TrueSeeker

"The True Seeker must, before all else, cleanse his heart..."

Bahá'u'lláh,

Simple Search
Detailed Search

Index of Works
Writings of the Báb
Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá
Writings of Shoghi Effendi
Writings of The Universal House of Justice
Other Writings (includes compilations)


About
 
by Mark Towfiq
<<previous next>>
Index of this Work
Printable Version
 
 
Birthplace of the New Revelation
Pages 11-14
 

Birthplace of the New Revelation
 
1

Persia, the birthplace of the Bahá'í Revelation, has occupied a unique place in the history of the world. In the days of her early greatness she was a veritable queen among nations, unrivaled in civilization, in power and in splendor. She gave to the world great kings and statesmen, prophets and poets, philosophers and artists. Zoroaster, Cyrus and Darius, Háfiz and Firdawsi, Sa'dí and `Umar Khayyam are but a few of her many famous sons. Her craftsmen were unsurpassed in skill; her carpets were matchless, her steel blades unequaled, her pottery world famous. In all parts of the Near and Middle East she has left traces of her former greatness.

 
2

Yet, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries she had sunk to a condition of deplorable degradation. Her ancient glory seemed irretrievably lost. Her government was corrupt and in desperate financial straits; some of her rulers were feeble, and other monsters of cruelty. Her priests were bigoted and intolerant, her people ignorant and superstitious. Most of them belonged to the Shí'ih sect, [1] of Muhammadans, but there were also considerable numbers of Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians, of diverse and antagonistic sects. All professed to follow sublime teachers who exhorted them to worship the one God and to live in love and unity, yet they shunned, detested and despised each other, each sect regarding the others as unclean, as dogs or heathens. Cursing and execration were indulged in to a fearful extent. It was dangerous for a Jew or a Zoroastrian to walk in the street on a rainy day, for if his wet garment should touch a Muhammadan, the Muslim was defiled, and the other might have to atone for the offense with his life. If a Muhammadan took money from a Jew, Zoroastrian or Christian he had to wash it before he could put it in his pocket. If a Jew found his child giving a glass of water to a poor Muhammadan beggar he would dash the glass from the child's hand, for curses rather than kindness should be the portion of infidels! The Muslims themselves were divided into numerous sects, among whom strife was often bitter and fierce. The Zoroastrians did not join much in these mutual recriminations, but lived in communities apart, refusing to associate with their fellow countrymen of other faiths.

 
3

Social as well as religious affairs were in a state of hopeless decadence. Education was neglected. Western science and art were looked upon as unclean and contrary to religion. Justice was travestied. Pillage and robbery were of common occurrence. Roads were bad and unsafe for travel. Sanitary arrangements were shockingly defective.

 
4

Yet, notwithstanding all this, the light of spiritual life was not extinct in Persia. Here and there, amid the prevailing worldliness and superstition, could still be found some saintly souls, and in many a heart the longing for God was cherished, as in the hearts of Anna and Simeon before the appearance of Jesus. Many were eagerly awaiting the coming of a promised Messenger of God, and confident that the time of His advent was at hand. Such was the state of affairs in Persia when the Báb, the Herald of a new era, set all the country in commotion with His message. Early Life Mírzá `Alí Muhammad, Who afterwards assumed the title of Báb (i.e. Gate), was born at Shíráz, in the south of Persia, on the 20th of October 1819 A.D. [2] He was a Siyyid, that is, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. His father, a well-known merchant, died soon after His birth, and He was then placed under the care of a maternal uncle, a merchant of Shíráz, who brought Him up. In childhood He learned to read, and received the elementary education customary for children. [3] At the age of fifteen He went into business, at first with His guardian, and afterward with another uncle who lived at Búshihr, on the shore of the Gulf of Persia.

 
5

As a youth He was noted for great personal beauty and charm of manner, and also for exceptional piety, and nobility of character. He was unfailing in His observance of the prayers, fasts and other ordinances of the Muhammadan religion, and not only obeyed the letter, but lived in the spirit of the Prophet's teachings. He married when about twenty-two years of age. Of this marriage one son was born, who died while still an infant, in the first year of the Báb's public ministry.

 
 

Notes

1. [One of the two great factions -- Shí'ih and Sunní -- into which Islám fell soon after the death of Muhammad, was the first legitimate successor of the Prophet, and that only his descendants are the rightful caliphs.]

2. [First day of Muharram, 1235 A.H.]

3. [On this point a historian remarks: "The belief of many people in the East, especially the believers in the Báb (now Bahá'ís) was this: that the Báb received no education, but that the Mullás, in order to lower him in the eyes of the people, declared that such knowledge and wisdom as he possessed were accounted for by the education he had received. After deep search into the truth of this matter we have found evidence to show that in childhood for a short time he used to go to the house of Shaykh Muhammad (also known as Abid) where he was taught to read and write in Persian. It was this to which the Báb referred when he wrote in the book of Bayán: `O Muhammad, O my teacher! ...' "The remarkable thing is this, however, that this Shaykh, who was his teacher, became a devoted disciple of his own pupil, and the uncle of the Báb who was like a father to him, whose name was Hájí Siyyid `Alí, also became a devout believer and was martyred as a Bábí. "The understanding of these mysteries is given to seekers after truth, but we know this, that such education as the Báb received was but elementary, and that whatever signs of unusual greatness and knowledge appeared in him were innate and from God."

1. A Traveller's Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the Báb with an introduction by E. G. Browne, referred to subsequently as A Traveller's Narrative (Episode of the Báb).]