The Young Merchant of Shíráz

In Chapter 2 of *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era* (1923), J. E. Esslemont gives a short account of the early life of the Báb.

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Mírzá 'Alí-Muḥammad, Who afterwards took the title of the Báb (the Gate), was born in Shíráz, in the south of Persia, on 20 October 1819. He was a Siyyid, a descendant of the Prophet Muḥammad. His father, a well-known merchant, died soon after His birth, and He was placed in the care of a maternal uncle, also a merchant of Shíráz, who brought Him up. A historian quoted in Esslemont's notes names this uncle as Ḥájí Siyyid 'Alí, who "was like a father to him," and records that he became a believer and was martyred as a Bábí.

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In childhood He learned to read and received the elementary education customary for children. At the age of fifteen He went into business, first with His guardian and afterwards with another uncle who lived at Búshihr, on the shore of the Persian Gulf.

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As a youth, Esslemont writes, He was noted for great personal beauty and charm of manner, and for exceptional piety and nobility of character:

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> 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.

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He married when about twenty-two years of age. One son was born of the marriage, who died in infancy in the first year of the Báb's public ministry.

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On reaching His twenty-fifth year, in 1844, He declared that "God the Exalted had elected Him to the station of Bábhood." The first to whom He announced His mission was Mullá Ḥusayn of Bushrúyih.

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*A retelling based on **Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era** by J. E. Esslemont (1923), Chapter 2. For the fuller account, see the original.*

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