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BABIISM

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 95 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BABIISM , the See also:

religion founded in See also:Persia in A.D. 1844–1845 by Mirth `See also:Ali Muhammad of See also:Shiraz, a See also:young Sayyid who was at that See also:time not twenty-five years of See also:age. Before his "manifestation " (zuhiir), of which he gives in the See also:Persian Bayfin a date corresponding to 23rd May 1844, he was a See also:disciple of Sayyid Kazim of Rasht, the See also:leader of the Shaykhis, a See also:sect of extreme ShI'ites characterized by the See also:doctrine (called by them Rukn-irabi', " the See also:fourth support ") that at all times there must exist an intermediary between the twelfth See also:Imam and his faithful followers. This intermediary they called " the perfect ShI'ite," and his prototype is to be found in the four successive Bdbs or " See also:gates " through whom alone the twelfth Imam, during the See also:period of his " See also:minor See also:occultation " (Ghaybat-i-sughrd, A.D. 874–940), held communication with his partisans. It was in this sense, and not, as has been often asserted, in the sense of See also:Gate of See also:God " or " Gate of Religion," that the See also:title Bab was understood and assumed by Mfrza'Alf Muhammad; but,thoughstill generally thus styled by non-See also:Bahia, he soon assumed the higher title of Nugta (" Point "), and the title Bab, thus See also:left vacant, was conferred on his ardent disciple, Muilfi Husayn of Bushrawayh. The See also:history of the Bahia, though covering a comparatively See also:short period, is'so full of incident and the particulars now availableare so numerous, that the following See also:account purports to be See also:silly the briefest See also:sketch. The Bab himself was in captivity first at Shiraz, then at See also:Mail, and lastly at Chihrfq, during the greater See also:part of the six years (May 1844 until See also:July 1850) of his brief career, but an active propaganda was carried on by his disciples, which resulted in several serious revolts against the See also:government, especially alter the See also:death of Muhammad Shah in See also:September 1848. Of these risings the first (See also:December 1848-July 1849) took See also:place in See also:Mazandaran, at the ruined See also:shrine of Shaykh Tabarsf, near Barfur6sh, where the Babfs, led by See also:Mull-& Muhammad `Alf of Barfurash and Mulla Husayn of Bushrawayh (" the first who believed "), defied the shah's troops for seven months before they were finally subdued and put to death. The revolt at Zanjan in the See also:north-See also:west of Persia, headed by Mull& Muhammad `Ali Zanjanf, also lasted seven or eight months (May–December 1850), while. a serious but less protracted struggle was waged against the government at Nfrfz in See also:Fars by See also:Aga Sayyid Yahya of Nfrfz. Both revolts were in progress when the Bab, with one of his devoted disciples, was brought from his See also:prison at Chihrfq to See also:Tabriz and publicly shot in front of the arg or citadel. The See also:body, after being exposed for some days, was recovered by the Babfs and conveyed to a shrine near Tehran, whence it was ultimately removed to See also:Acre in See also:Syria, where it is now buried.

For the next two years comparatively little was heard of the Babis, but on the 35th of See also:

August 1852 three of them, acting on their own initiative, attempted to assassinate Nasiru'd-Din Shah as he was returning from the See also:chase to his See also:palace at Niyavaran. The See also:attempt failed, but was the cause of a fresh persecution, and on the 31st of August 1852 some See also:thirty Bahia, including the beautiful and talented poetess Qurratu'l-'Ayn, were put to death in Tehran with atrocious See also:cruelty. Another of the victims of that See also:day was Hajji Mirth Janf of See also:Kashan, the author of the See also:oldest history of the See also:movement from the Babf point of view. Only one See also:complete MS. of his invaluable See also:work (obtained by See also:Count Gobineau in Persia) exists in any public library, the Bihliotheque Nationale at See also:Paris. The so-called " New History " (of which an See also:English See also:translation was published at See also:Cambridge in 1843 by E. G, See also:Browne) is based on Mirth Jani's work, but many important passages which did not See also:accord with later Babf doctrine or policy have been suppressed or modified, while some additions have been made. The Bab was succeeded on his death by Mirth Yahya of Nlr (at that time only about twenty years of age), who escaped to See also:Bagdad, and, under the title of Subh-i-Ezel (" the See also:Morning of Eternity "), became the pontiff of the sect. He lived, however, in See also:great seclusion, leaving the direction of affairs almost entirely in the hands of his See also:elder See also:half-See also:brother (See also:born 12th See also:November 1817), Mirth, Husayn `Alf, entitled Balsa' u'lldla (" the Splendour of God " ), who thus gradually became the most conspicuous and most influential member of the sect, though in the Iqdn, one of the most important polemical See also:works of the Babis, composed in 1858–1859, he still implicitly recognized the supremacy of Subh-i-Ezel. In 1863, however, Baha declared himself to be He whom God shall See also:manifest" (See also:Clan Yuz-hiruhu'ildh, with prophecies of whose See also:advent the works of the Bab are filled), and called on all the Bahia to recognize his claim. The See also:majority responded, but Subh-i-Ezel and some of his faithful adherents refused. After that date the Babfs divided into two sects, Ezelis and Baha'fs, of which the former steadily lost and the latter gained ground, so that in 1908 there were probably from half a million to a million of the latter, and at most only a See also:hundred or two of the former. In 1863 the Babfs were, at the instance of the Persian government, removed from Bagdad to See also:Constantinople, whence they were shortly afterwards transferred to See also:Adrianople.

In 1868 Baha and his followers were exiled to Acre in Syria, and Subh-i-Ezel with his few adherents to See also:

Famagusta in See also:Cyprus, where he was still living in 1908. Baha'u'llah died at Acre on the 16th of May 1892. His son `Abbas Efendf (also called `Abdu'l-Baha, the servant of Baha") was generally recognized as his successor, but another of his four sons, Muhammad `Ali, put forward a See also:rival claim. This caused a fresh and See also:bitter See also:schism, but Abbas Efendf steadily gained ground, and there could be little doubt as to his eventual See also:triumph. The controversial literature connected with this latest schism is abundant, not only in Persian, but in English, for since 'goo many Americans have adopted the religion of Baha. The See also:original apostle of See also:America was See also:Ibrahim See also:George Khayru'llah, who began his propaganda at the See also:Chicago See also:Exhibition and latex supported the claims of Muhammad `Ali. Several Persian missionaries, including the aged and learned Mirth See also:Abu'l-Fazl of Gulpayagan, were thereupon despatched to America by 'Abbas Efendi, who was generally accepted by the See also:American Baha'fs as " the See also:Master." The American See also:press contained many notices of the propaganda and its success. An interesting See also:article on the subject, by Stoyan Krstoff Vatralsky of See also:Boston, See also:Mass., entitled " Mohammedan See also:Gnosticism in America," appeared in the American See also:Journal of See also:Theology for See also:January 1902, pp. 57-58. A correct understanding of the doctrines of the See also:early Babfs (now represented by the Ezelis) is hardly possible See also:save to one who is conversant with the theology of See also:Islam and its developments, and especially the tenets of the Shl'a. The Babfs are Muhammadans only in the sense that the Muhammadans are Christians or the Christians See also:Jews; that is to say, they recognize Muhammad (See also:Mahomet) as a true See also:prophet and the Qur'an (See also:Koran) as a See also:revelation, but deny their finality. Revelation, according to their view, is progressive, and no revelation is final, for, as the human See also:race progresses, a See also:fuller measure of truth, and ordinances more suitable to the age, are vouchsafed.

The Divine Unity is incomprehensible, and can be known only through its Manifestations; to recognize the Manifestation of the See also:

cycle in which he lives is the supreme See also:duty of See also:man. Owing to the enormous See also:volume and unsystematic See also:character of the Babf scriptures, and the See also:absence of anything resembling See also:church See also:councils, the doctrine on many important points (such as the future See also:life) is undetermined and vague. The resurrection of the body is denied, but some See also:form of See also:personal See also:immortality is generally, though not universally, accepted. Great importance was attached to the mystical values of letters and See also:numbers, especially the numbers i8 and ig (" the number of the unity ") and 192 = 361 (" the number of all things "). In See also:general, the Bab's doctrines most closely resembled those of the Isma'ilfs and Hurfifis. In the hands of See also:Bala the aims of the sect became much more See also:practical and ethical, and the wilder pantheistic tendencies and metaphysical See also:hair-splittings of the early Babis almost disappeared. The intelligence, integrity and morality of the Babis are high, but their efforts to improve the social position of woman have been much exaggerated. They were in no way concerned (as was at the time falsely alleged) in the assassination of Nasiru'd-Din Shah in May 1896. Of See also:recent persecutions of the sect the two most notable took place at Yazd, one in May 1891, and another of greater ferocity in See also:June 1903. Some account of the latter is given by See also:Napier See also:Malcolm in his See also:book Five Years in a Persian See also:Town (See also:London,19o5), pp. 87-89 and 186. In the constitutional movement in Persia (1907) the Babis, though their sympathies are undoubtedly with the reformers, wisely refrained from outwardly identifying themselves with that party, to whom their open support, by alienating the orthodox mujtahids and mullds, would have proved fatal.

Here, as in all their actions, they clearly obeyed orders issued from headquarters. and " See also:

Catalogue and Description of the 27 Babi See also:Manuscripts," Journal of R. Asiat. See also:Soc. (July and See also:October 1892) ; Andreas, See also:Die Blbi's in Persien (1896) ; See also:Baron See also:Victor Rosen, Collections scientifiques de l'Institut See also:des Langues orientales, vol. i. (1897), pp. 179-212; vol. iii. (1886), pp. 1-51; vol. vi. (1891), pp. 141-255; ` Manuscrits Babys "; and other important articles in See also:Russian by the same See also:scholar; and by See also:Captain A. G.

Toumansky in the Zapiski vostochnava otdyeleniya Imperatorskava Russkava Archeologicheskava Obshchestva (vols. St See also:

Petersburg, 1890–1900) ; also an excellent edition by Toumansky, with Russian translation, notes and introduction, of the Kitfib-i.-Agdas (the most important of Baha's works), &c. (St Petersburg, 1899). Mention should aLso be made of an Arabic history of the Babis (unsympathetic but well-informed) written by a Persian, Mirth Muhammad See also:Mandi See also:Khan, Za'imu'd-Duwla, printed in See also:Cairo in A.11. 1321 (=A.v. 1903–1904). Of the works composed in English for the American converts the most important are:--Bahl'u'lldh (The See also:Glory of God), by Ibrahim Khayru'Ilah, assisted by See also:Howard MacNutt (Chicago, 1900) ; The Three Questions (n.d.) and Facts for Bandists(19ot), by the same; Life and Teachings of 'Abbas Efendi, by See also:Myron H. See also:Phelps, with See also:preface by E. G. Browne (New See also:York, 1903) ; See also:Isabella Brittingham, The Revelations of Bahfiu'llah, in a Sequence of Four Lessons (1902); Laura See also:Clifford See also:Burney, Some Answered Questions Collected [in Acre, 1904–19061 and Translated from the Persian of 'Abdu'l-See also:Band [i.e. 'Abbas Efendf] (London, 1908). In See also:French, A.

L. M. See also:

Nicolas (first dragoman at the French See also:legation at Tehran) has published several important See also:translations, viz. Le Livre des See also:sept preuves de la See also:mission du Bab (Paris, 1902) ; Le Livre de la certitude (1904) ; and Le $cyan arabe (1905); and there are other notable works by II. See also:Dreyfus, an adherent of the Bahl faith. Lastly, mention should be made of a remarkable but scarce little See also:tract by See also:Gabriel Sacy, printed at Cairo in June 1902, and entitled Du regne de Dieu et de l'Agneau, connu sous le nom de Babysme. (En. G.

End of Article: BABIISM

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