Baha'i

The 19th-century synchretist faith founded in Persia by the Bab, whom Shah Nasreddin brutally tortures to death, Baha'i teaches the unity of God, religion, and humankind. Buddha, Confucius, Christ, Muhammad, and others are worshiped. Peace and justice are bound to win out. A small, thin Aga Musa Nagi, a Ba'haist who has apostatized from Shiism, is received with honor among the oil princes of Baku because of his 200 million rubles. Nagi, who has built a house of charity dedicated to the memory of his late son Ismail, preaches to the group the need to understand that there are no blacks and whites. Each person's soul is part of the whole. The Shiites are "nonplussed" by this heresy.

Baku

A city on the west coast of the Caspian Sea, Baku is the central setting for most of the novel. Baku is first depicted during the last years of...