Báb
The Báb was an Iranian religious leader who founded Bábism, and is also one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. The Báb gradually and progressively revealed his claim in his extensive writings to be a Manifestation of God, of a status as great as Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, receiving revelations as profound as the Torah, Gospel, and Quran. This new revelation, he claimed, would release the creative energies and capacities necessary for the establishment of global unity and peace.
He referred to himself by the traditional Muslim title "Báb" although it was apparent from the context that he intended by this term a spiritual claim very different from any which had previously been associated with it. He proclaimed that the central purpose of his mission was to prepare for the coming of a spiritual luminary greater than himself — the promised one of the world's great religions; he referred to this promised deliverer as "he whom God will make manifest". The Báb was the "gateway" to this messianic figure, whose message would be carried throughout the world.
The Báb was born in Shiraz on 20 October 1819, to a family of sayyids of Husaynid lineage, most of whom were engaged in mercantile activities in Shiraz and Bushehr, He was a merchant from Shiraz in Qajar Iran who, in 1844 at the age of 25, began the Bábi Faith. In the next six years, the Báb composed numerous letters and books in which he abrogated Islamic laws and traditions, establishing a new religion and introducing a new social order focused on unity, love, and service to others. He encouraged the learning of arts and sciences, modernizing education, and improving the status of women. He introduced the concept of progressive revelation, highlighting the continuity and renewal of religion. He also emphasized ethics, independent investigation of truth, and human nobility. Additionally, he provided prescriptions to regulate marriage, divorce, and inheritance, and set forth rules for a future Bábí society, although these were never implemented. Throughout, the Báb always discussed his own revelation and laws in the context of the aforementioned promised figure. Unlike previous religions, which sporadically alluded to promised figures, the primary focus of the Bayán, the foundational text of the Bábí faith, was to prepare for the arrival of the promised one. The Báb was popular among the lower classes, the poor and the urban merchants, artisans, and some villagers. However, he faced opposition from the orthodox clergy and the government, which eventually executed him and thousands of his followers, who were known as Bábís.
When the Báb was executed for apostasy, he was tied up in a public square in Tabriz and faced a firing squad of 750 rifles. Following the first volley, the Báb was discovered to be missing and later found and returned to the square. He was eventually killed by the second volley. Accounts differ on the details, but all agree that the first volley failed to kill him. This widely documented event increased interest in his message. His remains were secretly stored and transported until they were interred in 1909 into the shrine built for them by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá on the slopes of Mount Carmel.
To Baháʼís, the Báb fills a similar role as Elijah in Judaism or John the Baptist in Christianity: a forerunner or founder of their own religion. Adherence to the Báb as a divine messenger has survived into modern times in the form of the 8-million-member Baháʼí Faith, whose founder, Baháʼu'lláh, claimed in 1863 to be the fulfillment of the Báb's prophecy. The majority of Bábí adherents converted and became Baháʼís by the end of the 19th century. The Baháʼís consider him a Manifestation of God, like Adam, Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Krishna, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and Baháʼu'lláh.
Background
Early life
The Báb was born on 20 October 1819, in Shiraz to a middle-class Twelver Shia merchant of the city and given the name ʿAlí Muḥammad. He was a Sayyid, descendant of Muhammad, with both parents tracing their lineage through Husayn ibn Ali. His father was Muhammad Riḍá, and his mother was Fátimih, a daughter of a prominent Shiraz merchant. She later became a Baháʼí. His father died when he was quite young, and his maternal uncle Hájí Mírzá Siyyid ʿAlí, a merchant, reared him.In Shiraz, his uncle sent him to a maktab primary school, where he remained for six or seven years. In contrast to the formal, orthodox theology which dominated the school curriculum of the time, which included the study of jurisprudence and Arabic grammar, the Báb from a young age felt inclined towards unconventional subjects like mathematics and calligraphy, which were little studied. The Báb's preoccupation with spirituality, creativity and imagination also angered his teachers and was not tolerated in the atmosphere of the 19th-century Persian school system. This led the Báb to become disillusioned with the education system; he later instructed adults to treat children with dignity, to allow children to have toys and engage in play and to never show anger or harshness to their students.
Sometime between the ages 15 and 20 he joined his uncle in the family business, a trading house, and became a merchant in the city of Bushehr, Iran, near the Persian Gulf. As a merchant, he was renowned for his honesty and trustworthiness in his business, which was focused on trade with India, Oman, and Bahrain. Some of his earlier writings suggest that he did not enjoy the business and instead applied himself to the study of religious literature.
Marriage
In 1842, at age 23 and following his mother's wishes, he married 20-year-old Khadíjih-Sultán Bagum, the daughter of a prominent merchant in Shíráz. The marriage proved a happy one, though their only child – a boy named Ahmad – died the year he was born and Khadijih never conceived again. The young couple occupied a modest house in Shiraz along with the Báb's mother. Later, Khadijih became a Baháʼí.Shaykhi movement
In the 1790s in Iraq, Shaykh Ahmad began a religious school of thought within Shia Islam. His followers, who became known as Shaykhis, were expecting the imminent return of divine guidance through the appearance of the Mahdi, the Hidden Imam, or a deputy of the Hidden Imam. He took a less-literalist approach to Islamic teachings, for example teaching that the material body of Muhammad did not ascend during the Mi'raj, and that the expected Resurrection of the Dead was spiritual in nature. Shaykh Ahmad came into conflict with the orthodox Shia theologians of the time and was denounced as an infidel in 1824.After Shaykh Ahmad's death, leadership passed to Kazim Rashti, and emphasis was placed on the year 1260 AH, one thousand lunar years after the twelfth Imam went into occultation. In 1841 the Báb went on pilgrimage to Iraq and stayed for seven months mostly in and around Karbala, where he attended lectures of Kazim Rashti. As of his death in December 1843, Kazim Rashti counselled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Mahdi, who, according to his prophecies, would soon appear. One of these followers, Mullá Husayn, after keeping vigil for 40 days in a mosque, travelled to Shiraz, where he met the Báb.
Personality and appearance
Sources commonly describe the Báb as gentle, precocious, or gifted with great intelligence. One of his contemporary followers described him as:An Irish physician described him as "a very mild and delicate-looking man, rather small in stature and very fair for a Persian, with a melodious soft voice, which struck me much". Shoghi Effendi notes "the gentle, the youthful and irresistible person of the Báb" and praises him as being "matchless in His meekness, imperturbable in His serenity, magnetic in His utterance" This personality has been described as having "captivated many of those who met him".