تاسیسِ بابیت: مذہبی، سیاسی اور تہذیبی احوال و آثار

Establishment of Bábism: Religious, Political, and Civilizational Contexts and Impacts

Abstract

Bábism, emerging in mid-nineteenth-century Iran, represents a distinctive religious and philosophical movement founded by Siyyid ‘Alí Muhammad Shírází (the Báb) in 1844. Declaring himself the “Báb” the Gate to divine truth and the herald of the promised Qá’im (Mahdí), he proclaimed a new era of spiritual renewal, moral reform, and universal enlightenment. Though rooted in Islamic tradition, Bábism transcended its origins by proposing a fresh vision of divine revelation and human destiny, thus laying the groundwork for later movements such as the Bahá’í Faith. Central to Bábism is its concept of revelation (ilhām), viewed as an unbroken and eternal process through which God manifests His will in successive ages. The Báb considered himself not a prophet in the conventional sense but a manifestation of the Divine Reality, through whom the eternal Word of God was unveiled anew. His writings most notably the Bayán-i-‘Arabí and Bayán-i-Fársí were believed to be direct expressions of divine inspiration, revealed inwardly without mediation, and endowed with both symbolic and esoteric significance. This understanding of revelation departs from the Islamic doctrine of finality of prophethood (khatm al-nubuwwa), asserting instead that divine communication is progressive and everlasting. Despite fierce opposition from both the Persian clergy and the Qajar state culminating in the Báb’s execution in 1850 Bábism profoundly influenced the religious and intellectual landscape of the modern Middle East, reshaping the discourse on revelation, manifestation, and spiritual evolution.