'Ali Muhammad Shirazi was born at Shiraz in 1235/1819. His father, Mirza Riqa, died when he was a child, and thereafter 'Ali Muhammad grew up under the care of his maternal uncle, Sayyid 'Ali.
After his elementary education in Persian and Arabic, a capital which he strenuously applied later to the production of his 'tablets' and 'revelations' with awful results, he went to Bushehr, where - despite his poor ability in arithmetic - until the age of 20 he helped his uncle in his trade.
There, he spent his leisurely hours studying religious books and in zealous ascetic and devotional exercises. His early eccentric character is depicted by the story that he would offer daytime prayers on the roof, staying for hours in the intense summer heat of the scorching Persian Gulf sun.
There, he spent his leisurely hours studying religious books and in zealous ascetic and devotional exercises. His early eccentric character is depicted by the story that he would offer daytime prayers on the roof, staying for hours in the intense summer heat of the scorching Persian Gulf sun.
In the year 1255/1839, he went to Karbala' and joined the circle of Sayyid Kazim Rashti, which he attended, according to his own statement, for at least a year. When Sayyid Kazim died in 1259/1843, 'Ali Muhammad, apparently simultaneously with the other claimants, declared himself to be the successor of Sayyid Kazim, a claim which brought him into conflict with the other claimants - all disciples of the Shaykh and Sayyid Kazim and their respective supporters. On 8th Jamadl al-'Awwal1260/1844, six months after Sayyid Kazim's death, he declared himself to be the bab (lit, gate; another term for al-rukn al-riibi'v or the intermediary of the Twelfth Imam. Having confided his claim privately to his sympathizers from among the followers of Sayyid Kcq:im in Shiraz, he proceeded to Hajj the same year, probably with the intent of launching his venture from Makkah. However, changing his mind, he returned to Basrah from where he reportedly wrote to his supporters in Shiraz to publicly annouce his 'babhood' in Shiraz. This announcement, in the course of a prayer call by a follower, caused a stir in the city, and consequently the Bab was summoned to Shiraz by the governor, Nizam al-Dawleh.
At Shiraz, on interrogation, he broke down and recanted his claims; but he was confined to prison. According to Talhhis-e ta'rihh-e Nabil Zarandi, a Baha'i pseudo-history, (which in addition to the highly doubtful character of the authenticity of its ascription to its purported author, liberally mixes fiction with facts depending more on fancy than memory or written records), the Bab made a public denial of entertaining any extravagant claims on a Friday in the Masjid-e Wakil of Shiraz. This was in 1261/1845.
While the Bab was in confinement at Shiraz, the governor of Isfahan, Maniichehr Khan Gurji Mu'tamad al-Dawleh, an Armenian Christian, had him transferred secretly to Isfahan, where the Bab stayed as a guest at his residence. Maniichehr Khan was a Russian protege who under Russian patronage had been installed into the governorship of Isfahan, an important province.
Foreign powers, mainly Britain and Russia, wielded a strong influence over the country's politics throughout most of the Qachar period. The provincial governorship served as a channel for foreign interference in the affairs of Iran. In addition, the foreign legations ardently cultivated the loyalty of religious minorities (some of which were created by colonial support, like the Babis), which also served as a very effective channel of influence over the affairs and life of the country. The following quotation from The English Amongst the Persians by Denis Wright, who was British Ambassador to Iran for 8 years (1963-71), throws some light on this sad state of affairs:
(Besides the 'professional Anglophils') ... there was another class of British proteges, created by Anglo-Russian rivalry and both countries' efforts, when they considered their interests threatened, to make sure that provincial governorships were in friendly hands. To this end the British, like the Russians, did not hesitate to bring pressure on the Persian authorities, though such interference in internal affairs was greatly resented. In 1899 Durand was able to report to the Foreign Office that 'in the south we have greatly strengthened our position by insisting upon, and obtaining, the removal of an obnoxious Governor of Bushire.' (P.R.O. FO/416/1. Durand to Salisbary, 12 February 1899).In 1903 the British Minister protested against the threatened removal from office of the Governor of Sistan in whose support the Government of India were even prepared to occupy Nusratabad (now Zabol). As a result of a secret agreement made with the Bakhtiari khans before World War I the British Government undertook to help secure the appointment of Bakhtiari candidates to certain governorships. In Persian eyes such governors were little more than British puppets.
From time to time the oppressed and persecuted religious minorities -Zoroastrians, Jews, Nestorians, Armenians and Bahais - would seek the protection of the British Legation or Consulates. Sometimes the British, who in those days were inclined to regard themselves as the keepers of the world's.conscience, would take up the cudgels, embarrassing though it was to intervene on the behalf of Persian subjects.
Maniichehr Khan Mu'tamad al-Dawleh (lit. the Trustee of the Government!) was such a Russian stooge. An official Baha'i 'history' reports the following episode that passed between Maniichehr Khan and the Bab:
One day Mu'tamad al-Dawleh was in the garden in the Blessed Presence (i.e. with the Bib). He said, "God has bestowed upon me much wealth and I don't know for what purpose I should spend it. I have reflected upon it, and if you permit me I will spend my riches for assisting your cause .... 1 will urge Muhammad Shah (the Qachiir king), and I am certain that he will become a believer and undertake to propagate your faith in the world's east and west. Then I will persuade him to remove Haji Mirza Aghas (Prime Minister), who is a treacherous person and a scourge for the kingdom. I will also arrange your marriage with one of the Shah's sisters .... I will invite the world's rulers to this blessed and dear faith .... I will wipe away this obnoxious group (i.e. the Shl'Is), who are a disgrace for Islam, from the face of the World." The Bab replied,
"You have good intentions .... ,,8
In any case, Maniichehr Khan's protection allowed the Bab to carry on his evil mission from Isfahan through his adherents, who were mostly followers of Absa'i and 8ayyid Kazim. The Bab kept on instigating them through letters-for which he had a fanciful name, alwtil] (tablets).
On the complaints of the 'ulama' of Isfahan to the Prime Minister, and following the death of Manuchehr Khan, the Bab was shifted, via Tehran, to Azarbaijan, in northwest Iran, where he was held in lenient imprisonment (as shown by his ability to freely correspond with his dti'is and to write his 'revelations' in the form of his incomplete al- Bay tin) first at Miikii, from Sha'ban 1263 to Jamadl I 1264/July 1847 to April 1848, and then at Chehriq until his execution in Sha'ban 1266/ June-July 1850.
The Bab's writings as well as those of Babi and Baha'i authors confirm beyond doubt that until the year 1264/1847, before his transfer to Chehriq, 'All Muhammad believed in all the Twelve Imams (A), claim'ing himself to be the biib of the Twelfth Imam in occultation, al-Hujjat ibn al-Hasan al-'Askari (A).9
Thereafter his claims underwent a radical change as he subsequently claimed to be the Twelfth Imam himself, the promised Mahdi and the Qa'im. Not satisfied with claiming to be the Qa'im, he proceeded to claim prophethood and even divinity.' 0
Following his claim to prophethood, he rejected the doctrine of the ultimacy (khiitamiyyah) of the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.a) and suggested a theory of resurrection (qiyiimah) similar to the doctrine of the Isma'ill al-Hasan al-Sabbah. Accordingly, he claimed that the Bab's appearance ended the era of the applicability of the Islamic Shari'ah. Also, the Islamic doctrine about the Day of Resurrection was claimed to be a misconception. Rather, the mission of Jesus (A) was the 'qiyiimah' of Moses (A) and his ummah. The ministry of the Holy Prophet (S) was the 'qiyiimah' of Jesus (A) and the Christian community. The appearance of the Bab signified the 'qiyiimah ' of -the Prophet Muhammad (S) and his ummah, In the same way as the Bab's teaching brought to an end the era of the Islamic Shari'ah, his book, ol-Bayan, abrogated the Qur'an. He promised the appearance of another prophet who will appear, he claimed, after 1511 or 2001 (in accordance with the numerical sum of the letters of ~I [or.;;..~ ] or ~ ; the reason for the uncertainty being lack of arithmetical rigour, and there is no scarcity of such instances of indifference to arithmetical and historical facts in the writings of the Bab and Baha').
The Bab was a gifted calligrapher, although his writings are abun- dantly replete with errors of grammar and syntax, which show his meagre education. 'I'he Bab's 'revelations,' recorded in al-Bayiin and hisalwiiQ, came mostly in awful Arabic. Although he defended his 'scripture' by proclaiming that his emancipating ministry had liberated words and sentences from the yoke of grammar and syntax, no educated man was convinced. It is probably on account of the poor literary skills of the Bab and Baha' that they could not make any adherents among Arabs).
At Tabriz, he was interrogated by some Shaykhi scholars in the presence of Nasir al-Din Shah, Crown Prince at the time. During the interrogation - of which three separate reports have been quoted by the author - 'Ali Muhammad showed his dire ignorance of not only the elements of Arabic grammar and simple rules of Islamic law, but disclosed also an amazing ignorance of the very basics of arithmetic. Asked to explain his own statement:
And know that when you find any booty, then, verily, for Dhikr (i.e. the Bab himself) is one-third
The Bab replied that in his authority as the Qa'im he had the right to receive half of the one-fifth (khums), which is the Imam's Share (sahm- e Imam) according to the Shi'i legal school. The Bab had imagined that 1/3 made a rough half of 1/5! His other non-arithmetical replies were of a similar order. Consequently, he broke down at the end of the inter- view, pleading pity, repenting and recanting all his claims. The following is the text of the Bab's recantation (tawbehniimeh), the facsimile of whose original in the Bab's own hand (first published by E.G. Browne in his Material for Study of the Biibi Religion) which appears in the present book:
May my soul be made your ransom. Praise be to God as He deserves to be praised, the manifestations of Whose grace and mercy encompass all the creatures, in all conditions. Praise be to God Who made that Personage (Crown Prince) the spring of kindness and mercy, who by manifesting his magnanimity has benignly afforded forgiveness to his servants, concealing the misdeeds of the offenders and showing pity to the rebellious. I call upon God, and those who are with Him (the angels), to witness that this feeble servant has no intentions opposed to the good pleasure of the God of Islam and His Awliya', although my whole being is sheer sin.
But since I have heartfelt belief in the unity of God Almighty and the prophethood of the Messenger of Allah - may God's benedictions be upon him and his progeny - and the Awliya ' (i.e. the Imams), and since my tongue confesses to the truth of whatever God has revealed, I put my hope in His mercy. I have absolutely had no intentions opposed to His good pleasure, and if anything opposed to His good pleasure has come forth from my pen, my intent was not rebellion. In any case, I am repentant in front of Him, and this servant has absolutely no knowledge so as to justify any kind of claim. I implore God's forgiveness and I turn to Him. Some of the prayers and words that have emerged on my tongue do not signify any kind of claim. I consider any claim to the specific deputyship (niycibat-e khassah) of the Hujjat Allah (the Twelfth Imam) - upon whom be peace - as a false one, and this slave has not made such a claim, nor any other claim of the kind. I implore the grace of the 'King of kings' (Muhammad Shah)and that Personage (Crown Prince) to forgive this supplicant with their magnanimity, kindness and mercy. wa al-salam.
Despite this recantation, the Bab did not relent in his ambitions, and he continued to contact his supporters - who campaigned for him in Iranian cities - calling them to pave the way for his release and triumph.
The result was the ugly incidents of Qazwin, Bedasht, Barfunish, Qaleh-ye Shaykh Tabrasi, Nayriz, and Zanjan, the last three of which were armed rebellions encouraged by the failing health and later the death of Muhammad Shah, Nasir al-Din Shah's father, and the general chaotic conditions of the country.
Mulla Muhammad Taqi, the first to do the tahfir of Shaykh Ahsa'i, was murdered in Qazwin by a Babi, Mirza Salih Shirazi, at the behest of Qurrat al-'Ayn (a mother of three children who had left her husband), with whom he had madly fallen in love, although he was not her only lover. A scandalous incident was created at Bedasht by Qurrat al-'Ayn and her companions. Armed rebellions were staged at Qaleh-ye Shaykh Tabrasi (in Mazandaran), Nayriz and Zanjan, in which Mulla Husayn-e Bushrir'i (called 'Sayyid 'Ali A'zam,' and posthumously 'Husayn-e Mazlum'), Mulla Ali Barfurushi (alias 'Quddus'), YaJ)ya Darabi, and Mulla Muhammad 'Ali Zanjani (alias 'Hujjat") played leading roles. The author cites evidence and instances of the interference of the British and Russian legations in regard to the bloody uprising staged by the Babis in Zanjan, which indicate the great interest and sympathy with which the foreign powers followed the activities of the Babi adventurers and terrorists.
It was to the good fortune of the Islamic country of Iran that a highly able and determined prime minister such as Mirza Muhammad Taqi Khan Amir Kabir was at the helm of state power during those sensitive years of mid-nineteenth century. With great determination he put down the Babi terror and moved resolutely to take the decisive step of the Bab's execution. Amir Kabir earned the bitter hostility of the Russians and the British for his services to the country, and he finally paid for his vigilance and undaunted independence with the loss of prime ministership and soon later of his immensely precious life.
The Bab's execution broke the Babi messianic hopes and frustrated the ambition of wrenching power from the ruling Qachaars.
Although the Bab had taken care to designate a successor, Mirza Yahya Nuri, the so-called Subh-e Azal and Hadrat-e Thamrah, the movement would have completely fizzled out had. it not been for the Ottoman protection afforded to the Baha'is and the gang of Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri, who had already named himself Baha', for he could hardly contain himself when he saw his fellows receiving such titles as 'Aqdas' and 'Hujjat' from the self-styled 'Bab.'
Although the Bab had taken care to designate a successor, Mirza Yahya Nuri, the so-called Subh-e Azal and Hadrat-e Thamrah, the movement would have completely fizzled out had. it not been for the Ottoman protection afforded to the Baha'is and the gang of Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri, who had already named himself Baha', for he could hardly contain himself when he saw his fellows receiving such titles as 'Aqdas' and 'Hujjat' from the self-styled 'Bab.'
