The Genesis of the Bábí-Bahá’í Faiths in Shíráz and Fárs

Abstract

How Muslims in past centuries dreamed about, attempted to actualize, and conceived the apocalyptic and messianic events of the End Times cannot be ignored in any comprehensive approach to the study of Islam. This volume consists of an English translation of one important source that contributes to our understanding of nineteenth-century Islamic messianic movements: Mirza Habib Allah Afnan’s (1875-1971) history of the Babi and Baha’i religions in Shiraz. Born in Shiraz, Afnan grew up in the home of Sayyid Muhammad `Ali Shirazi, “The Bab,” (1819-50) and was raised by his widow, Khadijah Begum. The Bab was born into a Shi’i Muslim merchant family during the early Qajar period, a time when many of his contemporaries expected the near advent of messianic and apocalyptic events. Among the groups so inclined were the “Shaykhis,” devotees of Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Ahsa’i (d. 1826). The Bab was initially a Shaykhi and a follower of Sayyid Kazim Rashti (d. 1843), al-Ahsa’i’s successor. In the 1840s, he claimed to be the expected qa’im (messianic “ariser”) or mahdi (“rightly guided one”) and founded a religion that he hoped would change the world and usher in an era of peace and justice. These assertions led to his execution in Tabriz, Iran, in 1850. In subsequent years, most of his followers looked to Mirza Husayn `Ali Nuri, “Baha’u’llah,” as the Bab’s successor and a figure who, in his own right, fulfilled Babi and other messianic expectations ...