Bab | May 21, 2004
Bab literally means “Gateway”. It is the title claimed by Sayyid Ali Muhammad of Shiraz (1819/20 – 1850), founder of the new religion of the Babis. His religion had a strong eschatological focus upon a future figure called “He whom God shall Manifest,” later taken by Ba’hais to mean Baha Ullah; it also rejected many of the teachings of the Islamic Sharia and developed a distinctive metaphysics of its own. The Bab and his followers were severely persecuted by the Persian authorities, and he himself was imprisoned and then executed in 1850. His principal teachings are contained in the two Bayan, one each in Arabic and Persian.
Posted by geros at May 21, 2004 09:51 AM