Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází (Persian: سيد علی ‌محمد شیرازی) (October 20, 1819 – July 9, 1850) was the founder of Bábism, and one of three central figures of the Bahá'í Faith. He was a merchant from Shíráz, Persia, who at the age of twenty-four (on May 23, 1844) claimed to be the promised Qá'im (or Mahdi). After his declaration he took the title of Báb (Arabic: باب‎) meaning "Gate". He composed hundreds of letters and books (often termed tablets) in which he stated his messianic claims and defined his teachings, which constituted a new sharí'ah or religious law. His movement eventually acquired tens of thousands of supporters, was virulently opposed by Iran's Shi'a clergy, and was suppressed by the Iranian government leading to thousands of his followers, termed Bábís, being persecuted and killed. In 1850 the Báb was shot by a firing squad in Tabríz aged thirty. Bahá'ís claim that the Báb was also the return of Elijah and John the Baptist, that he was the "Ushídar-Máh" referred to in the Zoroastrian scriptures,[1] and that he was the forerunner of their own religion. Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, was a follower of the Báb and claimed to be the fulfillment of his promise that God would send another messenger. Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází was born on October 20, 1819, in Shiraz to a middle-class merchant of the city. His father was Siyyid Muhammad Ridá, and his mother was Fátimih Bagum (1800-1881), a daughter of a prominent merchant in Shiraz (she later became a Bahá'í). His father died while he was quite young and the boy was raised by his maternal uncle, Hájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí, who was also a merchant.[2][3] He is a descendant from Muhammad through Imam Husayn through both his parents.[4][5][6] Sometime between when he was 15 and 20, he joined his uncle in the family business, a trading house, and became a merchant in the city of Bushehr, Iran near the Persian Gulf.[2][7] Some of his earlier writings suggest that he did not enjoy the family business and instead applied himself to the study of religious literature.[7] A contemporary described him as "very taciturn, and [he] would never utter a word unless it was absolutely necessary. He did not even answer our questions. He was constantly absorbed in his own thoughts, and was preoccupied with repetition of his prayers and verses. He is described as a handsome man with a thin beard, dressed in clean clothes, wearing a green shawl and a black turban."[8] An English physician described the young man as "He was a very mild and delicate-looking man, rather small in stature and very fair for a Persian, with a melodious soft voice, which struck me much"[9] In 1842 he married Khadíjih-Bagum (1822–1882); he was 23 and she was 20.[7] She was the daughter of a prominent merchant in Shíráz. The marriage proved to be a happy one,[10] and they had one child, a boy named Ahmad who died the year he was born (1843).[10] The pregnancy nearly put Khadíjih Bagum's life at stake and she never conceived again. The young couple occupied a modest house in Shíráz along with the Báb's mother. Later, Khadíjih Bagum would become a Bahá'í. In the 1790s in Persia, Shaykh Aḥmad (1753–1826) began a religious movement within Shi'a Islam. His followers, who became known as Shaykhis, were expecting the imminent appearance of the Qá'im of the House of Muhammad, also called the Mahdi. After the death of Shaykh Ahmad, leadership was passed on to Sayyid Kázim of Rasht (1793–1843). Around 1839–40 the Báb went on pilgrimage to Iraq, and stayed mostly in and around Karbala. There he is believed to have met the leader of the Shaykhis, Sayyid Kázim, who showed a high regard for him.[2] He is believed to have attended some of Siyyid Kazim's lectures; however, this period is almost entirely undocumented.[7] As of his death in December 1843, Sayyid Kázim had counselled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Mahdi, who according to his prophecies would soon appear.[2] One of these followers, named Mullá Husayn, after keeping vigil for forty days in a mosque, travelled to Shiraz, where he met the Báb.[11] Soon after he arrived in Shiraz, Mullá Husayn came into contact with the Báb. On the night of May 23, 1844 Mullá Husayn was invited by the Báb to his home; on that night Mullá Husayn told him that he was searching for the possible successor to Siyyid Kázim, the Promised One, and the Báb told Mullá Husayn privately that he was Siyyid Kázim's successor and the bearer of divine knowledge.[7] After some consideration, Mullá Husayn became the first to accept the Báb's claims as the gateway to Truth and the initiator of a new prophetic cycle;[2][7] the Báb had replied in a satisfactory way to all of Mullá Husayn's questions and had written in his presence, with extreme rapidity, a long commentary of Surih of Joseph, which has come to be known as the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' and is considered the Báb's first revealed work.[2] Mullá Husayn was the Báb's first disciple. Within five months, seventeen other disciples of Siyyid Káẓim had independently recognized the Báb as a Manifestation of God.[12] Among them was one woman, Fátimih Zarrín Táj Baragháni, a poetess, who later received the name of Táhirih (the Pure). These 18 disciples were later to be known as the Letters of the Living and were given the task of spreading the new faith across Iran and Iraq.[7] The Báb emphasized the spiritual station of these 18 individuals, who along with himself, made the first "Unity" of his religion[13] (In Arabic the term "unity" (Wáhid) has a numerical value of 19 using Abjad numerals). The Báb, in his book the Persian Bayán, gives the metaphorical identity of the letters of the living as the Fourteen Infallibles in Shí'í Islam (Muhammad, the Twelve Imams, and Fatimah) and the four archangels.[13] In some ways, they parallel the Twelve Apostles of Christ.[14] In his early writings, the Báb appears to identify himself as the gate (báb) to the Hidden Twelfth Imam, and later he begins to explicitly proclaim his station as that of the Hidden Imam and a new messenger from God.[15] Rather than being a discontinued or evolving consciousness, Saiedi states that the works of the Báb is unitary throughout, and that the gradual disclosure of the Báb's identity is defined by the principle of unity in diversity of all reality.[15] In the Báb's early writings, the exalted identity he was claiming was unmistakable, but because of the reception of the people, his writings appear to convey the impression that he is only the gate to the Hidden Twelfth Imam.[15] To his circle of early believers, the Báb was equivocal about his exact status, gradually confiding in them that he was not merely a gate to the Hidden Imam, but the Manifestation of the Hidden Imam and the Qa'im himself.[16] During his early meetings with Mullá Husayn, the Báb described himself as the Master and the Promised One; he did not consider himself just Siyyid Kazim's successor, but claimed a prophetic status, with a sense of deputyship delegated to him not just from the Hidden Imam, but from Divine authority;[17] His early texts, such as the Commentary on the Surih of Joseph, used Quranic language that implied divine authority and identified himself effectively with the Imam.[7][18] When Mullá `Alí Basṭámí, the second Letter of the Living, was put on trial in Baghdad for preaching about the Báb, the clerics studied the Commentary on the Surih of Joseph, recognized in it a claim to divine revelation, and quoted from it extensively to prove that the author had made a messianic claim.[18] However in his early phase of his declaration to the public, the title báb was emphasized as that of that of the gate leading to the Hidden Imam, as the Báb had told his early believers not to fully disclose his claims and reveal his name.[19] The approach of laying claim to a lower position was intended to create a sense of anticipation for the appearance of the Hidden Imam as well as avoiding persecution and imprisonment because a public proclamation of mahdihood could have swiftly brought a condemnation of death upon the Báb.[19] After a couple months, as the Báb observed a further acceptance and readiness among his believers and the public, he gradually moved his public claim to that of the Hidden Imam.[19] Then in his final years he publicly announced his station as a Manifestation of God; in his trial, he boldly proclaimed himself, in the presence of the Heir to the Throne of Persia and other notables, to be the Promised One.[19][20] The adoption of a cautious policy had managed to attract much attention with as little possible controversy in the early months of his public declarations.[19] The gradual unfoldment of his claims, however, did cause some confusion, both in the public and for some of his believers. A number of his early believers had instantly recognized his station as a messenger from God with divine authority and this resulted in confusion and disagreement within the Bábi community.[19] Also, even when the Báb had intended to convey his message with caution, many of his followers such as Táhirih were openly declaring the coming of the promised Hidden Imam and Mahdi.[19] After the eighteen Letters of the Living had recognized him, the Báb and the eighteenth Letter of the Living, Quddús, left on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the sacred cities of Islam.[7] In Mecca, the Báb wrote to the Sharif of Mecca, Custodian of the Kaaba, proclaiming his mission. After their pilgrimage, the Báb and Quddús returned to Bushehr, Iran.[3] After some time, preaching by the Letters of the Living led to opposition by the Islamic clergy, prompting the Governor of Shiraz to order the Báb's arrest. The Báb, upon hearing of the arrest order, left Bushehr for Shiraz in June 1845 and presented himself to the authorities. He was placed under house arrest at the home of his uncle until a cholera epidemic broke out in the city in September 1846.[7] The Báb was released and departed for Isfahan. There, many came to see him at the house of the imám jum'ih, head of the local clergy, who became sympathetic. After an informal gathering where the Báb debated the local clergy and displayed his speed in producing instantaneous verses, his popularity soared.[21] After the death of the Governor of Isfahan, who had become his supporter, pressure from the clergy of the province led to the Shah, Mohammad Shah Qajar, ordering the Báb to Tehran in January 1847.[22] After spending several months in a camp outside Tehran, and before the Báb could meet the Shah, the Prime Minister sent the Báb to Tabriz in the northwestern corner of the country, where he was confined.[7]