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History of the Baháʼí Faith

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The Báb had spoken of another messianic figure, He whom God shall make manifest. As one of the followers of the Báb, Baháʼu'lláh was imprisoned during a subsequent wave of massacre by the Persian government against Bábís in 1852, was exiled to Iraq, and then to Constantinople and Adrianople in the Ottoman Empire. Amidst these banishments, in 1863 in Baghdad, Baháʼu'lláh claimed to be the messianic figure expected by the Báb's writings, and the majority of Bábís eventually became followers of Baháʼu'lláh, thereby being known as Baháʼís.

At the time of Baháʼu'lláh's death, the Baháʼí Faith was mostly confined to the Persian and Ottoman empires, at which time he had followers in thirteen countries of Asia and Africa. Leadership of the religion then passed on to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Baháʼu'lláh's son, who was appointed by Baháʼu'lláh in his will and testament, and was accepted by almost all Baháʼís. Under the leadership of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the religion gained a footing in Europe and America, and was consolidated in Iran, where it still suffers intense persecution.

After the death of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1921, the leadership of the Baháʼí community was passed on to his grandson, Shoghi Effendi, who was appointed in ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's will. The document appointed Shoghi Effendi as the first Guardian, and called for the election of the Universal House of Justice once the Baháʼí Faith had spread sufficiently for such elections to be meaningful. During Shoghi Effendi's time as leader of the religion there was a great increase in the number of Baháʼís, in particular because of the systematic plans he made for the growth of the Faith to all corners of the world, and he presided over the election of many new National Spiritual Assemblies.

After the sudden passing of the Guardian in 1957, and following the temporary leadership of the global Bahá’í community by the Hands of the Cause, the Universal House of Justice was first elected in 1963, and since that time the Universal House of Justice has been the highest body in the Baháʼí administration, with its members elected every five years. Baháʼí sources and most scholarly works estimate the current worldwide Baháʼí population to be from five to eight million.

Background

Islamic messianism

In Islam, the Mahdi is a messianic figure who is believed to be a descendant of Muhammad who will return near the end of time to restore the world and the religion of God. While both Sunni and Shiʻa groups believe in the Mahdi, the largest Shiʻa group, the Twelvers, believe that the Mahdi is the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, who is believed to have gone into occultation since 874 CE.

In the Twelver view, the Twelfth Imam first went into a "Minor Occultation" between 874 and 941 CE where the Hidden Imam still communicated with the community through four official intermediaries. The "Greater Occultation" is then defined from the time when the Hidden Imam ceased to communicate regularly until the time when he returns to restore the world.

Shaykhism

The Shaykhi movement was a school of theology within Twelver Shiʻan Islam that was started through the teaching of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsá'í (May 1753 ― 27 June 1826). Shaykh Ahmad's teachings included that the Imams were spiritual beings and that, in contrast to the widespread Shiʻa belief, the Imams existed within spiritual bodies, and not material bodies. He also taught that there must always exist the "Perfect Shiʻa" who serves as an intermediary between the Imams and the believers, and is the one who can visualize the consciousness of the Hidden Imam. In 1822 he left Iran and went to Iraq due to the controversy that his teachings had brought. There he also found himself at the centre of debate, thus deciding to move to Mecca, he died in 1826 on his way there.

Before his death, Shaykh Ahmad appointed Siyyid Kázim of Rasht to lead the Shaykhí movement, which he did until his death in 1843. Siyyid Kázim formulated many of the thoughts that were ambiguously expressed by Shaykh Ahmad including the doctrine of salvation history and the cycles of revelation. His teaching brought a sense of millenarian hope among the Shaykhis that the Hidden Imam may return. Siyyid Kazim did not leave a successor, but before his death in December, 1843, he had counselled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Mahdi, who according to his prophecies would soon appear.

Bábism

Siyyid ʻAlí-Muhammad, who later took on the title the Báb, was born on October 20, 1819, in Shiraz to a merchant of the city; his father died while he was quite young and the boy was raised by his maternal uncle Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid ʻAlí, who was also a merchant.

In May 1844 the Báb proclaimed to Mulla Husayn, one of the Shaykhis, to be the one whose coming was prophesied by Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim and the bearer of divine knowledge. Within five months, seventeen other disciples of Siyyid Káẓim had recognized the Báb as a Manifestation of God. These eighteen disciples were later known as the Letters of the Living and were given the task of spreading the new faith across Iran and Iraq. The Báb initially attracted most of the followers of the Shaykhí movement, but soon his teachings went far beyond those roots and attracted prominent followers across Iran. His followers were known as Bábís.

The first accounts in the West of events related to the history of the Báb and his followers appears January 8, 1845, as an exchange of diplomatic reports not published in the newspapers. This was an account of the first Letter of the Living to be dispatched from the presence of the Báb – the second Letter of the Living and first Babi martyr, Mullá ʻAlí-i-Bastámí. The British diplomat who recorded these events was Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet who wrote first to Stratford Canning, 1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, then Ambassador to Istanbul, and it included an enclosure from the Governor of Kirmánsháh protesting the arrest in Ottoman lands of a Persian mullá. Follow-up exchanges continued from January into April where diplomatic records of events end. Ottoman state archives affirm his arrival in Istanbul where he is then sentenced to serve in the naval ship yards at hard labor – the Ottoman ruler refusing to banish him as it would be "difficult to control his activities and prevent him spreading his false ideas." The first public account was published Nov 1, 1845, in the London Times. It was centered on events in Shiraz when the last Letter of the Living, Quddús returned after traveling with the Báb. The story was also carried from Nov 15 by the Literary Gazette which was subsequently echoed widely in other countries.

After some time, preaching by the Letters of the Living led to opposition by the Islamic clergy, prompting the Governor of Shiraz to order the Báb's arrest. After being under house arrest in Shiraz from June 1845 to September 1846, the Báb spent several months in Isfahan debating clergy, many of whom became sympathetic. Among the most unexpected of those who embraced the Cause of the Báb was a brilliant theologian who bore the title of Vahid—meaning “unique”. A trusted advisor to the Shah, Vahid had been sent to interrogate the Báb on behalf of the king, who wished to secure reliable firsthand information about the movement that was sweeping his land. Upon learning of Vahid's conversion, the Shah called for the Báb to be brought to Tehran. The Prime Minister—fearing that his own position might be fatally undermined should the Shah also fall under the Báb’s influence—halted the Báb’s escort outside Tehran, then ordered instead that he be imprisoned in the remote fortress of Máh-Kú, near the Turkish border. The excuse given to the Shah was that the Báb’s arrival in the capital might lead to great public distress and disorder.

During the Báb’s incarceration in the fortress of Máh-Kú in the province of Azarbaijan close to the Turkish border, he began his most important work, the Persian Bayán, which he never finished. He was then transferred to the fortress of Chihríq in April 1848. In that place as well, the Báb's popularity grew and his jailors relaxed restrictions on him. Hence the Prime Minister ordered the Báb back to Tabriz where the government called on religious authorities to put the Báb on trial for blasphemy and apostasy. Bábism was also spreading across the country, and the Islamic government saw it as a threat to state religion, even going so far as to send military forces against the Bábís in 1849. Communities of Bábís established themselves in Iran and Iraq, and in 1850 reached several cities of Azarbaijan. Coverage in newspapers in the West reoccurred in 1849 including in the French journal Revue de l'Orient. In the fall of 1850 newspaper coverage fell behind quickly unfolding events. Though the Báb was named for the first time he had in fact already been executed.

In mid-1850 a new prime minister, Amir Kabir, ordered the execution of the Báb, probably because various Bábí insurrections had been defeated and the movement's popularity appeared to be waning. The Báb was brought back to Tabríz from Chihríq, so that he could be shot by a firing squad. On the morning of July 9, 1850, the Báb was taken to the courtyard of the barracks in which he was being held, where thousands of people had gathered to watch. The Báb and a companion (a young man named Anis) were suspended on a wall and a large firing squad prepared to shoot. After the order was given to shoot and the smoke cleared, the Báb was no longer in the courtyard and Anis stood there unharmed; the bullets apparently had not harmed either man, but had cut the rope suspending them from the wall. The soldiers subsequently found the Báb in another part of the barracks, completely unharmed. He was tied up for execution a second time, a second firing squad was ranged in front of them, and a second order to fire was given. This time, the Báb and his companion were killed. Their remains were dumped outside the gates of the town to be eaten by animals.

The remains, however, were rescued by a handful of Bábis and were hidden. Over time the remains were secretly transported by way of Isfahan, Kermanshah, Baghdad and Damascus, to Beirut and thence by sea to Acre in Palestine, on the plain below Mount Carmel in 1899. In 1909, the remains were finally interred in a special tomb, erected for this purpose by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land in Haifa, Palestine. The Shrine of the Báb remains an important place of pilgrimage for Baháʼís. The Shrine is a protected site and in 2008 was listed on UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

While the Báb claimed a station of revelation, he also claimed no finality for his revelation. A constant theme in his works, especially the Persian Bayan was that of the great Promised One, the next embodiment of the Primal Will, whom the Báb termed He whom God shall make manifest, promised in the sacred writings of previous religions would soon establish the Kingdom of God on the Earth. The Báb's writings have an emphasis on recognizing a future prophet, "He whom God shall make manifest", when he arrives.

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