with the Bahai sayings coined by Abd
al-Baha when they asked God to unify mankind and illumine the world of humanity" -

Leo Tolstoy and Ameen Rihani

A Russian poetess, member of the Philosophic, Oriental and Bibliological Societies of St. Petersburg, published in 1903 a drama entitled "The Báb," which a year later was played in one of the principal theatres of that city, was subsequently given publicity in London, was translated into French in Paris, and into German by the poet Fiedler, was presented again, soon after the Russian Revolution, in the Folk Theatre in Leningrad, and succeeded in arousing the genuine sympathy and interest of the renowned Tolstoy, whose eulogy of the poem was later published in the Russian press.

~ Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 56

"The teaching of the Bábís," wrote Leo Tolstoy, "....have great future before them....I therefore sympathize the Bábísm with all my heart, inasmuch as it teaches people brotherhood and equality and sacrifice of material life for service to God....The teachings of the Bábís which come to us out of Islam have through Bahá'u'lláh's teachings been gradually developed, and now present us with the highest and purest form of religious teaching."

~ Shoghi Effendi, Summary Statement - 1947, Special UN Committee on Palestine

tonyfish58

I not long finished reading that book - A very interesting man

Unfortunately he could just not make the next step and accept the Baha'i Faith

There was just a couple of ideas He could just not let go of. He was definitely in tune with the Baha'i Faith though.

Regards Tony

arthra

The book is still available:

Leo Tolstoy and the Bahá'í Faith
by Luigi Stendardo
Soft Cover
ISBN: 978-0-85398-215-9



Description:
‘Very profound. I know of no other so profound.’

This was the final conclusion about the Bahá’í Faith of the great nineteenth-century writer, Leo Tolstoy, a few months before his death in 1910.

Tolstoy first heard of the Bahá’í teachings in 1894 at a time when the movement was known hardly at all in the West, and its leader was a prisoner in an obscure outpost of the Turkish Empire. This book traces the developments and fluctuations in Tolstoy’s attitude as more information was made available to him. It is based on the author’s correspondence and diaries, as well as the memoirs of those close to him and Bahá’ís who came into contact with him. Most of the material is here made available for the first time in English, translated from Russian, Persian and French, and includes a hitherto unpublished Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

£7.95 / $14.95
84 pages
21.6 x 13.8 cm (8.50 x 5.5 in)
Available

Leo Tolstoy and the Bahá'í Faith

Also at

Leo Tolstoy & the Baha'i Faith SC