The Story of the Bab, Prophet-Herald of the Baha'i Faith, and the Extraordinary Time in Which He Lived
Release the Sun
By William Sears
- Softcover 323 pp.
- $14.95 U.S.
- ISBN: 1-931847-09-6
- EAN: 978-1-931847-09-4
"I am, I am, I am the Promised One! I am the One whose name you have for a thousand years invoked, at whose mention you have risen, whose advent you have longed to witness, and the hour of whose Revelation you have prayed to God to hasten." -The Bab
Millennial fervor gripped many people around the world in the early nineteenth century. While Christians anticipated the return of Jesus Christ, a wave of expectation swept through Islam that the "Lord of the Age" would soon appear. In Persia, this reached a dramatic climax on May 23, 1844, when a twenty-five-year-old merchant from Shiraz named Siyyid 'Alí-Muhammad, later title "The Bab," announced that eh was the bearer of a divine Revelation destined to transform the spiritual life of the human race. Furthermore, he claimed that he was but the herald of another Messenger, who would soon bring a far greater Revelation that would usher in an age of universal peace. Against a backdrop of wide-scale moral decay in Persian society, this declaration aroused hope and excitement among all classes. The Bab quickly attracted tens of thousands of followers, including influential members of the clergy-and the brutal hand of a fearful government bent on destroying this movement that threatened to rock the established order.
