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Baha'i
Baha'is will be observing the anniversary of the Birth of the Bab (Siyyid Ali Muhammad Shirazi) later this week from sunset October 20th to sunset October 21st. Work and School are suspended.
The Bab is a title meaning "Gate".
The Bab was a young merchant of the Pure Lineage. He was born in the year one thousand two hundred and thirty-five [A.H.] (1819) on the first day of Muharram,* and when after a few years His father Siyyid Muhammad-Rida died, He was brought up in Shiraz in the arms of His maternal uncle Mirza Siyyid 'Ali the merchant. On attaining maturity He engaged in trade in Bushihr, first in partnership with His maternal uncle and afterwards independently. On account of what was observed in Him He was noted for godliness, devoutness, virtue, and piety, and was regarded in the sight of men as so characterized.
In the year one thousand two hundred and sixty [A.H.], (1844) when He was in His twenty-fifth year, certain signs became apparent in His conduct, behavior, manners, and demeanor whereby it became evident in Shiraz that He had some conflict in His mind and some other flight beneath His wing. He began to speak and to declare the rank of Bab-hood.* Now what He intended by the term Bab [Gate] was this, that He was the channel of grace from some great Person still behind the veil of glory, Who was the possessor of countless and boundless perfections, by Whose will He moved, and to the bond of Whose love He clung. And in the first book which He wrote in explanation of the Surih of Joseph,* He addressed Himself in all passages to that Person unseen from Whom He received help and grace, sought for aid in the arrangement of His preliminaries, and craved the sacrifice of life in the way of His love.
Amongst others is this sentence: "O Remnant of God, I am wholly sacrificed to Thee; I am content with curses in Thy way; I crave naught but to be slain in Thy love; and God the Supreme sufficeth as an Eternal Protection."
He likewise composed a number of works in explanation and elucidation of the verses of the Qur'án, of sermons, and of prayers in Arabic; inciting and urging men to expect the appearance of that Person; and these books He named "Inspired Pages" and "Word of Conscience." But on investigation it was discovered that He laid no claim to revelation from an angel.
Now since He was noted amongst the people for lack of instruction and education, this circumstance appeared in the sight of men supernatural. Some men inclined to Him, but the greater part manifested strong disapproval; whilst all the learned doctors and lawyers of repute who occupied chairs, altars, and pulpits were unanimously agreed on eradication and suppression, save some divines of the Shaykhi party who were anchorites and recluses, and who, agreeably to their tenets, were ever seeking for some great, incomparable, and trustworthy person, whom they accounted, according to their own terminology, as the "Fourth Support" and the central manifestation of the truths of the Perspicuous Religion.
~ Abdu'l-Baha, A Traveller's Narrative, p. 3
Shirazi, Sayyid Ali Muhammad - Oxford Islamic Studies Online
BBC - Religions - Bahai: The Báb
Siyyid ‘Ali Muhammad, the Báb, Born 190 years ago on this day | Iranian.com
The Bab is a title meaning "Gate".
The Bab was a young merchant of the Pure Lineage. He was born in the year one thousand two hundred and thirty-five [A.H.] (1819) on the first day of Muharram,* and when after a few years His father Siyyid Muhammad-Rida died, He was brought up in Shiraz in the arms of His maternal uncle Mirza Siyyid 'Ali the merchant. On attaining maturity He engaged in trade in Bushihr, first in partnership with His maternal uncle and afterwards independently. On account of what was observed in Him He was noted for godliness, devoutness, virtue, and piety, and was regarded in the sight of men as so characterized.
In the year one thousand two hundred and sixty [A.H.], (1844) when He was in His twenty-fifth year, certain signs became apparent in His conduct, behavior, manners, and demeanor whereby it became evident in Shiraz that He had some conflict in His mind and some other flight beneath His wing. He began to speak and to declare the rank of Bab-hood.* Now what He intended by the term Bab [Gate] was this, that He was the channel of grace from some great Person still behind the veil of glory, Who was the possessor of countless and boundless perfections, by Whose will He moved, and to the bond of Whose love He clung. And in the first book which He wrote in explanation of the Surih of Joseph,* He addressed Himself in all passages to that Person unseen from Whom He received help and grace, sought for aid in the arrangement of His preliminaries, and craved the sacrifice of life in the way of His love.
Amongst others is this sentence: "O Remnant of God, I am wholly sacrificed to Thee; I am content with curses in Thy way; I crave naught but to be slain in Thy love; and God the Supreme sufficeth as an Eternal Protection."
He likewise composed a number of works in explanation and elucidation of the verses of the Qur'án, of sermons, and of prayers in Arabic; inciting and urging men to expect the appearance of that Person; and these books He named "Inspired Pages" and "Word of Conscience." But on investigation it was discovered that He laid no claim to revelation from an angel.
Now since He was noted amongst the people for lack of instruction and education, this circumstance appeared in the sight of men supernatural. Some men inclined to Him, but the greater part manifested strong disapproval; whilst all the learned doctors and lawyers of repute who occupied chairs, altars, and pulpits were unanimously agreed on eradication and suppression, save some divines of the Shaykhi party who were anchorites and recluses, and who, agreeably to their tenets, were ever seeking for some great, incomparable, and trustworthy person, whom they accounted, according to their own terminology, as the "Fourth Support" and the central manifestation of the truths of the Perspicuous Religion.
~ Abdu'l-Baha, A Traveller's Narrative, p. 3
Shirazi, Sayyid Ali Muhammad - Oxford Islamic Studies Online
BBC - Religions - Bahai: The Báb
Siyyid ‘Ali Muhammad, the Báb, Born 190 years ago on this day | Iranian.com
