The Martyrdom of the Báb

Who was ! Báb?

The Báb was born in southern Persia on October 20th, 1819. He was a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and entitled to wear the green turban of His descendency. The Báb is also the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh. They are considered twin Manifestations.

The Báb's mission was to prepare humanity for the coming of an age of transformation by purifying the people’s hearts so they could recognize the One for Whom the whole world was waiting. The Báb was thus the "Door" through which this long-awaited universal Manifestation (Bahá'u'lláh ) would appear.

"e W#tings of ! BábTablets, meditations, and prayers flowed effortlessly from His lips. In one extraordinary period of two days, His writings exceeded in quantity the entire text of the Qur'an, which represented the fruit of 23 years of Muhammad's prophetic output, this is regarded as one of the proofs of His divine inspiration.

Ultimately, the Writings of the Báb created a new age emphasizing purity of heart rather than acts of religious piety, an inner condition of spirituality in all aspects of daily life, and truth gained by independent investigation and not by blind imitation of the edicts of a clergy, but by personal effort, prayer, meditation, and detachment.

He freely used new word structures and other variations of accepted speech giving the reader an opportunity to break out of familiar patterns of perception and stretch their intellectual limits. In 1848 at His trial in Tabriz, He was charged for violating the rules of grammar. Regardless of these charges, the Báb reminded those who followed Him, that God is the Creator of language and shapes it according to a divine purpose.

Why was ! Báb ma$yred?The teachings of the Báb were in direct opposition to orthodox concepts

and shattered the authority of the Islamic Republic and it’s politically powerful clergy of the time. A literalistic understanding of the Qur'an and the belief that personal salvation comes through imitation of clerical mentors, plus an unbending conviction that there will be no other Prophets after Muhammad had unthinkable consequence for the Báb.

The Báb declared that Prophets appear over and over and will do so forever. That each one reveals a message appropriate for the time and the people in order to further the development of humankind. As human consciousness recognizes and responds to each Divine Messenger, the spiritual, moral, and intellectual capacities steadily develop, thus preparing the way for God's next Manifestation.

Those opposed to the Báb argued that He was not only a heretic, but a dangerous rebel. Consequently, those in power began attempts at suppression. The Báb’s followers had their homes pillaged and destroyed and great numbers were put to death. The Báb was imprisoned, deported, judged before tribunals and endured horrendous indignities. Despite all attempts at repression, however, the movement progressed.

"e Báb’s Ma$yrdomOn the 9th of July, 1850, the Báb fell victim to the fanatical fury of His persecutors, along with a devoted young man named Muḥammad ‘Alí, who passionately begged to be martyred alongside Him.

They were led to a scaffold in the old barracks square of Tabríz. A spike was driven into a pillar. The two were suspended by ropes under their arms in such a way that the head of Muḥammad ‘Alí rested against the breast of his beloved.

The night before His execution the Báb said: “Tomorrow you shall witness what God has decreed."

The pillar on the right marked with an X is where the Báb was hung and shot.

A regiment of seven hundred and fifty soldiers lined up.

Thousands of people were present to witness the event.

The soldiers received the order to fire...

and the thundering sound of bullets filled the air.

The smoke from the guns was so thick it momentarily darkened the sky.

When the smoke cleared,

the crowd and the soldiers were stunned...

Muḥammad ‘Alí was unharmed and the Báb had disappeared!

Stunned and frightened the guards were ordered to search for the Báb. He was found back in His cell giving final instructions to one of His followers. Several of the guards remembered earlier in the day, when they had come to take Him to be executed, the Báb had warned them that no earthly power could silence Him until He had finished all that He had to say. When these same guards arrived this second time, the Báb calmly announced: "Now you may proceed to fulfill your intention."

Having witnessed what they believed to be a miracle and terrified of the wrath of God the first regiment of soldiers vehemently refused to fire...

A second firing squad was assembled and ordered to shoot. This time the bodies of the pair were shattered, their bones and flesh mingled into one mass, yet their faces were untouched! It is said their faces reflected a peaceful and serene demeanor.

Immediately a gale of unusual ferocity blew up, engulfing the city and raising a thick cloud of dust that blotted out the light of the sun until nightfall.

In the darkness of the storm, the bodies were thrown in ditch outside the city and guards were posted at the site.

However, the Bábís (followers of the Báb) managed to retrieve the remains that night.

The guards protected the Bábi’s by telling their superiors they saw the corpses being devoured by wild animals.

Safeguarding the remains of the Báb and His fellow-martyr, the Bábís secretly kept their remains in a plain wooden box which remained hidden in various places over many decades.

On the evening of that day in 1909, `Abdu'l-Bahá by the light of a single lamp, in circumstances both solemn and moving, laid the wooden casket containing the remains of the Báb and His companion to rest.

`Abdu'l-Bahá, had cast aside his turban, removed his shoes and thrown off his cloak, bending low over the open sarcophagus, with his silver hair waving about his head, his face transfigured and luminous, rested his forehead on the wooden casket and sobbing aloud, wept with such grief that all those who were present wept with him.

Finally, in 1909 their remains were laid to rest in a beautiful shrine on the slopes of Mt. Carmel.

Influence of ! Life and Messa& of ! Báb on Europe

The Bab’s influence was felt even in Europe. Writing in the American periodical Forum in 1925, the French literary critic Jules Bois remembered the extraordinary impact the story of the Báb’s execution had on Europe:

“All Europe was stirred to pity and indignation.... Among the littérateurs of my generation, in the Paris of 1890, the martyrdom of the Báb was still as fresh a topic as it had been with the first news of His death. We wrote poems about Him. Sarah Bernhardt entreated Catulle Mendès for a play on the theme of this historic tragedy. Writers as diverse as Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, Edward Granville Browne, Ernest Renan, Aleksandr Tumanskiy, A.L.M. Nicolas, Viktor Rosen, Clément Huart, George Curzon, Matthew Arnold, and Leo Tolstoy were affected by the spiritual drama that had unfolded in Persia during the middle years of the nineteenth century.”

The complete sincerity of the Bábi’s, their fearless disregard of death and tortures undergone for the sake of their religion, their firm conviction in the truth of their faith, their admirable conduct towards mankind and especially towards their fellow-believers, constituted the strongest factors for the attention from the West.

How are ! Bábi and Báha’i Fai's connected?The Báb prepared the people for the coming of Bahá'u'lláh. He wrote many times of the coming appearance of a second Messenger from God, one who would be far greater than the Báb, and whose mission would be to usher in the age of peace and justice. The nearly simultaneous appearance of two Manifestations of God, Bahá'u'lláh states, “is a mystery such as no mind can fathom”.

The Báb and Bahá'u'lláh it is said did not meet in person, but corresponded with each other. Shortly before the Báb was martyred He sent His personal belongings to Bahá'u'lláh for safe keeping.

Since the Báb prepared His followers most were ready to follow Bahá'u'lláh as fervently as they had followed the Báb. Very quickly the Bábi’s merged with the Bahá’i’s.

Early Bábi and Báha’i Ma$yrs

Edward Granville Browne's concluding remarks in a major article in Religious Systems of the World, published in 1892, speaks of the martyrs:

“It is not a small or easy thing to endure what these have endured, and surely what they deemed worth life itself is worth trying to understand. I say nothing of the mighty influence which, as I believe, the Bábi faith will exert in the future, nor of the new life it may perchance breathe into a dead people; for, whether it succeed or fail, the splendid heroism of the Bábi martyrs is a thing eternal and indestructible.”

Thousands of the Báb's followers were put to death in a horrific series of massacres. The extraordinary moral courage and heroism demonstrated by the Bábis in the face of such an onslaught and the nobility of the Báb's life and teachings has became legendary.

Tahirah an early Babi ma$yrTahirih was born in 1817 into a learned Muslim family. Women were secluded and restricted on all fronts. Most were not educated and lived to serve the men in their family. They bore children, looked after the household and rarely left the confines of their homes. They were not in any way permitted to play a social role. In fact, the only way they could learn about society’s affairs was through the men in their immediate family.

Tahirih knew the Báb brought an independent revelation with a new set of laws, such as the inclusion of women in society. Following a series of events at Badasht, Tahirih appeared among the male participants of this conference without her hejab or head scarf, and, quoting from the Koran, she said: "I am the blast of the trumpet, the call of the bugle, like Gabriel I will awaken sleeping souls." Everyone was in disbelief. This act and what it symbolized shocked the participants, causing one man to cut his own throat while others unsheathed their swords to kill her.

The news of her actions reached the authorities and resulted in her arrest in 1849. The Shah ordered her to recant her beliefs. She refused. Finally, she was examined and her death sentence issued. Her last statement was: "You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”

Bahá’í ‘s are (ill being persecuted and ma$yred

Few Incidents are more shocking than the hanging of ten young Bahá’í women in Shiraz on June 18, 1983. Their crime: teaching religious classes to Bahá’í children— the equivalent of being “Sunday school” teachers in the West.

The most recent cases of persecution, are the imprisonment of Iran's seven Bahá’í leaders and the continued detention of 12 staff and faculty membersof the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education.

From it’s beginnings to the current day, the persecution of the early Bábi’s and contemporary Bahá’í’s has never stopped. Today, there is an International outcry with formal demands to stop the executions and imprisonments, yet this horror of religious persecution continues.