Baha'u'llah, Birth/Ascension of
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Christopher Buck, Baha'u'llah, Birth/Ascension of, bahai-library.com.
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Birth/Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh | 353

laws and principles. In revealing his new code of laws            The Báb did not instruct his followers to formally
(called the Bayán), the Báb pursued three major goals:        observe the day of his birth; however, for that occa-
(1) paving the way for the advent of the Promised One;        sion, Bahá’u’lláh had revealed the Lawh-i Mawlúd,
(2) provoking the clerical establishment and shattering       which awaits an authorized translation. Today, Baha’is
the foundations of their often-abused institutionalized       worldwide annually celebrate the birth of the Báb
authority; and (3) proving the independence of his            on October 20 as a holy day, with work and school
own religion as distinct from Islam.                          suspended for the day. There being no required obser-
Soon after the Báb publicly proclaimed his pro-          vances, Baha’is are free to creatively organize com-
phetic mission beginning on the evening of May 22,            memorative activities which, although attended mostly
1844, the Islamic government then in power in Persia          by Baha’is, are open to people of all faiths and
began to suppress the movement and violence ensued.           persuasions.
The Báb was arrested and executed by a firing squad                        J. Gordon Melton and Christopher Buck
of 750 musketeers on July 9, 1850, in Tabríz, Persia.
See also: Baha’i Faith; Bahá’u’lláh; Birth/Ascension
Subsequent to an unauthorized and ill-fated attempt
of Bahá’u’lláh; Temples—Baha’i Faith.
on the life of the shah of Persia in 1852, the shah or-
dered the most brutal tortures and deaths of a great          References
number of Bábís, with estimates ranging from around           Bahá’u’lláh et al. Twin Holy Days: Birthday of
5,000 to 20,000 martyrs.                                          Bahá’u’lláh, Birthday of the Báb: A Compilation.
In the fall of 1852, in the wake of the Báb’s exe-           Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, 1995.
cution, Bahá’u’lláh was imprisoned in the notorious           Browne, Edward G. “Bábism.” In Religious Systems
Siyáh-Chál (Black Pit), during which time he experi-              of the World: A Contribution to the Study of
enced a series of visions that awakened him to his pro-           Comparative Religion, edited by William Sheow-
phetic destiny. He was released, but banished—exiled              ring and Conrad W. Thies, 333–353. London:
successively to Baghdad (1853–1863), Constantino-                 Swann Sonnenschein, 1892.
ple/Istanbul (1863), Adrianople/Edirne (1863–1868),           Eschraghi, Armin. “‘Undermining the Foundations
and finally to the prison-city of ‘Akká, considered the           of Orthodoxy’: Some Notes on the Báb’s Shar’ah
vilest penal colony of the Ottoman Empire. In 1892,               (Sacred Law).” In A Most Noble Pattern: Essays
Bahá’u’lláh passed away in Bahjí, near ‘Akká in Pal-              in the Study of the Writings of the Báb, edited by
estine (now Israel).                                              Todd Lawson. Oxford: George Ronald,
In his article on “Bábism” published that same               forthcoming.
year, Professor Browne wrote: “I say nothing of the           Keil, Gerald. Time and the Baha’i Era: A Study of the
mighty influence which, as I believe, the Bábí faith              Badí’ Calendar. Oxford: George Ronald, 2008.
will exert in the future, nor of the new life it may per-     Saiedi, Nader. Gate of the Heart: Understanding the
chance breathe into a dead people; for, whether it suc-           Writings of the Báb. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid
ceed or fail, the splendid heroism of the Bábí martyrs            Laurier University Press, 2008.
is a thing eternal and indestructible.” The “Bábí faith”      Walbridge, John. “The Birthday of the Báb.” In
that Browne spoke of evolved into the Baha’i Faith,               Sacred Acts, Sacred Space, Sacred Time, 217–
which has since spread worldwide to become the most               218. Oxford: George Ronald, 1996.
widely diffused world religion next to Christianity, ac-
cording to the 2001 World Christian Encyclopedia.
Today, Baha’is accept the Báb as a John the Baptist      Birth/Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh
figure, whose words and actions heralded the arrival of
Bahá’u’lláh. However, unlike John the Baptist, the Báb        The Baha’i Faith was founded by Mírzá Husayn-’Alí
revealed much in substance, both in terms of doctrine         Núrí, known by his spiritual title, Bahá’u’lláh (1817–
and religious laws, that was subsequently revoiced and        1892), and by Sayyid ‘Alí-Muhammad of Shíráz
reenacted, with certain revisions, by Bahá’u’lláh.            (1819–1850), better known as the Báb (the “Gate”),

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354 | Birth/Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh

who claimed to be the Qá’im (Ariser/Resurrector), the          on the evening of May 22, 1844 (but is dated May 23
messianic figure expected in Shia Islam, the majority          since, in the Baha’i calendar, the new day begins at
faith in Iran. Throughout his six-year ministry, the Báb       sunset the previous day).
heralded “Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest,”                        The birthdays of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh fall on
whose advent was imminent. Most of the Bábís (fol-             two consecutive days in the Islamic lunar calendar. “The
lowers of the Báb) came to accept Bahá’u’lláh as that          Birth of the Abhá Beauty [Bahá’u’lláh],” Bahá’u’lláh
messianic figure. Most current Baha’i laws, in fact,           wrote, “was at the hour of dawn on the second day of
were originally instituted by the Báb and were subse-          the month of Muharram, the first day of which mar-
quently selectively ratified and revised by Bahá’u’lláh        keth the Birth of His Herald [the Báb]. These two days
and set forth in the preeminent Baha’i scripture, The          are accounted as one in the sight of God.” The expla-
Most Holy Book (Kitáb-i-Aqdas). The birth of                   nation for this statement is that, in the Muslim lunar
Bahá’u’lláh and the birth of the Báb are therefore             calendar, the birth of the Báb was on the first day of
closely linked.                                                the month of Muharram 1235 AH (October 20, 1819),
Bahá’u’lláh was born on November 12, 1817, in             while the birth of Bahá’u’lláh took place on the sec-
Tehran, Persia (now Iran). As a young nobleman, he             ond day of Muharram 1233 AH (November 12, 1817).
became a prominent figure in the Bábí religion. In                  While the present Baha’i calendar (of 19 months
1852, while in prison during the unrest that followed          of 19 days, plus intercalary days) is solar and roughly
the Báb’s execution in 1850, Bahá’u’lláh experienced           conforms to the Common Ear calendar), Baha’is in
a series of visions and accepted his role as the Prom-         many countries of the Middle East observe these two
ised One foretold by the Báb and in the messianic texts        Baha’i Holy Days according to the country’s Islamic
of all religions.                                              lunar calendar (which is incidentally how they were
By imperial decree, Bahá’u’lláh was subsequently          observed by Bahá’u’lláh himself), while Baha’is of
exiled to Baghdad (1853–1863), to Istanbul (1863), to          the West and elsewhere (such as among the Baha’is in
Adrianople (1863–1868), then to ‘Akká (Acre) in Pal-           Syria and Lebanon) celebrate these occasions by their
estine (1868–1892), where he would spend the rest of           corresponding Common Era calendar dates. In the fu-
his life in custody, although the last years were in rela-     ture, the Universal House of Justice (the institution that
tive comfort under house arrest. Bahá’u’lláh died on           guides the Baha’i community internationally) will de-
May 29, 1892, in Bahji, Palestine. Today, members of           termine whether these “Twin Days” will be celebrated
the global Baha’i Faith commemorate both Bahá’u’lláh’s         on a solar or lunar basis.
birth and ascension.                                                There is no prescribed ceremony or service for
As the co-founders of the Baha’i Faith, Bahá’u’lláh       celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh.
and his predecessor, the Báb, are often referred to            But it is common for Baha’is to meet together for col-
as the “Twin Manifestations,” and the occasions of             lective worship and fellowship, often through devo-
their respective births are similarly called the “Twin         tional meetings or musical programs. These programs
Birthdays.”                                                    are open to all to would like to attend.
In the Most Holy Book (Kitáb-i-Aqdas), Bahá’u’lláh             The birth and ascension of Bahá’u’lláh are consid-
established four great festivals of the Baha’i year: “All      ered major holy days, during which work is suspended
Feasts have attained their consummation in the two             as well as school activities.
Most Great Festivals, and in the two other Festivals                Bahá’u’lláh passed away at 3:00 a.m. on May 29,
that fall on the twin days.” The “two Most Great Festi-        1892, in Bahjí, near ‘Akká, in Palestine (now Israel).
vals” are the Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh (known as the         A telegram bearing the news, “The Sun of Bahá’ has
Festival of Ridván [Paradise]) from April 21 to May 2          set,” was immediately dispatched to Ottoman Sultan
(commemorating Bahá’u’lláh’s initial proclamation of           Abdul-Hamíd II (r. 1876–1909), with a request for
his prophetic mission in Baghdad, April 21–May 2,              permission to bury Bahá’u’lláh at Bahjí, which was
1863), and the Declaration of the Báb, which occurred          granted. After the ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, his eldest

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Blavatsky, Helena P. | 355

son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1844–1921), was appointed, pur-           Momen, Moojan. Bahá’u’lláh: A Short Biography.
suant to Bahá’u’lláh’s will and testament and to provi-         Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2007.
sions of the Most Holy Book, as the appointed “Centre        Walbridge, John. “The Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh.”
of the Covenant” (successor to Bahá’u’lláh), as the             In Sacred Acts, Sacred Space, Sacred Time,
perfect exemplar of Baha’i ethics and virtues, and as           242–244. Oxford: George Ronald, 1996.
the infallible expounder of his father’s teachings.          Walbridge, John. “The Birthday of Bahá’u’lláh.”
Local Baha’i communities worldwide will there-             In Sacred Acts, Sacred Space, Sacred Time,
fore gather at that time (3:00 a.m.) to commemorate             231–232. Oxford: George Ronald, 1996.
their founder with Baha’i prayers and scriptures, usu-
ally culminating in the chanting in Arabic, or recita-
tion in translation, of what is known as the “Tablet of      Blavatsky, Helena P.
Visitation,” a special prayer reserved for the com-
1831–1891
memoration of the Báb as well as Bahá’u’lláh. Some
Baha’is arrange, through the Office of Pilgrimage at         Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, usually called simply
the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa, Israel, to schedule        Madam Blavatsky or her initials, H.P.B., was the pri-
their pilgrimages around the time of the birth or ascen-     mary theoretician of the Theosophical Society, co-
sion of Bahá’u’lláh.                                         founded by herself, Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907),
During their pilgrimage, Baha’is visit the shrine       and William Quan Judge (1851–1896) in New York
of the Báb in Haifa, and the shrine of Bahá’u’lláh in        City in 1875. The Theosophical Society went on to
Bahjí, near Acre, where Bahá’u’lláh lived the last years     become one of the most influential Western Esoteric
of his life. (On July 8, 2008, the UN Educational, Sci-      organizations of the 20th century. It facilitated the
entific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] World             movement of Eastern religions to the West and gave
Heritage Committee designated the shrine of the Báb          birth to numerous additional Esoteric groups.
on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel, and the shrine of               Blavatsky was born Helena Hahn, July 30, 1832,
Bahá’u’lláh, located near Old Acre on Israel’s north-        in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), Ukraine. She
ern coast as World Heritage sites—the first modern           grew up in an affluent Russian family and came of age
religious edifices to be added to the UNESCO List.) A        as Spiritualism was spreading through segments of
large gathering was held there in 1992 on the cente-         Russian society. As a teenager, she was involved in
nary of Bahá’u’lláh’s passing, following which the           various spiritual experiences, including automatic writ-
Universal House of Justice, the international govern-        ing. Her teen years were spent with her grandfather
ing body of the global Baha’i community, declared the        who provided a home following her mother’s death in
period from April 1992 to April 1993 as the second           1843. She was but 16 when she married a much older
“Baha’i Holy Year” to mark both the centenary itself         man, General N. V. Blavatsky. The marriage proved an
and the inauguration of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh in       unhappy experience for the young woman, and aban-
November 1892.                                               doning her husband, she moved to Constantinople. She
J. Gordon Melton and Christopher Buck         stayed in Turkey only a relatively short time. She pre-
ferred travel and took the opportunity to roam through
See also: Baha’i Faith; Bahá’u’lláh; Birth of the Báb;
Asia and Europe. She traveled around the world twice
Pilgrimage; Temples—Baha’i Faith.
during the 1850s, and in 1856, while in India, made a
References                                                   clandestine attempt to get into Tibet, then forbidden
Bahá’u’lláh et al. Twin Holy Days: Birthday of               territory to outsiders. Whether she succeeded in her
Bahá’u’lláh, Birthday of the Báb: A Compilation.         quest remains a debatable topic. In any case, investi-
Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, 1995.                        gating paranormal phenomena during her travels oc-
Keil, Gerald. Time and the Baha’i Era: A Study of the        cupied much of her time. She became a medium and in
Badí’ Calendar. Oxford: George Ronald, 2008.             1871, in Cairo, she founded a Spiritualist society. The

© 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.
-- Baha'u'llah, Birth/Ascension of (Used by permission of the curator)