THE BAB ( the Gate.)

The title assumed by Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, the Forerunner of Baha'u'llah, and Prophet-Founder of the Babi Faith.

Born in Shiraz on 20 October 1819, Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad was raised by His uncle Hajji Mirza Siyyid 'Ali, a merchant.   As a child, He showed uncommon wisdom, although He received little formal schooling.  He became a merchant and earned a high reputation for fairness.

  In 1842 He married Khadijih-Bagum and they had one son, Ahmad, who died in infancy.  Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad declared Himself to be the Bab, or 'Gate of God', on 23 May 1844, to the Shaykhi disciple Molla Husayn-i-Bushru'i, the first of eighteen individuals who sought and discovered the Bab and who are known as the Letters of the Living.

As the Bab gained followers, His doctrines inflamed the Shi'as clergy, who determined to stamp out the new faith.

In 1848 the Bab was subjected to a trial before the Muslim divines of Tabriz and punishment by bastinado.

While the Bab was imprisoned, a group of Babies met at the Conference of Badasht.  It was here that Tahirih boldly exemplified the break with Islam by appearing unveiled in public and that Baha'u'llah demonstrated His leadership.

The Bab's followers were subjected to brutal persecution and massacres by the fanatical Shi'as clergy, along with the forces of the Persian government throughout the country, notably in Mazindaran at the fort of Shaykh Tabarsi, Zanjan, Nayriz and Tehran.  In 1850 Mirza Taqi Khan, Grand Vizier of the new Shah, Nasiri'd-Din, ordered the Bab executed.

On 9 July 1850 the Bab was brought before a firing squad in the barracks square of Tabriz, along with a young follower.  When the smoke cleared, the crowd was amazed that the Bab was nowhere to be seen,  He was located in the room He had occupied, finishing a conversation with His amanuensis.

  The commander of the Armenian regiment, Sam Khan, refused to fire a second time and another regiment had to be found.  This time their bullets killed the Bab.

  His remains were hidden by His followers. and in 1899 transferred to Palestine where in 1909 'Abdu-l-Baha Himself interred them in the sepulcher on Mount Carmel known as the Shrine of the Bab.

Amount the most important of the Bab's Writings are the Qayyumu'l-Asma', the Persian and Arabic Bayan, Dala'il-i-Sab'ih and the Kitab-i-Asma'.

Baha'is revere the Bab as the Forerunner or Herald of Baha-u-llah, but also as a Manifestation of God in His own right, considering His Writings to be Holy Scripture.

  The beginning of the Baha'i Era is dated from the day of His Declaration.  The Declaration of the Bab, His birth and the day of His Martyrdom are observed as Baha'i Holy Days on which work is suspended.

Above is selected from Baha'i dictionary by Wendi Momen.

SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF

EXCERPTS FROM THE QAYYUMU'L-ASMA'

ISSUE forth from your cities, O peoples of the West and aid God ere the Day when the Lord of mercy shall come down unto you in the shadow of the clouds with the angels circling around Him, ( Baha'u'llah ) exalting His praise and seeking forgiveness for such as have truly believed in Our signs.

Verily His decree hath been issued, and the command of God, as given in the Mother Book, hath indeed been revealed...

Become as true brethren in the one and indivisible religion of God, free from distinction, for verily God desireth that your hearts should become mirrors unto your brethren in the Faith, so that ye find yourselves reflected in them, and they in you. This is the true Path of God, the Almighty, and He is indeed watchful over your actions.

Chapter XLVI.

O PEOPLES of the earth! Verily the resplendent Light of God hath appeared in your midst, invested with this unerring Book, that ye may be guided aright to the ways of God hath, out of sheer nothingness and through the potency of His command, created the heavens and the earth and whatever lieth between them.

He is single and peerless in His eternal unity with none to join partner with His holy Essence, nor is there any soul, except His Own Self, who can befittingly comprehend Him...

O peoples of the earth! Verily His Remembrance is come to you from God after an interval during which there were no Messengers, that He may purge and purify you from unseemliness in anticipation of the Day of the One true God; therefore seek ye whole-heartedly divine blessings from Him, inasmuch as We have, in truth, chosen Him to be the Witness and the Source of wisdom unto all that dwell on earth...

O MY servants! This is God's appointed Day which the merciful Lord hath promised you in His Book; wherefore, in very truth, glorify ye abundantly the name of God while treading the Path of the Most Great Remembrance...

Verily God hath granted leave to His Remembrance to say whatsoever He willeth in whatever manner He pleaseth.

Indeed whatsoever He chooseth is none other than what is chosen by Us. The Lord, in truth, witnesseth all things.

Chapter LXXXVII.

     EXCERPTS FROM THE PERSIAN &BAYAN

IT is better to guide one soul than to possess all that is on earth, for as long as that guided soul is under the shadow of the Tree of Divine Unity, he and the one who hath guided him will both be recipients of God's tender mercy, whereas possession of earthly things will cease at the time of death.

The path to guidance is one of love and compassion, not of force and coercion. This hath been God's method in the past, and shall continue to be in the future! He causeth him whom He pleaseth to enter the shadow of His Mercy.

Verily, He is the Supreme Protector, the All-Generous.

There is no paradise more wondrous for any soul than to be exposed to God's Manifestation in His Day, to hear His verses and believe in them, to attain His presence,

which is naught but the presence of God, to sail upon the sea of the heavenly kingdom of His good-pleasure, and to partake of the choice fruits of the paradise of His divine Oneness.

WORSHIP thou God in such wise that if thy worship lead thee to the fire, no alteration in thine adoration would be produced, and so likewise if thy recompense should be paradise.

Thus and thus alone should be the worship which befitteth the one True God. Shouldst thou worship Him because of fear, this would be unseemly in the sanctified Court of His presence, and could not be regarded as an act by thee dedicated to the Oneness of His Being.

Fire and paradise both bow down and prostrate themselves before God. That which is worthy of His Essence is to worship Him for His sake, without fear of fire, or hope of paradise.

Although when true worship is offered, the worshipper is delivered from the fire, and entereth the paradise of God's good-pleasure, yet such should not be the motive of his act. However, God's favour and grace ever flow in accordance with the exigencies of His inscrutable wisdom.

The most acceptable prayer is the one offered with the utmost spirituality and radiance; its prolongation hath not been and is not beloved by God. The more detached and the purer the prayer, the more acceptable is it in the presence of God. VII, 19.

THERE is no paradise, in the estimation of the believers in the Divine Unity, more exalted than to obey God's commandments, and there is no fire in the eyes of those who have known God and His signs, fiercer than to transgress His laws and to oppress another soul, even to the extent of a mustard seed.

On the Day of Resurrection God will, in truth, judge all men, and we all verily plead for His grace.

He hath everlastingly existed and will everlastingly continue to exist. He hath been and will ever remain inscrutable unto all men, inasmuch as all else besides Him have been and shall ever be created through the potency of His command.

He is exalted above every mention or praise and is sanctified beyond every word of commendation or every comparison. No created thing comprehendeth Him, while He in truth comprehendeth all things.

Even when it is said `no created thing comprehendeth Him', this refers to the Mirror of His Revelation, that is Him Whom God shall make manifest. Indeed too high and exalted is He for anyone to allude unto Him. II, 8.

GOD testifieth that there is none other God but Him. His are the kingdoms in the heavens and on the earth and all that is between them. He is exalted above the comprehension of all things, and is inscrutable to the mind of every created being; none shall be able to fathom the oneness of His Being or to unravel the nature of His Existence.

No peer or likeness, no similitude or equal can ever be joined with Him. Yield ye praise then unto Him and glorify Him and bear ye witness to the sanctity and oneness of His Being

and magnify His might and majesty with wondrous glorification. This will enable you to gain admittance into the all-highest Paradise. Would that ye had firm faith in the revelation of the signs of God.

O LORD! Enable all the peoples of the earth to gain admittance into the Paradise of Thy Faith, so that no created being may remain beyond the bounds of Thy good-pleasure.

From time immemorial Thou hast been potent to do what pleaseth Thee and transcendent above whatsoever Thou desirest.

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