{"id":300,"date":"2012-10-19T12:52:31","date_gmt":"2012-10-19T12:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/songofnightingale\/?p=300"},"modified":"2013-05-23T14:13:43","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T14:13:43","slug":"the-bab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/songofnightingale\/2012\/10\/the-bab.html","title":{"rendered":"The B\u00e1b"},"content":{"rendered":"

“His life is one of the most magnificent examples of courage which it has been the privilege of mankind to behold…”<\/em> – A.L.M. Nicolas<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What would call for a musketry of 750 riflemen to riddle a mild-mannered young man of\u00a0thirty-one, a\u00a0kindly demeanour\u00a0and a peaceful\u00a0purpose to a pulp of flesh and bone? What would cause a youth of\u00a0only fifteen\u00a0to beg the soldiers for the honour of being martyred\u00a0with him? Yet so it came to pass. The youth An\u00eds, and his young Master who held him in his\u00a0embrace, were shot by three volleys of bullets, each\u00a0volley fired by a file of 250 soldiers. The scene of this\u00a0gorey\u00a0spectacle\u00a0was Tabr\u00edz, Persia, and the year was 1850. Over 10,000 spectators had gathered to observe the scene. The young man was known for his delicate\u00a0appearance and his melodious voice. These were his last words as he serenely addressed the cheering crowds:<\/p>\n

“O wayward generation! Had ye believed in me, ye would have followed the example of this youth, who ranks above most of you,\u00a0and willingly sacrificed your lives in my path. The Day shall come when you will\u00a0have recognized me, and I shall have ceased to be with you.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Shrine of the B\u00e1b in Haifa, Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The\u00a0young\u00a0man came from\u00a0Shir\u00e1z, Persia. His father had died when\u00a0he was but an infant and it fell on his uncle to care for\u00a0the boy.\u00a0After being sent back from a religious school for knowing too much, the boy took up his uncle’s trade as a merchant.\u00a0He was well-known\u00a0for his exceptional humility, fervour in prayer, quiet disposition and exemplary honesty in his business dealings. A siyyid, a lineal descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, he wore the characteristic green turban. A fervent messianic expectation of the promised\u00a0Mahdi<\/a> had reached the city with the arrival of 18 young theological students from Karbila, Iraq, who had espoused the millenarian\u00a0Shaykhi<\/a> school. On 23 May\u00a01844, at the age of twenty-five, this Siyyid shared what he regarded a precious secret to the first of these youth arriving in the city. The clandestine interview took place in the Siyyid’s house in the dead of night. Mull\u00e1 Husayn<\/a>, his\u00a0guest, was a student of scriptural prophecies and a Shaykhi who had recently been awarded the prestigious title of a ‘mujtahid’. Upon his arrival to Shir\u00e1z, Mull\u00e1 Husayn had been seen by the\u00a0Shir\u00e1zi merchant in the city’s outskirts. The visitor was warmly welcomed to lodge at his house for the night. While serving his guest tea from a silver samovar, the host, almost casually, related that he is none other than the Promised One of all ages foretold by all the Prophets of old, the one they had come to find.\u00a0Mull\u00e1 Husayn later wrote that the love and kindness of his youthful host was such that\u00a0had he no other claim to greatness, his virtue alone would have sufficed to convince him.<\/p>\n

The Shir\u00e1zi youth revealed to Mull\u00e1 Husayn and the rest of his initial 18 disciples that his\u00a0sole purpose, as a Messenger of God,\u00a0was to prepare the way for the imminent appearance of an even greater Messenger –\u201cHim Whom God shall make manifest.\u201d <\/em>But he also cautioned that to embrace his cause was to put oneself in mortal peril. He warned that his public announcement was destined to result in violent persecution, nation-gripping bloodshed and, eventually, his own martyrdom<\/a> at the hands of the Persian priestly elite. A bold claim to Messengership in succession to Muhammad, him who was deemed the ‘final prophet’, would undoubtedly be met with violent persecution by the orthodox Sh\u00ed\u2019\u00e1h clerics of Persia. Thousands of adherents, from all walks of life, were to flock to his Cause in a short period of time, despite a near-certain prospect of violent persecution, torture and death. A score of unbiased and notable first-hand observers of Qaj\u00e1ric Persia in the 19th century, not the least of which were Lord Curzon of Kedleston<\/a> and Comte de Gobineau<\/a>, would attest in their voluminous accounts to the two decades of violent turmoil in Persia following the peaceful revelation of this merchant. His declaration, quite foreseeably, caused alarm amongst the Orthodox Sh\u00ed’\u00edte clergy. But the brutal torture and persecution of\u00a0his followers was prompted neither by fairness nor necessity.<\/p>\n

At that fateful night in Shir\u00e1z, the intuitive learning, the flawless appearance, the powerful words and the heartfelt courtesy of this\u00a0Shir\u00e1zi Siyyid\u00a0stirred Mull\u00e1 Husayn to his depths. Fully aware of the mortal perils ahead, he spontaneously arose to proclaim the young merchant\u2019s bold claim and forthwith dispatched, under the\u00a0Siyyid’s instructions, on horseback to the capital Tehran. As to his mission to the capital, the\u00a0Siyyid offered Mull\u00e1 Husayn only these veiled words:<\/p>\n

\u201cA secret lies hidden in that city. When made manifest, it shall turn the earth into paradise.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This gentle Siyyid was the B\u00e1b<\/a> (\u201cthe Gate\u201d). His\u00a0is a\u00a0true story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“His life is one of the most magnificent examples of courage which it has been the privilege of mankind to behold…” – A.L.M. Nicolas What would call for a musketry of 750 riflemen to riddle a mild-mannered young man of\u00a0thirty-one, a\u00a0kindly demeanour\u00a0and a peaceful\u00a0purpose to a pulp of flesh and bone? What would cause a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":546,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[135,136,4,72,71,59,9,69,73,77,58,79,78,76],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-central-figures","tag-bab","tag-bahai-faith","tag-bahaullah","tag-comte-de-gobineau","tag-lord-curzon","tag-mulla-husayn","tag-persia","tag-shaykhism","tag-shiraz","tag-tabriz","tag-the-bab","tag-the-dawn-breakers","tag-the-qajars","tag-the-seal-of-the-prophets"],"yoast_head":"\nThe B\u00e1b - Song of Nightingale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/songofnightingale\/2012\/10\/the-bab.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The B\u00e1b - Song of Nightingale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“His life is one of the most magnificent examples of courage which it has been the privilege of mankind to behold…” – A.L.M. 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