Declaration of the Báb

Today, May 23rd, marks the Bahá'í Faith's declaration of the Báb.

The story actually begins many years prior, in 1783, when a learned man known as Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsá'í (1743-1826) began, at the age of 40, to travel through Persia teaching that the advent of a great Day was drawing near, the Day that would see the advent of the Qá'im, the Promised One of Islam. As he spread this message, his knowledge and wisdom impressed many among the clergy and secular leaders of the day and gathered to him a group of students eager to learn from him. Among these was a gifted young man named Siyyid Kázim-i-Rashtí, who became Shaykh Ahmad's eventual successor.

After Shaykh Ahmad's death in 1826, Siyyid Kázim continued to spread the word of the advent of the Qá'im, but opposition to the message was rising. In an effort to enlist the voices of some well-respected authorities, he sent one of his pupils, Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í, to relate Shaykh Ahmad's teachings to these authorities and answer their questions. In this task, Mullá Husayn was successful. However, opposition to Siyyid Kázim's message grew and caused him considerable hardship as his enemies used every means at their disposal to discredit him and, if possible, put his life in jeopardy. Throughout this time, however, he continued to steadfastly announce the coming revelation, although when pressed to reveal the identity of the Qá'im, he always refused, often adding that even if he did reveal this secret, none would be able to accept it. Shortly before his death in 1843, he instructed his students to go out and search for the Qá'im, saying He was about to be revealed.

It was this quest that led Mullá Husayn, his brother, and a nephew to the city of Shíráz on May 22, 1844. Having travelled far in search of the Qá'im, he sent his companions to the mosque to await him while he wandered awhile, promising to rejoin them for evening prayers. While walking outside the gates of the city a few hours before sunset, he was unexpectedly greeted by a young man. Mullá Husayn thought this man must be a disciple of Siyyid Kázim who had heard of his arrival in Shíráz and had come to welcome him. Even so, the manner of the greeting was astonishing. 

He accompanied the young man to his house, where tea was served and preparations begun for the evening prayer. 

The young man, whose name was Siyyid Alí Muhammád, proceeded to demonstrate that each of the signs given by Siyyid Kázim were indeed applicable to Him. Yet Mullá Husayn was unsure. He had prepared two tests for anyone claiming to be the Qá'im, and decided to place them before Siyyid Alí Muhammád in order to prove the matter one way or the other. Those tests, Mullá Huysan related, were as follows:

"The first was a treatise which I had myself composed, bearing upon the abstruse and hidden teachings propounded by Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim. Whoever seemed to me capable of unravelling the mysterious allusions made in that treatise, to him I would next submit my second request, and would ask him to reveal, without the least hesitation or reflection, a commentary on the Súrih of Joseph, in a style and language entirely different from the prevailing standards of the time. I had previously requested Siyyid Kázim, in private, to write a commentary on that same Súrih, which he refused, saying: 'This is, verily, beyond me. He, that great One, who comes after me will, unasked, reveal it for you. That commentary will constitute one of the weightiest testimonies of His truth, and one of the clearest evidences of the loftiness of His position.'"

The Dawn-Breakers, p59

From that day forward, Siyyid Alí Muhammád referred to Himself as the Báb (the Gate) and Mullá Husayn became his first disciple. Although the Báb was indeed the Qá'im foretold by Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim, He taught that He was but the Herald of another Messenger who would appear very soon after Him and the power of whose revelation would far exceed any previously sent down by God. It was the beginning of six tumultuous years that would see Persia turned upside down, thousands of the Báb's followers put to death and the Báb Himself executed by firing squad in 1850. Mullá Husayn would be killed when the army beseiged a group of Bábís at Fort Tabarsí in 1849.

The day the Báb declared His mission is now, as He had promised, celebrated by Bahá'ís around the world as "one of the greatest and most significant of all festivals."