The room where The Báb declared His mission on May 23, 1844 in His house in Shiraz.

The Bábís (in Persian بابی ها Bâbihâ) are members of a religious movement that flourished in Persia between 1844 and 1852. Its founder was 'Ali Muhammad of Shiraz (1817-1850), who took the title Báb – meaning "Gate" – from a well-known Shi'i theological term. The implication was that 'Ali Muhammad was an avenue through which continuing divine revelation could flow — a controversial and in fact dangerous position, as his execution shows.

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 al_Sughra, 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 Shaykhis, a sect of Shiite Islam. The Shayhkis were a group expecting the eminent appearance of the Qá'im of the House of Muhammad, also called the Mahdi or (Messiah). At Siyyid Kázim's death in 1843, he had councelled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Lord of the Age whose advent would soon break on the world.

Origin

On May 23, 1844 Mullá Husayn of Bushruyih in Khorasan, a prominent disciple of Siyyid Kázim entered Shiraz on the search for the Qaim that Siyyid Kázim 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 independently recognized the station of the Báb before they could begin teaching others about the new revelation. The Báb's first eighteen followers were called the "Letters of the Living", and were charged with spreading the movement.

After his revelation then, Mirza Ali Muhammed soon assumed the title of the Báb. Within a few years the movement spread all over Iran, causing controversy.

Uprisings, Massacres and Conferences

The history of the Bábís, 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 Maku, 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 Mohammad Shah Qajar 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 Bábís, led by Mullâ Muhammad `Ali of Bârfurfish and Mullá Husayn of Bushruyih ("two of the "Letters of the Living"), defied the shah's troops for seven months before they were finally subdued and put to death.

The revolt at the fortress of 'Ali Mardan Khan in Zanjan in the north-west of Persia, headed by Mullâ Muhammad `Ali Zanjáni, also lasted seven or eight months (May 1850–December 1850), while a serious but less protracted struggle was waged against the government at Nayriz in Fars by Aga Sayyid Yahyá of Nayriz. All of these resulted in Bábí massacres; the number of these is a matter of disagreement between Bahá'í authors, who give a figure of 20,000, and academic critics including Denis MacEoin, who say it is too large by a whole order of magnitude. Supporters paint their struggle as basically defensive in nature; Shi'i writers on the other hand point to this period as proof of the subversive nature of Bábísm (and thus of Bahá'í Faith after it).

Also in 1848, a group of Bábí leaders met at Badasht to deliberate the relationship of their movement to Islam. A radical wing led by Qurratu'l-'Ayn, also called Táhirih, argued that Bábísm superseded the provisions of Islam; the more conservative (and ultimately unsuccessful) wing, led by Muhammad Quddus, argued the opposite.

After the Martyrdom of the Báb

The revolts in Zanjan and Nayriz were in progress when in 1850 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 Bábís and conveyed to a shrine near Tehran, whence it was ultimately removed to Haifa, where it is now enshrined.

For the next two years comparatively little was heard of the Bábís, but on August 15, 1852 three of them, acting on their own initiative, attempted to assassinate Nasser-al-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 Bábís, 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 Kashan, the author of the oldest history of the movement from the Bábí point of view. Only one complete manuscript 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.

Succession

The Báb was succeeded on his death by Mirza Yahya of Nur (at that time in his early 20s), who escaped to Baghdad, and, under the title of Subh-i Azal (the Dawn 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, Bahá'u'lláh.

Mírzá Husayn-'Alí, entitled Bahá'u'lláh ("the Glory of God")', who thus gradually became the most conspicuous and most influential member of the Bábís, though in the Kitáb-i-Íqán, one of the most important polemical works of the Bábísm, and now the Bahá'ís, composed in 1858-1859, he still implicitly recognized the supremacy of Subh-i Azal. In 1863, however, Bahá'u'lláh declared himself to be man yuzhirullah ("He Whom God Shall Make Manifest") – a messianic figure within Bábí tradition of whose advent the works of the Báb are filled – and called on all the Bábís to recognize his claim. Most of those living in exile within the Ottoman Empire accepted the claims of Bahá'u'lláh, and accordingly they became known as Bahá'ís. The Bahá'í Faith, which see itself as a separate and independent religion from the Bábi movement, and founded by Bahá'u'lláh, however recognizes the station of the Báb as a messenger of God, equal to that of Bahá'u'lláh; Bahá'ís see the Bábí movement as a part of their own sacred history.

While the majority responded to Bahá'u'lláh's claim, Subh-i Azal and some of his faithful adherents refused. After that date the Bábís divided into two – the Azalis and the 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 Bábís were, at the instance of the Persian government, removed from Baghdad to Constantinople, whence they were shortly afterwards transferred to Adrianople. In 1868 Bahá'u'lláh and his followers were exiled to Acre in Syria (now Acca, Israel), and Subh-i Azal with his few adherents to Famagusta in Cyprus.

Subh_i Azal died in Famagusta, Cyprus in 1912, and his followers are usually called Azalis or Azali Bábís and their populations are likely to be quite low.

Bahá'u'lláh died at Acre on May 16, 1892. In Bahá'u'lláh's Will and Testament he appointed his son `Abdu'l-Bahá, (the servant of Bahá), his successor, but another of his four sons, Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí, put forward a rival claim. This caused a fresh and bitter schism, but 'Abdu'l-Bahá steadily gained ground, and there could be little doubt as to his eventual success. See the Bahá'í Faith for further history.

Writings

The Báb's writings include the Qayyum al-Asma ("Reality of the Names", a commentary on the Quranic Sura of Joseph), and the Arabic and French; only portions exist in English.

Much academic research has focused on the Bábís including Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal; Denis MacEion, Rituals in the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions; (t.k.).

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.