The Bab: Great is the Gate



Shrine of the Bab (Photo by Tomhab)

Before there was Baha’u’llah, there was the Bab.  Before there was the Bab, there was ostensibly just a 24-year-old merchant from Shiraz, Persia. 

Things, however, are not always as they seem.  On May 23, 1844, this merchant declared himself to be Islam’s long-awaited Mahdi (“Guided One”).  In both Shia and Sunni teachings, the Mahdi is the redeemer who will come before Judgment (Resurrection) Day to rid the planet of evil.  The Mahdi will act in conjunction with Jesus at that time.

Not only did he make this extraordinary pronouncement, but merchant Siyyid Ali Muhammad Shirazi then took on a new title:  the Bab (the “Gate”).  Wikipedia reports that he afterwards composed hundreds of tablets (religious texts) “in which he stated his messianic claims and defined his teachings, which constituted a new shari’ah, or religious

law.” 

As might be imagined. claims of this sort did not sit too well with the authorities at hand.  The Bab was therefore somewhat cautious at first about how he spread the word.  He began by calling himself “the Gate to the Mahdi” rather than the Mahdi himself.  This cautious method of disclosure allowed for the development of a strong following before the authorities fully caught on.

Such momentous news, however, cannot stay hidden for all that long.  The Bab’s 18 earliest disciples (aka “Letters of the Living”) started openly spreading the word.  Wikipedia reports that their preaching “led to opposition by the Islamic clergy, prompting the Governor of Shiraz to order the Bab’s arrest.”  The Bab was placed under house arrest.  He was then set free, but later incarcerated in a fortress after his popularity again soared.  He was eventually put on trial “for blasphemy and apostasy.”

This was followed by a period of debate about his fate.  Some wanted clemency, others execution.  He received 20 harsh lashes to the soles of his feet.  Some say he then recanted – others say this is a myth perpetrated by his detractors.  His enemies eventually won out, and the Bab was killed by a firing squad (after miraculously surviving their first round of bullets).

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1b

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1'u'll%C3%A1h

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_the_Living

Copyright July 9, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved