| Gate. The title assumed by Siyyid 'Alí-Muḥammad, the Forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh,
and Prophet-Founder of the Bábí
Faith. |
| |
| Born in S̲h̲íráz on 20 October 1819, Siyyid 'Alí-Muḥammad
was raised by His uncle Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí,
a merchant. As a child, He showed uncommon wisdom, although He received little formal
schooling. He became a merchant and earned a high reputation for fairness. In 1842
He married Khadíjih-Bagum and they had one son, Aḥmad, who died in infancy.
Siyyid 'Alí-Muḥammad declared Himself to be the Báb, or 'Gate of God',
on 23 May 1844, to the S̲h̲ayk̲h̲í disciple Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bus̲h̲rú'í,
the first of eighteen individuals who sought and discovered the Báb and who
are known as the Letters
of the Living. |
| |
| The Báb proclaimed Himself to be the Promised
One of Islam, the Qá'im,
and said that the Mission of His Dispensation was to alert the people to the imminent
advent of another Prophet,
'Him Whom God shall make manifest'. |
| |
| As the Báb gained followers, His doctrines inflamed the S̲h̲í'ih clergy, who determined to stamp out the new faith. Muḥammad S̲h̲áh's Grand Vizier, Ḥájí
Mírzá Áqásí, imprisoned the Báb in the
fortress of Máh-Kú,
then, when sympathy for Him spread there, moved Him to C̲h̲ihríq.
In 1848 the Báb was subjected to a trial before the Muslim divines of Tabríz and punishment by bastinado.
While the Báb was imprisoned, a group of Bábís met at the Conference
of Badas̲h̲t. It was here that Ṭáhirih boldly exemplified the break with Islam by appearing unveiled in public and that Bahá'u'lláh demonstrated His leadership. |
| |
| The Báb's followers were subjected to brutal persecution and massacres by
the fanatical S̲h̲í'ih clergy, along with the forces of the Persian government throughout the country, notably
in Mázindarán at the fort of S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Ṭabarsí, Zanján,
Nayríz and Ṭihrán. In 1850 Mirzá Taqí K̲h̲án, Grand Vizier of the new S̲h̲áh, Náṣiri'd-Dín,
ordered the Báb executed. On 9 July 1850 the Báb was brought before a
firing squad in the barracks square of Tabríz, along with a young follower.
When the smoke cleared, the crowd was amazed that the Báb was nowhere to be
seen. He was located in the room He had occupied, finishing a conversation with His
amanuensis. The commander of the Armenian regiment Sám
K̲h̲án, refused to fire a second time and another
regiment had to be found. This time their bullets killed the Báb. His remains
were hidden by His followers and in 1899 transferred to Palestine where in 1909 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself interred them in the sepulcher on Mount
Carmel known as the Shrine
of the Báb. |
| |
| Among the most important of the Báb's Writings are the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá',
the Persian and Arabic Bayán, Dalá'il-i-Sab'ih and the Kitáb-i-Asmá'. |
| |
| Bahá'ís revere
the Báb as the Forerunner or Herald of Bahá'u'lláh,
but also as a Manifestation
of God in His own right, considering His Writings to be Holy Scripture. The beginning
of the Bahá'í Era is dated from the day of His Declaration. The Declaration
of the Báb, His birth and the day of His Martyrdom are observed as Bahá'í
Holy Days on which work is suspended. |
| [BD 28-30] |
 |
| The Gate. The Prophet-Herald of Bahá'u'lláh,
"The Manifestation of the Unity and Oneness of God and the Forerunner of the Ancient
Beauty" (BA 11); the return of the Prophet Elijah, of John the Baptist and of the Twelfth Imám (GBP 276,
58); "My First Name," (GPB 57), Whom "posterity will recognize as standing at the confluence
of two universal prophetic cycles, the Adamic...and the Bahá'í...."
(GPB 54). "the independent Author of a divinely revealed Dispensation...also...the
Herald of a new Era and the Inaugurator of a great universal prophetic cycle." (GPB
57). Born S̲h̲íráz, Oct. 20, 1819; martyred Tabríz, July
9, 1850. |
| [BG 10] |
|
| Literally the "Gate", the title assumed by Mírzá 'Alí-Muḥammad
(1819-1850) after the Declaration of His Mission in S̲h̲íráz in May 1844. He was the Founder of the Bábí Faith and the
Herald of Bahá'u'lláh. |
| [KA-G 252] |
|
| "Gate." Title assumed by Mírzá 'Alí-Muḥammad after
the declaration of His Mission in S̲h̲íráz in May, 1844, A.D. |
| [DB 674] |
|
| The Herald of the Faith (1819-1850). |
| [GWB 347] |
|
| |
 |
| Map of the journeys
of Báb |
[  ] [BD 28] |
|
| See also: |
|
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