Babis

The Babis were the followers of the religion founded by the Bab. Their history, at least in the East, has been one of persecution. It falls into two phases: from the founding of the faith in 1260/1844 to the persecutions after the attempt on Nasir al-Din Shah in 1268/1852, a period often marked by violence on the part of the Babis themselves; and a 'pacifist' phase from then to the present, which saw the community split into two factions of unequal size and importance. ²

The most important event of the early community was the convention of Badasht in 1264/1848. There the Babis gave up their earlier caution and openly declared their secession from Islam and the sharia. A leading figure was the poet Zarrin-Taj, known as Qurrat al-'Ayn and Jana-yi Tahira ('the Pure'), born at Qazvin, daughter of the theologian Mulla Salih. The entry says that she, first among Persian women, showed herself unveiled to her co-religionists, a living example of the abrogation of the sharia. Among those present was the future Baha' Allah. ²

Mulla Husayn of Bushruya, one of the Letters of the Living, held the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi near Barfurush with a small band, among them Mulla Muhammad 'Ali of Barfurush, called Quddus. They resisted the troops of Nasir al-Din Shah, but Mulla Husayn was killed, and the survivors surrendered on a promise that their lives would be spared; they were massacred (Ramadan 1265/July-August 1849). At Nayriz in Fars, Sayyid Yahya of Darab, called Wahid, led a Babi rising from the old citadel; it held for several days until the Babis were massacred (January 1850). At Zanjan, Mulla Muhammad 'Ali, called Hujjat, led the Babis into a citadel, and more than 3,000 were massacred (February 1850). The "seven martyrs of Tehran" died four months before the execution of the Bab, one of them his uncle and tutor. ²

The attempt on Nasir al-Din Shah on 28 Shawwal 1268 (16 August 1852), made by two Babis, led to a new reign of terror in which many leading Babis were killed, among them Qurrat al-'Ayn, who was strangled after long imprisonment. The principal Babis, including Husayn 'Ali Nuri (Baha' Allah) and his half-brother Subh-i Azal (Mirza Yahya Nuri), were banished to Iraq. Persecution continued sporadically through Persia. The Baha'i tradition speaks of about 20,000 martyrs, including those killed in battle. ¹

After the declarations at the Garden of Ridwan and later at Adrianople, disputes arose between the followers of Baha' Allah, who came to be called Baha'is, and the followers of Subh-i Azal. The Azalis kept to the letter of the Bayan and held that the Bab had named Mirza Yahya as his successor. The Baha'is maintained that this nomination was temporary and pro forma, and that Subh-i Azal had no right to oppose "Him whom God shall manifest", who in their view was Baha' Allah. The Azalis always remained in the minority, and the figure of 50,000 that was once given for them seems high. ³