The Báb Declares Himself the Gate

A retelling based on A Traveler's Narrative, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's account of the Báb and His Faith, translated by Edward Granville Browne and published by Cambridge University Press in 1891. Words in quotation marks are quoted from Browne's translation.

'Abdu'l-Bahá opens His account of the Báb with these words: "The Báb was a young merchant of the Pure Lineage," that is, a descendant of the Prophet Muḥammad. He was born in 1235 A.H. (1819). His father, Siyyid Muḥammad-Riḍá, died a few years later, and He was brought up in Shíráz by His maternal uncle, Mírzá Siyyid ‘Alí. When He grew up He traded in Búshihr, first in partnership with this uncle and afterwards on His own, and He was known for "godliness, devoutness, virtue, and piety."

Then, in the year 1260 A.H. (1844), "when He was in His twenty-fifth year, certain signs became apparent in His conduct, behavior, manners, and demeanor whereby 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."

'Abdu'l-Bahá explains what the title meant. By "Báb," which means Gate, He intended "that He was the channel of grace from some great Person still behind the veil of glory, Who was the possessor of countless and boundless perfections, by Whose will He moved, and to the bond of Whose love He clung." In His first book, the commentary on the Súrih of Joseph, the Báb addressed that unseen Person throughout, seeking His help and craving to give His life in His love. 'Abdu'l-Bahá quotes one sentence from it:

O Remnant of God, I am wholly sacrificed to Thee; I am content with curses in Thy way; I crave naught but to be slain in Thy love; and God the Supreme sufficeth as an Eternal Protection.

The Báb also wrote commentaries on verses of the Qur'án, sermons, and prayers in Arabic, urging people to expect the appearance of that Person. He was known among the people to have had little instruction or education, and so the fact that He wrote such works "appeared in the sight of men supernatural."

The response was divided. "Some men inclined to Him, but the greater part manifested strong disapproval." The learned doctors and lawyers of repute were agreed on suppressing Him, all except some divines of the Shaykhí school "who were anchorites and recluses," and who had long been seeking some great and trustworthy person. From among these, Mullá Ḥusayn of Bushrúyih, Mullá Ṣádiq Muqaddas, Mullá ‘Alí of Basṭám, Shaykh Sa‘íd the Indian and others "came out unto Him and spread themselves through all parts of Persia."

The Báb Himself then set out on pilgrimage to the House of God at Mecca. When news of His return to Búshihr reached Shíráz, 'Abdu'l-Bahá writes, "there was much discussion, and a strange excitement and agitation became apparent in that city."

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