He hath moreover deposited within the realities of all created things the emblem of His recognition, that everyone may know of a certainty that He is the Beginning and the End, the Manifest and the Hidden, the Maker and the Sustainer, the Omnipotent and the All-Knowing, the One Who heareth and perceiveth all things, He Who is invincible in His power and standeth supreme in His Own identity, He Who quickeneth and causeth to die, the All-Powerful, the Inaccessible, the Most Exalted, the Most High. Every revelation of His divine Essence betokens the sublimity of His glory, the loftiness of His sanctity, the inaccessible height of His oneness and the exaltation of His majesty and power. His beginning hath had no beginning other than His Own firstness and His end knoweth no end save His Own lastness.
- The Báb - Selections From the Writings of The Báb, "IN the Name of God, the Most Exalted, the Most Holy. - p111-112

Sunday, July 8, 2007


Tablet Concerning

the Day of the

Martyrdom of

His Holiness,

the Exalted One

Translated from the Persian into English by Khazeh Fananapazir

He is the All-Glorious!O thou honoured 'Alí Akbar!
This day is the day of the Martyrdom of His Holiness, the Exalted One, may our heart be sacrificed for His sanctified blood.
This Day is the day in which this "Sun of Truth" concealed itself behind the clouds of providence.
This Day is the day in which this luminous Orb did set!
This Day is the day in which that Body, pure and without blemish or spot fell upon and rolled onto the blood soaked earth
This Day is the day in which His chest and His heart, immaculate and pure like unto a spotless mirror, was riddled by thousands of bullets!
This Day is the day in which that "Divine Lamp" became severed from Its physical frame!
This Day is the day in which the cries and lamentations of the Concourse on high are raised
This Day is the day in which the inhabitants of the Kingdom of God weep and moan, the eyes in tears and their hearts torn!
===

Friday, July 6, 2007

The Báb, Forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh

"His life is one of the most magnificent examples of courage which it has been the privilege of mankind to behold..."1

The object of this tribute by the prominent French writer A.L.M. Nicolas was the nineteenth century prophetic figure known to history as the Báb.

Millenial fervor gripped many peoples throughout the world during the first half of the nineteenth century;

while Christians expected the return of Christ, a wave of expectation swept through Islam that the "Lord of the Age" would appear. Both Christians and Muslims envisioned that, with fulfillment of the prophecies in their scriptures, a new spiritual age was about to begin.

In Persia, this messianic ferment reached
a dramatic climax on May 23, 1844,

when a young merchant--the Báb--announced that He was the Bearer of a long- promised Divine Revelation destined to transform the spiritual life of the human race. "O peoples of the earth," the Báb declared, "Give ear unto God's holy Voice...Verily the resplendent Light of God hath appeared in your midst, invested with this unerring Book, that ye may be guided aright to the ways of peace..."2 Against a backdrop of widescale moral breakdown in Persian society, the Báb's declaration that spiritual renewal and social advancement rested on "love and compassion" rather "than force and coercion," aroused hope and excitement among all classes, and He quickly attracted thousands of followers.3
Although the young merchant's given name was Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, He took the name "Báb," a title that means "Gate" or "Door" in Arabic. His coming, the Báb explained, represented the portal through which the universally anticipated Revelation of God to all humanity would soon appear. The central theme of His major work--the Bayan--was the imminent appearance of a second Messenger from God, one Who would be far greater than the Báb, and Whose mission would be to usher in the age of peace and justice promised in Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and all the other world religions.
The Shrine of the Báb, Haifa, Israel.
The Báb referred to this coming Divine Teacher as "Him Whom God shall make manifest" and stated that "no words of Mine can adequately describe Him, nor can any reference in My Book, the Bayan, do justice to His Cause."4 He clarified the central aim of His mission by explaining that "the purpose underlying this Revelation, as well as those that preceded it, has, in like manner, been to announce the advent of the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest."5 The basis for all human accomplishment is to be found in the teachings of this promised universal Manifestation of God, and "the sum total of the religion of God is but to help Him."6 For the Báb, a climacteric in human history had been reached, and He was the "Voice of the Crier, calling aloud in the wilderness of the Bayan" announcing to humanity that it was entering the period of its collective maturity.7
Throughout His writings, the Báb warned His followers to be watchful, and as soon as the promised Teacher revealed Himself, to recognize and follow Him. The Báb exhorted them to see with the "eye of the spirit" rather than through their "fanciful imaginations."8 To be worthy of "Him Whom God shall make manifest" required entirely new standards of conduct, a nobility of character that human beings had theretofore not achieved: "Purge your hearts of worldly desires," the Báb urged His first group of disciples, "and let angelic virtues be your adorning...The time is come when naught but the purest motive, supported by deeds of stainless purity, can ascend to the throne of the Most High and be acceptable unto Him..."9
In several instances the Báb alluded to the identity of the Promised One: "Well is it with him who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Bahá'u'lláh and rendereth thanks unto his Lord. For He will assuredly be made manifest."10 And: "When the Day-Star of Baha will shine resplendent above the horizon of eternity it is incumbent upon you to present yourselves before His Throne."11 Husayn-`Ali, a leading disciple of the Báb known to history as Bahá'u'lláh, assumed the title of "Baha" (Arabic for "glory" or "splendor") at a gathering of the Báb's followers in 1848, a title that was later confirmed by the Báb Himself.
In some respects, the Báb's role can be compared to that of John the Baptist in the founding of Christianity. The Báb was Bahá'u'lláh's herald: His principal mission was to prepare the way for Bahá'u'lláh's coming. Accordingly, the founding of the Bábi Faith is viewed by Bahá'ís as synonymous with the founding of the Bahá'í Faith--and its purpose was fulfilled when Bahá'u'lláh announced in 1863 that He was the Promised One foretold by the Báb. Bahá'u'lláh later affirmed that the Báb was "the Herald of His Name and the Harbinger of His Great Revelation which hath caused...the splendour of His light to shine forth above the horizon of the world."12 The Báb's appearance marked the end of the "Prophetic Cycle" of religious history, and ushered in the "Cycle of Fulfillment."
At the same time, however, the Báb founded a distinctive, independent religion of His own. Known as the Bábi Faith, that religious dispensation produced its own vigorous community, its own scriptures, and left its own indelible mark on history. The Bahá'í writings attest that "the greatness of the Báb consists primarily, not in His being the divinely-appointed Forerunner of so transcendent a Revelation, but rather in His having been invested with the powers inherent in the inaugurator of a separate religious Dispensation, and in His wielding, to a degree unrivaled by the Messengers gone before Him, the scepter of independent Prophethood."13 With His call for the spiritual and moral reformation of Persian society, and His insistence upon the upliftment of the station of women and the poor, the Báb indeed assumed a position reminiscent of the Prophets of the past. But unlike those Seers of old who could but look to the far future for the time when "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,"14 the Báb by His very appearance signified that the dawn of the "Day of God" had at last arrived.
The hearts and minds of those who heard the message of the Báb were locked in a mental world that had changed little from medieval times. Along with His prescription for spiritual renewal, His promotion of education and the useful sciences was by any measure revolutionary. Thus, by proclaiming an entirely new religion, the Báb was able to help His followers break free from the Islamic frame of reference and to mobilize them in preparation for the coming of Bahá'u'lláh.
Mulla Husayn-i-Bushrú'i, a member of Persia's religious class, described the effect on him of his first meeting with the Báb: "I felt possessed of such courage and power that were the world, all its peoples and its potentates, to rise against me, I would alone and undaunted, withstand their onslaught. The universe seemed but a handful of dust in my grasp. I seemed to be the Voice of Gabriel personified, calling unto all mankind: 'Awake, for, lo! the morning Light has broken.'"15
The transformative impact of the Báb's message was primarily achieved through the dissemination of His epistles, commentaries, and doctrinal and mystical works. Some, though, like Mulla Husayn, were able to hear Him directly. The effect of the Báb's voice was described by one of His followers: "The melody of His chanting, the rhythmic flow of the verses which streamed from His lips caught our ears and penetrated into our very souls. Mountain and valley re-echoed the majesty of His voice. Our hearts vibrated in their depths to the appeal of His utterance."16
The boldness of the Báb's proclamation--which put forth the vision of an entirely new society--stirred intense fear within the religious and secular establishments. Accordingly, persecution of the Bábis quickly developed. Thousands of the Báb's followers were put to death in a horrific series of massacres. The extraordinary moral courage evinced by the Bábis in the face of this onslaught was recorded by a number of Western observers. European intellectuals such as Ernest Renan, Leo Tolstoy, Sarah Bernhardt and the Comte de Gobineau were deeply affected by this spiritual drama that had unfolded in what was regarded as a darkened land. The nobility of the Báb's life and teachings and the heroism of His followers became a frequent topic of conversation in the salons of Europe. The story of Tahirih, the great poet and Bábi heroine, who declared to her persecutors, "You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women," traveled as far and as quickly as that of the Báb Himself.17
Ultimately, those opposed to the Báb argued that He was not only a heretic, but a dangerous rebel. The authorities decided to have Him executed. On 9 July 1850, this sentence was carried out, in the courtyard of the Tabriz army barracks. Some 10,000 people crowded the rooftops of the barracks and houses that overlooked the square. The Báb and a young follower were suspended by two ropes against a wall. A regiment of 750 Armenian soldiers, arranged in three files of 250 each, opened fire in three successive volleys. So dense was the smoke raised by the gunpowder and dust that the entire yard was obscured.
The report of the execution, written to Lord Palmerston, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, by Sir Justin Shiel, Queen Victoria's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Tehran on July 22, 1850, records: "When the smoke and dust cleared away after the volley, Báb was not to be seen, and the populace proclaimed that he had ascended to the skies. The balls had broken the ropes by which he was bound but he was dragged from the recess where, after some search he was discovered and shot."18
After the first attempt at execution, the Báb was found back in His cell, giving final instructions to one of His followers. Earlier in the day, when the guards had come to take Him to the courtyard, the Báb had warned that no "earthly power" could silence Him until He had finished all that He had to say. When the guards arrived this second time, the Báb calmly announced: "Now you may proceed to fulfill your intention."19
Again, the Báb and His young companion were brought out for execution. The Armenian troops refused to fire, and a Muslim firing squad was assembled and ordered to shoot. This time the bodies of the pair were shattered, their bones and flesh mingled into one mass. Surprisingly, their faces were untouched. The light of the "Mystic Fane," as the Báb referred to Himself, had been quenched under a dramatic set of circumstances.20 The last words of the Báb to the crowd were: "O wayward generation! Had you believed in Me every one of you would have followed the example of this youth, who stood in rank above most of you, and would have willingly sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have recognized Me; that day I shall have ceased to be with you."21
Bahá'u'lláh paid this tribute to the Báb: "Behold what steadfastness that Beauty of God hath revealed. The whole world rose to hinder Him, yet it utterly failed. The more severe the persecution they inflicted on that Sadrih [Branch] of Blessedness, the more His fervour increased, and the brighter burned the flame of His love. All this is evident, and none disputeth its truth. Finally, He surrendered His soul, and winged His flight unto the realms above."22
A.L.M. Nicolas, who chronicled the episode of the Báb, wrote: "He sacrificed himself for humanity; for it he gave his body and his soul, for it he endured privations, insults, torture and martyrdom. He sealed, with his very lifeblood, the covenant of universal brotherhood. Like Jesus he paid with his life for the proclamation of a reign of concord, equity, and brotherly love."23
The short six-year duration of the Báb's mission in some respects symbolized the abrupt and startling transition to global consciousness that the Báb had called humanity to undertake. Since His bold proclamation in the middle of the last century, unparalleled scientific and technological advances have indeed provided the first glimmerings of a global society. In His role as the "Primal Point from which have been generated all created things," the Báb set in motion a dramatic new cycle of human creativity and discovery.24 The "breezes" of God's "knowledge" had "stirred" the "minds of men" and caused "the spirits to soar."
The nearly simultaneous appearance of two Manifestations of God, Bahá'u'lláh Himself states, "is a mystery such as no mind can fathom."25 For Bahá'ís, it is both an affirmation that the establishment of universal peace--the "Kingdom of God"--is not too far distant, and a testimony to the greatness of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation. As `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's appointed successor, explains:
The Báb, the Exalted One, is the Morn of Truth, the splendor of Whose light shineth throughout all regions. He is also the Harbinger of the Most Great Light, the Abha Luminary (Bahá'u'lláh). The Blessed Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh) is the One promised by the sacred books of the past, the revelation of the Source of light that shone upon Mount Sinai, Whose fire glowed in the midst of the Burning Bush. We are, one and all, servants of their threshold, and stand each as a lowly keeper at their door.26
Bahá'u'lláh: Manifestation of God
A.L.M. Nicolas, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad dit le Báb (Paris: Librairie Critique, 1908), pp. 203-4, 376. Quoted in The Dawnbreakers, p. 515 (footnote).
Selections from the Writings of the Báb (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1976), p. 50, 61.
Ibid., p. 77.
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 62.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 106.
Ibid, p. 85.
Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), p. 12.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 146.
Muhammad-i-Zarandi (Nabil-i-Azam), The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation, translated from the Persian by Shoghi Effendi (1932; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 93.
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 147.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 164.
Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 102.
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 123.
Isaiah 11:9
The Dawn-Breakers, p. 65.
Ibid., p. 251.
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (Wilmette, Il: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1944), p. 75.
Quoted in John Ferraby, All Things Made New: A Comprehensive Outline of the Bahá'í Faith (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, revised edition 1975), p. 199.
The Dawn-Breakers, p. 463.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 74.
The Dawn-Breakers, p. 464.
Bahá'u'lláh, The Book of Certitude, 3d ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982), p. 234.
A.L.M. Nicolas, see note 1.
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 126.
Ibid., p. 124.
Ibid., p. 127.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

SLIDES OF THE HOLY SHRINE ON MOUNT CARMEL








TABRIZ



PERSIA



9th JULY 1850








Upon speaking of The Bab:

Gracious God! In His Book, which He hath entitled "Qayyúmu'l-Asmá',"

-- the first, the greatest and mightiest of all books --

He prophesied His own martyrdom.

In it is this passage:

"O thou Remnant of God! I have sacrificed myself wholly for Thee; I have accepted curses for Thy sake; and have yearned for naught but martyrdom in the path of Thy love. Sufficient Witness unto me is God, the Exalted, the Protector, the Ancient of Days!"

~ Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 231













style="color:#ff0000;">

The Return of the Prophet Elijah to Mount Carmel....

<-->The cave of ELIJAH ON MOUNT CARMEL


...With the transference of the remains of the Báb--Whose advent marks the return of the Prophet Elijah--to Mt. Carmel, and their interment in that holy mountain, not far from the cave of that Prophet Himself, the Plan so gloriously envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh, in the evening of His life, had been at last executed, and the arduous labors associated with the early and tumultuous years of the ministry of the appointed Center of His Covenant crowned with immortal success. A focal center of Divine illumination and power, the very dust of which `Abdu'l-Bahá averred had inspired Him, yielding in sacredness to no other shrine throughout the Bahá'í world except the Sepulcher of the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation Himself, had been permanently established on that mountain, regarded from time immemorial as sacred.A structure, at once massive, simple and imposing; nestling in the heart of Carmel, the "Vineyard of God"; flanked by the Cave of Elijah on the west, and by the hills of Galilee on the east; backed by the plain of Sharon, and facing the silver-city of Akká, and beyond it the Most Holy Tomb, the Heart and Qiblih of the Bahá'í world; overshadowing the colony of German Templars who, in anticipation of the "coming of the Lord," had forsaken their homes and foregathered at the foot of that mountain, in the very year of Bahá'u'lláh's Declaration in Baghdád (1863), the mausoleum of the Báb had now, with heroic effort and in impregnable strength been established as "the Spot round which the Concourse on high circle in adoration." Events have already demonstrated through the extension of the Edifice itself, through the embellishment of its surroundings, through the acquisition of extensive endowments in its neighborhood, and through its proximity to the resting-places of the wife, the son and daughter of Bahá'u'lláh Himself, that it was destined to acquire with the passing of the years a measure of fame and glory commensurate with the high purpose that had prompted its founding. Nor will it, as the years go by, and the institutions revolving around the World Administrative Center of the future Bahá'í Commonwealth are gradually established, cease to manifest the latent potentialities with which that same immutable purpose has endowed it. Resistlessly will this Divine institution flourish and expand, however fierce the animosity which its future enemies may evince, until the full measure of its splendor will have been disclosed before the eyes of all mankind. "Haste thee, O Carmel!" Bahá'u'lláh, significantly addressing that holy mountain, has written, "for lo, the light of the Countenance of God ... hath been lifted upon thee... Rejoice, for God hath, in this Day, established upon thee His throne, hath made thee the dawning-place of His signs and the dayspring of the evidences of His Revelation. Well is it with him that circleth around thee, that proclaimeth the revelation of thy glory, and recounteth that which the bounty of the Lord thy God hath showered upon thee." "Call out to Zion, O Carmel!" He, furthermore, has revealed in that same Tablet, "and announce the joyful tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-conquering sovereignty is manifest; His all-encompassing splendor is revealed.Beware lest thou hesitate or halt. Hasten forth and circumambulate the City of God that hath descended from heaven, the celestial Kaaba round which have circled in adoration the favored of God, the pure in heart, and the company of the most exalted angels."


MIDI

LE 9 JUILLET 1850

TABRIZ LA PERSE

"L'éclatant soleil de juillet se reflétait d'une façon éblouissante sur les canons

des sept cent cinquante fusils prêts à faire feu et à lui ôter la vie.

Il semblait si jeune pour mourir, à peine atteignait-il la trentaine.

Il était si noble, désarmé et courageux.

Pouvait-il vraiment être coupable du crime affreux dont il était accusé?

Des milliers de spectateurs impatients bordaient la place publique.

Il garnissait de grappes humaines la crête de toits avoisinant la scène de mort.

Ils voulaient le voir une dernière fois car ils ne savaient que penser de lui.

Etait-il un héros ou un coupable ? Nul n'en était certain.

Dans ce décor aride de la Perse,

le soleil dardait ses rayons sur la cour de la caserne de Tabriz…

Midi allait sonner… C'était le 9 juillet 1850.

"La succession des évènements aboutissant à cette scène débuta en 1844.

Ce fut une époque de ferveur religieuse.

Partout, l'on prêchait le retour du Christ et l'on incitait les hommes à s'y préparer. Wolff en Asie, Sir Edwards Irwing en Angleterre, Léonard H. Kelber en Allemagne, Mason en Ecosse, Davis en Caroline du Sud et William Miller en Pennsylvanie, tous étaient tombés d'accord pour reconnaître que leurs études des Ecritures indiquaient clairement que l'heure du retour du Christ était proche.Le poème "La Crise" de James Russel Lowell fut écrit en ces temps d'enthousiasme en vue de l'avènement :Une fois pour chaque homme,

Et pour chaque nation,Survient le moment du choix,

Quelque grande cause, le nouveau Messie de Dieu.

Il était généralement admis que les années comprises entre 1843 et 1847 devaient marquer le retour du Christ.

Des études approfondies des prophéties avaient conduit théologiens et chercheurs, en différentes parties du monde, à ces années fatidiques.

N'y eut-il donc aucun signe du retour du Christ au cours de ces années ? Ou plutôt cette période ne devait-elle pas être comparée à celle qui suivit la naissance et la proclamation du message du Christ; aux années qui s'écoulèrent sans aucun signe visible pour le peuple de Palestine indiquant que le Promis était venu?

Et le souvenir de la crucifixion d'un fauteur de troubles de Nazareth était chassé de tous les esprits.

L'histoire allait-elle s'arrêter comme elle s'était arrêtée au temps de Jésus, pendant plus de cent ans, avant que le nouveau message ne commence à toucher la conscience des êtres humains.

Fallait-il que le drame du calvaire se répète devant un poteau d'exécution sur la place publique de Tabriz?Ce fut en 1844, en Perse, que commence cette histoire.

Elle débute la veille du 23 mai, à Shiraz, la "ville des rossignols et des fontaines de céramique bleue",

Shiraz, dans ce qui fut, autrefois, l'ancienne province de l'Elam décrite par Daniel le prophète comme étant l'endroit de la vision relative aux temps de la fin et mentionnée dans le Livre de Jérémie:

"Et j'installerai mon trône en Elam".C'est la qu'un jeune homme déclara être Celui que toutes les Ecritures saintes du passe avaient annoncé.

Il proclama qu'Il était venu pour inaugurer une nouvelle ère, un printemps nouveau dans le coeur des hommes.

Il fut appelé "Le Bab" ce qui signifie "La Porte", ou "L'Entrée". Son enseignement devait conduire à un nouvel âge d'unité :

"le monde est un seul pays et l'humanité ses citoyens; il n'y a qu'une religion et tous les prophètes l'ont enseignée".

Comme Jésus avait parle à Pierre le pêcheur, de même le Bab parla à un étudiant persan, Mulla Husayn.

Les paroles de ce dernier peuvent le mieux décrire la profondeur de cette expérience:"Je m'assis, sous le charme de ses paroles, oublieux du temps.

Cette révélation qui me fut si soudainement,

si magistralement imposée, me frappa comme un coup de foudre.

Pendant un certain temps, elle sembla avoir paralysé toutes mes facultés. Surexcitation, joie, crainte, et surprise remuèrent les profondeurs de mon être. Mais par-dessus toutes ces émotions, une sensation de bonheur et de force inexprimables semblait m'avoir transfiguré. J'étais assis, captivé par le charme de sa voix et la force entraînante de sa révélation.

A regret, je finis par me lever de mon siège et demandai la permission de me retirer.""Le Bab, souriant, me pria de me rasseoir et dit "si vous partez dans un tel état quiconque vous verra dira assurément: ce pauvre jeune homme a perdu la raison".Au même instant, l'horloge marquait deux heures et onze minutes après le coucher du soleil, dans la nuit du 23 mai 1844. Comme Mulla Husayn se préparait à partir, le Bab lieu déclara: "Cette nuit, cette heure même, seront célèbres dans l'avenir comme une des fêtes les plus grandes et les plus significatives."Cent années après, le 23 mai 1944, dans plus de huit cents communautés baha'ies établies dans le monde entier cette même heure fut commémorée comme étant l'aube d'un nouvel âge, le commencement d'une ère d'unité et de fraternité.En un siècle, à partir de la soirée marquant sa naissance, cette foi mondiale proclamée par le Bab s'était entendue dans la plupart des pays, groupant des êtres humains de toutes tendances, de toutes convictions religieuses, de toute couleur de peau.La renommée du Bab ne tarda pas à s'étendre au-delà du cercle de ses disciples. Elle parvint bientôt jusqu'aux autorités de l'Eglise et de l'Etat, qui s'inquiétèrent de l'enthousiasme avec lequel le peuple acceptait le message du Bab. Le clergé dirigea immédiatement ses attaques contre lui. Les savants et les orateurs les plus sages et les plus capables furent réunis afin de discuter avec lui et d'essayer de le confondre. De grands débats publics furent organisés à Shiraz dans l'espoir de discréditer le jeune prophète. Le gouverneur, le clergé, les chefs militaires et aussi le peuple y furent invités.Le Bab énonça des vérités si évidentes que, jour après jour, la foule de ses auditeurs augmentait.

La pureté de sa vie, à un âge où les passions sont les plus vives, impressionnait les personnes qui le rencontraient. Il était doué d'une éloquence et d'une audace extraordinaires. De ce fait, plutôt que de combler les espoirs du clergé, les débats organises par lui, au contraire, augmentèrent encore le prestige du Bab à leur détriment. Il y dénonça sans les ménager leurs vices et leur corruption ; Il prouva leur infidélité envers leur propre doctrine. Il les couvrit de honte pour leur genre de vie. Il les confondit au moyen de leur propre Livre sacré.Bientôt toute la Perse parla du Bab. Le Shah lui-même entreprit de vérifier la véracité des rapports le concernant. Il délégua Siyyid-i-Darabi, surnomme Vahid, à Shiraz pour y étudier en personne la question. Vahid fut choisi parce qu'on l'appelait "le plus érudit et le plus influent de tous les sujets du Shah". Vahid eut trois entrevues avec le Bab. Apres la première, il déclara à un ami: "En sa présence, je fis étalage à l'excès de mes propres connaissances. Il fut capable de donner en quelques mots une réponse à toutes mes questions."Par la suite, Vahid devait encore dire: "Aussitôt que j'étais introduit en sa présence, une sensation de crainte, que je ne pouvais réprimer, me saisissait subitement. Le Bab, constatant mon état, se leva de son siège, avança vers moi, et, me prenant par la main, me fit asseoir à ses côtés. "Demandez-moi, dit-il, tout ce que désire votre coeur. Je vous le révélerai volontiers.""Comme un enfant ne pouvant ni parler ni comprendre, je me sentais incapable de répondre.

Le Bab souriait tout en me regardant. Il dit :"Si je vous révèle les réponses aux questions que vous vous posez, reconnaîtrez-vous que mes paroles sont nées de l'esprit de Dieu. Admettrez-vous que mes propos ne sont en aucune façon empreints de magie et de sorcellerie?""Comment pourrais-je décrire cette scène d'inexprimable majesté? Les versets coulaient de sa plume avec une rapidité réellement surprenante. L'incroyable facilité de son écriture, le doux murmure de sa voix et la prodigieuse force de son style me stupéfièrent et me désorientèrent."Vahid résuma le rapport relatif à son enquête sur le Bab en disant: "Tel fut l'état de certitude auquel j'étais parvenu que rien ne pouvait ébranler ma confiance en la grandeur de sa cause."Lorsque le Shah en fut informé, il dit à son Premier ministre: "Nous avons été informé que Vahid est devenue un disciple du Bab; si cela est vrai, il nous incombe de cesser d'amoindrir la cause de ce jeune homme."Toujours trouble par la réponse de Vahid concernant l'enseignement du Bab, le Shah - ayant reçu sur ces entrefaites une lettre du Bab demandant une audience - ordonna que celui-ci soit convoqué à Téhéran.

Dans sa lettre, le Bab exprimait sa confiance dans la justice du roi et son souhait de venir participer dans la capitale à des conférences avec les prêtres de l'empire, en la présence du Shah, des autorités et du peuple. Le Bab offrait d'expliquer sa cause et le but poursuivi par lui. Il déclarait encore qu'il acceptait d'avance le jugement du Shah et que, en cas d'échec, il était prêt à sacrifier sa vie.

Le Bab n'arriva jamais a Téhéran, le Premier ministre, Haji Mirza Aqasi, redoutant les conséquences éventuelles d'une telle entrevue. Il craignait que le Bab ne puisse prendre une certaine influence sur le souverain et la population de la ville. Il parvint à convaincre le Shah qu'un sujet aussi dangereux devait être incarcéré à Mahku, une forteresse prison située dans les montagnes de l'Adhirbayjan.En route vers Mahku, le Bab approcha des portes de Tabriz.

La nouvelle de son arrivée remua le coeur des gens qui se portèrent à sa rencontre, impatients de souhaiter la bienvenue à un guide tellement aimé. Mais les autorités gouvernementales défendirent au peuple de l'approcher et de recevoir sa bénédiction.Lorsque le Bab traversa les rues de Tabriz, les clameurs de bienvenue de la multitude résonnaient de tous côtés. Le tumulte fut tel qu'un crieur reçut l'ordre de prévenir la population du danger auquel elle s'exposait. L'avertissement fut donné : "Quiconque essaiera d 'approcher le Bab, ou cherchera à le rencontrer, verra ses biens confisqués et sera immédiatement emprisonne."Une sourde agitation fut perceptible dans la ville tout au long du séjour du Bab Le coeur lourd, gonflé de sentiments mêlés de confusion et d'impuissance, le peuple regarda le prophète bien-aimé quitter Tabriz pour se rendre à la forteresse de Mahku. Les gens chuchotèrent entre eux comme l'avaient fait les disciples de Jésus quand ils le virent livré successivement a Caïphe et à Pilate: "S'il est le Promis, pourquoi est-il soumis aux caprices des hommes de la terre?"Le Bab fut confié à la garde d'Ali Khan, gardien de la forteresse aux quatre tours de pierre, couronnant le sommet d'une montagne située aux confins de la Russie, de la Turquie et de la Perse. Le Premier ministre était assuré que peu de personnes, si même il s'en trouvait une seule, oseraient s'aventurer à pénétrer dans ce pays sauvage. Les habitants de ces régions étant déjà hostiles au Bab, le Premier ministre escomptait que son internement forcé parmi des ennemis étoufferait la foi dès sa naissance et conduirait à son extinction. Il réalisa bientôt combien gravement il avait sous-estimé la force de l'influence du Bab L'hostilité des autochtones fut réduite par les manières affables du Bab Leurs coeurs furent adoucis par son amour pour eux. Leur vanité fut domptée par sa modestie. Leur opposition à son enseignement fondit par la sagesse de ses paroles. En dépit des mises en garde répétées du Premier ministre d'éviter de tomber sous le charme de Bab, même son gardien, Ali-Khan, commença à adoucir la sévérité de son emprisonnement.Bientôt des foules arrivèrent de partout pour rendre visite au Bab C'est pendant cette période qu'il composa son "Bayan" persan, le plus compréhensible de ses écrits. Dans ce livre, le Bab définit sa double mission : appeler les hommes à Dieu et annoncer la venue du Promis de tous les âges et de toutes les religions - un grand éducateur mondial dont la position était à ce point exaltée que selon les mots même du Bab: "mille lectures de Bayan ne pourront égaler la lecture d'un seul verset révélé par Lui, que Dieu fera se manifester". Le Premier ministre fut informé de l'affection que le peuple de Mahku, d'abord hostile envers le Bab, lui témoignait à présent. On lui rapporta l'affluence des pèlerins à la forteresse. Ceux qui avaient reçu l'ordre de surveiller la suite des événements rapportèrent au Premier ministre que le gardien, Ali-khan, avait été envoûté par le Bab qu'il traitait en hôte plutôt qu'en prisonnier. La crainte autant que la colère incitèrent le Premier ministre à ordonner le transfert immédiat du Bab à la forteresse de Chiriq, appelle "le mont de la douleur".Le Bab fit ses adieux au peuple de Mahku qui, au cours de sa captivité de neuf mois parmi eux, avait reconnu à un degré remarquable le pouvoir de sa personnalité et la grandeur de son caractère.Le Bab fut soumis à une réclusion plus rigoureuse et plus sévère à Chiriq. Le Premier ministre laissa des instructions strictes et explicites au gardien, Yahya Khan, selon lesquelles personne ne pouvait être admis en la présence du Bab Le gardien fut averti de tirer la leçon de l'échec d'Ali Khan à Mahku. Cependant, malgré cette claire menace contre sa propre sécurité, Yahya Khan se trouva dans l'incapacité d'obéir. Il ressentit bientôt la fascination de son prisonnier et oublia le devoir qu'il était supposé remplir, car l'appel du Bab avait subjugué son être tout entier.Même les Kurdes, qui habitaient à Chiriq, et dont le fanatisme et la haine excédaient ceux des habitants de Mahku, tombèrent sous l'influence transformante du Bab L'amour qui émanait de sa personne était une chose vivante. Comme Paul de Tarse avait été séduit par la chaleur captivante de Jésus, de la même façon quiconque approchait le Bab pénétrait dans un monde nouveau de joie et d'allégresse. Comme jadis les foules s'étaient groupées autour de Jésus sur le Mont des Oliviers, maintenant le peuple de la Perse, assoiffé et affamé, accourut vers la montagne de Chiriq.A peine ces nouvelles furent-elles connues dans la capitale, que le Premier ministre, furieux, exigea que le Bab soit immédiatement transféré à Tabriz. Il réunit en une conférence tous les dignitaires ecclésiastiques de cette ville afin de trouver un moyen adéquat pour mettre fin rapidement au pouvoir que le Bab exerçait sur le peuple.La nouvelle de l'arrivée imminente du Bab éveilla un tel enthousiasme parmi le peuple, que les autorités décidèrent de le garder dans un endroit situé hors des murs de la ville. Dès le lendemain, la foule assiégea l'entrée conduisant au lieu de la réunion, attendant impatiemment le moment où le visage du Bab pourrait être entrevu. Il y eut une telle cohue qu'un passage dû être frayé par la force, pour permettre au Bab d'avancer.Lorsque le Bab entra dans la salle, un grand silence descendit sur le peuple. Ce silence fut finalement rompu par le président de la réunion. "Qui prétendez-vous être", demanda-t-il au Bab, "et quel est le message que vous avez apporté?". Ponce Pilate avait demandé à Jésus: "Tu es donc roi?". Et Jésus répondit: "Tu le dis, je suis roi. Je suis né et je suis venu dans le monde pour rendre témoignage à la vérité. Quiconque est de la vérité, écoute ma voix."Le Bab répondit à l'assemblée: "Je suis… je suis… je suis le Promis. Je suis celui dont vous invoquez le nom depuis un millier d'années et à la mention de qui vous vous êtes levés, celui à l'avènement de qui vous avez aspiré, celui pour lequel vous avez prié Dieu de hâter l'heure de la révélation. En vérité je le dis, il incombe aux peuples de l'Est et de l'Ouest d'obéir à mes paroles et de rendre hommage à ma personne."Immédiatement après qu'il eut prononcé ces paroles, un silence profond tomba sur l'assistance. Un sentiment de crainte envahit tous ceux qui étaient présents. La pâleur de leur visage trahissait l'agitation de leur coeur.L'interrogatoire du Bab se poursuivit jusqu'à la fin pré arrangée. Cependant, une fois de plus, le but poursuivi par les autorités n'avait pas été atteint. Cette réunion avait encore davantage grandi le Bab aux yeux du peuple.Le Bab fut finalement livré au chef du tribunal religieux de Tabriz afin de subir la bastonnade.

Tel Jésus sous les verges, de même le Bab fut également soumis à la même humiliation pour sa revendication d'être un rédempteur des hommes. Onze fois, le chef du tribunal religieux le frappa aux pieds. Un de ces coups l'atteignit au visage. Le Dr Mc Cormick, un médecin anglais qui le soigna, relata leur rencontre de la manière suivante: "Il était un homme très doux et d'apparence délicate, assez petit de taille et très courtois. Il avait une voix douce et mélodieuse qui m'impressionna fortement. En réalité, toute son apparence et son comportement contribuaient à disposer chacun en sa faveur."Ses persécuteurs, en l'appelant à Tabriz, avaient cru fermement réussir à lui faire abandonner sa mission, par leurs menaces et meurs intimidations. Ils avaient échoue. Comme Jésus disant: "Mon enseignement n'est pas de moi, mais de celui qui m'a envoyé", de même le Bab fit comprendre que son message dépassait sa personne.La réunion de Tabriz avait finalement donné au Bab l'occasion d'exposer solennellement et en présence des autorités, les points essentiels de sa révélation. Il lui avait également été permis de réfuter, d'une façon claire et convaincante, les arguments de ses ennemis.La nouvelle de cette réunion se répandit rapidement à travers la Perse. Elle éveilla un zèle nouveau dans le coeur de ses adeptes. Ils redoublèrent d'efforts pour répandre ses enseignements. Une réaction de la part de ses adversaires s'ensuivit aussitôt: des persécutions d'une violence sans précédent sévirent dans tout le pays.A cette époque, me Shah succomba à la maladie et le Premier ministre fut démis de ses fonctions. Le successeur au trône fut le jeune Nasiri-Din-Mirza, âgé de 17 ans, et un nouveau Premier ministre assuma la charge de gouverner le pays. Son règne fut de fer, et sa haine pour le Bab, plus implacable que celle de son prédécesseur. Il déchaîna une attaque combinée des forces civiles et religieuses contre le Bab et sa foi.La nouvelle des souffrances endurées par ses adeptes parvint au Bab qui était retourné à la forteresse de Chiriq et le désola profondément. Une autre épreuve ne devait pas tarder à l'atteindre: son oncle bien-aimé, qui l'avait élevé, fut arrête à Téhéran et emprisonné en attendant son exécution.C'était ce même oncle qui l'avait servi avec dévotion durant toute sa vie et qui était devenu un de ses premiers et plus fervents disciples. Moins d'un an avant son arrestation, il avait rendu visite au Bab dans sa cellule de Chiriq et s'était ensuite rendu à Téhéran pour y enseigner la foi. Il y résida jusqu'au jour de son arrestation qui eut lieu en même temps que celle de treize autres disciples. Les quatorze prisonniers furent détenus dans la maison d'un notable influent de la ville. Ils subirent de nombreux sévices afin de les inciter à révéler les nom et adresse d'autres croyants. Le Premier ministre signa un décret édictant la peine de mort pour tous ceux qui, parmi eux, refuseraient de renier leur foi.Sept d'entre eux cédèrent et furent immédiatement libérés. Les sept autres sont connus maintenant comme "les sept martyrs de Téhéran". L'oncle du Bab, un des plus grands négociants de Shiraz, se trouvait parmi eux. Ses amis le pressèrent de renier sa foi et de sauver sa vie. Plusieurs négociants parmi les plus influents offrirent de payer une rançon. L'oncle du Bab refusa leur offre et fut finalement conduit devant le Premier ministre. "Certaines personnes ont plaidé en votre faveur", dit le Premier ministre, "d'éminents commerçants de Shiraz et de Téhéran m'offrent une rançon pour vous libérer. Un mot de rétractation vous permettra de retourner avec honneur dans votre ville natale."L'oncle du Bab, courageusement, répondit: "Votre Excellence, si je devais répudier les vérités contenues dans cette révélation, cela équivaudrait au rejet de toutes les révélations qui l'ont précédée. Le refus de reconnaître la mission du Bab constitue un reniement du caractère divin du message révélé par Muhammad, Jésus, Moïse, et tous les prophètes du passé."Le Premier ministre ne pouvait cacher son impatience devant l'attitude de l'oncle du Bab qui prononçait ainsi sa propre sentence de mort. Ce dernier continua: "Dieu sait que tout ce que j'ai appris et lu concernant ces messages divins, j'ai eu le privilège de le discerner dans ce jeune homme, mon parent bien-aimé, depuis sa première enfance jusqu'à ce jour, la trentième année de sa vie. Je vous demande seulement de me permettre d'être le premier à donner ma vie dans son sentier."Le Premier ministre fut stupéfait par une telle réponse. Sans dire un mot, il fit signe d'emmener l'oncle du Bab et de faire décapiter.Le deuxième martyr qui fut décapite s'appelait Mirza Qurban Ali. Il était l'ami de plusieurs seigneurs. La mère de Shah, en raison de son amitié pour Qurban Ali, dit au roi: "Cet homme n'est pas un adepte du Bab, il a été accusé à tort."Il fut convoque. "Vous êtes un érudit, un homme instruit. Vous n'appartenez pas a cette secte mal guidée. Une accusation fausse à été portée contre vous", lui dit-on. Qurban Ali répondit: "Je me considère comme un des adeptes et un des serviteurs du Bab, bien que j'ignore s'il m'ait ou non accepté comme tel." On essaya de le convaincre, lui laissant même entrevoir une récompense pécuniaire s'il acceptait. "Ma vie et mon sang ne comptent guère. Si le monde entier m'appartenait, et si je possédais mille vies, de mon plein gré, je les déposerais aux pieds de ses amis", déclara-t-il.Il fut ensuite conduit auprès du Premier ministre qui lui dit: "Depuis hier soir, j'ai reçu les plus puissantes autorités de l'Etat. Tous parlent en votre faveur. De ce que j'apprends concernant votre situation et l'influence que vos paroles exercent, vous n'êtes que de peu inférieur au Bab lui-même. Si vous aviez pris vous-même la direction de cette cause, cela eut été préférable à votre soumission envers quelqu'un qui vous est certainement inférieur en savoir."Qurban Ali répondit: "Tout le savoir que j'ai acquis m'a simplement conduit à m'incliner devant lui. Depuis que je suis devenue adulte, j'ai toujours considéré la justice et l'équité comme les principes dominant de ma vie. J'ai jugé le Bab équitablement avec mon esprit et mon coeur. Je suis arrivé à la conclusion que si ce jeune homme, dont le pouvoir transcendant est reconnu par ses ennemis comme par ses amis, était un imposteur, tous les prophètes de Dieu depuis les temps immémoriaux jusqu'à ce jour seraient la personnification même de la mauvaise foi."Ni les tentations d'aucune sorte, ni les menaces de mort n'eurent d'effet sur lui. Il déclara encore au Premier ministre: "Je suis assuré de la loyauté inconditionnelle de plus d'un millier d'admirateurs et il n'est pourtant pas en mon pouvoir de changer le coeur d'un seul d'entre eux. Le Bab cependant a prouvé son pouvoir de transformer les âmes les plus dégradées parmi ses compatriotes. Sur un millier de personnes comme moi, il a, seul et sans aide, exercé une telle influence que, même sans arriver en sa présence, ils ont rejeté leurs propres désirs et n'ont plus d'autre volonté que la sienne. Pleinement conscients de l'insuffisance du sacrifice consenti, ils aspirent à donner leur vie pour lui."Le Premier ministre hésita. "Que vos paroles soient inspirées par Dieu ou non, il me répugne de prononcer la sentence de mort contre quelqu'un de votre rang et de votre position.""Pourquoi hésiter", déclara Qurban Ali, "pour cela, je suis né. Voici venu le jour où je scellerai ma foi, en sa cause, par mon sang." Remarquant l'hésitation du Premier ministre, il ajouta très vite: "N'hésitez pas. Soyez assuré que je ne vous blâmerai jamais pour votre acte; plus tôt vous me décapiterez, plus grande sera ma gratitude envers vous."Le Premier ministre pâlit. "Emmenez-le d'ici", cria-t-il, "emmenez-le, car dans un instant, il m'aura envoûté à mon tour."Qurban Ali sourit doucement. "Non", dit-il, "vous êtes à l'abri de cette magie, elle ne peut captiver que ceux qui ont le coeur pur."Furieux, le Premier ministre se leva. Tout tremblant de colère, il hurla: "Rien si ce n'est le tranchant d'une épée ne pourra réduire au silence ces gens égarés." Se tournant vers les exécuteurs, il dit: "Cela suffit, il est inutile de m'amener d'autres membres de cette secte détestable. Les mots sont impuissants pour briser leur inébranlable obstination. Quiconque accepte de renier sa foi, relâchez-le; quant aux autres, décapitez-les. Je ne veux plus en voir un seul devant moi".La tragique nouvelle du sort des sept martyrs de Téhéran apporta une tristesse incommensurable au coeur du Bab. A ses compagnons, il confia que cet événement marquait le prélude de sa propre mort qui allait survenir dans un avenir proche.Le Premier ministre décida de frapper la tête même de la foi. Il pensa que la disparition du Bab pourrait restaurer l'ordre ancien. Il dévoila ses plans à ses conseillers. "Rien d'autre, excepté l'exécution publique de Bab, ne pourra aider ce pays égaré à retrouver la paix et la tranquillité." Il ordonna que le Bab soit amené à Tabriz une seconde fois.Quarante jours avant l'arrivée de cette ordonnance, le Bab réunit tous les documents et les écrits en sa possession. Il les plaça dans une cassette avec son écritoire et sa bague et prit les dispositions en vue de leur conservation. Abdu'l-Karim, à qui ils furent finalement confiés, informa ses co-disciples que tout ce qu'il pouvait révéler de la lettre du Bab concernant le contenue de la cassette, était l'ordre de la remettre entre les mains de Baha'u'llah, un des defenders les plus capables du Bab à Téhéran Finalement, le Bab fut escorte vers la ville de Tabriz qui devait devenir la scène de son martyre. Jamais la ville n'avait connu de troubles aussi violents. Comme le Bab était conduit à travers la cour des casernes vers sa cellule, un jeune homme de dix-huit ans qui s'était frayé un passage à travers la foule, se précipita vers lui, insouciant du danger auquel il s'exposait. Il avait le visage hagard, les pieds nus et la chevelure en désordre. Il se jeta aux pieds du Bab, l'implorant: "Ne m'écarte pas de toi, ô maître, où que tu ailles, fais que je puisse te suivre". Rappelant les paroles de Jésus au voleur sur la croix, le Bab lui répondit: "Muhammed Ali, lève-toi et sois assuré que tu seras près de moi. Demain, tu seras le témoin de ce que Dieu a ordonné."Cette nuit-là, le visage du Bab rayonnait de joie, une joie telle que n'en avait jamais témoigné sa personne. Indifférent au tumulte autour de lui, il s'entretenait gaiement avec ses compagnons. Les soucis qui l'avaient accablé si lourdement, semblaient s'être dissipés complètement. Pour la dernière fois, le Bab vit le soleil se lever sur les sables de sa Perse natale. Il était engagé dans une conversation confidentielle avec un de ses adeptes qui lui servait de secrétaire, lorsqu'il fut interrompu par un officier du gouvernement. Le fonctionnaire, frère du Premier ministre, venait le chercher pour le conduire devant les principaux docteurs de la loi à Tabriz afin d'obtenir d'eux l'autorisation de l'exécuter.Le Bab réprimanda le fonctionnaire pour son interruption et tint fermement la main de son secrétaire dans la sienne: "Pas avant que je lui aie dit toutes les choses que j'ai à lui dire. Aucune puissance terrestre ne pourra me faire taire. Quand bien même le monde entier serait armé contre moi, il serait impuissant à m'empêcher de faire connaître mes intentions jusqu'à la dernière parole."Le fonctionnaire fut stupéfait de cette témérité de la part d'un prisonnier. Il insista pour que le Bab l'accompagnât. Les portes de la caserne s'ouvrirent et le Bab fut introduit dans la cour sans avoir terminé sa conversation.Aux yeux du peuple de Tabriz, le Bab ne triomphait plus. La double campagne d'opposition menée par l'Etat et l'Eglise produisait ses effets. La foule remplissait les rues. Les hommes grimpaient sur les épaules les uns des autres pour voir celui qui faisait l'objet de toutes les conversations. Ainsi Jésus était entré dans Jérusalem sous les acclamations, sa route couverte de palmes, pour être raillé et dénigré avant la fin de la semaine. De même, la gloire qui avait entouré le Bab, lors de sa première visite à Tabriz, était oubliée. Cette fois-ci, la foule, remuante et excitée, lui lançait des insultes... Il fut poursuivi à travers les rues et frappé au visage. Quand un projectile lancé par la foule le touchait, les gardes et l'assistance éclataient de rire.Dès que le fonctionnaire eut obtenu la sentence de mort, il livra le Bab entre les mains de Sam Khan, commandant du régiment arménien chargé de son exécution.L'attitude de son prisonnier affecta profondément Sam Khan. Il fut saisi par la crainte que son acte ne lui attire la colère de Dieu. Il s'approcha du Bab et lui dit: "Je pratique la foi chrétienne et je ne vous veux aucun mal. Si votre cause est celle de la vérité, dégagez-moi de l'obligation de verser votre sang.""Suivez vos instructions", répondit le Bab, "et si vos intentions sont sincères, le Tout-puissant vous délivrera de votre angoisse."Sam Khan donna l'ordre à ses hommes d'enfoncer un clou dans le pilier qui séparait les portes de la caserne. Ils y attachèrent les cordes auxquelles le Bab et son compagnon Muhammad Ali devaient être suspendus séparémentLe Bab restait silencieux. Son beau et pâle visage encadré d'une barbe noire et d'une petit moustache, son apparence et ses manières raffinées, ses mains blanches et délicates, ses vêtements simples mais propres, tout semblait déplacé au milieu de cette scène d'horreur et de violence.Muhammad Ali implora Sam Khan de le placer de telle manière que son corps pût protéger celui de Bab On l'attacha de telle sorte que sa tête reposa sur la poitrine de son maître.Environ dix mille personnes se pressaient sur les toits de maisons environnantes, toutes avides de voir le spectacle, et cependant prêtes à changer d'attitude au premier signe de Bab. Comme la foule qui se pressait au Golgotha, le dénigrant, secouant la tête, disant: "Sauve-toi, si tu es le Fils de Dieu, descends de la croix", de même le peuple de Tabriz raillait le Bab et se moquait de son impuissance.Dès que le Bab et son compagnon furent attachés au poteau, le régiment s'aligna sur trois rangs. Il fut impossible à Sam Khan de retarder plus longtemps l'exécution. Il donna l'ordre de tirer. Chaque rang, à tour de rôle, ouvrit le feu jusqu'à ce que tout le régiment ait tiré sa rafale de balles.La fumée de la salve des sept cent cinquante fusils fut telle que le ciel ensoleillé de midi s'obscurcit. Dès que le nuage de fumée fut dissipé, la foule contempla une scène que la raison pouvait difficilement accepter. Devant elle, vivant et indemne, se tenait le compagnon du Bab, Muhammad Ali. Le Bab lui-même avait disparu. Les cordes auxquelles ils avaient été suspendus étaient déchiquetées par les balles, mais leurs corps avaient échappé aux charges des fusils.Les soldats tentèrent de calmer la foule. Le fonctionnaire en chef entreprit une recherche effrénée du Bab Il le trouva assis dans la même chambre qu'il avait occupée la nuit précédente. Il terminait la conversation qui avait été interrompue le matin par le fonctionnaire. "J'ai terminé mon entretien avec mon secrétaire", lui dit le Bab, "vous pouvez maintenant remplir votre tâche."Le fonctionnaire était trop bouleversé pour répliquer. Il se rappela les paroles que le Bab lui avait dites le matin: "Même si le monde entier s'armait contre moi, il serait impuissant à m'empêcher de faire connaître mes intentions jusqu'à la dernière parole." Le fonctionnaire refusa de remplir sa tâche. Il quitta les lieux et démissionna de son poste.Pendant ce temps, dans la cour, afin de calmer la foule, les soldats montraient les cordes rompues par les balles . Les sept cent cinquante décharges avaient réduit les cordes en fragments et avaient libéré les deux prisonniers.A.L.M. Nicolas, un savant européen, écrivit à propos de cet épisode: "C'était une chose unique dans les annales de l'histoire de l'humanité. Les balles rompirent leurs liens et les délivrèrent sans une égratignure." M.C. Huart, un écrivain français déclara: "C'était un véritable miracle … Ils furent délivrés sans un écorchure."Sam Khan se rappela également les mots que le Bab lui avait dits: "Si vos intentions sont sincères, le Tout-puissant vous délivrera de votre angoisse." Il ordonna à son régiment de quitter immédiatement la cour de la caserne. Il informa les autorités qu'il refusait désormais d'associer sa personne ou son régiment à tout acte pouvant causer le moindre mal au Bab, même si ce refus devait se traduire par la perte de sa vie. Apres le départ de Sam Khan, le colonel des gardes du corps se porta volontaire pour exécuter l'ordre. Une deuxième fois, le Bab et son compagnon furent liés au poteau fatal tandis que le peloton d'exécution se reformait. Au moment où il se préparait pour la décharge finale, le Bab prononça ses dernières paroles à l'intention de la foule qui le regardait: "Si vous aviez cru en moi, ô génération rebelle, chacun de vous aurait suivi l'exemple de ce jeune homme, qui prend rang au-dessus de la plupart d'entre vous, et vous auriez accepté de donner votre vie dans mon sentier. Le jour viendra où vous me reconnaîtrez; ce jour-la, je ne serai plus parme vous." Le régiment fit feu. Le Bab et son compagnon donnèrent leur vie alors que les balles frappaient leur corps. Comme Jésus expirant sur la croix pour que les hommes puissent revenir à Dieu, le Bab exhala son dernier souffle, attaché contre le mur d'une caserne dans la ville de Tabriz.Le martyre du Bab eut lieu à midi, le dimanche 9 juillet 1850, trente années après sa naissance à Shiraz. Dans toute l'histoire connue, seule la passion de Jésus-Christ peut être mise en parallèle avec le bref et tragique ministère du Bab Il existe une similitude frappante dans les traits distinctifs de leur existence. La jeunesse et l'humilité ; l'inexorable et dramatique progression selon laquelle leur ministère atteignit son apogée ; la hardiesse avec laquelle ils défièrent les conventions établies par le temps, les lois et les rites des religions au sein desquelles ils naquirent; le rôle que la hiérarchie religieuses joua comme instigateur principal des outrages qu'ils durent subir; les interrogatoires auxquels ils furent soumis; la flagellation qui leur fut infligée; les humiliations amoncelées sur eux; la soudaineté de leur arrestation; et finalement l'ignominie du pilori sous les regards d'une foule hostile.Dans son livre "The Gleam" (Le Rayon), Sir Francis Younghusband écrit: "Sa vie doit être un de ces événements parmi ceux survenus dans les cent dernières années, qui mérite vraiment que nous l'étudiions." Et Edouard Granville Browne, le fameux érudit de Cambridge , de son côté, relate: "Qui pourrait s'empêcher d'être attire par la noblesse du Bab Sa vie marquée de souffrances et de persécutions; la pureté de sa conduite et de sa jeunesse; son courage et sa patience à supporter la mauvaise fortune sans se plaindre et, avant tout, sa mort tragique, tout concourt à éveiller notre sympathie en faveur du jeune prophète de Shiraz".Finalement le clergé et les fonctionnaires s'imaginèrent avoir étouffé la vie de la cause qu'ils avaient si longtemps combattue. Le Bab n'était plus. Ses principaux disciples avaient disparu. L'ensemble de ses adeptes à travers le pays fut progressivement dispersé. En moins de trois années, la cause pour laquelle le Bab avait donné sa vie semblait bien près de disparaître. Pourtant, l'abîme d'obscurité et de désespoir dans lequel la cause du Bab semblait sombrer, en réalité était la situation même pour laquelle il avait longuement préparé ses successeurs. Constamment, il leur avait répété qu'il n'était que l'humble précurseur d'un messager d'une grandeur incomparable. Dans son livre, le Bayan, le Bab avait écrit: "De tous les hommages que j'ai rendus à Celui qui doit venir après moi, le plus grand est celui de ma confession écrite, qu'aucune de mes paroles ne peut le décrire d'une façon adéquate ni aucune référence à son sujet se trouvant dans mon livre, le Bayan, ne peut rendre justice à sa cause."Du sein de l'obscurité qui submergeait la foi du Bab, la figure de Baha'u'llah restait le seul espoir d'une communauté sans berger, Baha'u'llah à qui le Bab avait envoyé la cassette contenant ses affaires personnelles et ses écrits.La clarté de vues, les traits de courage et de sagacité que Baha'u'llah avait montrés à plus d'une occasion depuis qu'il s'était levé en champion de la cause du Bab le désignaient naturellement pour prendre en main les destinées d'une foi en voie de disparition.Pourtant, même cet espoir sembla être enlève aux croyants, car bientôt Baha'u'llah fut emprisonné, dépouillé de ses possessions et envoyé en exil à Bagdad en Irak.Le Shah et le Premier ministre pouvaient dès lors se réjouir. Selon les dires de leurs conseillers, ils n'entendraient plus parler du Bab ou de sa foi. Elle tomberait facilement dans l'oubli.Mais, une fois de plus, ils avaient sous-estimé le caractère de cette foi et la source de son pouvoir. Le Bab, dans son livre, le Bayan, avait promis à ses successeurs que Celui que Dieu ferait se manifester apparaîtrait dix-neuf années après la date de sa propre déclaration. En 1863, dans un jardin situé aux environs de la ville de Bagdad, dix-neuf années après cette soirée à Shiraz au cours de laquelle le Bab avait parlé à Mulla Husayn, Baha'u'llah déclara au monde qu'il était la manifestation de Dieu annoncée par le BabLa cause pour laquelle le Bab avait donné sa vie ne semblait plus se trouver au bord de l'effacement. A l'aube venait dès lors de succéder la lumière du jour. L'ère promise à la terre depuis le début des temps, le jour de l'unité et de la fraternité de tous les êtres humains, avait été inaugurée par son sacrifice.

William B. SearsTraduit par F. Daenen - Editeur : Maison d'Edition Baha'ies, Bruxelles

The Bab (1819-1850)


A MIRACLE



A young man was being led captive through the crowded streets.

His neck was encased in a huge iron collar.
Long ropes were fastened to the collar by means of which he was
pulled through the rows of people lining the streets. When he faltered in his steps, the
guards savagely jerked him on his way, or delivered a brutal well-aimed kick.
Occasionally someone would dart out of the crowd, break through the guards, and
strike the young man with a fist or a stick. Cheers of delight from the crowd
accompanied each successful attack. When a stone or a piece of refuse, hurled from the
mob, struck the young captive in the face, the guards and the crowd would burst into
laughter. 'Rescue yourself, O great hero!' one of the pursuers called mockingly. 'Break
asunder your bonds! produce for us a miracle!' Then he spat in derision at the silent
figure. The young man was led at last to his place of execution. It was twelve o'clock
noon. In the barracks' square of a sun-baked city, the firing-squad was assembled. The
blazing summer sun flashed from the barrels of the raised muskets, pointed at the young
man's breast. The soldiers awaited the command to fire and to take his life. The crowd
leaned forward expectantly, hoping to witness, even at this last moment, a miracle.

Late comers were still pouring into the public square. Thousands swarmed along the
adjoining rooftops looking down upon the scene of death, all eager for one last look at
this strange young man who, in six short years, had so troubled their country. He was
either good or evil, they were not sure which it was. Yet he seemed so young to die,
barely thirty. Now that the end had come, this victim of their hatred and persecution did


not seem dangerous at all. The crowd was disappointed. They had come, hungering for
drama, and he was failing them. The young man was a strange paradox: helpless yet
confident. There was a look of contentment, even of eagerness, on his handsome face as
he gazed into the menacing barrels of the seven hundred and fifty cocked rifles.

The guns were raised. The command was given. 'Fire!'

In turn, each of the three columns of two hundred and fifty men opened fire upon the
young man, until the entire regiment had discharged its volley of bullets. There were
over ten thousand eye-witnesses to the spectacle that followed. Several historical
accounts have been preserved. One of these states:

'The smoke of the firing of the seven hundred and fifty rifles was such as to turn the light
of the noonday sun into darkness. ...As soon as the cloud of smoke had cleared away, an
astounded multitude (looked) upon a scene which their eyes could scarcely believe. ...The
cords with which (the young man had been) suspended had been rent in pieces by the
bullets, yet (his) body had miraculously escaped the volleys.' [The Dawnbreakers, Nabil,
pp. 512-513.]

M. C. Huart, a French author, and a Christian, also wrote an account of this episode, 'The
soldiers in order to quiet the excitement of the crowd...showed the cords broken by the
bullets, implying that no miracle had really taken place.' [La religion de Bab, Clement
Huart, 1889, pp. 3-4.]
The soldiers picked up the fragments of rope. They held them up to the milling crowd.
The mob was becoming dangerous, and the soldiers wished to pacify them.

'The musket-balls have shattered the ropes into pieces,' their actions explained. 'This is
what freed him. It is nothing more than this. It is no miracle.'

M. C. Huart, in further describing that remarkable event, states: 'Amazing to believe, the
bullets had not struck the condemned but, on the contrary, had broken the bonds and he
was delivered. It was a real miracle.' [La religion de Bab, Clement Huart, 1889, pp. 3-4.]
A.-L.-M. Nicholas, the famous European scholar, also recorded this spectacle.

'An extraordinary thing happened,' he said, 'unique in the annals of the history of
humanity...the bullets cut the cords that held (him) and he fell on his feet without a
scratch.
' [Seyyed Ali Mohammed dit le Bab, A.L.M. Nicolas, 1905, p. 375.]



VIDEO :THE MIRACLE










The Mission of The Báb: Retrospective,

The Mission
of The Báb: Retrospective, 1844-1994


Douglas Martin considers the Revelation of the Báb in the context of its impact on Western writers of the period and its subsequent influence. This article first appeared in the 1994-95 edition of The Bahá'í World, pp. 193-225.

The year 1994 marked the 150th anniversary of the declaration of His mission by the Báb (Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad, 1819-1850), one of the two Founders of the Bahá'í Faith. The moment invites an attempt to gain an overview of the extraordinary historical consequences that have flowed from an event little noticed at the time outside the confines of the remote and decadent society within which it occurred.


The Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel
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The first half of the nineteenth century was a period of messianic expectation in the Islamic world, as was the case in many parts of Christendom. In Persia a wave of millenialist enthusiasm had swept many in the religiously educated class of Shí`ih Muslim society, focused on belief that the fulfillment of prophecies in the Qur'án and the Islamic traditions was at hand. It was to one such ardent seeker1 that, on the night of 22-23 May 1844, the Báb (a title meaning "Gate") announced that He was the Bearer of a Divine Revelation destined not only to transform Islam but to set a new direction for the spiritual life of humankind.

During the decade that followed, mounting opposition from both clergy and state brought about the martyrdom of the Báb, the massacre of His leading disciples and of several thousands of His followers, and the virtual extinction of the religious system that He had founded. Out of these harrowing years, however, emerged a successor movement, the Bahá'í Faith, that has since spread throughout the planet and established its claim to represent a new and independent world religion.

It is to Bahá'u'lláh (Mírzá Husayn-`Alí, 1817-1892), that the worldwide Bahá'í community looks as the source of its spiritual and social teachings, the authority for the laws and institutions that shape its life, and the vision of unity that has today made it one of the most geographically widespread and ethnically diverse of organized bodies of people on the planet. It is from Bahá'u'lláh that the Faith derives its name and toward Whose resting place in the Holy Land that the millions of Bahá'ís around the world daily direct their thoughts when they turn to God in prayer.

These circumstances in no way diminish, however, the fact that the new Faith was born amid the bloody and terrible magnificence surrounding the Báb's brief mission, nor that the inspiration for its worldwide spread has been the spirit of self-sacrifice that Bahá'ís find in His life and the lives of the heroic band that followed Him. Prayers revealed by the Báb and passages from His voluminous writings are part of the devotional life of Bahá'ís everywhere. The events of His mission are commemorated as annual holy days in tens of thousands of local Bahá'í communities.2 On the slopes of Mount Carmel, the golden-domed Shrine where His mortal remains are buried dominates the great complex of monumental buildings and gardens constituting the administrative center of the Faith's international activities.

In contemporary public awareness of the Bahá'í community and its activities, however, the life and person of Bahá'u'lláh have largely overshadowed those of the Báb. In a sense, it is natural that this should be the case, given the primary role of Bahá'u'lláh as the fulfillment of the Báb's promises and the Architect of the Faith's achievements. To some extent, however, this circumstance also reflects the painfully slow emergence of the new religion from obscurity onto the stage of history. In a perceptive comment on the subject, the British historian Arnold Toynbee compared the level of appreciation of the Bahá'í Faith in most Western lands with the similarly limited impression that the mission of Jesus Christ had succeeded in making on the educated class in the Roman Empire some 300 years after His death.3 Since most of the public activity of the Bahá'í community over the past several decades has focused on the demanding task of presenting Bahá'u'lláh's message, and elaborating the implications of its social teachings for the life of society, the Faith's nineteenth-century Persian origins have tended to become temporarily eclipsed in the public mind.


Pilgrims approaching the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel where the remains of the Báb, secretly carried out of Persia following His execution in 1850, were interred by `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1909.
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Indeed, Bahá'ís, too, are challenged by the implications of the extraordinary idea that our age has witnessed the appearance of two almost contemporaneous Messengers of God. Bahá'u'lláh describes the phenomenon as one of the distinguishing characteristics of the new religion and as a mystery central to the plan of God for the unification of humankind and the establishment of a global civilization.4

Fundamental to the Bahá'í conception of the evolution of civilization is an analogy to be found in the writings of both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. It draws a parallel between the process by which the human race has gradually been civilized and that whereby each one of its individual members passes through the successive stages of infancy, childhood, and adolescence to adulthood. The idea throws a measure of light on the relationship which Bahá'ís see between the missions of the two Founders of their religion.

Both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh--the former implicitly and the latter explicitly--describe the human race as standing now on the brink of its collective maturity. Apart from the Báb's role as a Messenger of God, His advent marks the fruition of the process of the refining of human nature which thousands of years of Divine revelation have cultivated. It can be viewed, in that sense, as the gateway through which humankind must pass as it takes up the responsibilities of maturity. Its brevity itself seems symbolic of the relative suddenness of the transition.5

At the individual level, no sooner does one cross the critical threshold of maturity in his or her development than the challenges and opportunities of adulthood beckon. The emerging potentialities of human life must now find expression through the long years of responsibility and achievement: they must become actualized through marriage, a profession and family, and service to society. In the collective life of humanity, it is the mission of Bahá'u'lláh, the universal Messenger of God anticipated in the scriptures of all the world's religions, to seize up our age's emerging consciousness of universal brotherhood and to generate the unity of thought and of collective action that will be the distinguishing characteristic of the maturity of the race. This alone can lay the foundations of global civilization.


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Even as late as the end of the nineteenth century, however, it was the Báb who figured as the central Personality of the new religion among most of those Westerners who had become aware of its existence. Writing in the American periodical Forum in 1925, the French literary critic Jules Bois remembered the extraordinary impact which the story of the Báb continued to have on educated opinion in Europe as the nineteenth century closed:

All Europe was stirred to pity and indignation.... Among the littérateurs of my generation, in the Paris of 1890, the martyrdom of the Báb was still as fresh a topic as had been the first news of His death [in 1850]. We wrote poems about Him. Sarah Bernhardt entreated Catulle Mendès for a play on the theme of this historic tragedy.6

Writers as diverse as Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, Edward Granville Browne, Ernest Renan, Aleksandr Tumanskiy, A.L.M. Nicolas, Viktor Rosen, Clément Huart, George Curzon, Matthew Arnold, and Leo Tolstoy were affected by the spiritual drama that had unfolded in Persia during the middle years of the nineteenth century. Not until the early part of our own century did the name the "Bahá'í Cause," which the new religion had already adopted for itself as early as the 1860s, replace the designation of "Bábí movement" in general usage in the West.7

That this should have been the case was no doubt a reflection of the degree to which the brief but incandescent life of the Báb seemed to catch up and embody cultural ideals that had dominated European thought during the first half of the nineteenth century, and which exercised a powerful influence on the Western imagination for many decades thereafter. The concept commonly used to describe the course of Europe's cultural and intellectual development during the first five or six decades of the nineteenth century is Romanticism. By the century's beginning, European thought had begun to look beyond its preoccupation with the arid rationalism and mechanistic certainties of the Enlightenment toward an exploration of other dimensions of existence: the aesthetic, the emotional, the intuitive, the mystical, the "natural," the "irrational." Literature, philosophy, history, music, and art all responded strongly and gradually exerted a sympathetic influence on the popular mind.


French scholar A.L.M. Nicolas, authority on the Bábi movement.
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In England, where the tendency was already gathering force as the century opened, one effect was to produce perhaps the most spectacular outpouring of lyrical poetry that the language has ever known. Over the next two to three decades these early insights were to find powerful echoes throughout Western Europe. A new order of things, a whole new world, lay within reach, if man would only dare what was needed. Liberated by the intellectual upheaval of the preceding decades, poets, artists and musicians conceived of themselves as the voice of immense creative capacities latent in human consciousness and seeking expression; as "prophets" shaping a new conception of human nature and human society. With the validity of traditional religion now shrouded in doubt, mythical figures and events from the classical past were summoned up to serve as vehicles for this heroic Ideal:



To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than Death or Night;
To defy Power which seems Omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope, till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates...
This alone is Life, Joy, Empire and Victory.8

The same longings had awakened in America in the decades immediately preceding the Civil War and were to leave an indelible imprint on public consciousness. All of the transcendentalists became deeply attracted by the mystical literature of the Orient: the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, and the Upanishads, as well as the works of the major Islamic poets, Rumí, Hafez, and Sa'adí. The effect can be appreciated in such influential writings of Emerson as the Divinity School Address:

I look for the hour when that supreme Beauty which ravished the souls of those eastern Men, and chiefly those of the Hebrews, and through their lips spoke oracles to all time, shall speak in the West also... I look for the new Teacher that shall follow so far those shining laws that He shall see them come full circle;... shall see the world to be the mirror of the soul; shall see the identity of the law of gravitation with purity of heart; and shall show... that Duty is one thing with Science, with Beauty, and with Joy.9

As the century advanced, the early Romantic optimism found itself increasingly mired in the successive disappointments and defeats of the revolutionary fervor it had helped arouse. Under the pressure of scientific and technological change, the culture of philosophical materialism to which enlightenment speculation had originally given rise gradually consolidated itself. The wars and revolutionary upheavals of the middle years of the century contributed further to a mood of "realism," a recognition that great ideals must somehow be reconciled with the obdurate circumstances of human nature.

Even in the relatively sober atmosphere of Victorian public discourse, however, Romantic yearnings retained a potent influence in Western consciousness. They produced a susceptibility to spiritual impulses which, while different from that which had characterized the opening decades of the century, now affected a broad public. If the revolutionary figure of Prometheus no longer spoke to English perceptions of the age, the Arthurian legend caught up the popular hope, blending youthful idealism with the insights of maturity, and capturing the imagination of millions precisely on that account:

The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.10

It is hardly surprising that, on minds formed in this cultural milieu, the figure of the Báb should exert a compelling fascination, as Westerners became acquainted with His story in the latter years of the century. Particularly appealing was the purity of His life, an unshadowed nobility of character that had won the hearts of many among His fellow countrymen who had come as doubters or even enemies and stayed to lay down their lives in His cause. Words which the Báb addressed to the first group of His disciples suggest the nature of the moral standards He held up as goals for those who responded to His call:

Purge your hearts of worldly desires, and let angelic virtues be your adorning.... The days when idle worship was deemed sufficient are ended. The time is come when naught but the purest motive, supported by deeds of stainless purity, can ascend to the throne of the Most High and be acceptable unto Him.... Beseech the Lord your God to grant that no earthly entanglements, no worldly affections, no ephemeral pursuits, may tarnish the purity, or embitter the sweetness, of that grace which flows through you.11

Purity of heart was coupled with a courage and willingness for self-sacrifice that Western observers found deeply inspiring. The commentaries of Ernest Renan and others drew the inescapable parallel with the life of Jesus Christ. As the extraordinary drama of His final moments convincingly demonstrated,12 the Báb could have at any moment saved Himself and achieved mastery over those who persecuted Him by taking advantage of the folly of His adversaries and the superstition of the general populace. He scorned to do so, and accepted death at the hands of His enemies only when satisfied that His mission had been completed in its entirety and in conformity with the Will of God. His followers, who had divested themselves of all earthly attachments and advantages, were barbarously massacred by adversaries who had sworn on the Qur'án to spare their lives and their honor, and who shamefully abused their wives and children after their deaths. Renan writes:

Des milliers de martyrs sont accourus pour lui avec l'allé-gresse au devant de la mort. Un jour sans pareil peut-être dans l'histoire du monde fut celui de la grande boucherie qui se fit des Bábís, à Téhéran. "On vit ce jour-là dans les rues et les bazars de Téhéran," dit un narrateur qui a tout su d'original, "un spectacle que la population semble devoir n'oublier jamais.... Enfants et femmes s'avançaient en chantant un verset qui dit: En vérité nous venons de Dieu et nous retournons à Lui."13

Purity of heart and moral courage were matched by an idealism with which most Western observers could also readily identify. By the nineteenth century, the Persia to which the Báb addressed Himself and which had once been one of the world's great civilizations, had sunk to an object of despair and contempt among foreign visitors. A population ignorant, apathetic, and superstitious in the extreme was the prey of a profoundly corrupt Muslim clergy and the brutal regime of the Qájár shahs. Shí`ih Islam had, for the most part, degenerated into a mass of superstitions and mindless legalisms. Security of life and property depended entirely on the whims of those in authority.


Cambridge scholar E.G. Browne, attired in Persian dress.
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Such was the society that the Báb summoned to reflection and self-discipline. A new age had dawned; God demanded purity of heart rather than religious formulae, an inner condition that must be matched by cleanliness in all aspects of daily life; truth was a goal to be won not by blind imitation but by personal effort, prayer, meditation, and detachment from the appetites. The nature of the accounts which Western writers like Gobineau, Browne, and Nicolas were later to hear from surviving followers of the Báb can be appreciated from the words in which Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í described the effect on him of his first meeting with the Báb:

I felt possessed of such courage and power that were the world, all its peoples and its potentates, to rise against me, I would, alone and undaunted, withstand their onslaught. The universe seemed but a handful of dust in my grasp. I seemed to be the Voice of Gabriel personified, calling unto all mankind: "Awake, for, lo! the morning Light has broken."14

European observers, visiting the country long after the Báb's martyrdom, were struck by the moral distinction achieved by Persia's Bahá'í community. Explaining to Western readers the success of Bahá'í teaching activities among the Persian population, in contrast to the ineffectual efforts of Christian missionaries, E.G. Browne said:

To the Western observer, however, it is the complete sincerity of the Bábís [sic], their fearless disregard of death and torture undergone for the sake of their religion, their certain conviction as to the truth of their faith, their generally admirable conduct towards mankind and especially towards their fellow-believers, which constitutes their strongest claim on his attention.15

The figure of the Báb appealed strongly also to aesthetic sensibilities which Romanticism had awakened. Apart from those of His countrymen whose positions were threatened by His mission, surviving accounts by all who met Him agree in their description of the extraordinary beauty of His person and of His physical movements. His voice, particularly when chanting the tablets and prayers He revealed, possessed a sweetness that captivated the heart. Even His clothing and the furnishings of His simple house were marked by a degree of refinement that seemed to reflect the inner spiritual beauty that so powerfully attracted His visitors.

Particular reference must be made to the originality of the Báb's thought and the manner in which He chose to express it. Throughout all the vicissitudes of the nineteenth century, the European mind had continued to cling to the ideal of the `man of destiny' who, through the sheer creative force of his untrammeled genius, could set a new course in human affairs. At the beginning of the century, Napoleon Bonaparte had seemed to represent such a phenomenon, and not even the disillusionment that had followed his betrayal of the ideal had discouraged the powerful current of individualism that was one of the Romantic movement's principal legacies to the century and, indeed, to our own.

Out of the Báb's writings emerges a sweeping new approach to religious truth. Its sheer boldness was one of the principal reasons for the violence of the opposition that His work aroused among the obscurantist Muslim clergy who dominated all serious discourse in nineteenth-century Persia. These challenging concepts were matched by the highly innovative character of the language in which they were communicated.

In its literary form, Arabic possesses an almost hypnotic beauty--a beauty which, in the language of the Qur'án, attains levels of the sublime which Muslims of all ages have regarded as beyond imitation by mortal man. For all Muslims, regardless of their sect, culture, or nation, Arabic is the language of Revelation par excellence. The proof of the Divine origin of the Qur'án lay not chiefly in its character as literature, but in the power its verses possessed to change human behavior and atti-tudes. Although, like Jesus and Muhammad before Him, the Báb had little formal schooling, He used both Arabic and His native Persian, alternately, as the themes of His discourse required.

To His hearers, the most dramatic sign of the Báb's spiritual authority was that, for the first time in more than twelve centuries, human ears were privileged to hear again the inimitable accents of Revelation. Indeed, in one important respect, the Qur'án was far surpassed. Tablets, meditations, and prayers of thrilling power flowed effortlessly from the lips of the Báb. In one extraordinary period of two days, His writings exceeded in quantity the entire text of the Qur'án, which represented the fruit of 23 years of Muhammad's prophetic output. No one among His ecclesiastical opponents ventured to take up His public challenge: "Verily We have made the revelation of verses to be a testimony for Our message to you." [i.e., In the Qur'án God had explicitly established the "miracle" of the Book's power as His sole proof.] "Can ye produce a single letter to match these verses? Bring forth, then, your proofs...."16

Moreover, despite His ability to use traditional Arabic forms when He chose to do so, the Báb showed no hesitancy in abandoning these conventions as the requirements of His message dictated. He resorted freely to neologisms, new grammatical constructions, and other variants on accepted speech whenever He found existing terms inadequate vehicles for the revolutionary new conception of spiritual reality He vigorously advanced. Rebuked by learned Shí`ih mujtahids at His trial in Tabríz (1848) for violations of the rules of grammar, the Báb reminded those who followed Him that the Word of God is the Creator of language as of all other things, shaping it according to His purpose.17 Through the power of His Word, God says "BE," and it is.

The principle is as old as prophetic religion;--is indeed, central to it:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made....
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.18

The implications for humanity's response to the Messenger of God at His advent is touched on in a passage of one of Bahá'u'lláh's major works, The Four Valleys. Quoting the Persian poet Rumí, He says:

The story is told of a mystic knower, who went on a journey with a learned grammarian as his companion. They came to the shore of the Sea of Grandeur. The knower straightway flung himself into the waves, but the grammarian stood lost in his reasonings, which were as words that are written on water. The knower called out to him, "Why dost thou not follow?" The grammarian answered, "O Brother, I dare not advance. I must needs go back again." Then the knower cried, "Forget what thou didst read in the books of [rhetoric and grammar], and cross the water."
The death of self is needed here, not rhetoric: Be nothing, then, and walk upon the waves.19

For the young seminarians who most eagerly responded to Him, the originality of the Báb's language, far from creating an obstacle to their appreciation of His message, itself represented another compelling sign of the Divine mission He claimed. It challenged them to break out of familiar patterns of perception, to stretch their intellectual faculties, to discover in this new Revelation a true freedom of the spirit.

However baffling some of the Báb's writings were to prove for His later European admirers, the latter also perceived Him to be a unique figure, one who had found within His own soul the vision of a transcendent new reality and who had acted unhesitatingly on the imperative it represented. Most of their commentaries tended to reflect the Victorian era's dualistic frame of mind and were presented as scientifically motivated observations of what their authors considered to be an important religious and cultural phenomenon. In the introduction to his translation of A Traveller's Narrative, for example, the Cambridge scholar Edward Granville Browne took pains to justify the unusual degree of attention he had devoted to the Bábí movement in his research work:

...here he [the student of religion] may contemplate such personalities as by lapse of time pass into heroes and demi-gods still unobscured by myth and fable; he may examine by the light of concurrent and independent testimony one of those strange outbursts of enthusiasm, faith, fervent devotion, and indomitable heroism--or fanaticism, if you will--which we are accustomed to associate with the earlier history of the human race; he may witness, in a word, the birth of a faith which may not impossibly win a place amidst the great religions of the world.20

The electrifying effect that the phenomenon exerted, however--even on a cautious and scientifically trained European intellect and after the passage of several decades--can be appreciated from Browne's concluding remarks in a major article in Religious Systems of the World, published in 1892, the year of Bahá'u'lláh's passing:

I trust that I have told you enough to make it clear that the objects at which this religion aims are neither trivial nor unworthy of the noble self-devotion and heroism of the Founder and his followers. It is the lives and deaths of these, their hope which knows no despair, their love which knows no cooling, their steadfastness which knows no wavering, which stamp this wonderful movement with a character entirely its own....
It is not a small or easy thing to endure what these have endured, and surely what they deemed worth life itself is worth trying to understand. I say nothing of the mighty influence which, as I believe, the Bábí faith will exert in the future, nor of the new life it may perchance may breathe into a dead people; for, whether it succeed or fail, the splendid heroism of the Bábí martyrs is a thing eternal and indestructible. 21

So powerful was this impression that most Western observers tended to lose sight of the Báb's purpose through fascination with His life and person. Browne himself, whose research made him pre-eminent among the second generation of European authorities on the Bábí movement, largely failed to grasp the role the Báb's mission played in preparing the way for the work of Bahá'u'lláh or, indeed, the way in which the achievements of the latter represented the Báb's eventual triumph and vindication.22 The French writer A.L.M. Nicolas was much more fortunate, in part simply because he lived long enough to benefit from a greater historical perspective. Initially antagonistic toward what he saw as Bahá'u'lláh's "supplanting" of the Báb, he came finally to appreciate the Bahá'í view that the Báb was one of two successive Manifestations of God whose joint mission is the unification and pacification of the planet.23


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This brief historical framework will be of assistance in understanding the thrust of the Báb's teachings. In one sense, His message is abundantly clear. As He repeatedly emphasized, the purpose of His mission and the object of all His endeavors was the proclamation of the imminent advent of "Him Whom God will make manifest," that universal Manifestation of God anticipated in religious scriptures throughout the ages of human history. Indeed, all of the laws revealed by the Báb were intended simply to prepare His followers to recognize and serve the Promised One at His advent:

We have planted the Garden of the Bayán [i.e., His Revelation] in the name of Him Whom God will make manifest, and have granted you permission to live therein until the time of His manifestation;...24

The Báb's mission was to prepare humanity for the coming of an age of transformation beyond anything the generation that heard Him would be able to understand. Their duty was to purify their hearts so that they could recognize the One for Whom the whole world was waiting and serve the establishment of the Kingdom of God. The Báb was thus the "Door" through which this long-awaited universal theophany would appear.

At the time of the appearance of Him Whom God will make manifest the most distinguished among the learned and the lowliest of men shall both be judged alike. How often the most insignificant of men have acknowledged the truth, while the most learned have remained wrapt in veils.25

Significantly, the initial references to the Promised Deliverer appear in the Báb's first major work, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', passages of which were revealed by Him on the night of the declaration of His mission. The entire work is ostensibly a collection of commentaries on the Súrih of Joseph in the Qur'án, which the Báb interprets as foreshadowing the coming of the Divine "Joseph," that "Remnant of God" Who will fulfill the promises of the Qur'án and of all the other scriptures of the past. More than any other work, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' vindicated for Bábís the prophetic claims of its Author and served, throughout the early part of the Báb's ministry, as the Qur'án or the Bible of His community.

O peoples of the East and the West! Be ye fearful of God concerning the Cause of the true Joseph and barter Him not for a paltry price established by yourselves, or for a trifle of your earthly possessions, that ye may, in very truth, be praised by Him as those who are reckoned among the pious who stand nigh unto this Gate.26

In 1848, only two years before His martyrdom, the Báb revealed the Bayán, the book which was to serve as the principal repository of his laws and the fullest expression of His theological doctrines. Essentially the book is an extended tribute to the coming Promised One, now invariably termed "Him Whom God will make manifest." The latter designation occurs some 300 times in the book, appearing in virtually every one of its chapters, regardless of their ostensible subject. The Bayán and all it contains depend upon His Will; the whole of the Bayán contains in fact "nought but His mention"; the Bayán is "a humble gift" from its Author to Him Whom God will make manifest; to attain His Presence is to attain the Presence of God. He is "the Sun of Truth," "the Advent of Truth," "the Point of Truth," "the Tree of Truth"27 :

I swear by the most holy Essence of God--exalted and glorified be He--that in the Day of the appearance of Him Whom God shall make manifest a thousand perusals of the Bayán cannot equal the perusal of a single verse to be revealed by Him Whom God shall make manifest.28

Some of the most powerful references to the subject are contained in tablets which the Báb addressed directly to Him Whom God would soon make manifest:

Out of utter nothingness, O great and omnipotent Master, Thou hast, through the celestial potency of Thy might, brought me forth and raised me up to proclaim this Revelation. I have made none other but Thee my trust; I have clung to no will but Thy Will. Thou art, in truth, the All-Sufficing and behind Thee standeth the true God, He Who overshadoweth all things.29

Apart from this central theme, the Báb's writings present a daunting problem for even those Western scholars familiar with Persian and Arabic. To a considerable degree, this is due to the fact that the works often address minute matters of Shí`ih Islamic theology which were of consuming importance to His listeners, whose minds had been entirely formed in this narrow intellectual world and who could conceive of no other. The study of the organizing spiritual principles within these writings will doubtless occupy generations of doctoral candidates as the Bahá'í community continues to expand and its influence in the life of society consolidates. For the Bábís, who received the writings at first hand, a great deal of their significance lay in their demonstration of the Báb's effortless mastery of the most abstruse theological issues, issues to which His ecclesiastical opponents had devoted years of painstaking study and dispute. The effect was to dissolve for the Báb's followers the intellectual foundations on which the prevailing Islamic theological system rested.

A feature of the Báb's writings which is relatively accessible is the laws they contain. The Báb revealed what is, at first sight, the essential elements of a complete system of laws dealing with issues of both daily life and social organization. The question that comes immediately to the mind of any Western reader with even a cursory familiarity with Bábí history is the difficulty of reconciling this body of law which, however diffuse, might well have prevailed for several centuries, with the Báb's reiterated anticipation that "He Whom God will make manifest" would shortly appear and lay the foundations of the Kingdom of God. While no one knew the hour of His coming, the Báb assured several of His followers that they would live to see and serve Him. Cryptic allusions to "the year nine" and "the year nineteen" heightened the anticipation within the Bábí community. No one could falsely claim to be "He Whom God will make manifest," the Báb asserted, and succeed in such a claim.

It is elsewhere that we must look for the immediate significance of the laws of the Bayán. The practice of Islam, particularly in its Shí`ih form, had become a matter of adherence to minutely detailed ordinances and prescriptions, endlessly elaborated by generations of mujtahids, and rigidly enforced. The sharí`a, or system of canon law, was, in effect, the embodiment of the clergy's authority over not only the mass of the population but even the monarchy itself. It contained all that mankind needed or could use. The mouth of God was closed until the Day of Judgment when the heavens would be cleft asunder, the mountains would dissolve, the seas would boil, trumpet blasts would rouse the dead from their graves, and God would "come down" surrounded by angels "rank on rank."

For those who recognized the Báb, the legal provisions of the Bayán shattered the clergy's institutional authority at one blow by making the entire sharí`a structure irrelevant.30 God had spoken anew. Challenged by a superannuated religious establishment which claimed to act in the name of the Prophet, the Báb vindicated His claim by exercising, in their fullness, the authority and powers that Islam reserved to the Prophets. More than any other act of His mission, it was this boldness that cost Him His life, but the effect was to liberate the minds and hearts of His followers as no other influence could have done. That so many laws of the Bayán should shortly be superseded or significantly altered by those laid down by Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas31 was, in the perspective of history and in the eyes of the mass of the Bábís who were to accept the new Revelation, of little significance once the Báb's purpose had been accomplished.

In this connection, it is interesting to note the way in which the Báb dealt with issues that had no part in His mission, but which, if not addressed, could have become serious obstacles to His work because they were so deeply and firmly imbedded in Muslim religious consciousness. The concept of jihád or "holy war," for example, is a commandment laid down in the Qur'án as obligatory for all able-bodied male Muslims and one whose practice has figured prominently in Islamic societies throughout the ages. In the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', the Báb is at pains to include a form of jihád as one of the prerogatives of the station which He claims for Himself. He made any engagement in jihád, however, entirely dependent on His own approval, an approval which He declined to give. Subsequently, the Bayán, although representing the formal promulgation of the laws of the new Dispensation, makes only passing reference to a subject which had so long seemed fundamental to the exercise of God's Will. In ranging across Persia to proclaim the new Revelation, therefore, the Báb's followers felt free to defend themselves when attacked, but their new beliefs did not include the old Islamic mandate to wage war on others for purposes of conversion. 32

In the perspective of history, it is obvious that the intent of these rigid and exacting laws was to produce a spiritual mobilization, and in this they brilliantly succeeded. Foreseeing clearly where the course on which he was embarked would lead, the Báb prepared His followers, through a severe regimen of prayer, meditation, self-discipline, and solidarity of community life, to meet the inevitable consequences of their commitment to His mission.

The prescriptions in the Bayán extend, however, far beyond those immediate purposes. Consequently, when Bahá'u'lláh took up the task of establishing the moral and spiritual foundations of the new Dispensation, He built directly on the work of the Báb. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the "Mother Book" of the Bahá'í era, while not presented in the form of a systematic code, brings together for Bahá'ís the principal laws of their Faith. Guidance that relates to individual conduct or social practice is set in the framework of passages which summon the reader to a challenging new conception of human nature and purpose. A nineteenth-century Russian scholar who made one of the early attempts to translate the book compared Bahá'u'lláh's pen writing the Aqdas to a bird, now soaring on the summits of heaven, now descending to touch the homeliest questions of everyday need.

The connection with the writings of the Báb is readily apparent to anyone who examines the provisions of the Aqdas. Those laws of the Bayán which have no relevance to the coming age are abrogated. Other prescriptions are reformulated, usually through liberalizing their requirements and broadening their applications. Still other provisions of the Bayán are retained virtually in their original form. An obvious example of the latter is Bahá'u'lláh's adoption of the Báb's calendar, which consists of nineteen months of nineteen days each, with provision for an "intercalary" period of four or five days devoted to social gatherings, acts of charity, and the exchange of gifts with friends and family.


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Apart from the specific laws of the Bayán, the Báb's writings also contain the seeds of new spiritual perspectives and concepts which were to animate the worldwide Bahá'í enterprise. Beginning from the belief universally accepted by Muslims that God is one and transcendent, the Báb cuts sharply through the welter of conflicting doctrines and mystical speculations that had accumulated over more than twelve centuries of Islamic history. God is not only One and Single; He is utterly unknowable to humankind and will forever remain so. There is no direct connection between the Creator of all things and His creation.

The only avenue of approach to the Divine Reality behind existence is through the succession of Messengers Whom He sends. God "manifests" Himself to humanity in this fashion, and it is in the Person of His Manifestation that human consciousness can become aware of both the Divine Will and the Divine attributes. What the scriptures have described as "meeting God," "knowing God," "worshiping God," "serving God," refers to the response of the soul when it recognizes the new Revelation. The advent of the Messenger of God is itself "the Day of Judgment." The Báb thus denies the validity of Súfí belief in the possibility of the individual's mys-tical merging with the Divine Being through meditation and esoteric practices:

Deceive not your own selves that you are being virtuous for the sake of God when you are not. For should ye truly do your works for God, ye would be performing them for Him Whom God shall make manifest and would be magnifying His Name.... Ponder awhile that ye may not be shut out as by a veil from Him Who is the Dayspring of Revelation.33

Going far beyond the orthodox Islamic conception of a "succession" of the Prophets that terminates with the mission of Muhammad, the Báb also declares the Revelation of God to be a recurring and never-ending phenomenon whose purpose is the gradual training and development of humankind. As human consciousness recognizes and responds to each Divine Messenger, the spiritual, moral, and intellectual capacities latent in it steadily develop, thus preparing the way for recognition of God's next Manifestation.

The Manifestations of God--including Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad--are one in essence, although their physical persons differ, as do those aspects of their teachings that relate to an ever evolving human society. Each can be said to have two "stations": the human and the Divine. Each brings two proofs of His mission: His own Person and the truths He teaches. Either of these testimonies is sufficient for any sincerely inquiring soul; the issue is purity of intention, and this human quality is particularly valued in the Báb's writings. Through unity of faith, reason and behavior, each person can, with the confirmations of God, reach that stage of development where one seeks for others the same things that one seeks for oneself.

Those who sincerely believe in the Messenger whose faith they follow are prepared by it to recognize the next Revelation from the one Divine Source. They thus become instruments through which the Word of God continues to realize its purpose in the life of humankind. This is the real meaning of the references in past religions to "resurrection." "Heaven" and "hell," similarly, are not places but conditions of the soul. An individual "enters" paradise in this world when he recognizes God's Revelation and begins the process of perfecting his nature, a process that has no end, since the soul itself is immortal. In the same way, the punishments of God are inherent in a denial of His Revelation and disobedience to laws whose operation no one can escape.

Many of these concepts in the Báb's writing can appeal to various references or at least intimations in the scriptures of earlier religions. It will be obvious from what has been said, however, that the Báb places them in an entirely new context and draws from them implications very different from those which they bore in any previous religious system.

The Báb described His teachings as opening the "sealed wine" referred to in both the Qur'án and New Testament. The "Day of God" does not envision the end of the world, but its perennial renewal. The earth will continue to exist, as will the human race, whose potentialities will progressively unfold in response to the successive impulses of the Divine. All people are equal in the sight of God, and the race has now advanced to the point where, with the imminent advent of Him Whom God will manifest, there is neither need nor place for a privileged class of clergy. Believers are encouraged to see the allegorical intent in passages of scriptures which were once viewed as references to supernatural or magical events. As God is one, so phenomenal reality is one, an organic whole animated by the Divine Will.

The contrast between this evolutionary and supremely rational conception of the nature of religious truth and that embodied by nineteenth-century Shí`ih Islam could not have been more dramatic. Fundamental to orthodox Shí`ism--whose full implications are today exposed in the regime of the Islamic Republic in Iran--was a literalistic understanding of the Qur'án, a preoccupation with meticulous adherence to the sharí`a, a belief that personal salvation comes through the "imitation" (taqlíd) of clerical mentors, and an unbending conviction that Islam is God's final and all-sufficient revelation of truth to the world. For so static and rigid a mindset, any serious consideration of the teachings of the Báb would have unthinkable consequences.

The Báb's teachings, like the laws of the Bayán, are enunciated not in the form of an organized exposition, but lie rather embedded in the wide range of theological and mystical issues addressed in the pages of His voluminous writings. It is in the writings of Bahá'u'lláh that, as with the laws of the Bayán, these scattered truths and precepts are taken up, reshaped, and integrated into a unified, coherent system of belief. The subject lies far beyond the scope of this brief paper, but the reader will find in Bahá'u'lláh's major doctrinal work, the Kitáb-i-íqán ("Book of Certitude"), not only echoes of the Báb's teachings, but a coherent exposition of their central concepts.


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Finally, a striking feature of the Báb's writings, which has emerged as an important element of Bahá'í belief and history, is the mission envisioned for "the peoples of the West" and admiration of the qualities that fit them for it. This, too, was in dramatic contrast to the professed contempt for farangi and "infidel" thought that prevailed in the Islamic world of His time. Western scientific advancement is particularly praised, for example, as are the fairness of mind and concern for cleanliness that the Báb saw Westerners on the whole as tending to display. His appreciation is not merely generalized but touches on even such mundane matters as postal systems and printing facilities.

At the outset of the Báb's mission, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' called on "the peoples of the West" to arise and leave their homes in promotion of the Day of God:

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....34

To a British physician who treated Him for injuries inflicted during his interrogation in Tabríz, the Báb expressed His confidence that, in time, Westerners, too, would embrace the truth of His mission.

This theme is powerfully taken up in the work of Bahá'u'lláh. A series of "tablets" called on such European rulers as Queen Victoria, Napoleon III, Kaiser Wilhelm I, and Tsar Alexander II to examine dispassionately "the Cause of God." The British monarch is warmly commended for the actions of her government in abolishing slavery throughout the empire and for the establishment of constitutional government. Perhaps the most extraordinary theme the letters contain is a summons, a virtual mandate to "the Rulers of America and the Presidents of the Republics therein." They are called on to "bind...the broken with the hands of justice" and to "crush the oppressor who flourisheth with the rod of the commandments of [their] Lord."35

Anticipating the decisive contribution which Western lands and peoples are destined to make in founding the institutions of world order, Bahá'u'lláh wrote:

In the East the Light of His Revelation hath broken; in the West have appeared the signs of His dominion. Ponder this in your hearts, O people....36

It was on `Abdu'l-Bahá that responsibility devolved to lay the foundations for this distinctive feature of the missions of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. Visiting both Western Europe and North America in the years 1911-1913, He coupled high praise for the material accomplishments of the West with an urgent appeal that they be balanced with the essentials of "spiritual civilization."

During the years of World War I, after returning to the Holy Land, `Abdu'l-Bahá drafted a series of letters addressed to the small body of Bahá'u'lláh's followers in the United States and Canada, summoning them to arise and carry the Bahá'í message to the remotest corners of the globe. As soon as international conditions permitted, these Bahá'ís began to respond. Their example has since been followed by members of the many other Bahá'í communities around the world which have proliferated during subsequent decades.

To the North American believers, too, ` Abdu'l-Bahá confided the task of laying the foundations of the democratically elected institutions conceived by Bahá'u'lláh for the administration of the affairs of the Bahá'í community. The entire decision-making structure of the present-day administrative system of the Faith at local, national, and international levels, had its origins in these simple consultative assemblies formed by the American and Canadian believers.

Bahá'ís see a parallel pattern of response to the Divine mandate, however unrecognized, in the growing leadership Western nations have assumed throughout the present century in the efforts to bring about global peace. This is particularly true of the endeavor to inaugurate a system of international order. For his own vision in this respect, as well as for the lonely courage that the effort to realize it required, "the immortal Woodrow Wilson" won an enduring place of honor in the writings of the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith .

Bahá'ís are likewise aware that it has been such governments as those of Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia which have taken the lead in the field of human rights. The Bahá'í community has experienced at first hand the benefits of this concern in the successful interventions undertaken on behalf of its members in Iran during the recurrent persecutions under the regimes of the Pahlavi shahs and the Islamic Republic.

Nothing of what has been said should suggest an uncritical admiration of European or North American cultures on the part of either the Báb or Bahá'u'lláh nor an endorsement of the ideological foundations on which they rest. Far otherwise. Bahá'u'lláh warns in ominous tones of the suffering and ruin that will be visited upon the entire human race if Western civilization continues on its course of excess. During His visits to Europe and America, `Abdu'l-Bahá called on His hearers in poignant language to free themselves, while time still remained, from racial and national prejudices, as well as materialistic preoccupations, whose unappreciated dangers, He said, threatened the future of their nations and of all humankind.



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Today, a century and a half after the Báb's mission was inaugurated, the influence of His life and words has found expression in a global community drawn from every background on earth. The first act of most Bahá'í pilgrims on their arrival at the World Centre of their Faith is to walk up the flower-bordered avenue leading to the exquisite Shrine housing the Báb's mortal remains, and to lay their foreheads on the threshold of His resting place. They confidently believe that, in future years, "pilgrim kings" will reverently ascend the magnificent terraced staircase rising from the foot of the "Mountain of God" to the Shrine's entrance, and place the emblems of their authority at this same threshold. In the countries from which the pilgrims come, countless children from every background and every language today bear the names of the Báb's martyred companions--Táhirih, Quddús, Husayn, Zaynab, Vahíd, Anís-- much as children throughout the lands of the Roman empire began 2,000 years ago to carry the unfamiliar Hebrew names of the disciples of Jesus Christ.

Bahá'u'lláh's choice of a resting place for the body of His Forerunner--brought with infinite difficulty from Persia--itself holds great significance for the Bahá'í world. Throughout history the blood of martyrs has been "the seed of faith." In the age that is witnessing the gradual unification of humankind, the blood of the Bábí martyrs has become the seed not merely of personal faith, but of the administrative institutions which are, in the words of Shoghi Effendi, "the nucleus [and] the very pattern" of the World Order conceived by Bahá'u'lláh.37 The relationship is symbolized by the supreme position that the Shrine of the Báb occupies in the progressive development of the administrative center of the Bahá'í Faith on Mount Carmel.

Few there must be among the stream of Bahá'í pilgrims entering these majestic surroundings today whose minds do not turn to the familiar words in which the Báb said farewell 150 years ago to the handful of His first followers, all of them bereft of influence or wealth and most of them destined, as He was, soon to lose their lives:

The secret of the Day that is to come is now concealed. It can neither be divulged nor estimated. The newly born babe of that Day excels the wisest and most venerable men of this time, and the lowliest and most unlearned of that period shall surpass in understanding the most erudite and accomplished divines of this age. Scatter throughout the length and breadth of this land, and, with steadfast feet and sanctified hearts, prepare the way for His coming. Heed not your weaknesses and frailty; fix your gaze upon the invincible power of the Lord, your God, the Almighty.... Arise in His name, put your trust wholly in Him, and be assured of ultimate victory.38

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Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í.
The anniversary of the birth of the Báb is commemorated 20 October; His declaration, 23 May; and His martyrdom, 9 July.
Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, vol. 8 (London: Oxford, 1954), p. 117.
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), pp. 123-124.
I owe this interesting suggestion to Dr. Hossain Danesh.
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (1944; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 56 and The Bahá'í World, vol. 9, 1940-1944 (1945; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981), p. 588.
Persistent use of the term "Bábí" in Iranian Muslim attacks on the Bahá'í Faith over the years has tended to be a reflection of the spirit of animosity incited by its original nineteenth-century clerical opponents.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, bk. 4, ll. 569-578.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Divinity School Address," Selections from Ralph Waldo Emerson, S.E. Wricher, ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960), pp. 115-116.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur, ll. 408-410.
Muhammad-i-Zarandí (Nabíl-i-A`zam), The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation, translated from the Persian by Shoghi Effendi (1932; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 93.
The Báb, together with a young follower, was suspended by ropes from a courtyard wall in the citadel in Tabríz, and an Armenian Christian regiment, whose commander had expressed great uneasiness about the assignment, was ordered to open fire on the prisoners. When the smoke from the 750 rifles had cleared, near pandemonium broke out among the crowd of spectators thronging roofs and walls. The Báb's companion was standing uninjured at the foot of the wall, and the Báb Himself had disappeared from view. The entire volley had done no more than sever the ropes. The Báb had returned to the room in which He had been held, in order to complete instructions to His amanuensis, which had been interrupted by His jailers.

The Armenian regiment immediately left the citadel, refusing any further participation. It would have taken only a gesture of encouragement from the Báb for the crowd, now in a state of intense excitement aroused by what they regarded as "a miracle," to have delivered Him from His captors. When He did not take advantage of this opening, the authorities eventually recovered their composure and summoned a regiment of Muslim soldiers who carried out the planned execution.

Though dramatic, the incident was not an isolated event in the Báb's ministry. Four years earlier, the wealthy and powerful Governor of Isfáhán, Manúchir Khán, who was the Báb's host and warm admirer, had offered to march on the capital with his army and induce Persia's feeble ruler, Muhammad Sháh, to meet the Báb and listen to His message. The offer was courteously declined, and Manúchir Khán's subsequent death led directly to the Báb's arrest, imprisonment, and execution.
Ernest Renan, Les Apôtres, translated from the French by William G. Hutchison (London: Watts & Co., 1905), p. 134. "For his sake, thousands of martyrs flocked to their death. A day unparalleled perhaps in the world's history was that of the great massacre of the Bábís at Teheran. `