A Young Merchant of the Pure Lineage

A retelling based on A Traveler's Narrative, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's history of the Báb and His Faith, written about 1886 and translated into English by Edward G. Browne. Words in quotation marks are from Browne's translation.

'Abdu'l-Bahá begins A Traveler's Narrative by explaining how He gathered His facts. Many different stories about the Báb were being told, He wrote, and many accounts had been set down in Persian histories and European chronicles, yet "not one is as worthy of confidence as it should be." Some writers condemned the Báb, some foreign chronicles praised Him, and others simply recorded what they had heard. He would therefore set down briefly what He had "sought out with the utmost diligence during the time of my travels in all parts of Persia," from friends and strangers alike, and "that whereon the disputants are agreed."

His account of the Báb's early life takes only a few lines. "The Báb was a young merchant of the Pure Lineage," that is, a descendant of the Prophet Muḥammad. He was born on the first day of Muḥarram in the year 1235 of the Islamic calendar. His father, Siyyid Muḥammad-Riḍá, died a few years later, and the Báb "was brought up in Shíráz in the arms of His maternal uncle Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí the merchant." When He came of age He went into trade in Búshihr, on the Persian Gulf, "first in partnership with His maternal uncle and afterwards independently."

'Abdu'l-Bahá then adds one sentence about His character in those years: "On account of what was observed in Him He was noted for godliness, devoutness, virtue, and piety, and was regarded in the sight of men as so characterized." The Báb had made no claim at that time. His reputation rested on what people saw in Him.

The account goes on to the year 1260 of the Islamic calendar, "when He was in His twenty-fifth year." Then "certain signs became apparent in His conduct, behavior, manners, and demeanor," so that it became evident in Shíráz "that He had some conflict in His mind and some other flight beneath His wing. He began to speak and to declare the rank of Báb-hood." By the title Báb, meaning Gate, 'Abdu'l-Bahá explains, He meant "that He was the channel of grace from some great Person still behind the veil of glory."

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see A Traveler's Narrative by 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1886). *A Traveler's Narrative*. Cambridge University Press. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19300