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The Báb

by Yasmina from Madrid, Spain

"Purge your hearts of worldly desires, and let angelic virtues be your adorning..."
 (http://www.bahai.dk/html/historie/hist_bab.html)
(http://www.bahai.dk/html/historie/hist_bab.html)

Approaching the end of the nineteenth century in Persia, the muslims waited the arrival of “The Promised One”. Among them, there where two scholars, Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kazim. They proclamed that the coming of th Promised One was near and they prepared their students to be able for His search and ready to recognize Him.

A small group of their followers, once the last of their teachers was dead, fasted and prayed during forty days and started the quest in search of the Promised One. Their search took them to Shiraz. There, one of them, Mullá Husayn, was invited by a youth to his home. The name of this youth was Siyyid ‘Alí Muhammad, who was born in that city in October 20 1819.

 (http://www.bahai.dk/html/historie/hist_bab.html)
(http://www.bahai.dk/html/historie/hist_bab.html)

In this room, exactly in May 22, two hours and eleven minutes after sunset, would rise the “Dawn of the Promised Day”. Here, Siyyid ‘Alí Mummad, with clear proofs and definite arguments declared Himself to be The Promised One, “The Báb”, which means “The Gate” in Arabic. “O peoples of the earth," the Báb declared, "Give ear unto God's holy Voice...Verily the resplendent Light of God hath appeared in your midst, invested with this unerring Book, that ye may be guided aright to the ways of peace..." Mullá Husayn recognized Him and became the first of His followers, the Bábu’l-Báb (the Gate of the Gate), the first of His apostles, called “The Letters of the Living”. After him, seventeen more of these “Letters of the Living”, among them Mullá Husayn´s company of friends, recognized The Báb through their own means and efforts, some through dreams, others in prayer or meditation. Among them was a woman, whose title was Tahirih, “The Pure”, who was the only one who never came to the presence of the Báb. The last was Quddús, who was only 22 years old.

These first followers started to teach the new faith, that spread rapidly and was first regarded as a reform within the Islamic tradition, but would later declare to be the faith of the Promised One of Islam, the Qaim.

"I am," He exclaimed, "I am, I am the Promised One! I am the One Whose name you have for a thousand years invoked, at Whose mention you have risen, Whose advent you have longed to witness, and the hour of Whose Revelation you have prayed God to hasten. Verily, I say, it is incumbent upon the peoples of both the East and the West to obey My word, and to pledge allegiance to My person."

This amazing declaration would carry the worst of consequences, translated into the imprisonment of the Báb and the martyrdom and massacre of thousands of Babis that refused to renounce their faith, including the Letters of the Living, and would end in the death of the Báb Himself in Tabriz, July 9 1850 at noon by a firing squad of 750 rifles.

The more they tried to squash the the faith of the Báb, due to fear of the clergy and the government of loosing power, that was never sought after by the Báb or His followers, the more the new faith spread and announced the coming of a New Age. At one time, Tahirih, who was revered as the reincarnation of Fatimih, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, took off her veil in public, symbolizing the tear from the past and the personification of the Báb´s teaching of the equality of men and women. This was such a shock for that time, that some of the people who where present tried to take their lives.

The death of Quddus and Mullá Husayn, along with half of the Letters of the Living, was during one of the most dramatic incidents of the Babi Faith, the episode of Shaykh Tabarsi. The shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi in the province of Mazindaran, became an improvised fort for 313 Babis, with only 110 prepared to fight, where they where sieged without water or food by an army of 12,000 armed men. They resisted for 11 months, to the point of eating grass and the leather of their saddles. They where defeated at last by the Prince signing a Qu´ran promising their safety, a promise that although the Babis knew was untrue they had to abide by due to its sacredness, but when they left the fort they where massacred in the most horrendous ways.

In the Báb’s writings, the most important of which is a book called The Bayan, the Báb announced that the purpose of his mission was to announce the coming of yet another Messenger of God, "Him Whom God shall make manifest”. This purpose was fulfilled when Bahá'u'lláh announced in 1863 that He was the Promised One foretold by the Báb and the surviving Babis became His followers. That two Manifestations of God have come with so little time between each other, Bahá'u'lláh Himself states, "is a mystery such as no mind can fathom."

 (http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/trinity/148/uebersicht.html)
(http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/trinity/148/uebersicht.html)

The Bahá’ís (followers of Bahá’u’lláh) still visit the Shrine of the Báb in pilgrimage as one of the most sacred places of their faith. The shrine was built, after many tribulations, in Mount Carmel, in Haifa Israel, and it is the crown of nineteen gardened terraces.

Page created on 10/16/2005 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 10/16/2005 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Related Links

The Bahá'ís - The International Web Site of the Bahá'í Faith (many languages)
BBC Religions and Ethics: Bahá'í - A complete non-Bahá'í reference by the BBC
Ocean - World Religions Free Research Library - A free download program with the scriptures of the World Religions including the Bahá'í Faith (many languages available)
Baha'i Academics Resource Library - Online Bahá'í scriptures and texts
Selected Poems by Qurratu'l-`Ayn (Tahirih), Nabil, and other Babis - Inspiring Poems by Famous Babis