Editing Bábism (section)

==History==

===Antecedents===
[[Twelver Shi'ism|Twelver Shia Muslims]] regard the [[Imamate in Twelver doctrine|Twelfth Imam]], [[Muhammad al-Mahdi]], as the last of the Imams.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=312}} They contend that Muhammad al-Mahdi went into [[The Occultation#Minor Occultation|the Occultation]] in 874 CE, at which time communication between the Imam and the Muslim community could only be performed through mediators called {{transliteration|ar|[[Bab (Shia Islam)|bābs]]}} ('gates') or {{transliteration|ar|nā'ibs}} ('representatives').{{sfn|Saiedi|2008|p=15}} In 940, the fourth {{transliteration|ar|nā'ib}} claimed that Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi had gone into an indefinite "[[Major Occultation]]", and that he would cease to communicate with the people. According to Twelver belief, the Hidden Imam is alive in the world, but in concealment from his enemies, and will only emerge shortly before the [[Last Judgment]]. At that time, acting as [[Qa'im Al Muhammad]] ("He who will arise"), a messianic figure also known as the [[Mahdi]] ("He who is rightly guided"), the Hidden Imam will start a holy war against evil, would defeat the unbelievers, and would start a reign of justice.{{sfn|Saiedi|2008|p=15}}

In 1830s [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar Persia]], [[Kazim Rashti]] was the leader of the [[Shaykhism|Shaykhis]], a sect of Twelvers. The Shaykhis were a group expecting the imminent appearance of al-Qāʾim. At the time of Kazim's death in 1843, he had counselled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Lord of the Age whose advent would soon break on the world.<ref name="EoI">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam |year=1999 |article=Bāb |publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |first=A. |last=Bausani}}</ref>

===Origin===
[[File:Room-bab.jpg|thumb|left|The room in the [[Báb's house]] in [[Shiraz]] where he declared his mission to Mulla Husayn.]]

On 22 May 1844,<ref name="dawn">{{cite book |first=R. |last=Mehrabkhani |year=1987 |title=Mullá Ḥusayn: Disciple at Dawn |publisher=Kalimat Press |location=Los Angeles, CA, USA |isbn=978-0-933770-37-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wDYnPNwuwtcC&pg=PA121 |pages=58–73}}</ref> [[Mullá Husayn]], of [[Boshruyeh]] in [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]], a prominent disciple of Sayyid Kāẓim, entered [[Shiraz]] following the instruction by his master to search for al-Qā'im. Soon after he arrived in Shiraz, Mullá Husayn came into contact with the Báb. On the night of 22 May 1844, Mulla 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 Sayyid Kāẓim, al-Qā'im, and the Báb told Mullá Husayn privately that he was Sayyid Kāẓim's successor and the bearer of divine knowledge.{{sfn|MacEoin|1988}} Through the night of the 22nd to dawn of the 23rd, Mullá Husayn became the first to accept the Báb's claims as the gateway to Truth and the initiator of a new prophetic cycle;<ref name="EoI" />{{sfn|MacEoin|1988}} 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 on the [[Yusuf (sura)|surah of Yusuf]], which has come to be known as the [[Selections from the Writings of the Báb#Qayyúmu'l-Asmáʼ|Qayyūmu l-Asmā']] and is often considered the Báb's first revealed work,<ref name="EoI" /> though he had before then composed a commentary on [[Al-Fatiha|Surat al-Fatihah]] and [[Surat al-Baqara]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Lawson |first=Todd |chapter=The Authority of the Feminine and Fatima's Place in an Early Work by the Bab |title=The Most Learned of the Shiʻa: The Institution of the MarjaʼTaqlid |year=2007 |pages=94–127}}</ref> This night and the following day are observed in the Bahá'í Faith as a [[Baháʼí calendar#Holy days|holy day]] since then.

After Mullá Husayn accepted the Báb's claim, the Báb ordered him to wait until 17 others had independently recognized the station of the Báb before they could begin teaching others about the new revelation.

Within five months, seventeen other disciples of Sayyid Kāẓim had independently recognized the Báb as a Manifestation of God.<ref name="BBCHistory">{{cite web |title=The Time of the Báb |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/bahai/history/bab_2.shtml |publisher=BBC |access-date=2 July 2006}}</ref> Among them was one woman, Zarrin Tāj Baraghāni, a poet, 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.{{sfn|MacEoin|1988}} The Báb emphasized the spiritual station of these 18 individuals, who along with himself, made the first "Unity" of his religion.{{sfn|Amanat|1989|p=191}}

After his declaration, he soon assumed the title of the Báb. Within a few years the movement spread all over Iran, causing controversy. His claim was at first understood by some of the public at the time to be merely a reference to the Gate of the Hidden Imám of Muhammad, but this understanding he publicly disclaimed. He later proclaimed himself, in the presence of the heir to the Throne of Persia and other notables, to be al-Qā'im. In the Báb's writings, the Báb appears to identify himself as the gate ({{transliteration|ar|báb}}) to Muhammad al-Mahdi and later he begins to explicitly proclaim his station as equivalent to that of the Hidden Imam and a new messenger from God.{{sfn|Saiedi|2008|p=19}} Saiedi states the exalted identity the Báb was claiming was unmistakable, but due to the reception of the people, his writings appear to convey the impression that he is only the gate to the Hidden Twelfth Imam.{{sfn|Saiedi|2008|p=19}} 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 al-Qā'im himself.<ref name="EoA">{{cite book |chapter=Resurgence of Apocalyptic in Modern Islam |first=Abbas |last=Amanat |author-link=Abbas Amanat |editor=Stein, Stephen J. |title=The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, vol. III: Apocalypticism in the Modern Period and the Contemporary Age. |location=New York |publisher=Continuum |year=2000 |pages=241–242 |isbn=978-0-8264-1255-3}}</ref> During his early meetings with Mullá Husayn, the Báb described himself as the Master and the Promised One; he did not consider himself just Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti'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.{{sfn|Amanat|1989|p=171}} His early texts, such as the Commentary on the Sura of Yusuf, used Qur'anic language that implied divine authority and identified himself effectively with the Imam.{{sfn|MacEoin|1988}}{{sfn|Amanat|1989|pp=230–31}} When Mullā ʿAlī Basṭāmī, the second Letter of the Living, was put on trial in [[Baghdad]] for preaching about the Báb, the clerics studied the Commentary on the Sura of Yusuf, recognized in it a claim to divine revelation, and quoted from it extensively to prove that the author had made a messianic claim.{{sfn|Amanat|1989|pp=230–231}}

===Spread===
{{blockquote|The Babi movement{{nbsp}}[...] [became] an important catalyst of social progressiveness in mid-nineteenth-century Iran, promoting interreligious peace, social equality between the sexes and revolutionary anti-monarchism. Babism was a reflection of an older Iran that had been mass-producing messiahs in opposition to mainstream Islam since the seventh century{{nbsp}}[...] And yet the new current was also a product of Iran's grappling with novelty and change, and [the Babi movement] went on to present a vision of modernity that was based on secularism, internationalism, and the rejection of war. It is this vision which has enabled it to survive to the present day – as Bahaism, which emerged from Babism in the late nineteenth century – in pockets and communities peopled by 5{{nbsp}}million souls, and which qualifies it for inclusion in any narrative about modernisation in the Middle East.{{sfn|de Bellaigue|2018|p=140}}}}

The Báb's message was disseminated by the Letters of the Living through Iran and southern [[Iraq]]. One of these initial activities was communicated to the West starting 8 January 1845 as an exchange of diplomatic reports concerning the fate of [[Letters of the Living#Mull.C3.A1 .60Al.C3.AD Bast.CC.A3.C3.A1m.C3.AD|Mullá ʿAli-e Bastāmi]], the second Letter.<ref name=momen1981>{{cite book |author=Moojan Momen |author-link=Moojan Momen |title=The Bábí and Bahá'í religions 1844–1944: some contemporary western accounts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1S4KAQAAMAAJ |year=1981 |orig-year=1977 |publisher=G. Ronald |isbn=978-0-85398-102-2 |pages=xv, xvi, 4, 11, 26–38, 62–5, 83–90, 100–104}}</ref> These were exchanges between [[Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet]] who wrote first to [[Stratford Canning, 1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe]]. Followups continued until in 1846 he was sentenced by the Ottomans to serve in the naval shipyards at hard labor—the Ottoman ruler refusing to banish him as it would be "difficult to control his activities and prevent him spreading his false ideas."<ref name=momen1981/> Separately each of the Letters and other early believers were sent on various missions to begin public presentations of the new religion. Indeed various activities the Báb initiated were devolved to various Letters of the Living like preaching activities and answering questions from the community.{{sfn|MacEoin|1988a}} In particular, as these first public activities multiplied, opposition by the Islamic clergy arose and prompted 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. This series of events become the first public account of the new religion in the West when they were published 1 November 1845 in ''[[The Times]]'' of London.<ref name="States1977">{{cite book |author=National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States |title=World order |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sUYlAQAAIAAJ |access-date=20 August 2013 |year=1977 |publisher=National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States.}}</ref> The story was also carried from 15 November by the ''[[Literary Gazette]]''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=UcdLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA757 "Mahometan Schism"], ''Literary Gazette'', 15 Nov. 1845, p. 757, 1st column, below middle</ref> which was subsequently echoed widely.<ref>For example see:
* [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84023200/1846-02-19/ed-1/seq-4.pdf "Mahomedan Schism"], ''Vermont Watchman and State Journal'', 19 February 1845, p. 4, second column, top
* [http://signalofliberty.aadl.org/signalofliberty/SL_18460223-p3-06 "Mahometan Schism"], ''[[Signal of Liberty]]'', p. 3, center top of full page view
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=4MIRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA142 "Mahometan Schism"], ''The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art'', January–February 1846, p. 142, bottom left then top of right columns
* [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016957/1846-04-04/ed-1/seq-1.pdf "A modern Mahomet"], ''Boon's Lick Times'', 4 April 1846, p. 1, fourth column, half way down
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31747707 "Mahometan Schism"], ''Morning Chronicle'', 4 Apr 1846, p. 4, 5th column, top, as highlighted
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71604390 "Mahometan Schism"], ''South Australian'', 7 April 1846 p. 3, bottom of second column, top of next, as highlighted
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27452599 "Persia"], ''South Australian Register'', 11 Apr 1846, p. 3, 5th column near bottom, as highlighted
* [http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZSCSG18460715.2.11 "Mahometan Schism"], ''New Zealand Spectator Cook's Strait Guardian'', 15 July 1846, p. 3, near bottom of text selection</ref> Meanwhile the Báb was placed under house arrest at the home of his uncle, and was restricted in his personal activities, until a cholera epidemic broke out in the city in September 1846.{{sfn|MacEoin|1988}}

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.{{sfn|Amanat|1989|p=257}} After the death of the Governor of Isfahan, [[Manouchehr Khan Gorji]], an [[Iranian Georgians|Iranian Georgian]],<ref>Cheyne, ''The Reconciliation of Races and Religions'', 29.</ref> 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.{{sfn|Amanat|1989|p=258}} 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, and later [[Maku, Iran|Maku]] and [[Chehriq]], where he was confined.{{sfn|MacEoin|1988}} During his confinement, he was said to have impressed his jailers with his patience and dignity.<ref>{{cite EB9 |last=Garnett |first=Richard ||author-link=Richard Garnett (writer) |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Bábi |volume=3 |page=180 }}</ref> Communication between the Báb and his followers was not completely severed but was quite difficult, and more responsibilities were devolved to the ''Letters''{{sfn|MacEoin|1988a}} as he was not able to elucidate his teachings to the public.{{sfn|MacEoin|1988a}} With Bábí teachings now mostly spread by his followers, they faced increasing persecution themselves.{{sfn|MacEoin|1988a}}

The role played by [[Táhirih]] in [[Karbala|Karbalāʾ]] was particularly significant. She began an effort of innovation in religion based on her station as a Letter of the Living and the incarnation of [[Fatimah]]. In his early teachings, the Báb emphasized observing [[sharia]] and extraordinary acts of piety. However, his claim of being the Báb, i.e. the authority direct from God, was in conflict with this more conservative position of supporting sharia. Táhirih innovated an advance in the understanding of the priority of the Báb's station above that of Islamic sharia by wedding the concept of the Báb's overriding religious authority with ideas originating in [[Shaykhism]] pointing to an age after outward [[conformity]]. She seems to have made this connection {{Circa|1262}}/1846 even before the Báb himself. The matter was taken up by the community at large at the [[Conference of Badasht]].{{sfn|MacEoin|1988a}}

This conference was one of the most important events of the Bábí movement when in 1848 its split from Islam and Islamic law was made clear.<ref name="EoI"/> Three key individuals who attended the conference were [[Bahá'u'lláh]], [[Quddús]], and Táhirih. Táhirih, during the conference, was able to persuade many of the others about the Bábí split with Islam based on the station of the Báb and an age after outward conformity. She appeared at least once during the conference in public without a [[chador|veil]], heresy within the Islamic world of that day, signalling the split.<ref name="EoI"/> During this same month the Báb was brought [[Báb#Trial in Tabríz|to trial]] in Tabriz and made his claim to be the [[Mahdi]] public to the Crown Prince and the Shi'a clergy.{{sfn|Smith|2000|pp=55-59}}

Several sources agree that by 1848 or 1850 there were 100,000 converts to Babism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Smith (historian) |title=Research Note; A note on Babi and Baha'i Numbers in Iran |journal=Iranian Studies |volume=17 |issue=2–03 |pages=295–301 |date=Spring–Summer 1984 |jstor=4310446 |doi=10.1080/00210868408701633}}</ref> In the fall of 1850 newspaper coverage fell behind quickly unfolding events. Though the Báb was named<ref>{{cite web |title=Early mention of Bábís in western newspapers, summer 1850 |work=Historical documents and Newspaper articles |publisher=Bahá'í Library Online |date=2010-09-17 |orig-year=Autumn 1850 |url=http://bahai-library.com/1850_brief_reports |access-date=20 August 2013}}</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3712637 Summary of General News], ''The Moreton Bay Courier'', 4 January 1851, page 1s, 4th column, a bit down from the top</ref> for the first time he had in fact already been executed.

===Uprisings and massacres===
By 1848 the increased fervour of the Bábís and the clerical opposition had led to a number of confrontations between the Bábís and their government and clerical establishment.{{sfn|Smith|2000|pp=55-59}} After the death of [[Mohammad Shah Qajar]], the shah of Iran, a series of armed struggles and uprisings broke out in the country, including at Tabarsi.{{sfn|Smith|2000|pp=55-59}} These confrontations all resulted in Bábí massacres; Bahá'í authors give an estimate of 20,000 Bábís killed from 1844 to present, with most of the deaths occurring during the first 20 years.<ref name=":0293" /> The first major killings of Bábís recorded in history took place in [[Qazvin]]. Since then, attacks against the Bábís by prominent clerics and their followers became more common and some Bábís started to carry arms.<ref name=":0293">{{cite encyclopedia|title=MARTYRS, BABI|author=Peter Smith & Moojan Momen|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|volume=Online Edition|date=September 2005|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/martyrs-babi-babi|accessdate=1 May 2020}}</ref> In remote and isolated places the scattered Bábís were readily attacked and killed while in places where large numbers of them resided they acted in self-defense.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shoghi |first=Effendi |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1262336126 |title=Gott geht vorüber |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-87037-634-5 |location=Hofheim |pages=37–38 |oclc=1262336126}}</ref> One of these attacks occurred in [[Babol]] of [[Mazandaran province|Mazandaran]] which led to the death of several Bábís and their opponents, as well as an armed conflict between Bábís and their enemies in fort [[Shaykh Tabarsi|Ṭabarsí]]. After that, two other big clashes between the Bábís and their opponents took place in the cities of [[Zanjan, Iran|Zanjan]] and [[Neyriz]] in the north and south of Iran, respectively, as well as a smaller conflict in [[Yazd]]. A total of several thousand Bábís were killed in these conflicts.<ref name=":0293" /> In the three main conflicts in Ṭabarsí, Zanjan and Neyriz, Bábís were accused by their enemies of revolting against the government.<ref name=":12" /> However, it seems unlikely that these actions were purely revolutionary.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Peter|year=2008|title=An introduction to the Baha'i faith|publisher=Cambridge University Press|place=Cambridge; New York|isbn=978-0-521-86251-6|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/181072578|page=13|oclc=181072578 }}</ref> In all three cases, the battles that took place were of a defensive nature, and not considered an offensive [[jihad]], as the Báb did not allow it and in the case of two urban conflicts (Neyriz and Zanjan), they were related to pre-existing social and political tensions within the towns.<ref name=":12"/><ref name=":0">''[https://bahai-library.com/walbridge_babi_uprising_zanjan The Babi Uprising in Zanjan],'' John Walbridge published in Iranian Studies, 29:3-4, pages 339-362 1996</ref> There is also no evidence of a coordinated plan of action.<ref name=":12"/> Wilson suggests that the Bábí uprisings were deliberate and that their clashes with authority were sometimes extremely brutal to respond to the tactics of the supporters of government.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Samuel Graham |title=Modern Movements Among Moslems |publisher=Fleming H. Revell Company |year=1916 |location=United States |pages=119}}</ref> In mid-1850 a new prime-minister, [[Amir Kabir]], was convinced that the Bábí movement was a threat and ordered the [[execution of the Báb]] which was followed by the killings of many Bábís.{{sfn|Smith|2000|pp=55-59}}

====Fort Tabarsi====
{{Main|Battle of Fort Tabarsi}}
[[File:Shaykhtabarsi 2008.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.1|Shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí]]

Of the conflicts between the Bábís and the establishment, the first and best known took place in [[Mazandaran province|Māzandarān]] at the remote shrine of [[Shaykh Tabarsi]], about {{convert|22|km}} southeast of Bārfarush (modern [[Babol]]). From October 1848 until May 1849, around 300 Bábís (later rising to 600), led by Quddús and Mullá Husayn, defended themselves against the attacks of local villagers and members of the Shah's army under the command of Prince Mahdi Qoli Mirza.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=331}} They were, after being weakened through attrition and starvation, subdued through false promises of safety, and put to death or sold into slavery.<ref name="EoI"/>{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=331}}

====Zanjan upheaval====
The revolt at the fortress of ʿAli Mardan Khan in [[Zanjan province|Zanjan]] in northwest Iran was by far the most violent of all the conflicts. It was headed by Mullā Muhammad 'Ali Zanjani, called [[Hujjat]], and also lasted seven or eight months (May 1850–January 1851). The Bábí community in the city had swelled to around 3,000 after the conversion of one of the town's religious leaders to the Bábí movement.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=368}} The conflict was preceded by years of growing tension between the leading Islamic clergy and the new rising Bábí leadership. The city governor ordered that the city be divided into two sectors, with hostilities starting soon thereafter.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=368}} The Bábís faced resistance against a large number of regular troops, and led to the death of several thousand Bábís.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=368}} After Hujjat was killed, and the Bábí numbers being greatly reduced, the Bábís surrendered in January 1851 and were massacred by the army.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=368}}

====Nayriz upheaval====
Meanwhile, a serious but less protracted struggle was waged against the government at [[Neyriz]] in [[Fars province|Fars]] by Yahya Vahid Darabi of Nayriz. Vahid had converted around 1500 people in the community and had thus caused tensions with the authorities which led to an armed struggle in a nearby fort.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=260}} The Bábís resisted attacks by the town's governor as well as further reinforcements. After being given a truce offer on 17 June 1850, Vahid told his followers to give up their positions, which led to Vahid and the Bábís being killed; the Bábí section of the town was also plundered, and the property of the remaining Bábís seized.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=260}} Later, in March 1853 the governor of the city was killed by the Bábís. These further events led to a second armed conflict near the city where the Bábís once again resisted troop attacks until November 1853, when a massacre of Bábís happened, with their women being enslaved.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=260}}

===After the execution of the Báb===
{{See also|Execution of the Báb|}}
[[File:Haifa Shrine and Port.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The [[Shrine of the Báb]] in [[Haifa]]]]

The revolts in Zanjan and Nayriz were in progress when in 1850 the Báb, with one of his disciples, was brought from his prison at Chehriq citadel, which was called {{transliteration|ar|jabal alshadid}}, meaning 'mount extreme', by the Báb, to Tabriz and publicly shot in front of the citadel. The body, after being exposed for some days, was recovered by the Bábís and conveyed to a shrine near [[Tehran]], whence it was ultimately removed to [[Haifa]], where it is now [[Shrine of the Báb|enshrined]].{{sfn|Browne|1911}}

Most Western scholars who reviewed the Faith of the Báb after 1860 saw it as a way of letting in Western and Christian ideals into "a closed and rigid Moslem system" and gave the Báb himself sometimes less or more credit for being authentic in the process.<ref name=momen1981/> However, some went further. In 1866 British diplomat Robert Grant Watson (1834–1892) published a history of the first 58 years of the 19th century of Persia<ref name="WatsonBLO">[http://bahai-library.com/watson_history_persia_1858 A History of Persia from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century to the Year 1858] by Robert Grant Watson, pages 347–352, 385–393, 407–410, London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1866</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/stream/ahistorypersiaf00grangoog#page/n363/mode/2up A History of Persia from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century to the Year 1858] by Robert Grant Watson, 1866.</ref> and would serve in several diplomatic capacities.<ref>See: * [[María Luz Incident]]
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924005216811 The diplomatic service]; an abstract and examination of evidence taken by the Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1870 (1871)</ref> Watson summarizes the impact of the Báb in Persia:

{{blockquote|Bábism, though at present a proscribed religion in Persia, is far from being extinct, or even declining, and the Báb may yet contest with Mahomed ''(sic)'' the privilege of being regarded as the real prophet of the faithful. Bábism in its infancy was the cause of a greater sensation than that even which was produced by the teaching of Jesus, if we may judge from the account of [[Josephus]] of the [[Historicity of Jesus#Josephus and Tacitus|first days of Christianity]].<ref name="WatsonBLO"/>}}

Latter commentators also noted these kinds of views: [[Ernest Renan]],<ref>*[https://books.google.com/books?id=V7MLR8OBo_YC&pg=PA299 The Origins of Christianity: The apostles], Volume 2 of The Origins of Christianity, by Ernest Renan, Publisher Carleton, 1866,* [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1898-09-11/ed-1/seq-22.pdf Under "Some New Books", "vi"], ''The Sun'', New York New York, 11 September 1898, p. 22, 5th column near bottom to 6th column top</ref> Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch,<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924031235546#page/n141/mode/2up/search/babism ''Babism''], Studies in the evidences of Christianity, 1869, pp. 129 – 140</ref> son of [[Charles Bulfinch]], and others.<ref name="Margaret">{{cite journal |last=Dean-Deibert |first=Margaret |title=Early Journalistic Reactions to the Baháʼí Faith: 1845–1912 |journal=World Order |issue=Summer 1978 |pages=17–27 |date=1978 }}</ref>

For the next two years comparatively little was heard of the Bábís. The Bábís became polarized with one group speaking of violent retribution against [[Naser al-Din Shah Qajar]] and the Qajar State, while the other, under the leadership of Baha'u'lláh, looked to reconsolidate the community, rebuild relationships with the government and advance the Babí cause by persuasion and the example of virtuous living.<ref>{{cite web |date=2004-03-23 |title=The Attempted Assassination of Nasir al Din Shah in 1852: Millennialism and Violence |author=[[Moojan Momen]] |website=Bahá'í Library Online |url=http://bahai-library.com/momen_attempted_assassination_shah}}</ref><ref name="Religio 12-1">{{cite journal |last=Momen |first=Moojan |author-link=Moojan Momen |title=Millennialism and Violence: The Attempted Assassination of Nasir al-Din Shah of Iran by the Babis in 1852 |journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=57–82 |date=August 2008 |jstor=10.1525/nr.2008.12.1.57 |doi=10.1525/nr.2008.12.1.57}}</ref>

The militant group of Bábís was between thirty and seventy persons, only a small number of the total Bábí population of perhaps 100,000. Their meetings appear to have come under the control of a "Husayn Jan", an emotive and magnetic figure who obtained a high degree of personal devotion to himself from the group. Meanwhile, Tahirih and Baha'u'lláh, visible leaders of the community previously, were removed from the scene – Tahirih by arrest and in the case of Baha'u'lláh an 'invitation', by order of [[Amir Kabir]], to go on pilgrimage to Karbila. On 15 August 1852, three from this small splinter group, acting on their own initiative, attempted to assassinate [[Naser al-Din Shah Qajar]] as he was returning from the chase to his palace at [[Niavaran|Niavarān]].{{sfn|Browne|1911|p=94}} Notwithstanding the assassins' claim that they were working alone, the entire Bábí community was blamed, and a mass slaughter of thousands of Bábís followed, starting on 31 August 1852 with some thirty Bábís, including Táhirih. Dr [[Jakob Eduard Polak]], then the Shah's physician,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=POLAK, Jakob Eduard |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |volume=Online |date=15 December 2009 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/polak-jakob-eduard |access-date=2010-07-07}}</ref> was an eye-witness to her execution.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paintdrawer.co.uk/david/folders/Research/Bahai/Tahirih/Martyrdom%20of%20Tahirih%20(Dr%20Jakob%20Eduard%20Polak).htm |title=Martyrdom of Tahirih (Dr Jakob Eduard Polak) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000259/http://www.paintdrawer.co.uk/david/folders/Research/Bahai/Tahirih/Martyrdom%20of%20Tahirih%20(Dr%20Jakob%20Eduard%20Polak).htm |archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Polak |first=Jakob Eduard |title=Persien |publisher=F.A. Brockhaus |year=1865 |page=350 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvAIAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA350 |language=de}}</ref> Bahá'u'lláh surrendered himself and he along with a few others were imprisoned in the [[Síyáh-Chál|Siāhchāl]] ('Black Pit'), an underground dungeon in Tehran.{{sfn|Hutter|2005b|pp=737-740}} Meanwhile, echoes of the newspaper coverage of the violence continued into 1853.<ref name="Spect26Mar">[http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZSCSG18530326.2.10 Persian Heretics and Executioners] under "English Extracts", ''New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian'', 26 March 1853, Page 3, (near the middle)</ref>

===Bahá'í–Azali split===
{{Main|Baháʼí–Azali split}}

In most of his prominent writings, the Báb alluded to a Promised One, most commonly referred to as "[[#He whom God shall make manifest|He whom God shall make manifest]]", and that he himself was "but a ring upon the hand of Him Whom God shall make manifest." Within 20 years of the Báb's death, over 25 people claimed to be the Promised One, most significantly [[Bahá'u'lláh]].

Shortly before the Báb's execution, a follower of the Báb, Abd al-Karim, brought to the Báb's attention the necessity to appoint a successor; thus the Báb wrote a certain number of tablets which he gave to Abd al-Karim to deliver to Subh-i Azal and Bahá'u'lláh.{{sfn|Amanat|1989|p=384}}  These tablets were later interpreted by both [[Azalis]] and Bahá'ís as proof of the Báb's delegation of leadership.{{sfn|Amanat|1989|p=384}} 'Abdu'l-Bahá stated that the Báb did this at the suggestion of Bahá'u'lláh.{{sfn|ʻAbdu'l-Bahá|1886|p=37}} In one of the tablets, which is commonly referred to as the Will and Testament of the Báb, Subh-i Azal is viewed to have been appointed as leader of the Bábís after the death of the movement's founder. The tablet orders, in verse 27, orders Subh-i Azal "...to obey Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest, and in verse 37 to "protect yourself, then protect yourself, then protect what is revealed in the Bayan followed by what is revealed from your presence."<ref name = "Manuchehri (2004)">{{cite journal |author=Manuchehri, S. |title=The Primal Point's Will and Testament |journal=Research Notes in Shaykhi, Babi and Baha'i Studies |year=2004 |volume=7 |issue=2 |url=http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/notes/vol7/BABWILL.htm |access-date=15 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041208211101/http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/notes/vol7/BABWILL.htm |archive-date=8 December 2004 |url-status=dead }}</ref> At the time of the apparent appointment Subh-i Azal was still a teenager, had never demonstrated leadership in the Bábí movement, and was still living in the house of his older brother, Bahá'u'lláh.

Subh-i Azal's leadership was controversial. He generally absented himself from the Bábí community spending his time in [[Baghdad]] in hiding and disguise; and even went so far as to publicly disavow allegiance to the Báb on several occasions.{{sfn|MacEoin|1987}}<ref name="Barrett p. 246">{{cite book |last=Barrett |first=David |title=The New Believers |location=London |publisher=Cassell & Co |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-304-35592-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newbelieverssurv00barr/page/246 246] |url=https://archive.org/details/newbelieverssurv00barr}}</ref> Subh-i Azal gradually alienated himself from a large proportion of the Bábís who started to give their alliance to other claimants.{{sfn|MacEoin|1987}} During the time that both Bahá'u'lláh and Subh-i-Azal were in Baghdad, since Subh-i Azal remained in hiding, Bahá'u'lláh performed much of the daily administration of the Bábí affairs.

Bahá'u'lláh claimed that in 1853, while a prisoner in Tehran, he was visited by a "[[Maid of Heaven]]", which symbolically marked the beginning of his mission as a Messenger of God. Ten years later in Baghdad, he made his first public declaration to be "He whom God shall make manifest" to a small number of followers, and in 1866 he made the claim public.{{sfn|MacEoin|1987}} Bahá'u'lláh's claims threatened Subh-i Azal's position as leader of the religion since it would mean little to be leader of the Bábís if "Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest" were to appear and start a new religion. Subh-i-Azal responded by making his own claims, but his attempt to preserve the traditional Bábism was largely unpopular, and his followers became the minority.{{sfn|MacEoin|1987}}
[[File:Bahai community.jpg|upright=1.1|thumbnail|A Baha'i community in Iran ]]
[[File:Iranian Azali community or Isfahan, Iran Azali community.jpg|upright=1.1|thumbnail|An Azali community in Iran ]]

Eventually Bahá'u'lláh was recognized by the vast majority of Bábís as "He whom God shall make manifest" and his followers began calling themselves Bahá'ís. By 1908, there were probably from half a million to a million Bahá'ís, and at most only a hundred followers of Subh-i Azal.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} According to Ali Raza Naqavi, Bábism and the Bahá'í Faith are "almost inseparable" and have "almost identical beliefs and doctrines."<ref name="naqavi-1975">{{Cite journal |last1=NAQAVI|first1=SAYYID ALI RAZA|last2=Naqavi|first2=Syyid 'Ali Raza|date=1975|title=BĀBISM AND BAHĀ'ISM —A study of their History and Doctrines |journal=Islamic Studies|volume=14|issue=3|pages=186 |jstor=20846959|issn=0578-8072}}</ref> He writes that in the way Muslims view Judaism as having been abrogated by Christianity and Christianity as having been abrogated by Islam, Bahá'ís view Bábism as having been abrogated and replaced by the Bahá'í Faith.<ref name="naqavi-1975"/>

Subh-i Azal died in [[Famagusta]], Cyprus in 1912, and his followers are known as [[Azalis]] or Azali Bábis. [[Denis MacEoin]] notes that after the deaths of those Azali Babis who were active in the [[Persian Constitutional Revolution]], the Azali form of Babism entered a stagnation from which it has not recovered as there is no acknowledged leader or central organization.{{sfn|MacEoin|1987}} Some few have coined the term '''Bayání faith''' though it died out in Cyprus.{{efn|This has been the standard term which the modern followers of Bábism have adopted in order to identify themselves, however it has not been popular within scholarship, modern and contemporary to the religion's founders, the majority of scholars – such as Browne for instance – choosing to refer to the religion as Bábism or the Bábí Faith.}} ([[Persian language|Persian]]: {{Lang|fa|بيانى}}, {{transliteration|fa|Bayání}}).

In 2001, Azalis were estimated to number no more than a few thousand, living mainly in Iran.<ref name = "Barrett p. 246"/>