BABISMO

BABISM. – A new religion that arose within the Shi‘ite Islamic milieu through the work of Sayyid ‘Alī Muḥammad of Shīrāz, known as the Bāb. The word *bāb* (in Arabic “door”) signifies the door leading to the knowledge of divine truth and was already used to denote a specific degree in the hierarchy of cosmic intelligences, for example by the Qarmatians and other extreme Shi‘ite sects.

The Bāb, known among his followers rather by the appellation *Nuqṭah* (“point”) (*Nuqṭa-i bayān* = Point of Revelation, *Nuqṭa-i uḍā* = First Point), was born on 20 October 1819 in Shīrāz, the capital of the Persian province of Fārs. In 1844, upon returning to Shīrāz from a pilgrimage to the Shi‘ite sanctuary of Karbalā’, where he had absorbed the doctrines of the Shaykhī sect (founded in Persia in the 18th century), he secretly declared his divine mission to a small group of people, mostly former Shaykhīs. A Shaykhī, Ḥusayn of Bušrūjeh, became the Bāb’s first fervent follower, recognizing in him the mystical successor of Sayyid Kāzim of Rasht, one of the founders of the Shaykhī sect who had died shortly before.

When the Bāb returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca for the first time, the Bābī faith was proclaimed publicly, leading to disturbances and the arrest of the Bāb’s missionaries. While inquiries into the new religion were underway, a cholera epidemic broke out in Shīrāz; the Bāb went (1846) to Iṣfahān, where he was protected by the city’s governor. His successor, of different views, had the Bāb taken in 1847 to the fortress of Mākū in Persian Azerbaijan, where he remained a prisoner.

Meanwhile, Ḥusayn of Bušrūjeh continued his preaching, converting, among others in Tehran, the two brothers Mirzā Yaḥyā Nūrī (later called Subh-i Azal) and Mirzā Ḥusayn ‘Alī Nūrī, the future Bahā’ullāh (v. BAHÁ’ÍSM). A woman, the beautiful and highly intelligent Qurrat al-‘Ayn of Qazvīn, also converted to the new religion.

At Badasht in Khurāsān, the first gathering of the Bāb’s disciples took place (1848), and Islam was openly abrogated in its external practices. Meanwhile, the Bābīs were fiercely persecuted throughout Persia; particularly notable was the massacre of Bābīs at the sanctuary of Shaykh Ṭabarsī (1849) and at Zanjān (1850). After these disorders, the Bāb was taken to Tabrīz to be executed. The Bāb, suspended from a rope together with a disciple, was shot before a large crowd. The first volley only served to break the ropes by which he was suspended, and he fell to the ground unharmed; the execution had to be repeated, and by pure chance the Bāb did not escape (9 July 1850). Persecution against the Bābīs increased further after the attempt on the life of Shāh Nāṣir al-Dīn (16 August 1852), apparently carried out by a follower of the Bāb. The most celebrated adherents of the new religion were forced to leave Persia. Mirzā Ḥusayn ‘Alī (Bahā’ullāh) settled in Baghdad and was later exiled to Adrianople; he declared himself the successor of the Bāb (v. BAHÁ’ÍSM), while some Bābīs remained more faithful to the letter of the master’s teachings and recognized as their leader Mirzā Yaḥyā Nūrī (Subh-i Azal).

The Bābī doctrine is a blend of the doctrines of the Isma‘īlī Shi‘ites and the two Dabīrīs, with the addition of numerous more or less original theories. The Bāb affirms that the history of human religion is a succession of long cycles initiated respectively by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muḥammad. While for Muslims Muḥammad is the “seal of the prophets,” for the Bābīs this continuous recurrence of ever more perfect cycles continues (the Bāb often speaks in his works of a mysterious figure who will succeed him and whom he calls “He Whom God shall make manifest”); the Bāb is precisely the initiator of a new prophetic cycle.

The Bāb himself composed numerous religious works, including an Arabic prose book entitled *Al-Bayān* (“Clear Exposition”), written in Būshehr (Persian Gulf) in 1845, and another *Bayān* in Persian. The Qur’ān is considered by the Bābīs to be abrogated by the new sacred book. God is one, and the Bāb is the mirror in which each person can contemplate God. He created the world through seven attributes called the “Letters of the Truth.” The Bābī religion places great emphasis on cabalistic calculation: the number 19 is of particular importance. In place of Muslim sanctuaries, which should be destroyed, 19 temples should be erected. The year consists of 19 months of 19 days each, and the community is governed by a council of 19 persons.

The faithful are required to pay to this council an annual kind of capital tax. All corporal punishments are abolished except for fines and temporary separation of husband and wife. Freedom of trade and interest is permitted. It is obligatory to marry at a very young age, and divorce is discouraged. Divorced spouses may reconcile up to 19 times. Widowers and widows must remarry as soon as possible. There is no legal impurity; communal prayers are abolished, and women may appear unveiled. Begging is forbidden, and travel is discouraged. Each day, 19 verses of the *Bayān* must be read, and the name of God must be mentioned 361 times. For Persia, the Bābīs represented a profound spiritual renewal and a rebirth of pure and sincere religiosity, which even aroused the enthusiasm of notable European Orientalists such as, for example, Browne and Nicolas. The influence of the Bābīs on the liberal and reformist movement that opened Persia to Western culture and progress was also significant.