Verily the oppressor hath slain the Beloved of the worlds that he might
thereby quench the Light of God amidst His creatures and withhold mankind
from the Stream of Celestial Life in the days of his Lord, the Gracious,
the Bountiful.--BAHA'U'LLAH, Tablet to Ra'is.
Birthplace of the New Revelation
Persia, the birthplace of the Baha'i Revelation, has occupied a unique
place in the history of the world. In the days of her early greatness she
was a veritable queen among nations, unrivaled in civilization, in power
and in splendor. She gave to the world great kings and statesmen, prophets
and poets, philosophers and artists. Zoroaster, Cyrus and Darius, Hafiz
and Firdawsi, Sa'di and 'Umar _Kh_ayyam are but a few of her many famous
sons. Her craftsmen were unsurpassed in skill; her carpets were matchless,
her steel blades unequaled, her pottery world famous. In all parts of the
Near and Middle East she has left traces of her former greatness.
Yet, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries she had sunk to a
condition of deplorable degradation. Her ancient glory seemed
irretrievably lost. Her government was corrupt and in desperate financial
straits; some of her rulers were feeble, and other monsters of cruelty.
Her priests were bigoted and intolerant, her people ignorant and
superstitious. Most of them belonged to the _Sh_i'ih sect,(4) of
Muhammadans, but there were also considerable numbers of Zoroastrians,
Jews and Christians, of diverse and antagonistic sects. All professed to
follow sublime teachers who exhorted them to worship the one God and to
live in love and unity, yet they shunned, detested and despised each
other, each sect regarding the others as unclean, as dogs or heathens.
Cursing and execration were indulged in to a fearful extent. It was
dangerous for a Jew or a Zoroastrian to walk in the street on a rainy day,
for if his wet garment should touch a Muhammadan, the Muslim was defiled,
and the other might have to atone for the offense with his life. If a
Muhammadan took money from a Jew, Zoroastrian or Christian he had to wash
it before he could put it in his pocket. If a Jew found his child giving a
glass of water to a poor Muhammadan beggar he would dash the glass from
the child's hand, for curses rather than kindness should be the portion of
infidels! The Muslims themselves were divided into numerous sects, among
whom strife was often bitter and fierce. The Zoroastrians did not join
much in these mutual recriminations, but lived in communities apart,
refusing to associate with their fellow countrymen of other faiths.
Social as well as religious affairs were in a state of hopeless decadence.
Education was neglected. Western science and art were looked upon as
unclean and contrary to religion. Justice was travestied. Pillage and
robbery were of common occurrence. Roads were bad and unsafe for travel.
Sanitary arrangements were shockingly defective.
Yet, notwithstanding all this, the light of spiritual life was not extinct
in Persia. Here and there, amid the prevailing worldliness and
superstition, could still be found some saintly souls, and in many a heart
the longing for God was cherished, as in the hearts of Anna and Simeon
before the appearance of Jesus. Many were eagerly awaiting the coming of a
promised Messenger of God, and confident that the time of His advent was
at hand. Such was the state of affairs in Persia when the Bab, the Herald
of a new era, set all the country in commotion with His message.
Early Life
Mirza 'Ali Muhammad, Who afterwards assumed the title of Bab (i.e. Gate),
was born at _Sh_iraz, in the south of Persia, on the 20th of October 1819
A.D.(5) He was a Siyyid, that is, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
His father, a well-known merchant, died soon after His birth, and He was
then placed under the care of a maternal uncle, a merchant of _Sh_iraz,
who brought Him up. In childhood He learned to read, and received the
elementary education customary for children.(6) At the age of fifteen He
went into business, at first with His guardian, and afterward with another
uncle who lived at Bu_sh_ihr, on the shore of the Gulf of Persia.
As a youth He was noted for great personal beauty and charm of manner, and
also for exceptional piety, and nobility of character. He was unfailing in
His observance of the prayers, fasts and other ordinances of the
Muhammadan religion, and not only obeyed the letter, but lived in the
spirit of the Prophet's teachings. He married when about twenty-two years
of age. Of this marriage one son was born, who died while still an infant,
in the first year of the Bab's public ministry.
Declaration
On reaching His twenty-fifth year, in response to divine command, He
declared that "God the Exalted had elected Him to the station of Babhood."
In "A Traveller's Narrative"(7) we read that:--"What he intended by the
term Bab was this, that he was the channel of grace from some great Person
still behind the veil of glory, who was the possessor of countless and
boundless perfections, by whose will he moved, and to the bond of whose
love he clung."--A Traveller's Narrative (Episode of the Bab), p. 3.
In those days belief in the imminent appearance of a Divine Messenger was
especially prevalent among a sect known as the _Sh_ay_kh_is, and it was to
a distinguished divine belonging to this sect, called Mulla Husayn
Bu_sh_ru'i, that the Bab first announced His mission. The exact date of
this announcement is given in the Bayan, one of the Bab's Writings, as two
hours and eleven minutes after sunset on the eve preceding the fifth day
of the month of Jamadiyu'l-Avval 1260 A.H.(8) 'Abdu'l-Baha was born in the
course of the same night, but the exact hour of His birth has not been
ascertained. After some days of anxious investigation and study, Mulla
Husayn became firmly convinced that the Messenger long expected by the
_Sh_i'ihs had indeed appeared. His eager enthusiasm over this discovery
was soon shared by several of his friends. Before long the majority of the
_Sh_ay_kh_is accepted the Bab, becoming known as Babis; and soon the fame
of the young Prophet began to spread like wildfire throughout the land.
Spread of the Babi Movement
The first eighteen disciples of the Bab (with Himself as nineteenth)
became known as "Letters of the Living." These disciples He sent to
different parts of Persian and Turkistan to spread the news of His advent.
Meantime He Himself set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where He arrived in
December 1844, and there openly declared His mission. On His return to
Bu_sh_ihr great excitement was caused by the announcement of His Babhood.
The fire of His eloquence, the wonder of His rapid and inspired writings,
His extraordinary wisdom and knowledge, His courage and zeal as a
reformer, aroused the greatest enthusiasm among His followers, but excited
a corresponding degree of alarm and enmity among the orthodox Muslims. The
_Sh_i'ih doctors vehemently denounced Him, and persuaded the Governor of
Fars, namely Husayn _Kh_an, a fanatical and tyrannical ruler, to undertake
the suppression of the new heresy. Then commenced for the Bab a long
series of imprisonments, deportations, examinations before tribunals,
scourgings and indignities, which ended only with His martyrdom in 1850.
Claims of the Bab
The hostility aroused by the claim of Babhood was redoubled when the young
reformer proceeded to declare that He was Himself the Mihdi (Mahdi) Whose
coming Muhammad had foretold. The _Sh_i'ihs identified this Mihdi with the
12th Imam(9) who, according to their beliefs, had mysteriously disappeared
from the sight of men about a thousand years previously. They believed
that he was still alive and would reappear in the same body as before, and
they interpreted in a material sense the prophecies regarding his
dominion, his glory, his conquests and the "signs" of his advent, just as
the Jews in the time of Christ interpreted similar prophecies regarding
the Messiah. They expected that he would appear with earthly sovereignty
and an innumerable army and declare his revelation, that he would raise
dead bodies and restore them to life, and so on. As these signs did not
appear, the _Sh_i'ihs rejected the Bab with the same fierce scorn which
the Jews displayed towards Jesus. The Babis, on the other hand,
interpreted many of the prophecies figuratively. They regarded the
sovereignty of the Promised One, like that of the Galilean "Man of
Sorrows," as a mystical sovereignty; His glory as spiritual, not earthly
glory; His conquests as conquests over the cities of men's hearts' and
they found abundant proof of the Bab's claim in His wonderful life and
teachings, His unshakable faith, His invincible steadfastness, and His
power of raising to newness of spiritual life those who were in the graves
of error and ignorance.
But the Bab did not stop even with the claim of Mihdihood. He adopted the
sacred title of "Nuqtiyiula" or "Primal Point." This was a title applied
to Muhammad Himself by His followers. Even the Imams were secondary in
importance to the "Point," from Whom they derived their inspiration and
authority. In assuming this title, the Bab claimed to rank, like Muhammad,
in the series of great Founders of Religion, and for this reason, in the
eyes of the _Sh_i'ihs, He was regarded as an impostor, just as Moses and
Jesus before Him had been regarded as impostors. He even inaugurated a new
calendar, restoring the solar year, and dating the commencement of the New
Era from the year of His own Declaration.
Persecution Increases
In consequence of these declarations of the Bab and the alarming rapidity
with which people of all classes, rich and poor, learned and ignorant,
were eagerly responding to His teaching, attempts at suppression became
more and more ruthless and determined. Houses were pillaged and destroyed.
Women were seized and carried off. In Tihran, Fars, Mazindaran, and other
places great numbers of the believers were put to death. Many were
beheaded, hanged, blown from the mouths of cannon, burnt or chopped to
pieces. Despite all attempts at repression, however, the movement
progressed. Nay, through this very oppression the assurance of the
believers increased, for thereby many of the prophecies concerning the
coming of the Mihdi were literally fulfilled. Thus in a tradition recorded
by Jabir, which the _Sh_i'ihs regard as authentic, we read:--
In him shall be the perfection of Moses, the preciousness of
Jesus, and the patience of Job; his saints shall be abased in his
time, and their heads shall be exchanged as presents, even as the
heads of the Turk and the Deylamite are exchanged as presents;
they shall be slain and burned, and shall be afraid, fearful and
dismayed; the earth shall be dyed with their blood, and
lamentation shall prevail amongst their women; these are my saints
indeed.--New History of the Bab, translated by Prof. E. G. Browne,
p. 132.
Martyrdom of the Bab
On the 9th of July, 1850,(10) the Bab Himself, Who was then in His
thirty-first year, fell a victim to the fanatical fury of His persecutors.
With a devoted young follower name Aqa Muhammad 'Ali, who had passionately
begged to be allowed to share His martyrdom, He was led to the scaffold in
the old barrack square of Tabriz. About two hours before noon the two were
suspended by ropes under their armpits in such a way that the head of
Muhammad 'Ali rested against the breast of his beloved Master. A regiment
of Armenian soldiers was drawn up and received the order to fire. Promptly
the volleys rang out, but when the smoke cleared, it was found that the
Bab and His companion were still alive. The bullets had but severed the
ropes by which they were suspended, so that they dropped to the ground
unhurt. The Bab proceeded to a room nearby, where He was found talking to
one of His friends. About noon they were again suspended. The Armenians,
who considered the result of their volleys a miracle, were unwilling to
fire again, so another regiment of soldiers had been brought on the scene,
who fired when ordered. This time the volleys took effect. The bodies of
both victims were riddled by bullets and horribly mutilated, although
their faces were almost untouched.
By this foul deed the Barrack Square of Tabriz became a second Calvary.
The enemies of the Bab enjoyed a guilty thrill of triumph, thinking that
this hated tree of the Babi faith was now severed at the root, and its
complete eradication would be easy! But their triumph was short-lived!
They did not realize that the Tree of Truth cannot be felled by any
material ax. Had they but known, this very crime of theirs was the means
of giving greater vigor to the Cause. The martyrdom of the Bab fulfilled
His own cherished wish and inspired His followers with increased zeal.
Such was the fire of their spiritual enthusiasm that the bitter winds of
persecution but fanned it to a fiercer blaze: The greater the efforts at
extinction, the higher mounted the flames.
Tomb on Mount Carmel
After the Bab's martyrdom, His remains, with those of His devoted
companion, were thrown on the edge of the moat outside the city wall. On
the second night they were rescued at midnight by some of the Babis, and
after being concealed for years in secret depositories in Persia, were
ultimately brought, with great danger and difficulty, to the Holy Land.
There they are now interred in a tomb beautifully situated on the slope of
Mount Carmel, not far from the Cave of Elijah, and only a few miles from
the spot where Baha'u'llah spent His last years and where His remains now
lie. Among the thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the world who come
to pay homage at the Holy Tomb of Baha'u'llah, none omit to offer a prayer
also at the shrine of His devoted lover and forerunner, the Bab.
Writings of Bab
The Writings of the Bab were voluminous, and the rapidity with which,
without study or premeditation, He composed elaborate commentaries,
profound expositions or eloquent prayers was regarded as one of the proofs
of His divine inspiration.
The purport of His various Writings has been summarized as follows:--
Some of these [the Bab's Writings] were commentaries on, and
interpretations of the verses of the Kur'an; some were prayers,
homilies, and hints of [the true significance of certain]
passages; other were exhortations, admonitions, dissertations on
the different branches of the doctrine of the Divine Unity ...
encouragements to amendment of character, severance from worldly
states, and dependence on the inspirations of God. But the essence
and purport of his compositions were the praises and descriptions
of that Reality soon to appear which was his only object and aim,
his darling, and his desire. For he regarded his own appearance as
that of a harbinger of good tidings, and considered his own real
nature merely as a means for the manifestation of the greater
perfections of that One. And indeed he ceased not from celebrating
Him by night or day for a single instant, but used to signify to
all his followers that they should expect His arising: in such
wise that he declares in his writings, "I am a letter out of that
most might book and a dew-drop from that limitless ocean, and,
when He shall appear, my true nature, my mysteries, riddles, and
intimations will become evident, and the embryo of this religion
shall develop through the grades of its being and ascent, attain
to the station of 'the most comely of forms,' and become adorned
with the robe of 'blessed be God, the Best of Creators.' ... and
so inflamed was he with His flame that commemoration of Him was
the bright candle of his dark nights in the fortress of Maku, and
remembrance of Him was the best of companions in the straits of
the prison of _Ch_ihrik. Thereby he obtained spiritual
enlargements; with His wine was he inebriated; and at remembrance
of Him did he rejoice.--A Traveller's Narrative (Episode of the
Bab), pp. 54-56.
He Whom God Shall Make Manifest
The Bab has been compared to John the Baptist, but the station of the Bab
is not merely that of the herald or forerunner. In Himself the Bab was a
Manifestation of God, the Founder of an independent religion, even though
that religion was limited in time to a brief period of years. The Baha'is
believe that the Bab and Baha'u'llah were Co-Founders of their Faith, the
following words of Baha'u'llah testifying to this truth: "That so brief a
span should have separated this most mighty and wondrous Revelation from
Mine own previous Manifestation, is a secret that no man can unravel and a
mystery such as no mind can fathom. Its duration had been foreordained,
and no man shall ever discover its reason unless and until he be informed
of the contents of My Hidden Book." In His references to Baha'u'llah,
however, the Bab revealed an utter selflessness, declaring that, in the
day of "Him whom God shall manifest":--"If one should hear a single verse
from Him and recite it, it is better that he should recite the Beyan [i.e.
the Revelation of the Bab] a thousand times."--A Traveller's Narrative
(Episode of the Bab), p. 349.
He counted Himself happy in enduring any affliction, if by so doing He
could smooth the path, be ever so little, for "Him Whom God shall make
manifest," Who was, He declared, the sole source of His inspiration as
well as the sole object of His love.
Resurrection, Paradise, and Hell
An important part of the Bab's teaching is His explanation of the terms
Resurrection, Day of Judgment, Paradise and Hell. By the Resurrection is
meant, He said, the appearance of a new Manifestation of the Sun of Truth.
The raising of the dead means the spiritual awakening of those who are
asleep in the graves of ignorance, heedlessness and lust. The Day of
Judgment is the Day of the new Manifestation, by acceptance or rejection
of Whose Revelation the sheep are separated from the goats, for the sheep
know the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him. Paradise is the joy of
knowing and loving God, as revealed through His Manifestation, thereby
attaining to the utmost perfection of which one is capable, and, after
death, obtaining entrance to the Kingdom of God and the life everlasting.
Hell is simply deprivation of that knowledge of God with consequent
failure to attain divine perfection, and loss of the Eternal Favor. He
definitely declared that these terms have no real meaning apart from this;
and that the prevalent ideas regarding the resurrection of the material
body, a material heaven and hell, and the like, are mere figments of the
imagination. He taught that man has a life after death, and that in the
afterlife progress towards perfection is limitless.
Social and Ethical Teachings
In His Writings the Bab tells His followers that they must be
distinguished by brotherly love and courtesy. Useful arts and crafts must
be cultivated. Elementary education should be general. In the new and
wondrous Dispensation now commencing, women are to have fuller freedom.
The poor are to be provided for out of the common treasury, but begging is
strictly forbidden, as is the use of intoxicating liquors for beverage
purposes.
The guiding motive of the true Babi must be pure love, without hope of
reward or fear of punishment. Thus He says in the Bayan:--
So worship God that if the recompense of thy worship of Him were
to be the Fire, no alteration in thy worship of Him would be
produced. If you worship from fear, that is unworthy of the
threshold of the holiness of God.... So also, if your gaze is on
Paradise, and if you worship in hope of that; for then you have
made God's creation a Partner with Him.--Babis of Persia, II, Prof.
E. G. Browne, J.R.A.S., vol. xxi, p. 931.
Passion and Triumph
This last quotation reveals the spirit which animated the Bab's whole
life. To know and love God, to mirror forth His attributes and to prepare
the way for His coming Manifestation--these were the sole aim and object of
His being. For Him life had no terrors and death no sting, for love had
cast out fear, and martyrdom itself was but the rapture of casting His all
at the feet of His Beloved.
Strange! that this pure and beautiful soul, this inspired teacher of
Divine Truth, this devoted lover of God and of His fellowmen should be so
hated, and done to death by the professedly religious of His day! Surely
nothing but unthinking or willful prejudice could blind men to the fact
that here was indeed a Prophet, a Holy Messenger of God. Worldly greatness
and glory He had none, but how can spiritual Power and Dominion be proved
except by the ability to dispense with all earthly assistance, and to
triumph over all earthly opposition, even the most potent and virulent?
How can Divine Love be demonstrated to an unbelieving world save by its
capacity to endure to the uttermost the blows of calamity and darts of
affliction, the hated of enemies and the treachery of seeming friends, to
rise serene above all these and, undismayed and unembittered, still to
forgive and bless?
The Bab has endured and the Bab has triumphed. Thousands have testified to
the sincerity of their love for Him by sacrificing their lives and their
all in His service. Kings might well envy His power over men's hearts and
lives. Moreover, "He Whom the Lord shall make manifest" has appeared, has
confirmed the claims and accepted the devotion of His forerunner, and made
Him partaker of His Glory.