1 Antecedents

Within Shiite Islam exists a large group known as Twelver Islam who regard the twelfth Imam as the last of the Imáms. They contend that the twelfth Imám is in "occultation" and that he will eventually begin again communicating with his loyal followers, as he did during the period of his "minor occultation" ( Ghaybat-i-sughrd , AD 874- 940). It was in this sense, and not, as has been often asserted, in the sense of "Gate of God" or "Gate of Religion," that the title Báb was understood. However, though his claim was at first understood by some of the public at the time to be merely a reference to the Gate of the Hidden Imám of Muhammad, which he publicly disclaimed. He later proclaimed himself, in the presence of the Heir to the Throne of Persia and other notables, to be the Promised One or Qá'im to Shí'ih Muslims.

In the 1830's in Persia, Siyyid Kázim of Rasht was the leader of the Shaykhi s, a sect of Shiite Moslems. The Shayhkis were a millenialist group expecting the eminent appearance of the "Lord of the Age" (Sáhibu'z-Zamán), the Qá'im of the House of Muhammad, also called the Míhdi (the Mahdi, or Messiah).

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.

2 Origin

On May 23 1844 Mullá Husayn of Bushruyih , a prominent disciple of Siyyid Khazim entered Shiraz on the search for the Qaim that Syyid Khazim had set him on. He encountered Mirza Ali Muhammad, who invited him to his home, and showed him hospitality. Mullá Husayn had been given a test to apply to any claiming the station of Báb, that the one he found would reveal, without prompting, a commentary on the Surah of Joseph from the Quran. That night Mirza Ali Muhammad fulfilled the prophecy to Mullá Husayn, and ordered him to wait until 17 others had recognized the station of the Báb before they could begin teaching others about the new revelation.

After his revelation then, Mirza Ali Muhammed soon assumed the higher title of Nuqta ("Point"), and the title Báb, thus left vacant, was conferred on his ardent disciple, Mullá Husayn , but He was generally still referred to as "The Báb" by non-Bábiis and is thus still referred to that way today.

3 History

The history of the Bábiis, though covering a comparatively short period, is so full of incident and the particulars now available are so numerous, that the following account purports to be only the briefest sketch. The Báb himself was in captivity first at Shiraz, then at Mâku, and lastly at Chihriq, during the greater part of the six years ( May 1844 until July 1850) of his brief career, but an active propaganda was carried on by his disciples, which resulted in several serious revolts against the government, especially after the death of Muhammad Shah in September 1848. Of these risings the first ( December 1848- July 1849) took place in Mázandarán, at the ruined shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi , near Badasht , where the Bábiis, led by Mullâ Muhammad 'Ali of Bârfurfish and Mullá Husayn of Bushrawayh ("the first who believed"), defied the shah's troops for seven months before they were finally subdued and put to death.

The revolt at Zanjân in the north-west of Persia, headed by Mullâ Muhammad 'Ali Zanjánl, also lasted seven or eight months ( May 1850- December 1850), while a serious but less 'protracted struggle was waged against the government at N??? in Fars by Aga Sayyid Yahyá of N???. Both revolts were in progress when the Báb, with one of his devoted disciples, was brought from his prison at Chihriq to Tabriz and publicly shot in front of the citadel.

The body, after being exposed for some days, was recovered by the Bábiis and conveyed to a shrine near Tehrán, whence it was ultimately removed to Haifa, where it is now enshrined. For the next two years comparatively little was heard of the Bábis, but on August 15 1852 three of them, acting on their own initiative, attempted to assassinate Nasirid-Din Shah as he was returning from the chase to his palace at Niyávarfin. The attempt failed, but was the cause of a fresh persecution, and on the August 31 1852 some thirty Bábiis, including the beautiful and talented poetess Qurratu'l- Ayn, were put to death in Tehran with atrocious cruelty. Another of the victims of that day was Hâjji Mirza Jân of Kâshán , the author of the oldest history of the movement from the Bábi point of view. Only one complete MS. of his invaluable work (obtained by Count Gobineau in Persia) exists in any public library, the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. The so-called "New History" (of which an English translation was published at Cambridge in 1893 by E. G. Browne) is based on Mirza Jani s work, but many important passages which did not accord with later Bábi doctrine or policy have been suppressed or modified, while some additions have been made.

4 Succession

4.1 Mirza Yahya

The Báb was succeeded on his death by Mirza Yahyâ of Nur (at that time only about twenty years of age), who escaped to Baghdad, and, under the title of Subh-i-Ezel (the Morning of Eternity),'became the pontiff of the sect. He lived, however, in great seclusion, leaving the direction of affairs almost entirely in the hands of his elder half brother (born November 12 1817),

4.2 Baha'u'llah

Mirza Husayn 'Ali, entitled Bahá'u'llah ("the Glory of God")', who thus gradually became the most conspicuous and most influential member of the sect, though in the Iqan, one of the most important polemical works of the Bábis , composed in 1858- 1859, he still implicitly recognized the supremacy of Subh-i-Ezel. in 1863, however, Bahá declared himself to be "He whom God shall manifest" (Man Yuz-hiruhu ildls, with prophecies of whose advent the works of the Báb are filled), and called on all the Bábiis to recognize his claim.

The majority responded, but Subh-i-Ezel and some of his faithful adherents refused. After that date the Bábiis divided into two sects, Ezelis 'and Bahá'ís, of which the former steadily lost and the latter gained ground, so that in 1908 there were probably from half a million to a million of the latter, and at most only a hundred or two of the former. In 1863 the Bábiis were, at the instance of the Persian government, removed from Bagdad to Constantinople, whence they were shortly afterwards transferred to Adrianople. In 1868 Bahá and his followers were exiled to Acre in Syria (now Acca, Israel), and Subh-i-Ezel with his few adherents to Famagusta in Cyprus, where he was still living in 1908. Baha'u'llah died at Acre on the ' May 16 1892. His son 'Abbas Efendi (also called Abdu'l-Bahá, (the servant of Baha) was generally recognized as his successor, but another of his four sons, Muhammad 'All, put forward a rival claim. This caused a fresh and bitter schism, but 'Abbas Effendi steadily gained ground, and there could be little doubt as to his eventual success.

This article is related to: The Bahá'í Faith Central Figures: The Báb Bahá'u'llah Abdu'l-Bahá Shoghi Effendi Institutions: Universal House of Justice, Bahai house of worship Individuals: Táhirih, List of Bahá'ís Topics: Kitab-i-Iqan, Kitab-i-Aqdas, Qiblih, Bahá'í calendar, Covenant-Breaker

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