BABISM

The Bab

One of the breakaway offshoots of the Shaykhi movement involved a young Iranian merchant by the name of Sayyid ‘Ali Muhammad Shirazi the Bab (1819-1850). Originally associated with the Shaykhis, in 1844 ‘Ali Muhammad proclaimed himself to be a bab7 to the Hidden Imam.8 One of Sayyid Kazim’s disciples, Mulla Husayn Bushru’i (d.1849), accepted the claim of ‘Ali Muhammad in a meeting which later became identified as marking the beginning of the Babi movement.9

The first followers of the Bab were mainly drawn from the Shaykhi school and included religious scholars and notable figures. A list of eighteen (nineteen including ‘Ali Muhammad himself) were given the title huruf al-hayy ‘Letters of the Living’ and included among their ranks were figures who became prominent Babi leaders such as Mulla Husayn, Qurrat al-‘Ayn (1814-1852)10 and Quddus (d.1849).11 Qurrat al-‘Ayn was a scholar, poet, religious leader and revolutionary figure. Although she never met the Bab, Qurrat al-‘Ayn became an important figure in the movement and was instrumental in forcing on the Babis a conscious break from Islamic shari‘ah. Quddus was the youngest of the eighteen huruf al-hayy and given an exalted station by the Bab with the title ism allah al-akh ‘the Last Name of God’.12

In September 1844, the Bab, accompanied by Quddus, set out to perform the pilgrimage to Makkah. There he announced publicly his claim, receiving a disappointing response from the pilgrims. On his return to Iran, he was arrested and confined to the house of his uncle. He began to write more and more prolifically and his followers grew in number. Although retaining a Shi‘i heritage and allegiance (at least until 1848 when Islamic shari‘a was considered abrogated) the Bab provided his faithful with new laws and ordinances that were somewhat bizarre and practically impossible to enact in full.13 Speaking particularly of his later works, Denis MacEoin writes:

… the Bab created a hybrid in religious literature, a sort of cross between Qur’an, Talmud, and risala fiqhiyya, weaving doctrine, personal comment, scriptural commentary, and legal ordinances together in an inspired but at times incoherent medley. Insofar as we can separate laws from ritual injunctions, the picture that emerges from these books is one of missed opportunity. The millenarian radicalism of Babism and the desire for social reform evident in some of the Babi-state struggles, are smothered by a mishmash of rules and regulations that at times are little more than mere whimsy, revolving around some of the Bab’s own obsessions about cleanliness, polite behaviour, and elegance. It is a shari’a, but not in any practical sense. Certainly, it does not seem to be going anywhere.14

However, the Babis saw in their leader a messianic figure that would lead the believers in overturning the Qajar state and establishing the reign of God on earth. The government and religious leaders became increasingly wary of the Babi movement which they rightly saw as constituting a direct challenge to the powers of state and clergy. In June 1848 leading Babi figures held a conference at Badasht, in which a complete break with Islamic shari‘ah was made. A huge commotion occurred when Qurrat al-‘Ayn appeared with her face unveiled and proclaimed: “I am the Word which the Qá’im is to utter, the Word which shall put to flight the chiefs and nobles of the earth!”15

Later that year, after being moved to various localities – Shiraz, Isfahan, Mah-Ku and Chiriq – the Bab was put on trial in Tabriz before religious authorities and the Crown Prince Nasir al-Din Mirza. From various accounts it seems the Bab did not fare very well in answering the questions put before him.16 There is some evidence to suggest that the Bab even recanted his claim to the Imamate.17 Despite the failure of the Bab to intellectually demolish his interlocutors, the Babis began waging their jihad against the state as a type of cosmic re-enactment of the Battle at Karbala.

The main battles occurred at Shaykh Tabarsi, Nayriz and Zanjan in which principle players in the Babi leadership died. All in all, it has been calculated that between two thousand to three thousand Babis were killed in this period.18 As an armed rebellion, however, the Babis had made such an impact on the government that finally the order for the execution of ‘Ali Muhammad was given. On 9 July 1850 the Bab was put to death by firing squad19 and the movement appeared to suffer defeat with the remaining Babis divided over the question of succession of leadership. Some Babis ended up fleeing to Iraq while others moved into hiding.

It is generally held that the Bab named Mirza Yahya Nuri Subh al-Azal20 (c.1830-1912)21 as leader of the Babi movement in his absence, although the matter is not completely clear as there appear to have been a number of claimants to the leadership including Sayyid Basir-i Hindi, Dayyan and Mirza Yahya’s older half brother Mirza Husayn ‘Ali Nuri Baha’22 (1817-1892).23 Nevertheless Subh al-Azal is generally recognised to have been the main contender, despite the suggestion by supporters of Husayn ‘Ali that this was in order to deflect attention away from the latter during what must have been an extremely precarious time to be publicly identified as a Babi.24

Subh al-Azal had gone into hiding in Iraq and appears to have urged public dissimulation on the Babis. Relations between him and his brother soured, but it was some time before there occurred in 1867 a complete split between Azali Babism and what became Baha’ism. Subh al-Azal was eventually exiled to, and died in, Cyprus. Azali Babis were involved in Iran’s nationalist reform and today there still exists a small Azali Babi community.25 Here we shall leave Subh al-Azal’s story as this paper is primarily concerned with the Baha’i religion.

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References

7The doctrine of the Lesser Occultation of the twelfth Imam holds that for a period of time after his disappearance, the Hidden Imam was still in contact with his followers via the mediation of four abwab ‘gates’ (sing. bab) held to be in contact with the Hidden Imam. After the close of this period the Greater Occultation began in which the Hidden Imam was still considered the ruler of the world but without being in direct contact with his followers.

8There is some academic dispute over whether ‘Ali Muhammad claimed to be the Hidden Imam from the outset. The official Baha’i position is that he concealed his station to protect the infant movement. Others hold that his claim gradually developed. Eventually he claimed to be the nuqtah ‘Primal Point’. See Stockman, Robert, “Some Notes on the Báb”, 5 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/unpubl.articles/bab.stockman.html> in contrast to Denis MacEoin’s position in his various works on Babism.

9Smith, Peter, “Husayn Bushrú’í, Mulla” A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith (Oxford: Oneworld, 2000) 190-191.

10Qurrat al-‘Ayn was born Fatima Khanum Qazvini. She was also known by the titles Zarrin Taj “Golden Crown”, Qurrat al-‘Ayn “Solace of the Eye” and Tahirah “the Pure One”.

11Meaning “Holy One”. His birth name was Aqa Mirza Muhammad ‘Ali Barfurushi. See Appendix I for a full list of names of the Letters of the Living.

12MacEoin, Denis, Rituals in Babism and Baha’ism, (London and New York: British Academic Press-I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 1994) 105-106, vol. 2 of Pembroke Persian Papers, gen. ed. Charles Melville, 3 vols. Titles were used extensively in the Babi and Baha’i religions for a number of reasons which are oulined in the Appendix of Walbridge, John, “Essays and Notes on Babi and Baha’i History”, spec. ed., Mar. 2002, Occasional Papers in Shaykhi, Babi and Baha’i Studies, vol. 6, no. 1, 3 Dec. 2002, <http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/bhpapers/vol6/waless/waless.htm>. Babi custom encouraged the use of attributes of God in titles including those not recognised in the traditional Islamic list of the ninety-nine names of Allah, such as Baha’ Allah and ‘Abd al-Bayan.

13The official Baha’i line is that the Bab was forcing on his followers a consciousness of the break from Islam by revealing his impossible new shari‘ah, and that ultimately it was merely paving the way for Baha’i laws much more moderate in application. There is no indication that the Bab held this view for his shari‘ah. See MacEoin, Rituals in Babism and Baha’ism 1.

14MacEoin, Denis, “Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Shari‘a: the Babi and Baha’i Solutions to the Problem of Immutability”, 5 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/unpubl.articles/sharia.html>.

15The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá’í Revelation, trans. Shoghi Effendi, (London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1953) 213. See also Mottahedeh, Negar, “Ruptured Spaces and Effective Histories: The Unveiling of the Babi Poetess Qurrat al-‘Ayn-Tahirih in the Gardens of Badasht”, 5 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/articles/rupture.html>.

16MacEoin, Denis, “The Trial of the Bab: Shi‘ite Orthodoxy Confronts its Mirror Image”, May 1997, Occasional Papers in Shaykhi, Babi and Baha’i Studies, no. 1, 5 Dec. 2002, <http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/bhpapers/babtrial.htm>.

17MacEoin refers to a letter apparently in ‘Ali Muhammad’s handwriting recanting his claims included in “Five Unpublished Contemporary Documents, Persian and English, Relating to the Bab’s Examination at Tabriz in 1848”, Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion, ed. Edward G. Brown, (Cambridge: The University Press, 1918) 256, 5 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/books/msbr/msbr05.tabriz.html>.

18Strangely, Baha’is generally quote a figure of twenty thousand martyrs, which MaEoin proposes is an indication of the modern Baha’i ‘myth’ of the heroism of the Babis. See MacEoin, Denis, “From Babism to Baha’ism: Problems of Militancy, Quietism, and Conflation in the Construction of a Religion”, 1983, Religion, vol. 13, 236, 3 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/articles/babism.maceoin.html>.

19Baha’i histories hold that a miracle occurred when the Bab escaped injury in the first round of volleys to be fired at him and a young follower who had volunteered to be martyred with the Bab. It was the second troop of soldiers who succeeded in carrying out the Bab’s death sentence. See The Dawn-Breakers 368-381.

20Meaning “Morning of Eternity”.

21For a collection of works by Subh al-Azal available online see <http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/index/azal/azal.htm>.

22Meaning “Splendour”. Husayn ‘Ali was originally titled Baha’, but this was later changing to Baha’ Allah “the Splendour of God”.

23“A Letter from ‘Abdu’l-Karim Qazvini to Sayyid Javad Karbala’i, dated August, 1851, Concerning Mirza Husayn ‘Ali Nuri, Baha’u’llah”, trans. Juan Cole, Oct. 1997, Translations of Shaykhi, Babi and Baha’i Texts, No. 8, 5 Dec. 2002, <http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/trans/vol1/qazvini/qazvini3.htm>.

24It is revealing that Baha’is do not appear willing to question the ethical implication of Husayn ‘Ali agreeing to deflect danger away from himself and onto his half brother Subh al-Azal, if this version of events is to be believed.

25MacEoin, Denis, “Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Shari‘a: the Babi and Baha’i Solutions to the Problem of Immutability”, 5 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/unpubl.articles/sharia.html>.

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