Shaykh Ahmad, Sayyid Kāẓim, The Báb, Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá: The 5 People of Baha Faith

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The Báb
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BornMírzá `Alí Muḥammad
October 20, 1819
Shiraz, Persia
DiedJuly 9, 1850 (aged 30)
Tabriz, Persia
NationalityPersian
TitleThe Primal Point
ReligionFounder of Bábism
Spouse(s)Khadíjih-Bagum (1842-1850)
Fátimih Khánum (1846/7?-1850)[1]
ChildrenAhmad (b.1843-d.1843)
ParentsFather: Siyyid Muhammad RidáMother: Fátimih Bagum
Bahá'í Faith
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Central figures
Key scripture
Institutions
History
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Bábism
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Central figures
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Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Dín ibn Ibráhím al-Ahsá'í (Arabic: شيخ أحمد بن زين الدين بن إبراهيم الأحسائي‎) (1753–1826) was the founder of a 19th-century Shi`i school in the Persian and Ottoman empires, whose followers are known as Shaykhís.
He was a native of the Al-Ahsa region (Eastern Arabian Peninsula), educated in Bahrain and the theological centers of Najafand Karbala in Iraq.[1] Spending the last twenty years of his life in Iran, he received the protection and patronage of princes of the Qajar dynasty.[2]

History[edit]

Little is documented about the early life of Shaykh Ahmad, except that he was born in Ahsa, in the northeast of the Arabian peninsula, to a Shi'i family of Sunni origin in either the year 1166 A.H. (1753 C.E.), or 1157 A.H. (1744 C.E.).Nabíl-i-A`zam, a Baha'i historian, documents his spiritual awakening in his book The Dawn-Breakers as follows:
He observed how those who professed the Faith of Islam had shattered its unity, sapped its force, perverted its purpose, and degraded its holy name. His soul was filled with anguish at the sight of the corruption and strife which characterised the Shí'ah sect of Islam.... Forsaking his home and kindred, on one of the islands of Bahrayn, to the south of the Persian Gulf, he set out,... to unravel the mysteries of those verses of Islamic Scriptures which foreshadowed the advent of a new Manifestation[revelation].... There burned in his soul the conviction that no reform, however drastic, within the Faith of Islam, could achieve the regeneration of this perverse people. He knew,... that nothing short of a new and independent Revelation, as attested and foreshadowed by the sacred Scriptures of Islam, could revive the fortunes and restore the purity of that decadent Faith.
While it is unclear how much of Nabil's interpretation is consistent with Shaykh Ahmad's true feelings, the underlying motivations for reform, and ultimately for messianic expectation, become somewhat clearer.

Education and Mission[edit]

Shaykh Ahmad, at about age forty (1784 or 1794 - circa), began to study in earnest in the Shi'i centres of religious scholarship such as Karbala and Najaf. He attained sufficient recognition in such circles to be declared a mujtahid, an interpreter of Islamic Law. He contended with Sufi and Neo-Platonist scholars, and attained a positive reputation among their detractors. Most interestingly, he declared that all knowledge and sciences were contained (in essential form) within the Qur'an, and that to excel in the sciences, all knowledge must be gleaned from the Qur'an. To this end he developed systems of interpretation of the Qur'an and sought to inform himself of all the sciences current in the Muslim world.
He also evinced a veneration of the Imams, even beyond the extent of his pious contemporaries and espoused heterodox views on the afterlife, the resurrection and end-times, as well as medicine and cosmology. His views on the soul posited a "subtle body" separate from, and associated with the physical body. It was this body that ascended into Heaven, he posited, when Muhammad was said to have bodily ascended, and this also altered his views on the occultation of the Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi. His views resulted in his denunciation by several learned clerics, and he engaged in many debates before moving on to Persia where he settled for a time in the province of Yazd. It was in Yazd that much of his books and letters were written.

Founding the Shaykhi School[edit]

Juan Cole summarizes the situation at the advent of the Shaykhi School, and the questions that were unfolding as his views crystallized and he acquired an early following:
"When Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i wrote, there was no Shaykhi school, which only crystallized after his death. He saw himself as a mainstream Shi'ite, not as a sectarian leader. Yet he clearly innovated in Shi'i thought in ways that, toward the end of his life, sparked great controversy. Among the contentious arenas he entered was that of the nature of religious authority. He lived at a time when his branch of Islam was deeply divided on the role of the Muslim learned man. Was he an exemplar to be emulated by the laity without fail, or merely the first among equals, bound by a literal interpretation of the sacred text just as was everyone else? Or was he, as the Sufis maintained, a pole channeling the grace of God to those less enlightened than himself? How may we situate Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i with regard to these contending visions of Shi'i Islam?"[3]
Momen in his Introduction to Shi'i Islam (George Ronald, Oxford, 1985) states that many mujtahids were afraid that the Shaykh's preference for intuitive knowledge, which he claimed to obtain directly by inspiration from the Imams, would seriously undermine the authority of their position. Momen has some interesting and useful commentary on Shaykh Ahmad's doctrines and his succession during which the conflict with Shi'i orthodoxy intensified.[4]

Successor[edit]

Shaykh Ahmad appointed Sayyid Kazim Rashti as his successor,[5] who led the Shaykhí movement until his death. He taught his students how to recognize the Mahdi and the "Masih" (the return of Christ). After his death in 1843, many of his students spread out around Iraq and Iran to search for a new leader.
Sayyid Kāẓim bin Qāsim al-Ḥusaynī ar-Rashtī (1793–1843) (Arabic: سيد كاظم بن قاسم الحسيني الرﺷتي‎), mostly known as Siyyid Kázim Rashtí (Persian: سید کاظم رشتی‎), was the son of Sayyid Qasim of Rasht, a town in northern Iran. He was appointed as the successor of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, and led the Shaykhí movement until his death.
He came from a family of well known merchants. He was a Mullah who, after study of the Islamic writings told his students about the coming of the Mahdi and the "Masih" (the return of Christ) and taught them how to recognize them. After his death in 1843, many of his students spread out around Asia, Europe and Africa for the search.
Upon his death he was buried near the tomb of Imam Husayn in Karbala.

Successorship[edit]

On the death of Sayyid Kazim on 31 December 1843, some Shaykhis went on to become Babis, some of whom later became Bahais, and the rest split into three factions. It is reported that before dying, instead of appointing a successor, he sent his disciples out to find the Promised One. One of his most noted followers, Mullá Husayn said:
"Our departed teacher insistently exhorted us to forsake our homes, to scatter far and wide, in quest of the promised Beloved... Regarding the features of the Promised One, he told us that He is of a pure lineage, is of illustrious descent, and of the seed of Fatimah. As to His age, He is more than twenty and less than thirty. He is endowed with innate knowledge. He is of medium height, abstains from smoking, and is free from bodily deficiency."
(quoted in Nabil-i-A'zam's The Dawn-Breakers",or "Nabil's Narrative", translated by Shoghi Effendi, p. 57)
In 1844 Mullá Husayn, after meeting the Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad (the Báb) in Shiraz accepted him as the Mahdi.

The Báb's relationship to Sayyid Káẓim[edit]

The Shaykhis had previously met Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad in Karbila' when he attended the meetings of Sayyid Káẓim. There is disagreement over the amount of time Sayyid Mírzá `Alí-Muhammad stayed in Karbila' and the frequency of his attending Sayyid Káẓim's lectures; Bahá'í sources state that the Báb only occasionally attended the meetings, while sources more critical to the Bahá'í Faith state that he stayed in Karbila for a year or two and learned the Shaykhi teachings. In the Bab's own writings, however, he refers to the Shaykhi leader as his teacher. Some statements include:
  • E.G. Browne wrote that the Báb was in Karbila for two months meeting Sayyid Kazim occasionally:
    "He [the Báb] proceeded at some time antecedent to the year A.H. 1259 (in which year Seyyid Kázim died) to Kerbelá, where he resided for some time (two months, according to the Táríkh-i-Jadíd), occasionally attending the lectures of Hájí Seyyid Kázim of Resht"
    (E.G. Browne, Notes in the Traveller's Narrative) [1]
"One day the circle of those who sat at the feet of Seyyid Kázim was augmented by a fresh arrival. The new comer, who took his seat modestly by the door in the lowest place, was none other than Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad, who, impelled by a pious desire to visit the Holy Shrines, had left his business at Bushire to come to Kerbelá. During the next few months the face of the young Shírází became familiar to all the disciples of Seyyid Kázim, and the teacher himself did not fail to notice and appreciate the earnest but modest demeanour of the youthful stranger."
(Babism by E G Browne in Religious Systems of the World, pp. 335).
  • Bahá'í sources state that the Báb went on pilgrimage to Iraq for 7 months, to the cities of Najaf and Karbila. But they deny that a close bond developed with Sayyid Kázim.
    "According to Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl of Gulpaygan, He journeyed to the holy cities of 'Iraq in the spring of 1841, stayed in 'Iraq for nearly seven months and returned to His 'native province of Fars' in the autumn of that year.
    ...
    "While in Karbila the Bab visited Sayyid Kazim-i-Rashti and attended his discourses. But these occasional visits did not and could not make Him a pupil or disciple of Sayyid Kazim. His adversaries have alleged that He sat at the feet of Sayyid Kazim for months on end to learn from him."
    (H.M. Balyuzi, The Bab - The Herald of the Day of Days, p. 41)
  • Amanat presents arguments for and against the Bab being a student of Sayyid Kazim (p140-1). On the one hand Mulla Sadiq Muqaddas states that "...Mir Ali Muhammad Shirazi [the Bab]...is a student of Sayyid Kazim..." and that he (Muqaddas) was introduced to Sayyid Kazim by the Bab. On the other hand, another contemporary, Qatil Karbala'i, who later became a Babi, states that the Bab attended Sayyid Kazim's lectures only two or three times. Amanat argues that the Bab was not in Karbala long enough to fully grasp Sayyid Kazim's teachings; in fact, Muqaddas himself states that once in Karbala, he was asked to teach the Bab, and that he was also determined to convert the Bab to Shaykhism. Amanat asserts that the Bab's reference to Sayyid Kazim as "the revered scholar and my intimate teacher" is a symbolic acknowledgement of their spiritual affinity and not a literal fact.
  • `Abdu'l-Bahá's wife, Munirih Khanum quotes in her biography her uncle stating:
    "We had often heard in the course of his lectures Haji Sayyid Kazem stating the fact, that the day of the Manifestation was drawing nigh. He admonished us at all times that we must be searching, and be in a state of quest, because the Promised One was living amongst the people, was associating with them; but unfortunately the people were veiled and lived in a state of negligence.
    When we saw the Bab standing with such humility before the Shrine of Imam Hossein, we often wondered if perhaps, he was not the invisible Promised One, who had come to visit the Shrine of his ancestors.
    ...
    During his seclusion in Karbala, he attended now and then the classes of Haji Sayyid Kasem, with a shining and luminous countenance. Whenever he entered the class, Haji Sayyid Kasem would show him the greatest respect and honor."
    (Munirih Khanum quoting her uncle, found in Episodes in the Life of Moneereh Khanum, pp. 11–12)
  • In one of the Báb's earliest writings, the Risala fi'l-Suluk, or "Treatise on Spiritual Wayfaring," he mentions the Shaykhi leader by name and refers to him as "my master, my support, my teacher, the pilgrim Sayyid Kazim al-Rashti."

Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází (/ˈseɪ.jədˈæ.liː.moʊˈhæ.məd.ʃiˈrɑːzi/, Persian: سيد علی ‌محمد شیرازی‎; October 20, 1819 – July 9, 1850) was the founder of Bábism, and one of three central figures of the Bahá'í Faith. He was a merchant from Shiraz, Persi awho, at the age of twenty-four (on May 22, 1844), claimed to be an inspired interpreter of the Qur'an within the Shaykhi school of Twelver Shi'ism. He made bolder claims as time passed, and in 1847, during a trial in Tabriz, asserted a claim to be the Shi'i 'promised one' or Qá'im (or Mahdi). After his declaration he took the title of Báb (/ˈbɑːb/, Arabic: باب‎) meaning "Gate" or "Door". He composed numerous letters and books in which he stated his messianic claims and defined his teachings, which constituted a new sharí'ah or religious law. His movement eventually acquired thousands of supporters, was opposed by Iran's Shi'i clergy, and was suppressed by the Iranian government, leading to the persecution and killing of between two and three thousand of his followers, called Bábís. In 1850, at the age of thirty, the Báb was shot by a firing squad in Tabriz.
Bahá'ís claim that the Báb was also the spiritual return of Elijah and John the Baptist, that he was the saoshyant referred to in the Zoroastrian scriptures,[2] and that he was the forerunner of their own religion. Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, was a follower of the Báb and claimed to be the fulfillment of his promise that God would send another messenger.[3]

Life[edit]

Early life[edit]


Calligraphic exercise of the Báb written before he was ten years old.
Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází was born on October 20, 1819, in Shiraz to a middle-class merchant of the city. His father was Siyyid Muhammad Ridá, and his mother was Fátimih Begum (1800–1881), a daughter of a prominent merchant in Shiraz (she later became a Bahá'í). His father died while he was quite young and the boy was raised by his maternal uncle, Hájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí, who was also a merchant.[4][5] He claimed to be a descendant from Muhammad (a Sayyid) through Imam Husayn through both his parents.[6][7][8] When he was in Shiraz his uncle sent him to Maktab (school) and he was there for six or seven years.[9][10] Sometime between when he was 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.[4][9] Some of his earlier writings suggest that he did not enjoy the family business and instead applied himself to the study of religious literature.[9] A contemporary described him as "very taciturn, and [he] would never utter a word unless it was absolutely necessary. He did not even answer our questions. He was constantly absorbed in his own thoughts, and was preoccupied with repetition of his prayers and verses. He is described as a handsome man with a thin beard, dressed in clean clothes, wearing a green shawl and a black turban."[11]
An English physician described the young man by saying: "He was 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".[12]

Marriage[edit]

In 1842 he married Khadíjih-Bagum (1822–1882); he was 23 and she was 20.[9] She was the daughter of a prominent merchant in Shíráz. The marriage proved to be a happy one,[13] and they had one child, a boy named Ahmad who died the year he was born (1843).[13] The pregnancy jeopardized Khadíjih-Bagum's life, and she never conceived again. The young couple occupied a modest house in Shíráz along with the Báb's mother. Later, Khadíjih-Bagum became a Bahá'í.

The Shaykhi movement[edit]

In the 1790s in Persia, Shaykh Aḥmad (1753–1826) began a religious movement within Shi'a Islam. His followers, who became known as Shaykhis, were expecting the imminent appearance of the Qá'im of the House of Muhammad, also called the Mahdi. After the death of Shaykh Ahmad, leadership was passed on to Sayyid Kázim of Rasht (1793–1843).
In 1841 the Báb went on pilgrimage to Iraq, and for seven months stayed mostly in and around Karbala.[14] There he is believed to have met the leader of the Shaykhis, Sayyid Kázim, who showed a high regard for him.[4] He is believed to have attended some of Siyyid Kazim's lectures; however, this period is almost entirely undocumented.[9]
As of his death in December 1843, Sayyid Kázim had counselled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Mahdi, who, according to his prophecies, would soon appear.[4]One of these followers, named Mullá Husayn, after keeping vigil for forty days in a mosque, travelled to Shiraz, where he met the Báb.[15]

Declaration to Mullá Husayn[edit]


The room where the Declaration of the Báb took place on the evening of May 22, 1844, in his house in Shiraz.
The Báb's first religious inspiration experience claimed, witnessed by his wife, is dated to about the evening of April 3.[16] The Báb's first public connection with his sense of a mission came with the arrival of Mullá Husayn in Shiraz. On the night of May 22, 1844, Mullá Husayn was invited by the Báb to his home; on that night Mullá Husayn told him that he was searching for the possible successor to Siyyid Kázim, the Promised One. The Báb told Mullá Husayn that he was Siyyid Kázim's successor and the bearer of divine knowledge.[9]
After some consideration, Mullá Husayn became the first to accept the Báb's claims to be an inspired figure and a likely successor to the late Shaykhi leader, Sayyid Kazim Rashti. .[4][9] The Báb had replied satisfactorily to all of Mullá Husayn's questions and had written in his presence, with extreme rapidity, a long commentary of Surah of Joseph, which has come to be known as the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' and is considered the Báb's first revealed work.[4]

Letters of the Living[edit]

Mullá Husayn was the Báb's first disciple. Within five months, seventeen other disciples of Siyyid Káẓim had independently recognized the Báb as a Manifestation of God.[17]Among them was one woman, Fátimih Zarrín Táj Baragháni, a poetess, who later received the name of Táhirih (the Pure). These 18 disciples were later to be known as theLetters of the Living and were given the task of spreading the new faith across Iran and Iraq.[9] The Báb emphasized the spiritual station of these 18 individuals, who, along with himself, made the first "Unity" of his religion[18] (in Arabic the term "unity" (Wáhid) has a numerical value of 19 using Abjad numerals). The Báb, in his book the Persian Bayán, gives the metaphorical identity of the Letters of the Living as the Fourteen Infallibles in Shí'í Islam (Muhammad, the Twelve Imams, and Fatimah) and the fourarchangels.[18] In some ways, they parallel the Twelve Apostles of Christ.[19]

Proclamation[edit]

In his early writings, the Báb appears to identify himself as the gate (báb) to the Hidden Twelfth Imam, and later he begins explicitly to proclaim his station as that of the Hidden Imam and a new messenger from God.[20] Rather than being a discontinued or evolving consciousness, Saiedi states that the works of the Báb are unitary throughout, and that the gradual disclosure of the Báb's identity is defined by the principle of unity in diversity throughout reality.[20]

The Báb stood on this pulpit in the Masjid-i-Vakíl, addressing the populace of Shiraz in September 1846
In the Báb's early writings, the exalted identity he was claiming was unmistakable, but because of the reception of the people, his writings appear to convey the impression that he is only the gate to the Hidden Twelfth Imam.[20] To his circle of early believers, the Báb was equivocal about his exact status, gradually confiding in them that he was not merely a gate to the Hidden Imam, but the Manifestation of the Hidden Imam and the Qa'im himself.[21] During his early meetings with Mullá Husayn, the Báb described himself as the Master and the Promised One; he did not consider himself to be simply Siyyid Kazim's successor, but claimed a prophetic status, a kind of deputy, delegated not just by the Hidden Imam but through Divine authority.[22] His early texts such as the "Commentary on the Surih of Joseph" used Quranic language that implied divine authority and identified himself effectively with the Imam.[9][23] When Mullá `Alí Basṭámí, the second Letter of the Living, was put on trial in Baghdad for preaching about the Báb, clerics studied the "Commentary on the Surih of Joseph," recognized in it a claim to divine revelation, and quoted from it extensively to prove that the author had made a messianic claim.[23]
However, in the early phase of his declaration to the public, the title báb was emphasized as that of the gate leading to the Hidden Imam, as the Báb had told his early believers not to fully disclose his claims or reveal his name.[24] The approach of laying claim to a lower position was intended to create a sense of anticipation for the appearance of the Hidden Imam, as well to avoid persecution and imprisonment, because a public proclamation of mahdi status could have brought upon the Báb a swift penalty of death.[24] After a couple of months, as the Báb observed further acceptance and readiness among his believers and the public, he gradually shifted his public claim to that of the Hidden Imam.[24] Then in his final years he publicly announced his station as a Manifestation of God; in his trial, he boldly proclaimed himself, in the presence of the Heir to the Throne of Persia and other notables, to be the Promised One.[24][25] In the early months of his public declarations, the adoption of a cautious policy had essentially achieved maximum attention with minimum controversy.[24]
The gradual unfolding of his claims, however, did cause some confusion, both among the public and for some of his believers. A number of his early followers had instantly recognized his station as a messenger from God with divine authority, and this resulted in disagreement within the Bábi community.[24] Furthermore, even though the Báb had intended to convey his message with discretion, many of his followers (such as Táhirih) openly declared the coming of the promised Hidden Imam and Mahdi.[24]

Travels and imprisonment[edit]

After the eighteen Letters of the Living had recognized him, the Báb and the eighteenth Letter of the Living, Quddús, left on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the sacred cities of Islam.[9] At the Kaaba in Mecca, the Báb publicly declared his claim to be the Qa'im.[26] He also wrote to the Sharif of Mecca, the Custodian of the Kaaba, proclaiming his mission. After their pilgrimage, the Báb and Quddús returned to Bushehr, Iran.[5]
After some time, preaching by the Letters of the Living led to opposition by the Islamic clergy, prompting the Governor of Shiraz to order the Báb's arrest. The Báb, upon hearing of the arrest order, left Bushehr for Shiraz in June 1845 and presented himself to the authorities. He was placed under house arrest at the home of his uncle until a cholera epidemic broke out in the city in September 1846.[9] The Báb was released and departed for Isfahan. There, many came to see him at the house of the imám jum'ih, head of the local clergy, who became sympathetic. After an informal gathering where the Báb debated the local clergy and displayed his speed in producing instantaneous verses, his popularity soared.[27] After the death of the Governor of Isfahan, Manuchehr Khan Gorji, who had become his supporter, pressure from the clergy of the province led to the Shah, Mohammad Shah Qajar, ordering the Báb to Tehran in January 1847.[28] After spending several months in a camp outside Tehran, and before the Báb could meet the Shah, the Prime Minister sent the Báb to Tabriz in the northwestern corner of the country, where he was confined.[9]

Fortress of Máh-Kú (2008)
After forty days in Tabriz, the Báb was then transferred to the fortress of Máh-Kú in the province of Azarbaijan close to the Turkish border. During his incarceration there, the Báb began his most important work, the Persian Bayán, which he never finished. Because of the Báb's growing popularity in Máh-Kú and the governor of Máh-Kú converting, the prime minister transferred him to the fortress of Chihríq in April 1848.[4] In that place as well, the Báb's popularity grew and his jailors relaxed restrictions on him. It was at this time that Áqa Bálá Big Shíshvání Naqshbandí painted the portrait of the Báb.[29] Hence the Prime Minister ordered the Báb back to Tabriz where the government called on religious authorities to put the Báb on trial for blasphemy and apostasy.[9]

Trial[edit]

The trial, attended by the Crown Prince, occurred in July 1848 and involved numerous local clergy. They questioned the Báb about the nature of his claims, his teachings, and demanded that he produce miracles to prove his divine authority. They admonished him to recant his claims. There are nine extant eyewitness reports of the trial, of which several may originate from an earlier source. Six of the reports are from Muslim accounts, and portray the Báb in an unfavourable light.[25] There are 62 questions that are found in the nine sources, however eighteen occur in only one source, fifteen in two, eight in three, five in four, thirteen in five, and three in six. Not including "yes" and "he did not answer", there are thirty-five answers, of which ten occur in one source, eight in two, six in three, three in four, two in five, five in six. Only one answer is found in all nine eyewitness sources, where the Báb states that "I am that person you have been awaiting for one thousand years."[25]
The trial did not bring a decisive result. Some clergy called for capital punishment, but the government pressured them to issue a lenient judgement because the Báb was popular. The government asked medical experts to declare the Báb insane so that he could not be executed. It is also likely that the government, to appease the religious clergy, spread rumours that the Báb had recanted.[30]
The Shaykh al-Islam (a very prominent local cleric), the champion of the anti-Bábí campaign, who was not at the Báb's trial, issued a conditional death sentence if the Báb was found to be sane. A fatwa was issued establishing the Báb's apostasy and stated "The repentance of an incorrigible apostate is not accepted, and the only thing which has caused the postponement of thy execution is a doubt as to thy sanity of mind."[30]
The crown prince's physician, William Cormick, examined the Báb and complied with the government's request to find grounds for clemency.[25] The physician's opinion saved the Báb from execution for a time, but the clergy insisted that he face corporal punishment instead, so the Báb was bastinadoed (administered twenty lashes to the bottoms of his feet).[30] The official report states that because of his harsh beating, the Báb recanted, apologized, and stated that he would not continue to advance claims of divinity.[31]
While various government sources indicate that the Báb recanted his claim, there is little non-governmental evidence of their validity. Some theorise that the assertions were made to embarrass the Báb and undermine his credibility with the public.[30] There exists an unsigned and undated document that was supposedly written shortly after the Báb's trial in Tabriz where the Báb recants his claims to a divine station. But the language of this document is very different from the Báb's usual style; it could have been prepared by the authorities, but the Báb refused to sign it.[25][30] The Báb was finally ordered back to the fortress of Chihríq.

Execution[edit]

Main article: Execution of the Báb

The barrack square in Tabriz, where the Báb was executed
In mid-1850 a new prime-minister, Amir Kabir,[32] ordered the execution of the Báb, probably because various Bábí insurrections had been defeated and the movement's popularity appeared to be waning. The Báb was brought back to Tabríz from Chihríq, so that he could be shot by a firing squad. The night before his execution, as he was being conducted to his cell, a young Bábí, Muḥammad-`Alíy-i-Zunúzí, called Anís, threw himself at the feet of the Báb and begged to be killed with him. He was immediately arrested and placed in the same cell as the Báb.
On the morning of July 9, 1850, the Báb was taken to the courtyard of the barracks in which he was being held, where thousands of people had gathered to watch his execution. The Báb and Anís were suspended on a wall and a large firing squad of Christian soldiers prepared to shoot.[9] Numerous eye-witness reports, including those of Western diplomats, recount the result.[33] The order was given to fire and the barracks square filled with musket smoke. When it cleared the Báb was no longer in the courtyard and his companion stood there unharmed; the bullets apparently had not harmed either man, but had cut the rope suspending them from the wall.[34] There was a great commotion, many in the crowd believing the Báb had ascended to heaven or simply disappeared. But the soldiers subsequently found the Báb in another part of the barracks, completely unharmed, giving his final instructions to his secretary. He and Anís were tied up for execution a second time, a second firing squad of Muslim soldiers was ranged in front of them, and a second order to fire was given. This time, the Báb and his companion were killed.[9] In the Bábí–Bahá'í tradition, the failure of the first firing squad to kill the Báb is believed to have been a miracle. Their remains were dumped outside the gates of the town to be eaten by animals.
The remains, however, were clandestinely rescued by a handful of Bábis and were hidden. Over time the remains were secretly transported according to instructions of Bahá'u'lláh and then `Abdu'l-Bahá by way of Isfahan, Kirmanshah, Baghdad and Damascus, to Beirut and thence by sea to Acre on the plain below Mount Carmel in 1899.[35]On March 21, 1909, the remains were then interred in a special tomb, erected for this purpose by `Abdu'l-Bahá, on Mount Carmel in present-day Haifa, Israel.[36] The Bahá'í World Centre is located close to this site and visitors are welcome to tour the gardens.

Succession[edit]

Main article: Bahá'í/Bábí split

Shrine of the Báb
In most of his prominent writings, The Báb alluded to a Promised One, most commonly referred to as man yazhiruhu'lláh, "Him Whom God shall make manifest", and that he himself was "but a ring upon the hand of Him Whom God shall make manifest." Within 20 years of the Báb's death, over 25 people claimed to be the Promised One, most significantly Bahá'u'lláh.
Before the Báb's death, he sent a letter to Mírzá Yahyá, titled Subh-i-Azal, which some consider to be a will and testament.[37] The letter is recognized as appointing Subh-i-Azal to be the leader of the Bábí community after the death of the Báb. He is also ordered to obey the Promised One when he appears.[38] At the time Subh-i-Azal was still a teenager, had never demonstrated leadership in the Bábí movement, and was still living in the house of his older brother, Bahá'u'lláh. All of this lends credence to the Bahá'í claim that the Báb appointed Subh-i-Azal the head of the Bábí Faith so as to divert attention away from Bahá'u'lláh, while allowing Bábís to visit Bahá'u'lláh and consult with him freely, and allowing Bahá'u'lláh to write to Bábís easily and freely. Furthermore, there is a long history in Shí`ism of hidden leaders, with their deputies wielding the true power (the four bábs themselves are the first examples of this, as is `Alí-Muhammad's choice of the title "the Báb").
Bahá'u'lláh claimed that in 1852, while a prisoner in Tehran, he was visited by a "Maid of Heaven", which symbolically marked the beginning of his mission as a Messenger of God. Ten years later in Baghdad, he made his first public declaration and eventually was recognized by the vast majority of Bábís as "He Whom God shall make manifest". His followers began calling themselves Bahá'ís.[39]
Subh-i-Azal continued to live with or close to Bahá'u'lláh throughout the latter's exiles from Iran to Baghdad and then to Istanbul and Edirne, even though Bahá'u'lláh's claim to be a Manifestation of God in 1863 theoretically rendered moot Subh-i-Azal's authority as the head of the Bábí community. In September 1867, in Edirne, the rival claims to authority came to a head. Subh-i-Azal challenged Bahá'u'lláh to a test of the divine will in a local mosque in Edirne (Adrianople), such that "God would strike down the impostor". Bahá'u'lláh agreed and went to the Sultan Selim Mosque at the appointed time, but Subh-i-Azal failed to show up.[40]
Subh-i-Azal's followers became known as Azalis or Azali Bábís. For the Bábís who did not recognize Bahá'u'lláh, Subh-i-Azal remained their leader until his death in 1912. Whether or not he had a successor is disputed. Bahá'í sources report that 11 of the 18 "witnesses" appointed by Subh-i-Azal to oversee the Bábí community became Bahá'ís, as well as his son. The man allegedly appointed by Subh-i-Azal to succeed him, Hadíy-i-Dawlat-Abádí, later publicly recanted his faith in the Báb and Subh-i-Azal.[41]
Ultimately, Bahá'u'llah emerged more successful and nearly all of the Báb's followers abandoned Subh-i-Azal and became Bahá'ís. Today Bahá'ís have several million followers, while estimates of the number of Azalís are generally around one thousand, isolated in Iran.[42]

Teachings[edit]

Main article: Teachings of the Báb
The Báb's teachings can be grouped into three broad stages which each have a dominant thematic focus. His earliest teachings are primarily defined by his interpretation of the Qur'an and other Islamic traditions. While this interpretive mode continues throughout all three stages of his teachings, a shift takes place where his emphasis moves to philosophical elucidation and finally to legislative pronouncements. In the second philosophical stage, the Báb gives an explanation of the metaphysics of being and creation, and in the third legislative stage his mystical and historical principles are explicitly united.[43] An analysis of the Báb's writings throughout the three stages shows that all of his teachings were animated by a common principle that had multiple dimensions and forms.[44]

Writings[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Báb
Most of the writings of the Báb have been lost. The Báb himself stated they exceeded five hundred thousand verses in length; the Qur'an, in contrast, is 6300 verses in length. If one assumes 25 verses per page, that would equal 20,000 pages of text.[45] Nabíl-i-Zarandí, in The Dawn-breakers, mentions nine complete commentaries on the Qur'an, revealed during the Báb's imprisonment at Máh-Kú, which have been lost without a trace.[46] Establishing the true text of the works that are still extant, as already noted, is not always easy, and some texts will require considerable work. Others, however, are in good shape; several of the Báb's major works are available in the handwriting of his trusted secretaries.[47]
Most works were revealed in response to specific questions by Bábís. This is not unusual; the genre of the letter has been a venerable medium for composing authoritative texts as far back as the Apostle Paul. Three quarters of the chapters of the New Testament are letters, were composed to imitate letters, or contain letters within them.[48]Sometimes the Báb revealed works very rapidly by chanting them in the presence of a secretary and eyewitnesses.
The Archives Department at the Bahá'í World Centre currently holds about 190 Tablets of the Báb.[49] Excerpts from several principal works have been published in the only English-language compilation of the Báb's writings: Selections from the Writings of the Báb. Denis MacEoin, in his Sources for Early Bābī Doctrine and History, gives a description of many works; much of the following summary is derived from that source. In addition to major works, the Báb revealed numerous letters to his wife and followers, many prayers for various purposes, numerous commentaries on verses or chapters of the Qur'an, and many khutbihs or sermons (most of which were never delivered). Many of these have been lost; others have survived in compilations.[50]
The Báb has been criticized for his inconsistent use of correct and incorrect Arabic grammar in his religious works, though in his Arabic letters made very few mistakes.[51] A reason for this inconsistency could be to distinguish those who could not see past the outer form of the words from those that could understand the deeper meaning of his message.[51][52]

Writings before his declaration[edit]

Selectionfromthebab.jpg
Todd Lawson noted this in his doctoral dissertation about the Tafsír-i-súrih-i-baqarih or "Commentary on the Surih of the Cow", a work the Báb wrote on a chapter of the Qur'an.[53] This Qur'an commentary was started by the Báb in November or December 1843, some six months before declaring his mission. The first half was completed by February or March 1844; the second half was revealed after the Báb's declaration. It is the only work of the Báb's revealed before his declaration that has survived intact. It also sheds light on the Báb's attitude toward Shí`í beliefs.[54] His wife also refers to important episodes before his declaration.[55]

Shiraz, May – September 1844[edit]

  • The first chapter of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' ("Commentary on the Súrih of Joseph")[56] was written by the Báb on the evening of his declaration to Mullá Husayn, on the evening of May 22, 1844. The entire work, which is several hundred pages in length and is considered to be revelation by Bahá'ís, required forty days to write; it is one of the Báb's longer Arabic works. It was widely distributed in the first year of the Bábí movement, functioning as something of a Qur'an or Bible for the Bábís. In the book the Báb states his claim to be a Manifestation of God, though the claim is disguised with other statements that he is the servant of the Hidden Imám.[57] Táhirih translated the work into Persian.
  • Sahífih-yi-makhzúnih, revealed before his departure for Mecca in September 1844, and consists of a collection of fourteen prayers, mostly to be recited on specific Muslim Holy Days and festivals. Its content remained within the expectations of Islam.[58]

Pilgrimage, September 1844 – June 1845[edit]

During his nine and a half month pilgrimage to Mecca, the Báb composed many works:
  • Khasá'il-i-sab`ih: A work composed by the Báb on his sea journey back to Bushehr after his pilgrimage, which listed some regulations to be followed by the Bábí community. A copy of the manuscript probably still exists in Iran.[59]
  • Kitáb-i-Rúḥ ("Book of the Spirit"): This book contains 700 or 900 verses and was written while the Báb was sailing back to Bushehr from pilgrimage. The original was nearly destroyed when the Báb was arrested. Several manuscript copies are extant.[60]
  • Sahífih baynu'l-haramayn ("Treatise Between the Two Sanctuaries"): This Arabic work was written while the Báb traveled from Mecca to Medina in early 1845 and is in response to questions posed to him by a prominent Shaykhí leader.[61]
  • Kitáb-i-Fihrist ("The Book of the Catalogue"): A list of the Báb's works, composed by the Báb himself after he returned from pilgrimage to Mecca, June 21, 1845. It is a bibliography of his earliest writings.[62]

Bushehr and Shiraz, March 1845 – September 1846[edit]

The Báb was in Bushehr March through June 1845, then in Shiraz.
  • Sahífih-yi-Ja`fariyyih: The Báb wrote this treatise to an unknown correspondent in 1845. Over a hundred pages in length, it states many of his basic teachings, especially in relation to some Shaykhi beliefs.[63]
  • Tafsír-i-Súrih-i-Kawthar ("Commentary on the Chapter on Abundance"): The Báb wrote this commentary for Siyyid Yahyá Dárábí Vahíd while he was in Shiraz; it is the most important work revealed during the Shiraz period. Though the súrih is only three verses in length, being the shortest in the Qur'an, the commentary on it is over two hundred pages in length. The work was widely distributed, and at least a dozen early manuscripts are extant.[64]

Isfahan, September 1846 – March 1847[edit]

  • Nubuvvih khásish: This work, of fifty pages' length, was revealed in two hours in response to a question by Manúchihr Khán. It discusses the special prophethood of Muhammad, an important subject discussed in debates between Muslims and Christians.[65]
  • Tafsír-i-Súrih-i-va'l-`asr (Commentary on the Chapter named "Age"): This is one of the two important works the Báb penned in Isfahan. It was written spontaneously and publicly in response to a request by Mír Sayyid Muḥammad, the chief cleric of the city; much of it was written in one evening, to the astonishment to those present.[66]

Máh-Kú, late summer 1847 – May 1848[edit]

The Báb left Isfahán in March 1847, sojourned outside Tehran several months, then was sent to a fortress at Máh-Kú, close to the Turkish border. It witnessed the composition of some of the Báb's most important works.
  • Persian Bayán: This is undoubtedly the most important work of the Báb and contains a mature summary of his teachings. It was composed in Máh-Kú in late 1847 or early 1848. The work consists of nine chapters titled váhids or "unities", which in turn are usually subdivided into nineteen bábs or "gates"; the one exception is the last unity, which has only ten bábs. The Báb explained that it would be the task of "He Whom God shall make manifest" to complete the work; Bahá'ís believe Bahá'u'lláh'sKitáb-i-Iqán to be the completion of the Bayán. Each unity begins with an Arabic summary of its contents, which makes it easier to read than many of the Báb's works. Extracts of this work are published in Selections from the Writings of the Báb; A. L. M. Nicholas translated the entire work into French in four 150-page volumes.[67]
  • Arabic Bayán: This is the shorter and less important of the two Bayáns. It consists of eleven váhids or "unities", each with nineteen bábs or "gates". It offers a succinct summary of the Báb's teachings and laws. It was composed at Máh-Kú in late 1847 or early 1848.[68]
  • Dalá'il-i-Sab'ih ("Seven Proofs"): There are two works by this name, the longer one in Persian, the shorter one in Arabic; both were composed in Máh-Kú in late 1847 or early 1848. Nicholas called the Persian Seven Proofs "the most important of the polemical works that issued from the pen of Sayyid `Alí Muhammad".[69] The work was written to either a non-Bábí or to a follower whose faith had been shaken, but the recipient's identity is unknown.[citation needed] The Arabic text summarizes the seven proofs found in the Persian text.

Chihríq, May 1848 – July 1850[edit]

The Báb spent two years in Chihríq, except for his brief visit to Tabriz for his trial. The works he produced there were more esoteric or mystical and less thematically organized.[70] Two major books were produced, in addition to many minor works:
  • Kitabu'l-Asmá' ("The Book of Names"): This is an extremely long book about the names of God. It was penned during the Báb's last days at Chihríq, before his execution. The various manuscript copies contain numerous variations in the text; the book will require considerable work to reconstruct its original text.[71]
  • Kitáb-i-panj sha'n ("Book of Five Grades"): Having been composed in March and April 1850, this is one of the Báb's last works. The book consists of eighty-five sections arranged in seventeen groups, each under the heading of a different name of God. Within each group are five "grades", that is, five different sorts of sections: verses, prayers, homilies, commentaries, and Persian language pieces. Each group was sent to a different person and was composed on a different day. Thus the work is a kind of miscellany of unrelated material. Some of the sections represent further exposition of basic themes in the Báb's teachings; others consists of lengthy iterations of the names of God, and variations on their roots.[72]

Commemorations in the Bahá'í calendar[edit]

In the Bahá'í calendar the events of the birth, declaration and death of the Báb a commemorated by Bahá'í communities on a yearly basis.[73]


Bahá'u'lláh
Shrine-of-Bahaullah.jpg
Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh in Bahá'í Gardens, Acre
BornMírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Núrí
12 November 1817
Tehran, Persia (present-day Iran)
Died29 May 1892 (aged 74)
`Akka, Beirut Vilayet, Ottoman Empire, (present-day Israel)
Known forFounder of the Bahá'í Faith
Successor`Abdu'l-Bahá
Bahá'u'lláh (/bɑːhɑːˈʊlə/; Arabic: بهاء الله‎, "Glory of God"; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892), born Mírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Núrí(Persian: میرزا حسینعلی نوری‎), was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism,[1] but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of theeschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and other major religions.[2]
Bahá'u'lláh taught that humanity is one single race and that the age has come for its unification in a global society. He taught that "there is only one God, that all of the world’s religions are from God, and that now is the time for humanity to recognize its oneness and unite." [3] His claim to divine revelation resulted in persecution and imprisonment by the Persian and Ottomanauthorities, and his eventual 24-year confinement in the prison city of `Akka, Palestine (present-day Israel), where he died. He wrote many religious works, most notably the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Kitáb-i-Íqán and Hidden Words.
There are two known photographs of Bahá'u'lláh. Outside of pilgrimage, Bahá'ís prefer not to view his photo in public, or even to display it in their private homes.

Early and family life[edit]

Bahá'í Faith
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Central figures
Key scripture
Institutions
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People
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Main article: Bahá'u'lláh's family
Bahá'u'lláh was born on 12 November 1817, in Tehran, the capital of Persia, present-day Iran. Bahá'í authors state that his ancestry can be traced back to Abraham through Abraham's wife Keturah,[4] to Zoroaster and to Yazdigird III, the last king of the Sassanid Empire,[5] and also toJesse.[6][7] His mother was Khadíjih Khánum and his father was Mírzá Buzurg. Bahá'u'lláh's father, Mírzá Buzurg, served as vizier to Imám-Virdi Mírzá, the twelfth son of Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar. Mírzá Buzurg was later appointed governor of Burujird and Lorestan,[8] a position that he was stripped of during a government purge when Muhammad Shah came to power. After the death of his father, Bahá'u'lláh was asked to take a government post by the new vizier Hajji Mirza Aqasi, but declined.[9]
Bahá'u'lláh was married three times. He married his first wife Ásíyih Khánum, the daughter of a nobleman, in Tehran in 1835, when he was 18 and she was 15.[10] She was given the title of The Most Exalted Leaf and Navváb.[11] His second marriage was to his widowed cousin Fátimih Khánum, in Tehran in 1849 when she was 21 and he was 32.[10] She was known as Mahd-i-`Ulyá. His third marriage to Gawhar Khánum occurred in Baghdad sometime before 1863.[10]
Bahá'u'lláh declared Ásíyih Khánum his "perpetual consort in all the worlds of God", and her son `Abdu'l-Bahá as his vicar.[12] He had 14 children, four daughters and ten sons, five of whom he outlived.[13] Bahá'ís regard Ásíyih Khánum and her children Mírzá Mihdí, Bahíyyih Khánum and `Abdu'l-Bahá' to be the Bahá'í holy family.[14]

Bábí movement[edit]

Main article: Bábism
In 1844, a 25-year-old man from Shiraz, Siyyid Mírzá `Alí-Muḥammad claimed to be the promised redeemer (or Mahdi) of Islam, taking the title of the Báb, or the "Gate".[15] The resulting Bábí movement quickly spread across the Persian Empire and received widespread opposition from the Islamic clergy.[15] The Báb himself was executed in 1850 by a firing squad in the public square of Tabriz at the age of 30 and the community was almost entirely exterminated in 1852–3.[15]
While the Báb claimed a station of revelation, he also claimed no finality for his revelation.[16] In most of his prominent writings, the Báb alluded to a Promised One, most commonly referred to as "Him whom God shall make manifest". According to the Báb, this personage, promised in the sacred writings of previous religions, would establish the kingdom of God on the Earth;[15][17] several of the Báb's writings state the coming ofHim whom God shall make manifest would be imminent.[18] In the books written by the Báb he constantly entreats his believers to follow Him whom God shall make manifest when he arrives.[16] The Báb also eliminated the institution of successorship or vicegerency to his movement, and stated that no other person's writings would be binding after his death until Him whom God shall make manifest would appear.[18]

Acceptance of the Báb[edit]

Bahá'u'lláh first heard of the Báb when he was 27, and received a visitor sent by the Báb, Mullá Husayn, telling him of the Báb and his claims. Bahá'u'lláh accepted the Báb's claims, becoming a Bábí and helping to spread the new movement, especially in his native province of Núr, where he became recognized as one of its most influential believers.[13][19] His notability as a local gave him many openings, and his trips to teach the religion were met with success, even among some of the religious class. He also helped to protect fellow believers, such as Táhirih, for which he was temporarily imprisoned in Tehran and punished with bastinado or foot whipping.[13] Bahá'u'lláh, in the summer of 1848, also attended the conference of Badasht in the province ofKhorasan, where 81 prominent Bábís met for 22 days; at that conference where there was a discussion between those Bábís who wanted to maintain Islamic law and those who believed that the Báb's message began a new dispensation, Bahá'u'lláh took the pro-change side, which eventually won out. It is at this conference that Bahá'u'lláh took on the name Bahá.[13]
When violence started between the Bábís and the Qajar government in the later part of 1848, Bahá'u'lláh tried to reach the besieged Bábís at the Shaykh Tabarsi inMazandaran, but was arrested and imprisoned before he could get there.[13] The following years until 1850 saw the Bábís being massacred in various provinces after the Báb made his claim of being Manifestation of God more public.[13]

Síyáh-Chál[edit]

After the Báb was executed in 1850, a group of Tehran Bábís, headed by a Bábí known as Azim, who was previously a Shaykhi cleric, plotted an assassination plan against the Shah Nasser-al-Din Shah, in retaliation for the Báb's execution.[20] The policy was opposed by Bahá'u'lláh, who condemned the plan; however, any moderating influence that he may have had was diminished in June 1851 when he went into exile to Baghdad at the chief minister's request, returning only after Amir Kabir's fall from power.[13][20]On 15 August 1852, the radical group of Bábís attempted to carry out the assassination of the Shah and failed.[13] The group of Bábís linked with the plan, were rounded up and killed, and, notwithstanding the assassins' claim that they were working alone, the entire Bábí community was blamed, precipitating violent riots against the Bábí community by the government.[20] During this time many Bábís were killed, and many of the Bábís who were not killed, including Bahá'u'lláh, were imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál (black pit), an underground dungeon of Tehran.[21]
According to Bahá'u'lláh, it was during his imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál that he had several mystical experiences, and received a vision of a maiden from God, through whom he received his mission as a messenger of God and as the one whose coming the Báb had prophesied.[13][21] After four months in the Síyáh-Chál, owing to the insistent demands of the ambassador of Russia, and after the person who tried to kill the Shah confessed and exonerated the Bábí leaders, the authorities released him from prison, but exiled him from Iran. Instead of accepting the offer of refuge from Russia, Bahá'u'lláh chose to go to Iraq in the Ottoman Empire; in 1853 Bahá'u'lláh and his family travelled from Persia arriving in Baghdad on 8 April 1853.[13][22][23]

Baghdad[edit]


Bahá'u'lláh's passport, dated January 1853
The Báb had eliminated the institution of successorship or vicegerency to his movement, and had stated that no other person's writings would be binding after his death until Him whom God shall make manifest would appear.[18] He did, however, appoint Mírzá Yahyá (later known as Subh-i-Azal) as a nominal leader after himself. Mírzá Yahyá had gone into hiding after the assassination attempt on the Shah, and after Bahá'u'lláh's exile to Baghdad, he chose to join his brother there.[22] At the same time, an increasing number of Bábís considered Baghdad the new center for leadership of the Bábí religion, and a flow of pilgrims started coming there from Persia.
Mírzá Yahyá's leadership was controversial. He generally absented himself from the Bábí community, spending his time in Baghdad in hiding and disguise; on several occasions he went so far as to publicly disavow allegiance to the Báb.[9][24][25] Mírzá Yahyá gradually alienated himself from a large number of the Bábís, who started giving their alliance to other claimants.[24] During the time that Mírzá Yahyá remained in hiding, Bahá'u'lláh performed much of the daily administration of Bábí affairs.[9] In contrast to Mírzá Yahyá, Bahá'u'lláh was outgoing and accessible and he was seen by an increasing number of Bábís as a religious leader, rather than just an organizer, and became their center of devotion.[26]
This was increasingly resented by Mírzá Yahyá, who began trying to discredit Bahá'u'lláh,[26] thus driving many people away from the religion.[9] Tensions in the community mounted, and in 1854 Bahá'u'lláh decided to leave the city to pursue a solitary life.[26]

Kurdistan[edit]

On 10 April 1854, Bahá'u'lláh left his family to the care of his brother Mirza Musa and traveled with one companion to the mountains of Kurdistan, northeast of Baghdad, near the city of Sulaymaniyah.[9][26] He later wrote that he left so as to avoid becoming a source of disagreement within the Bábí community, and that his "withdrawal contemplated no return".[26][27]
For two years, Bahá'u'lláh lived alone in the mountains of Kurdistan.[21] He originally lived as a hermit, dressed like a dervish and used the name Darvish Muhammad-i-Irani.[26][28] At one point someone noticed his penmanship, which brought the curiosity of the instructors of the local Sufi orders.[9] As he began to take guests, he became noted for his learning and wisdom. Shaykh `Uthmán, Shaykh `Abdu'r-Rahmán, and Shaykh Ismá'íl, leaders of the Naqshbandíyyih, Qádiríyyih, and Khálidíyyih Orders respectively, began to seek his advice.[29] It was to the second of these that the Four Valleys was written. Bahá'u'lláh wrote several other notable books during this time.[21]
In Baghdad, given the lack of firm and public leadership by Mirza Yahya, the Babi community had fallen into disarray.[9] Some Babis, including Bahá'u'lláh's family, began searching for Bahá'u'lláh, and when news of a man living in the mountains under the name of Darvish Muhammad spread to neighboring areas, Bahá'u'lláh's family begged him to come back to Baghdad.[9] On 19 March 1856, after two years in Kurdistan he returned to Baghdad.[26]

Return to Baghdad[edit]


Map of Bahá'u'lláh's banishments
When Bahá'u'lláh returned to Baghdad he saw that the Bábí community had become disheartened and divided.[26]During Bahá'u'lláh's absence, it had become alienated from the religion because Mirza Yahya had continued his policy of militancy and had been unable to provide effective leadership.[26] Mirza Yahya had married the widow of the Báb against the Báb's clear instructions;[9] dispatched followers to the province of Nur for the second attempt on the life of theShah;[30] and instigated violence against prominent Bábís who had challenged his leadership.[26]
After his return to Baghdad, Bahá'u'lláh tried to revive the Bábí community, mostly through correspondence, writing extensively to give the Bábís a new understanding of the Bábí religion,[26] while keeping his perceived station as the one promised by the Báb and a Manifestation of God hidden. He was soon recognized by the Bábís, as well as government authorities, as the foremost Bábí leader, and there was a growing number of people joining the Bábí movement.[26] He also gained sympathy from government officials and Sunni clerics.[26] Bahá'u'lláh's rising influence in the city, and the revival of the Persian Bábí community, gained the attention of his enemies in Islamic clergy and the Persian government.[31] The Persian government asked the Ottoman government to extradite Bahá'u'lláh to Persia, but the Ottoman government refused and instead chose to move Bahá'u'lláh from the sensitive border region toConstantinople.[26]

Declaration in the Garden of Ridvan[edit]

On 21 April 1863, Bahá'u'lláh left Baghdad and entered the Najibiyyih gardens, now known to Bahá'ís as the Garden of Ridván, near Baghdad. Bahá'u'lláh and those accompanying him stayed in the garden for twelve days before departing for Constantinople.[32] It was during this time that Bahá'u'lláh declared to a small group of his companions his perceived mission and station as a Messenger of God.[21] Bahá'ís regard this period with great significance and celebrate the twelve days that Bahá'u'lláh spent in this Garden as the festival of Ridván.[32] He referred to the period of messianic secrecy between when he claimed to have seen the Maiden of Heaven in the Síyáh-Chál and his declaration as the ayyam-i butun ("Days of Concealment"). Bahá'u'lláh stated that this period was a "set time of concealment".[33] The declaration in the Garden of Ridván was the beginning of a new phase in the Bábí community which led to the emergence of the Bahá'í Faith as a distinctive movement separate from Bábísm.[34]

Imprisonment[edit]

Bahá'u'lláh was given an order to relocate to the Ottoman capital of Constantinople. Although not a formal prisoner yet, the forced exile from Baghdad was the beginning of a long process which would gradually move him into further exiles and eventually to the penal colony of Akká, Palestine (now Acre, Israel).

Constantinople[edit]

Bahá'u'lláh travelled from Baghdad to Constantinople between 3 May and 17 August 1863, accompanied by a large group including family members and followers. During the trip, he was treated with respect in the towns he visited, and when he reached Constantinople, he was treated as a government guest.[34] Why the Ottoman authorities did not permit his extradition to Persia, but instead invited him to come to Constantinople, is unclear. The reason may have been political because Bahá'u'lláh was viewed as a person of influence. However, Bahá'u'lláh refused to work with the Ottoman authorities.[34] After three and a half months in Constantinople, he was ordered to depart forAdrianople. The reason for this further move is also unclear. It may have been due to pressure from the Persian ambassador, combined with Bahá'u'lláh's refusal to work with the Ottoman authorities.[34]

Adrianople[edit]


`Abdu'l-Bahá' in Adrianople with his brothers and companions of Bahá'u'lláh. He is third from the left in the front row.
From 1 to 12 December 1863, Bahá'u'lláh and his family traveled to Adrianople. Unlike his travel to Constantinople, this journey was in the nature of an exile.[34] Bahá'u'lláh stayed in Adrianople for four and a half years, and was the clear leader of the newly established Bábí community there.[34][35] Bahá'u'lláh's growing preeminence in the Bábí community and in the city at large led to a final breach between Bahá'u'lláh and Mirza Yahya.[34] In 1865, Mirza Yahya was accused of plotting to kill Bahá'u'lláh.[36] In contemporary accounts, Mirza Yahya is reported to have tried to have Bahá'u'lláh assassinated by a local barber. The barber, Muhammad `Alí of Isfahán, apparently refused and spread word of the danger around the community. Bahá'u'lláh is reported to have counseled "on all patience, quietude and gentleness".[37] This pattern was repeated when, according to the personal account of Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, Mirza Yahya attempted to persuade him likewise to murder Bahá'u'lláh in the bath.[38] Eventually Mirza Yahya attempted to poison Bahá'u'lláh, an act that left him gravely ill for a time, and left him with a shaking hand for the rest of his life.[36][39][40][41][42]
After this event in 1866, Bahá'u'lláh made his claim to be Him whom God shall make manifest public,[24] as well as making a formal written announcement to Mirza Yahya referring to his followers for the first time as the "people of Bahá".[36] After his public announcement, Bahá'u'lláh secluded himself in his house and instructed the Bábís to choose between himself and Mirza Yahya.[36] Bahá'u'lláh's claims threatened Mirza Yahya's position as leader of the religion since it would mean little to be leader of the Bábís if Him whom God shall make manifest were to appear and start a new religion.[9] Mirza Yahya responded by making his own claims, but his attempt to preserve the traditional Bábísm was largely unpopular, and his followers became the minority.[24]
In 1867, Mirza Yahya challenged Bahá'u'lláh to a test of the divine will in a local mosque in Adrianople,[36] such that "God would strike down the impostor." Bahá'u'lláh agreed, and went to the Sultan Selim mosque at the appointed time, but Mirza Yahya lost face and lost credibility when he refused to show up.[36][43][44] Eventually Bahá'u'lláh was recognized by the vast majority of Bábís as "He whom God shall make manifest" and his followers began calling themselves Bahá'ís.[9]

Writings and letters to the leaders of the world[edit]


The house where Bahá'u'lláh stayed in Adrianople
During his time in Adrianople, Bahá'u'lláh wrote a great deal. One of the main themes during this time was the proclamation of his claimed mission; he instructed some of his followers to take his claims to Bábís in Iran and Iraq who had not heard of his statements, as well as asking the Bahá'ís to be united and detached from the world.[45] He also started to write about distinctive Bahá'í beliefs and practices.
Also, while in Adrianople, Bahá'u'lláh proclaimed the Bahá'í Faith further by addressing tablets to the kings and rulers of the world asking them to accept his revelation, renounce their material possessions, work together to settle disputes, and endeavour toward the betterment of the world and its peoples. His first letter was sent to Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire and his ministers, which was followed by the Tablet of the Kings which was a general address to all rulers.[45] In that latter letter the rulers of the earth were asked to listen to Bahá'u'lláh's call, and cast away their material possessions, and since they were given the reins of government that they should rule with justice and protect the rights of the downtrodden. He also told the rulers to reduce their armaments and reconcile their differences.[45] The Christian monarchs were also asked to be faithful to Jesus' call to follow the promised "Spirit of Truth."[45]
Later when Bahá'u'lláh was in Akka, he continued writing letters to the leaders of the world including:[46]

`Akká[edit]


Prison in Akká in which Bahá'u'lláh was imprisoned
With the Bábí community now irrevocably divided, the followers of Mirza Yahya tried to discredit Bahá'u'lláh to the Ottoman authorities, accusing him of causing agitation against the government.[47] While an investigation cleared Bahá'u'lláh, it did bring to the attention of the government that Bahá'u'lláh and Mirza Yahya were propagating religious claims, and, fearing that this might cause future disorder, they decided to again exile the 'Bábí' leaders.[47] A royal command was issued in July 1868 condemning the Bábís to perpetual imprisonment and isolation in far-flung outposts of the Ottoman Empire — Famagusta,Cyprus for Mirza Yahya and his followers, and `Akká, in Ottoman Palestine, for Bahá'u'lláh and his followers.[47]
The Bahá'ís, including Bahá'u'lláh and his family, left Adrianople on 12 August 1868, and, after a journey by land and sea through Gallipoli and Egypt, arrived in `Akká on 31 August and were confined in the barracks in the citadel in the city.[47] The inhabitants of `Akká were told that the new prisoners were enemies of the state, of God and his religion, and that association with them was strictly forbidden. The first years in `Akká imposed very harsh conditions with everyone becoming sick, and eventually three Bahá'ís dying.[47] It was also a very trying time for Bahá'u'lláh: Mirzá Mihdí, Bahá'u'lláh's son, was suddenly killed at the age of twenty-two when he fell through a skylight while pacing back and forth in prayer and meditation. After some time, the people and officials began to trust and respect Bahá'u'lláh, and thus the conditions of the imprisonment were eased and eventually, after the Sultan's death, he was allowed to leave the city and visit nearby places. From 1877 until 1879 Bahá'u'lláh lived in the house of Mazra'ih.[47] Dr. Thomas Chaplin, director of a British Hospital in Jerusalem[48]visited Bahá'u'lláh in April 1871 and sent a letter to the editor printed in The Times in October.[49] This seems to be the first extended commentary on Bahá'u'lláh in western newspapers.[50]

Final years[edit]


Mansion of Bahjí

The shrine near Acre, where Bahá'u'lláh is buried
The final years of Bahá'u'lláh's life (1879–1892) were spent in the Mansion of Bahjí, just outside `Akká, even though he was still formally a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. During his years in `Akká and Bahjí, since `Abdu'l-Bahá, his eldest son, had taken care of the organizational work, Bahá'u'lláh was able to devote his time to writing, and he produced many volumes of work including the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, his book of laws.[51] His other works included letters outlining his vision for a united world, as well as the need for ethical action; he also composed many prayers.[51]
In 1890, the Cambridge orientalist Edward Granville Browne had an interview with Bahá'u'lláh in this house. After this meeting he wrote his famous pen-portrait of Bahá'u'lláh:
"In the corner where the divan met the wall sat a wondrous and venerable figure, crowned with a felt head-dress of the kind called táj by dervishes (but of unusual height and make), round the base of which was wound a small white turban. The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow; while the deep lines on the forehead and face implied an age which the jet-black hair and beard flowing down in indistinguishable luxuriance almost to the waist seemed to belie. No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!"[51][52]
On 9 May 1892, Bahá'u'lláh contracted a slight fever which grew steadily over the following days, abated, and then finally took his life on 29 May 1892. He was buried in the shrine located next to the Mansion of Bahjí.[53]

Claims[edit]

Bahá'u'lláh stated that he was a messenger of God, and he used the term Manifestation of God to define the concept of an intermediary between humanity and God.[54] In the Bahá'í writings, the Manifestations of God are a series of interrelated personages who speak with a divine voice and who reflect the attributes of the divine into the human world for the progress and advancement of human morals and civilization.[54][55] The Manifestations of God, as explained by Bahá'u'lláh, are not incarnations of God, but have a two-fold station; one which is the divine in that they reveal God's attributes, but not God's essence, and one which is human in that they represent the physical qualities of common man, and have human limitations.[54][56] Bahá'u'lláh wrote that God will never manifest his essence into the world.[54]
In Bahá'u'lláh's writings he writes in many styles including cases where he speaks as if he was instructed by God to bring a message; in other cases he writes as though he is speaking as God directly.[57][58]
Some have interpreted Bahá'u'lláh's writing style to conclude that Bahá'u'lláh had claimed divinity.[59] Bahá'u'lláh, however, states himself that the essence of God will never descend into the human world.[54] Statements where Bahá'u'lláh speaks with the voice of God are meant that he is not actually God, but that he is speaking with the attributes of God.[54]
Bahá'u'lláh declared, as the most recent Manifestation of God, that he was the "Promised One" of all religions, fulfilling the messianic prophecies found in world religions.[2]He stated that his claims to being several messiahs converging in one person were the symbolic, rather than literal, fulfilment of the messianic and eschatological prophecies found in the literature of the major religions.[2] Bahá'u'lláh's eschatological claims constitute six distinctive messianic identifications: from Judaism, the incarnation of the "Everlasting Father" from the Yuletide prophecy of Isaiah 9:6, the "Lord of Hosts"; from Christianity, the "Spirit of Truth" or Comforter predicted by Jesus in his farewell discourse of John 14-17 and the return of Christ "in the glory of the Father"; from Zoroastrianism, the return of Shah Bahram Varjavand, a Zoroastrian messiah predicted in various late Pahlavi texts; from Shi'a Islam the return of the Third Imam, Imam Husayn; from Sunni Islam, the return of Jesus (Isa);[60] and from Bábism, He whom God shall make manifest.[2]
While Bahá'u'lláh did not himself directly claim to be either the Hindu or Buddhist messiah, he did so in principle through his writings.[2] Later, `Abdu'l-Bahá stated that Bahá'u'lláh was the Kalki avatar, who in the classical Hindu Vaishnavas tradition is the tenth and final Avatar (great incarnation) of Vishnu who will come to end The Age of Darkness and Destruction.[2] Bahá'ís also believe that Bahá'u'lláh is the fulfilment of the prophecy of appearance of the Maitreya Buddha, who is a future Buddha who will eventually appear on earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure Dharma.[61][62] Bahá'ís believe that the prophecy that Maitreya will usher in a new society of tolerance and love has been fulfilled by Bahá'u'lláh's teachings on world peace.[61] Bahá'u'lláh is believed to be a descendant of a long line of kings in Persia throughYazdgerd III, the last monarch of the Sasanian Dynasty;[6] he also asserted to be a descendant of Abraham through his third wife Keturah.[63]

Succession[edit]

After Bahá'u'lláh died on 29 May 1892, the Will and Testament of Bahá'u'lláh named his son `Abdu'l-Bahá as Centre of the Covenant, successor and interpreter of Bahá'u'lláh's writings,[64][65] and the appointment was readily accepted by almost all Bahá'ís, since the appointment was written and unambiguous, and `Abdu'l-Bahá had proved himself a capable and devoted assistant.[66] However, the appointment given to `Abdu'l-Bahá was a cause of jealousy within Bahá'u'lláh's family. Bahá'u'lláh had also stated that another one of his sons Mírzá Muhammad `Alí was to be subordinate and second in rank after `Abdu'l-Bahá.[66] Mírzá Muḥammad `Alí, however, insisted that `Abdu'l-Bahá was exceeding his powers, and started a rebellion, at first covert, and then public to discredit `Abdu'l-Bahá. Mírzá Muḥammad `Alí's actions, however, were rejected by the majority of the Bahá'ís.[66] Due to this conflict, `Abdu'l-Bahá later ex-communicated his brother as a covenant-breaker. The conflict was not long lived; after being alienated by the Bahá'í community, Muhammad Ali died in 1937 with a handful of followers.

Works[edit]

Main article: List of writings of Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh wrote many books, tablets and prayers, of which only a fraction have been translated into English.[67] There have been 15,000 works written by him identified; many of these are in the form of short letters, or tablets, to Bahá'ís,[67] but he also wrote larger pieces including the Book of Certitude, the Hidden Words and the Gems of Divine Mysteries.[31] The total volume of his works are more than 70 times the size of the Qur'an and more than 15 times the size of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.[68][69][70]
The books and letters written by Bahá'u'lláh cover religious doctrine, the proclamation of his claims, social and moral teachings as well as Bahá'í laws; he also wrote many prayers.[67] Jináb-i-Fádil-i-Mázindarání, analyzing Baha'u'llah's writings, states that he wrote in the different styles or categories including the interpretation of religious scripture, the enunciation of laws and ordinances, mystical writings, writings about government and world order, including letters to the kings and rulers of the world, writings about knowledge, philosophy, medicine, and alchemy, writings calling for education, good character and virtues, and writing about social teachings.[71] All of his works are considered by Bahá'ís to be revelation, even those that were written before his announcement of his prophetic claim.[67][72] Some of his better known works that have been translated into English include Gleanings, the Hidden Words, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Kitáb-i-Íqán.

Photographs and imagery[edit]


Bahá'u'lláh in 1868. The inscription lists hisPersian name - Mírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Núrí
There are two known photographs of Bahá'u'lláh, both taken in the same photo shoot in 1868 while he was in Adrianople (present day-Edirne). The one where he looks at the camera was taken for passport purposes and is reproduced in William Miller's book on the Bahá'í Faith. Copies of both pictures are at the Bahá'í World Centre, and one is on display in the International Archives building, where the Bahá'ís view it as part of an organized pilgrimage. Outside of this experience Bahá'ís prefer not to view his photos in public, or even to display any of them in their private homes,[73] and Bahá'í institution strongly suggests to use an image of Bahá'u'lláh's burial shrine instead.[74]
Bahá'u'lláh's image is not in itself offensive to Bahá'ís. However, Bahá'ís are expected to treat the image of any Manifestation of God with extreme reverence. According to this practice, they avoid depictions of Jesus or of Muhammad, and refrain from portraying any of them in playsand drama.[75] Copies of the photographs are displayed on highly significant occasions, such as six conferences held in October 1967 commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Bahá'u'lláh's writing of the Suriy-i-Mulúk (Tablet to the Kings), which Shoghi Effendi describes as "the most momentous Tablet revealed by Bahá'u'lláh".[76] After a meeting in Adrianople, the Hands of the Cause traveled to the conferences, "each bearing the precious trust of a photograph of the Blessed Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh), which it will be the privilege of those attending the Conferences to view."[77]
The official Bahá'í position on displaying the photograph of Bahá'u'lláh is:
There is no objection that the believers look at the picture of Bahá'u'lláh, but they should do so with the utmost reverence, and should also not allow that it be exposed openly to the public, even in their private homes.
—From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, 6 December 1939[78]
While the above passage clarifies that it is considered disrespectful to display his photograph to the public, regarding postings on other websites the Bahá'í World Centre has written:
For Bahá'ís, the photograph of Bahá'u'lláh is very precious and it should not only be viewed but also handled with due reverence and respect, which is not the case here [on a non-Bahá'í web site]. Thus, it is indeed disturbing to Bahá'ís to have the image of Bahá'u'lláh treated in such a disrespectful way. However, as the creator of the site is not a Bahá'í, there is little, if anything, that can be done to address this matter. We hope these comments have been of assistance."
—Office for Public Information, 4 September 1999, Photo of Bahá'u'lláh on Web Site[79]
‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Abdulbaha.jpg
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Center of the Cause
Born'Abbás Núrí
May 23, 1844
Tehran, Persia
Died28 November 1921 (aged 77)
Haifa, Mandatory Palestine
NationalityPersian
ReligionBaha'i Faith
Spouse(s)Munírih Khánum (1873-1921)
ChildrenḌiyá'iyyih Khánum, Túbá Khánum, Rúhá Khánum,Munavvar Khánum, (amongst others)
ParentsFather: Bahá’u’lláh
Mother: Ásíyih Khánum
Bahá'í Faith
Bahai star.svg
Central figures
Key scripture
Institutions
History
People
Other topics
`Abdu’l-Bahá' (Arabic: عبد البهاء‎‎, 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh,[1]the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith.[2][3] `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm. At the age of eight his father was imprisoned and the family's possessions were looted, leaving them in virtual poverty. Along with his father, `Abdu'l-Bahá was exiled to Baghdad where the family lived for nine years.
During his youth he was faithful to his father and was regarded as an outstanding member of the Bahá’í exile community. As a teenager he was his father’s amanuensis and was regularly seen debating theological issues with the learned men of the area. In 1863 Bahá'u'lláh was again exiled to Constantinople. During the 1860s the family was banished from Constantinople toAdrianople, and then finally to the penal-colony of Acre, Palestine.
With his father's death in 1892, and his appointment as head of the Bahá’í faith, there was much opposition to him, including virtually all his family members. Notwithstanding this, practically all of the worldwide Bahá’í community accepted his leadership. In 1908, at the age of 64 and after forty years imprisonment, `Abdu’l-Bahá was freed by the Young Turks and he and his family began to live in relative safety. His journeys to the West, and his "Tablets of the Divine Plan" spread the Bahá'í message beyond its middle-eastern roots, and his Will and Testament laid the foundation for the current "Bahá'í administrative order. Many of his writings, prayers and letters are extant, and his discourses with the Western Bahá'ís emphasize the growth of the faith by the late 1890s. `Abdu'l-Bahá's given name was `Abbás, but he preferred the title of `Abdu'l-Bahá (servant of the glory of God). He is commonly referred to in Bahá'í texts as "The Master", and received the title of KBE after his personal storage of grain was used to relieve famine in Palestine following World War I, but never used the title.

Early life[edit]

`Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran, Iran on 23 May 1844 (5th of Jamadiyu'l-Avval, 1260 AH),[4] the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh and Navváb. He was born on the very same night on which the Báb declared his mission.[5] Born with the given name of `Abbás,[3] he was named after his grandfather Mírzá `Abbás Núrí, a prominent and powerful nobleman.[6] As a child, `Abdu'l-Bahá was shaped by his father's position as a prominent Bábí. He recalled how he met the Bábí leader Táhirih and how she would take "me on to her knee, caress me, and talk to me. I admired her most deeply".[7] `Abdu’l-Bahá had a happy and carefree childhood. The family’s Tehran home and country houses were comfortable and beautifully decorated. `Abdu'l-Bahá enjoyed playing in the gardens with his younger sister with whom he was very close.[8]Along with his younger siblings— a sister, Bahíyyih, and a brother, Mihdí— the three lived in an environment of privilege, happiness and comfort.[6] With his father's declination of the position as minister of the court; during his young boyhood `Abdu’l-Bahá witnessed his parents' various charitable endeavours,[9] which included converting part of the home to a hospital ward for women and children.[8]
`Abdu'l-Bahá received a haphazard education during his childhood. It was customary not to send children of nobility to schools. Most noblemen were educated at home briefly in scripture, rhetoric, calligraphy and basic mathematics. Many were educated to prepare themselves for life in the royal court. Despite a brief spell at a traditional preparatory school at the age of seven for one year,[10] `Abdu'l-Bahá received no formal education. As he grew he was educated by his mother, and uncle.[11] Most of his education however, came from his father.[12] Years later in 1890 Edward Granville Browne described how `Abdu'l-Bahá was "one more eloquent of speech, more ready of argument, more apt of illustration, more intimately acquainted with the sacred books of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muhammadans...scarcely be found even amongst the eloquent."[13]
When `Abdu'l-Bahá was seven, he contracted tuberculosis and was expected to die.[14] Though the malady faded away,[15] he would be plagued with bouts of illness for the rest of his life.[16]
One event that affected `Abdu'l-Bahá greatly during his childhood was the imprisonment of his father when `Abdu'l-Bahá was eight years old; the imprisonment led to his family being reduced to poverty and being attacked in the streets by other children.[5] `Abdu'l-Bahá accompanied his mother to visit Bahá'u'lláh who was then imprisoned in the infamous subterranean dungeon the Síyáh-Chál.[6] He described how "I saw a dark, steep place. We entered a small, narrow doorway, and went down two steps, but beyond those one could see nothing. In the middle of the stairway, all of a sudden we heard His [Bahá’u’lláh's]…voice: 'Do not bring him in here', and so they took me back".[17]

Baghdad[edit]

Bahá'u'lláh was eventually released from prison but ordered into exile, and `Abdu'l-Bahá then eight joined his father on the journey to Baghdad in the winter (January to April)[18] of 1853.[17] During the journey `Abdu'l-Bahá suffered from frost-bite. After a year of difficulties Bahá'u'lláh absented himself rather than continue to face the conflict with Mirza Yahya and secretly secluded himself in the mountains of Sulaymaniyah in April 1854 a month before `Abdu'l-Bahá's tenth birthday.[18] Mutual sorrow resulted in him, his mother and sister becoming constant companions.[19] `Abdu'l-Bahá was particularly close to both, and his mother took active participation in his education and upbringing.[20] During the two-year absence of his father `Abdu'l-Bahá took up the duty of managing the affairs of the family,[21] before his age of maturity (14 in middle-eastern society)[22] and was known to be occupied with reading and, at a time of hand-copied scriptures being the primary means of publishing, was also engaged in copying the writings of the Báb.[23] `Abdu’l-Bahá also took an interest in the art of horse riding and, as he grew, became a renowned rider.[24]
In 1856, news of an ascetic carrying on discourses with local Súfí leaders that seemed to possibly be Bahá'u'lláh reached the family and friends. Immediately, family members and friends went to search for the elusive dervish – and in March[18] brought Bahá'u'lláh back to Baghdad.[25] On seeing his father, `Abdu'l-Bahá fell to his knees and wept loudly "Why did you leave us?", and this followed with his mother and sister doing the same.[24][26] `Abdu'l-Bahá soon became his father's secretary and shield.[5]During the sojourn in the city `Abdu’l-Bahá grew from a boy into a young man. He was noted as a "remarkably fine looking youth",[24] and remembered for his charity and amiableness.[5] Having passed the age of maturity `Abdu'l-Bahá was regularly seen in the mosques of Baghdad discussing religious topics and the scripture as a young man. Whilst in Baghdad, `Abdu'l-Bahá composed a commentary at the request of his father on the Muslim tradition of "I was a Hidden Treasure" for a Súfí leader named `Alí Shawkat Páshá.[5][27] `Abdu'l-Bahá was fifteen or sixteen at the time and `Alí Shawkat Páshá regarded the more than 11000 word essay as a remarkable feat for somebody of his age.[5] In 1863 in what became known as the Garden of Ridván Bahá'u'lláh announced to a few that he was the manifestation of God and He whom God shall make manifest whose coming had been foretold by the Báb. On day eight of the twelve days, it is believed `Abdu'l-Baha was the first person Baha'u'llah revealed his claim to.[28][29]

Constantinople/Adrianople[edit]


`Abdu'l-Bahá (right) with his brother Mírzá Mihdí
In 1863 Bahá'u'lláh was summoned to Constantinople (Istanbul), and thus his whole family including `Abdu'l-Bahá, then nineteen, accompanied him on his 110-day journey.[30] The journey to Constantinople was another wearisome journey,[24] and `Abdu'l-Bahá helped feed the exiles.[6] It was here that his position became more prominent amongst the Bahá’ís.[3] This was further solidified by Bahá’u’lláh’s tablet of the Branch in which he constantly exalts his son's virtues and station.[31] The family were soon exiled to Adrianople and `Abdu'l-Bahá went with the family.[3]`Abdu’l-Bahá again suffered from frostbite.[24]
In Adrianople `Abdu’l-Bahá was regarded as the sole comforter of his family – in particular to his mother.[24] At this point `Abdu'l-Bahá was known by the Bahá'ís as "the Master", and by non-Bahá'ís as `Abbás Effendi ("Effendi" signifies "Sir"). It was in Adrianople that Bahá’u’lláh referred to his son as "the Mystery of God".[24] The title of "Mystery of God" symbolises, according to Bahá'ís, that `Abdu'l-Bahá is not amanifestation of God but how a "person of `Abdu'l-Bahá the incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended and are completely harmonized".[32][33] `Abdu'l-Bahá was at this point noted for having black hair which flowed to his shoulders, large blue eyes, alabaster coloured skin and a slight Roman nose.[34] Bahá'u'lláh gave his son many other titles such as "the Most Mighty Branch" the "Branch of Holiness", "the Center of the Covenant" and the apple of his eye.[3] `Abdu'l-Bahá ("the Master") was devastated when hearing the news that he and his family were to be exiled separately from Bahá'u'lláh. It was, according to Bahá'ís, through his intercession that the idea was reverted and the family were allowed to be exiled together.[24]

Acre[edit]


Prison in Acre
At the age of 24, `Abdu'l-Bahá was clearly chief-steward to his father and an outstanding member of the Bahá’í community.[30]Bahá’u’lláh and his family were – in 1868 – exiled to the penal colony of Acre, Palestine where it was expected that the family would perish.[35] Arrival in Acre was distressing for the family and exiles.[3] They were greeted in a hostile manner by the surrounding population and his sister and father fell dangerously ill.[5] When told that the women were to sit on the shoulders of the men to reach the shore, `Abdu'l-Bahá took a chair and carried the women to the bay of Acre.[24] `Abdu'l-Bahá was able to procure some anesthetic and nursed the sick.[24] The Bahá’ís were imprisoned under horrendous conditions in a cluster of cells covered in excrement and dirt.[5]`Abdu'l-Bahá himself fell dangerously ill with dysentery,[5] however a sympathetic soldier permitted a physician to help cure him.[24] The population shunned them, the soldiers treated them the same, and the behaviour of Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahani (an Azali) did not help matters.[6][30] Morale was further destroyed with the accidental death of `Abdu'l-Bahá’s youngest brother Mírzá Mihdí at the age of 22.[24]His death devastated the family – particularly his mother and father – and the grieving `Abdu'l-Bahá kept a night-long vigil beside his brother’s body.[6][24]

Later in Acre[edit]

Over time, he gradually took over responsibility for the relationships between the small Bahá'i exile community and the outside world. It was through his interaction with the people of Acre that, according to the Bahá'ís, they recognized the innocence of the Bahá'ís, and thus the conditions of imprisonment were eased.[36] Four months after the death of Mihdí the family moved from the prison to the House of `Abbúd.[36] The people of Acre started to respect the Bahá'ís and in particular, `Abdu'l-Bahá. `Abdu'l-Bahá was able to arrange for houses to be rented for the family, the family later moved to the Mansion of Bahjí around 1879 when an epidemic caused the inhabitants to flee.
`Abdu'l-Bahá soon became very popular in the penal colony and Myron Henry Phelps a wealthy New York lawyer described how "a crowd of human beings...Syrians, Arabs, Ethiopians, and many others",[37] all waited to talk and receive `Abdu'l-Bahá.[38] He undertook a history of the Bábí religion through publication of A Traveller's Narrative(Makála-i-Shakhsí Sayyáh) in 1886,[39] later translated and published in translation in 1891 through Cambridge University by the agency of Edward Granville Browne who described `Abdu'l-Bahá as:
Seldom have I seen one whose appearance impressed me more. A tall strongly built man holding himself straight as an arrow, with white turban and raiment, long black locks reaching almost to the shoulder, broad powerful forehead indicating a strong intellect combined with an unswerving will, eyes keen as a hawk's, and strongly marked but pleasing features – such was my first impression of 'Abbás Efendí, "the master".[40]

Marriage and family life[edit]


`Abdu'l-Bahá at age 24
As a young man speculation was rife amongst the Bahá’ís to whom `Abdu'l-Bahá would marry.[5][41] Several young girls were seen as marriage prospects but `Abdu’l-Bahá seemed disinclined to marriage.[5] On 8 March 1873, at the urging of his father,[6][42] the twenty-eight-year-old `Abdu’l-Bahá married Fátimih Nahrí of Isfahán (1847–1938) a twenty-five-year-old noblewoman.[43] Her father was Mírzá Muḥammad `Alí Nahrí of Isfahan an eminent Bahá’í of the city and prominent aristocrat.[5] Fátimih was brought from Persia to Acre, Israelafter both Bahá’u’lláh and his wife Navváb expressed an interest in her to marry `Abdu’l-Bahá.[5][43][44] After a wearisome journey from Isfahán to Akka she finally arrived accompanied by her brother in 1872.[5][44] The young couple were betrothed for about five months before the marriage itself commenced. In the mean time, Fátimih lived in the home of `Abdu'l-Bahá’s uncle Mírzá Músá. According to her later memoirs, Fátimih fell in love with `Abdu'l-Bahá on seeing him. `Abdu'l-Bahá himself had showed little inkling to marriage until meeting Fátimih;[44] who was entitled Munírih by Bahá’u’lláh.[6] Munírih is a title meaning "Luminous".[45]
The marriage resulted in nine children. The first born was a son Mihdí Effendi who died aged about 3. He was followed by Ḍiyá'iyyih Khánum, Fu’ádíyyih Khánum (d. few years old), Rúhangíz Khánum (d. 1893), Túbá Khánum, Husayn Effendi (d.1887 aged 5), Túbá Khánum, RúháKhánum and Munnavar Khánum. The death of his children caused `Abdu’l-Bahá immense grief – in particular the death of his son Husayn Effendi came at a difficult time following the death of his mother and uncle.[46] The surviving children (all daughters) were; Ḍiyá'iyyihKhánum (mother of Shoghi Effendi) (d. 1951) Túbá Khánum (1880–1959) Rúḥá Khánum and Munavvar Khánum (d. 1971).[5] Bahá'u'lláh wished that the Bahá'ís follow the example of `Abdu'l-Bahá and gradually move away from polygamy.[44][45][47] The marriage of `Abdu’l-Bahá to one woman and his choice to remain monogamous,[44] from advice of his father and his own wish,[44][45] legitimised the practice of monogamy[45] to a people whom hitherto had regarded polygamy as a righteous way of life.[44][45]

Early years of his ministry[edit]


`Abdu'l-Bahá
After Bahá'u'lláh died on 29 May 1892, the Will and Testament of Bahá'u'lláh named `Abdu'l-Bahá as Centre of the Covenant, successor and interpreter of Bahá'u'lláh's writings.[2] In the Will and Testament `Abdu'l-Bahá's half-brother, Muhammad `Alí, was mentioned by name as being subordinate to `Abdu'l-Bahá. Muhammad `Alí became jealous of his half-brother and set out to establish authority for himself as an alternative leader with the support of his brothers Badi'u'llah and Diya'u'llah.[4] He began correspondence with Bahá'ís in Iran, initially in secret, casting doubts in others' minds about `Abdu'l-Bahá.[48] While most Bahá'ís followed `Abdu'l-Bahá, a handful followed Muhammad `Alí including such leaders as Mirza Javad and Ibrahim Khayru'llah, the famous Bahá'í missionary to America.[49]
Muhammad `Alí and Mirza Javad began to openly accuse `Abdu'l-Bahá of taking on too much authority, suggesting that he believed himself to be a Manifestation of God, equal in status to Bahá'u'lláh.[50] It was at this time that `Abdu'l-Bahá, in order to provide proof of the falsity of the accusations leveled against him, in tablets to the West, stated that he was to be known as "`Abdu'l-Bahá" an Arabic phrase meaning the Servant of Bahá to make it clear that he was not a Manifestation of God, and that his station was only servitude.[51][52] `Abdu'l-Bahá left a Will and Testament that set up the framework of administration. The two highest institutions were the Universal House of Justice, and the Guardianship, for which he appointed Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian.[2]

First Western pilgrims[edit]


Early Western Bahá'í pilgrims. Standing left to right: Charles Mason Remey, Sigurd Russell, Edward Getsinger and Laura Clifford Barney; Seated left to right: Ethel Rosenberg, Madam Jackson, Shoghi Effendi, Helen Ellis Cole, Lua Getsinger, Emogene Hoagg
By the end of 1898, Western pilgrims started coming to Akka on pilgrimage to visit `Abdu'l-Bahá; this group of pilgrims, includingPhoebe Hearst, was the first time that Bahá'ís raised up in the West had met `Abdu'l-Bahá.[53] The first group arrived in 1898 and throughout late 1898 to early 1899 Western Bahá’ís sporadically visited `Abdu'l-Bahá. The group was relatively young containing mainly women from high American society in their 20s.[54] The group of Westerners aroused suspicion for the authorities, and consequently `Abdu'l-Bahá’s confinement was tightened.[55] During the next decade `Abdu'l-Bahá would be in constant communication with Bahá'ís around the world, helping them to teach the religion; the group included May Ellis Bolles in Paris, Englishman Thomas Breakwell, American Herbert Hopper, French Hippolyte Dreyfus, Susan Moody, Lua Getsinger, and American Laura Clifford Barney.[56] It was Laura Clifford Barney who, by asking questions of `Abdu'l-Bahá over many years and many visits to Haifa, compiled what later became the book Some Answered Questions.[57]

Ministry, 1901–1912[edit]

During the final years of the 19th century, while `Abdu'l-Bahá was still officially a prisoner and confined to `Akka, he organized the transfer of the remains of the Báb from Iran to Palestine. He then organized the purchase of land on Mount Carmel that Bahá'u'lláh had instructed should be used to lay the remains of the Báb, and organized for the construction of the Shrine of the Báb. This process took another 10 years.[58] With the increase of pilgrims visiting `Abdu'l-Bahá, Muhammad `Alí worked with theOttoman authorities to re-introduce stricter terms on `Abdu'l-Bahá's imprisonment in August 1901.[2][59] By 1902, however, due to the Governor of `Akka being supportive of `Abdu'l-Bahá, the situation was greatly eased; while pilgrims were able to once again visit `Abdu'l-Bahá, he was confined to the city.[59] In February 1903, two followers of Muhammad `Alí, including Badi'u'llah and Siyyid `Aliy-i-Afnan, broke with Muhammad `Ali and wrote books and letters giving details of Muhammad `Ali's plots and noting that what was circulating about `Abdu'l-Bahá was fabrication.[60][61]
From 1902 to 1904, in addition to the building of the Shrine of the Báb that `Abdu'l-Bahá was directing, he started to put into execution two different projects; the restoration of the House of the Báb in Shiraz, Iran and the construction of the first Bahá'í House of Worship in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.[62] `Abdu'l-Bahá asked Aqa Mirza Aqa to coordinate the work so that the house of the Báb would be restored to the state that it was at the time of the Báb's declaration to Mulla Husayn in 1844;[62] he also entrusted the work on the House of Worship to Vakil-u'd-Dawlih.[63]
Also in 1904, Muhammad `Ali continued his accusations against `Abdu'l-Bahá which caused an Ottoman commission summoning `Abdu'l-Bahá to answer the accusations levelled against him. During the inquiry the charges against him were dropped and the inquiry collapsed.[64][65] The next few years in `Akka were relatively free of pressures and pilgrims were able to come and visit `Abdu'l-Bahá. By 1909 the mausoleum of the Shrine of the Báb was completed.[63]

Journeys to the West[edit]


`Abdu'l-Bahá, during his trip to the United States
Main article: `Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West
The 1908 Young Turks revolution freed all political prisoners in the Ottoman Empire, and `Abdu'l-Bahá was freed from imprisonment. His first action after his freedom was to visit the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh in Bahji.[66] While `Abdu'l-Bahá continued to live in `Akka immediately following the revolution, he soon moved to live in Haifa near the Shrine of the Báb.[66] In 1910, with the freedom to leave the country, he embarked on a three-year journey to Egypt, Europe, and North America, spreading the Bahá'í message.[2]
From August to December 1911, `Abdu'l-Bahá visited cities in Europe, including London, Bristol, and Paris. The purpose of these trips was to support the Bahá'í communities in the west and to further spread his father's teachings.[67]
In the following year, he undertook a much more extensive journey to the United States and Canada to once again spread his father's teachings. He arrived in New York City on 11 April 1912, after declining an offer of passage on the RMS Titanic, telling the Bahá'í believers, instead, to "Donate this to charity." He instead travelled on a slower craft, the S.S. Cedric, and cited preference of a longer sea journey as the reason.[68] Upon arriving in New York, he arranged a private meeting with the survivors of the ill-fated Titanic, who asked him if he knew the Titanic's ultimate destruction would occur, to which, 'Abdu'l-Baha replied, "God gives man feelings of intuition". While he spent most of his time in New York, he visited Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Boston andPhiladelphia. In August of the same year he started a more extensive journey to places including New Hampshire, the Green Acreschool in Maine, and Montreal (his only visit to Canada). He then travelled west to Minneapolis, San Francisco, Stanford, and Los Angeles before starting to return east at the end of October. On 5 December 1912 he set sail back to Europe.[67]
During his visit to North America he visited many missions, churches, and groups, as well as having scores of meetings in Bahá'ís' homes, and offering innumerable personal meetings with hundreds of people.[69] During his talks he proclaimed Bahá'í principles such as the unity of God, unity of the religions, oneness of humanity, equality of women and men, world peace and economic justice.[69] He also insisted that all his meetings be open to all races.[69]
His visit and talks were the subject of hundreds of newspaper articles.[69] In Boston newspaper reporters asked `Abdu'l-Bahá why he had come to America, and he stated that he had come to participate in conferences on peace and that just giving warning messages is not enough.[70] `Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to Montreal provided notable newspaper coverage; on the night of his arrival the editor of the Montreal Daily Star met with him and that newspaper along with The Montreal Gazette, Montreal Standard,Le Devoir and La Presse among others reported on `Abdu'l-Bahá's activities.[71][72] The headlines in those papers included "Persian Teacher to Preach Peace", "Racialism Wrong, Says Eastern Sage, Strife and War Caused by Religious and National Prejudices", and "Apostle of Peace Meets Socialists, Abdul Baha's Novel Scheme for Distribution of Surplus Wealth."[72] The Montreal Standard, which was distributed across Canada, took so much interest that it republished the articles a week later; the Gazette published six articles and Montreal's largest French language newspaper published two articles about him.[71] His 1912 visit to Montreal also inspired humouristStephen Leacock to parody him in his bestselling 1914 book Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich.[73] In Chicago one newspaper headline included "His Holiness Visits Us, Not Pius X but A. Baha,"[72] and `Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to California was reported in the Palo Altan.[74]
Back in Europe, he visited London, Paris (where he stayed for two months), Stuttgart, Budapest, and Vienna. Finally on 12 June 1913 he returned to Egypt, where he stayed for six months before returning to Haifa.[67]

Final years[edit]


`Abdu'l-Bahá on Mount Carmel with pilgrims in 1919
During World War I `Abdu'l-Bahá stayed in Palestine, under the continued threat of Allied bombardment and threats from the Turkish commander. As the war ended, the British Mandate over Palestine brought relative security to `Abdu'l-Bahá. During his final year, a growing number of visitors and pilgrims came to see him in Haifa.[75]
On 27 April 1920, he was awarded a knighthood (KBE) by the British Mandate of Palestine for his humanitarian efforts during the war.[2] `Abdu'l-Bahá died on 28 November 1921 (27th of Rabi'u'l-Avval, 1340 AH.)[4] On his funeral, Esslemont notes:
"... a funeral the like of which Haifa, nay Palestine itself, had surely never seen... so deep was the feeling that brought so many thousands of mourners together, representative of so many religions, races and tongues".[76]
He is buried in the front room of the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel. Plans are in place to one day build a Shrine of `Abdu'l-Bahá. In his Will and Testament he appointed his grandson Shoghi Effendi Rabbani as the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.[2]

Works[edit]

The total estimated number of tablets that `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote are over 27,000, of which only a fraction have been translated into English.[77] His works fall into two groups including first his direct writings and second his lectures and speeches as noted by others.[2] The first group includes The Secret of Divine Civilization written before 1875, A Traveller's Narrative written around 1886, the Resāla-ye sīāsīya or Sermon on the Art of Governance written in 1893, the Memorials of the Faithful, and a large number oftablets written to various people;[2] including various Western intellectuals such as August Forel which has been translated and published as the Tablet to Auguste-Henri Forel. The Secret of Divine Civilization and the Sermon on the Art of Governance were widely circulated anonymously.
The second group includes Some Answered Questions, which is an English translation of a series of table talks with Laura Barney, and Paris Talks, `Abdu'l-Baha in Londonand Promulgation of Universal Peace which are respectively addresses given by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris, London and the United States.[2]
The following is a list of some of `Abdu'l-Bahá's many books, tablets, and talks:

See also[edit]

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