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This article is still being written and thus, is incomplete.
Born on October 20 1819, in ShirazShiraz ( in Persian) is a city in southwest Iran, the capital of Fars Province. It was the capital of Persia from 1750 to 1779, when Tehran became the capital. The surroundings of Shiraz are the origin of the ancient Persia since 700 BC or even earlier. to a well-known merchant of the city of Shiraz, his father died soon after his birth and the boy was raised by his uncle Hájí Mirzá Siyyid 'Ali , who was also a merchantMerchants function as professional traders, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves. Merchants can be categorised into two types: # A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant. Some wholesale merchant. As a child He learned to read and write and was sent with other children to a teacher of religion. During these lessons the little boy showed uncommon wisdom and quickly attracted attention, since not only did He ask very difficult questions, but He answered them Himself. He did this so well that his teacher was dumbfounded. Upon reaching manhood, He joined his uncle in the family business, a trading house, and became a merchant. His integrity and piety won the esteem of the other merchants with whom He came in contact. He was also known for His generosity to the poor. In 1842 He married Khadíjih-Bagum and they had one son, Ahmad, who died in infancy.
In the 1830's in Persia, Siyyid Kázim of Rasht was the leader of the Shaykhis , a sect of Shiite Moslems. The Shayhkis were a millenialist group expecting the eminent appearance of the promissed one, the "Lord of the Age" ( Sáhibu'z-Zamán ), the Qá'im of the House of Muhammad, also called the Míhdi.
At Siyyid Kázim's death in 1843, he had counceled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Lord of the Age whose advent would soon break on the world, one of them called Mulla Husayn , together with his brother and nephew travelled to Shiraz. On arrival, Mulla Husayn sent his companions on ahead and waited outside the gates of the city. He was then approached by a young man wearing a green turban, which indicated that the wearer was descended from the Prophet Muhammad. the stranger, called 'Ali-Muhammad, warmly greeted Mullá Husayn as if they had been lifelong friends and invited him to come to His home
After being asked by Ali Muhammad of what he was doing in Shiraz, Mulla Husayn told Him about his search for the Promised One. Ali Muhammad then asked how would the Promised One be recognised, which Mulla Husayn replied "He is of a pure lineage, is of illustrious descent, is endowed with innate knowledge and is free from bodily deficiency.", and to the shock of Mulla Husayn, Ali Muhammad said "Behold, all these signs are manifest in me.". Mulla Husayn then remebered that his teacher, Siyyid Kázim‘s, told him the Promissed One would write a commentary on the Surih of Joseph (a chapter in the Qur'an) without being asked. Ali Muhammad then wrote, without being asked, a commentary on the Surih of Joseph, he wrote with such speed and =>"chant"<= that Mulla Husayn believed that Ali Muhammad was the Promised One. Ali Muhammad then declared ‘O Thou who art the first to believe in Me! Verily, I say, I am the Bab, the Gate of God.'‘ and so took the title the Báb, the date was May 23, 1844.
Mulla Husayn became the Bab's first disciple, within a very short time, seventeen other disciples of Siyyid Kazim had independently recognized the Bab as a Manifestation of God, among them was one woman, a poetess, who later received the name of Tahirih (the Pure). These eighteen disciples were latter to be known as the Letter of the Living
To these first eighteen disciples the Bab gave the task of spreading the new Faith throughout the land, and wherever they went they told people that the Promised One had come.