# Babi

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Vladimir Minorsky, Babi, New York: Oxford University Press, 1950, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Babi
> 
> Vladimir Minorsky
> published in Chamber's Encyclopaedia
> 
> New York: Oxford University Press, 1950
> 
> 1. Text
> 
> BABI, a modern Persian sect, derived from the title
> Bab-ad-Din ('gate of the faith'), assumed by its
> founder, Mirza Ali Mohammed, who was born at
> Shiraz in 1821, and in 1844, after a pilgrimage to
> Mecca, undertook to form a new religion from a
> mixture of Mohammedan, Christian, Jewish and
> Parsee elements. His controversies with the mollas
> shortly led to his confinement in various towns, where
> he formulated his doctrines, privately instructed his
> disciples and increased his claims. He sent out missionaries
> in various directions, the most famous of
> whom was a woman, Qurret al Ain, remarkable for
> beauty and intelligence and skilled in poetry, who
> preached against polygamy. The sect soon became
> numerous, and was not molested by the reigning
> shah; but on the accession of Nasir ad-Din in 1848,
> apprehending persecution, they took up arms. Several
> Persian armies were routed, but finally the insurgents
> were reduced by famine and most of them executed
> (1849-50). The Bab had held aloof from the revolt,
> but he was arrested and put to death in 1850 after
> imprisonment. An attempt by three believers to
> assassinate the shah in 1852 led to a terrible persecution
> of the sect, when Qurret al Ain was put to death
> with many others. The Bab's successor was found
> in a Tehrani, Mirza Hosain Ali, born in Nur in 1817,
> to whom was given the name Baha-Allah ('splendour
> of God'). He was believed by the great majority of
> the Babis, now known as Bahais, to be the most
> complete incarnation of the Son of God, foretold by
> the Bab, though a small party (Ezeli) adhered to his
> half-brother Mirza Yahya, called Subh-i-Ezel. Baha-Allah
> and others had taken refuge from persecution
> at Baghdad, whence they were removed by the Turkish
> government to confinement in Constantinople,
> in Adrianople and finally in Acre, where Baha-Allah
> died in 1892. He was succeeded, not without a new
> schism, by his son 'Abbas Effendi, called 'Abdul
> Baha ('servant of the splendour'), who was born in
> 1844, on the day on which his father first made known
> his claim that he was 'he whom God shall make
> manifest'. He shared the imprisonment of the community
> at Acre until the revolution of 1908. Thereafter
> he lived in Acre and in Haifa, and made many
> missionary journeys in Europe and America, was
> knighted (1920) and died in 1921. Baha developed
> the Bahai system, which has pantheistic and gnostic
> elements, is essentially anti-priestly and seeks to
> comprise the essence of all true religions. Revelation
> is held to be not final but progressive. Universal
> peace, toleration and friendship are essential principles.
> Bahaism enjoins few prayers and those only
> on fixed occasions, encourages hospitality and charity,
> prohibits polygamy, concubinage and divorce, discourages
> asceticism and mendicancy and directs
> women to discard the veil and share as equals in the
> intercourse of social life. It is said that Bahais in
> Persia exceed half a million in number, and they are
> found in Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and northern India,
> converts having been made from Sunnis as well as
> Shi'as, from Hindus and Sikhs; in Ceylon, China,
> and even Japan, from Buddhists; and many adherents
> are to be found in Europe and especially in the United
> States.
> 
> E. G. Browne, A Traveller's Narrative to Illustrate the
> Episode of the Bab (1891); M. H. Phelps, Life and Teachings
> of Abbas Effendi (1903); T. K. Cheyne, The Reconciliation
> of Races and Religions (1914); J. E. Esslemont, Baha’u’llah
> and the New Era (1923).
> 
> 2. Image scans (click image for larger version)
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views6164 views since posted 2015-07-05; last edit 2025-01-20 05:35 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../chambers_encyclopedia_babi
> OCLC
> worldcat.org/title/592907516
> Language
> English
> Permission
> public domain
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> Shortlink: bahai-library.com/4538
> Citation: ris/4538
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> — *Babi (Used by permission of the curator)*