The Birth of the Bab – Holy Day Program
Start with Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yylXcslvZ0A
Opening Reading
This glorious Tablet hath been revealed on the Anniversary of the Birth [of the Báb] that thou mayest recite it in a spirit of humility and supplication and give thanks unto thy Lord, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. Make thou every effort to render service unto God, that from thee may appear that which will immortalize thy memory in His glorious and exalted heaven.
Say: Glorified art Thou, O my God! I implore Thee by the Dawning-Place of Thy signs and by the Revealer of Thy clear tokens to grant that I may, under all conditions, hold fast the cord of Thy loving providence and cling tenaciously to the hem of Thy generosity. Reckon me then with those whom the changes and chances of the world have failed to deter from serving Thee and from bearing allegiance unto Thee, whom the onslaught of the people hath been powerless to hinder from magnifying Thy Name and celebrating Thy praise. Graciously assist me, O my Lord, to do whatever Thou lovest and desirest. Enable me then to fulfil that which will exalt Thy Name and will set ablaze the fire of Thy love. Thou art, in truth, the Forgiving, the Bountiful. [1]
Pause to let the prayer settle on our hearts.
Almost nothing, it seems, is known about the circumstances attending the Báb’s birth. We do know that He was born on October 20, 1819 in Shiraz, Persia.
In The Dawnbreakers, Nabíl records stories that indicate Shaykh Ahmad was aware of the births of both Bahá’u'lláh (in 1817) and the Báb, but the Shaykh never met either of them and the births themselves are not discussed. Neither does H. M. Balyuzi, in his biography of the Báb, present any portrait of how the One who was destined to usher in not merely a new religion but a new cycle of religion, came into the world. We are left with only a few bare facts.
In these two passages the Bab refers to His own birth:
Through the revelation of Thy grace, O Lord, Thou didst call Me into being on a night such as this, and lo, I am now lonely and forsaken in a mountain. Praise and thanksgiving be unto Thee for whatever conformeth to Thy pleasure within the empire of heaven and earth. And all sovereignty is Thine, extending beyond the uttermost range of the kingdoms of Revelation and Creation.
Thou didst create Me, O Lord, through Thy gracious favour and didst protect Me through Thy bounty in the darkness of the womb and didst nourish Me, through Thy loving-kindness, with life-giving blood. After having fashioned Me in a most comely form, through Thy tender providence, and having perfected My creation through Thine excellent handiwork and breathed Thy Spirit into My body through Thine infinite mercy and by the revelation of Thy transcendent unity, Thou didst cause Me to issue forth from the world of concealment into the visible world, naked, ignorant of all things, and powerless to achieve aught. Thou didst then nourish Me with refreshing milk and didst rear Me in the arms of My parents with manifest compassion, until Thou didst graciously acquaint Me with the realities of Thy Revelation and apprised Me of the straight path of Thy Faith as set forth in Thy Book. And when I attained full maturity Thou didst cause Me to bear allegiance unto Thine inaccessible Remembrance, and enabled Me to advance towards the designated station, where Thou didst educate Me through the subtle operations of Thy handiwork and didst nurture Me in that land with Thy most gracious gifts. When that which had been preordained in Thy Book came to pass Thou didst cause Me, through Thy kindness, to reach Thy holy precincts and didst suffer Me, through Thy tender mercy, to dwell within the court of fellowship, until I discerned therein that which I witnessed of the clear tokens of Thy mercifulness, the compelling evidences of Thy oneness, the effulgent splendours of Thy majesty, the source of Thy supreme singleness, the heights of Thy transcendent sovereignty, the signs of Thy peerlessness, the manifestations of Thine exalted glory, the retreats of Thy sanctity, and whatsoever is inscrutable to all but Thee. [2]
And:
Thou art aware, O My God, that since the day Thou didst call Me into being out of the water of Thy love till I reached fifteen years of age I lived in the land which witnessed My birth [Shiraz]. Then Thou didst enable Me to go to the seaport [Bushihr] where for five years I was engaged in trading with the goodly gifts of Thy realm and was occupied in that with which Thou hast favoured Me through the wondrous essence of Thy loving-kindness. I proceeded therefrom to the Holy Land [Karbila] where I sojourned for one year. Then I returned to the place of My birth. There I experienced the revelation of Thy sublime bestowals and the evidences of Thy boundless grace. I yield Thee praise for all Thy goodly gifts and I render Thee thanksgiving for all Thy bounties. Then at the age of twenty-five I proceeded to thy sacred House [Mecca], and by the time I returned to the place where I was born, a year had elapsed. There I tarried patiently in the path of Thy love and beheld the evidences of Thy manifold bounties and of Thy loving-kindness until Thou didst ordain for Me to set out in Thy direction and to migrate to Thy presence. Thus I departed therefrom by Thy leave, spending six months in the land of Sad [Isfahan] and seven months in the First Mountain [Maku], where Thou didst rain down upon Me that which beseemeth the glory of Thy heavenly blessings and befitteth the sublimity of Thy gracious gifts and favours. Now, in My thirtieth year, Thou beholdest Me, O My God, in this Grievous Mountain [Chihriq] where I have dwelt for one whole year.
Praise be unto Thee, O My Lord, for all times, heretofore and hereafter; and thanks be unto Thee, O My God, under all conditions, whether of the past or the future. The gifts Thou hast bestowed upon Me have reached their fullest measure and the blessings Thou hast vouchsafed unto Me have attained their consummation. Naught do I now witness but the manifold evidences of Thy grace and loving-kindness, Thy bounty and gracious favours, Thy generosity and loftiness, Thy sovereignty and might, Thy splendour and Thy glory, and that which befitteth the holy court of Thy transcendent dominion and majesty and beseemeth the glorious precincts of Thine eternity and exaltation. [3]
What follows is a fictionalized account of his life, based on what we do know, told from the perspective of the Báb’s Mother and His wife, taken by a play called “Midsummer Noon”:
The Mother of the Báb
I knew him well. He was my son. He was born on October 20, 1819 in the city of Shiraz.
From the time He was a baby I remember thinking that there was something different about him. As a child He was always very serene, and had a dignified manner.
My husband died when the Báb was very young, and my brother became His guardian. When it came time for him to go to school, my brother took him, but His teacher brought Him back to His uncle the following day saying that he had nothing to teach this gifted child. He said, “He stands in no need of a teacher such as I.” My brother was determined that the Báb should continue to attend school, and so He did, but as time went on, the schoolmaster became even more convinced of the Báb’s superior intelligence. He said that he felt that in his relationship to the Báb, he was the one who was being instructed.
But my son’s intelligence was not the only characteristic which made him stand out from other children. The character of His devotion to God was very unique. The Báb spent a great deal of time praying, and was often late for school, because, as He said: “He had been in His grandfather’s house.” You see, we were direct descendents of the prophet Mohammed, and this is an expression that we sometimes used for prayer. Sometimes His teacher would tell him that a 10 year old boy did not need to spend so much time praying. But the Báb would say, “I wish to be like my grandfather”.
When the Báb was 17, He went to Buchir with His uncle, where He worked as a merchant for 5 years. My brother told me that He won the esteem of all the merchants He met because of His honesty and trustworthiness. During that time, He continued to devote a large amount of time to prayer.
When the Báb returned from Buchir, He was 22. I arranged His marriage to our neighbor’s daughter, Halijeh. These were happy days. They were so perfect for each other.
Although I did not understand it, there seemed to be a change in my son’s behaviour. I mean, He was always extremely courteous, and very mild, but a new radiance seemed to surround him. Other people must have recognized that there was something very special about him too, for many young religious students would come to visit him in the evenings.
Before long, I realized that Halijeh was going to have a baby. In due time, she went into labour, but it was a very difficult labour and I feared that at one point she was going to die. When I hurried to tell my son about the grave condition of His wife, He picked up a mirror which was beside Him and He wrote a prayer on it. He instructed me to hold the mirror in front of Halijeh. I did this immediately and the child was soon born, but its life was short. He was a boy and the Báb named him Ahmad. When Ahmad died, I was very angry at my son. I demanded that He tell me why it was, if He possessed such powers, that He had not attempted to save the life of His own child. He answered very quietly that He was not destined to have any children.
It was soon after this that the heart of the storm entered our lives. My son went on pilgrimage, and when He returned, the religious authorities summoned Him to the mosque. They told him that He must stop His teaching. After that we did have a few quiet months before my son moved to my brother’s house. He told Halijeh that it was for our safety that He was leaving us.
You know, women were not allowed to be a part of religious affairs in those days and it was very difficult for us to learn what the religious talk of the day was. Sometimes we heard rumours of my son’s claim to be the Promised One, but at the time I personally was not able to investigate this claim. It was toward the end of my life, when Bahá’u'lláh, the One that the Báb had said He had come to prepare the way for, sent two of His followers to teach me about the wonderful station and mission of my son.
It was soon after the Báb moved to my brother’s house, that Halijeh and I heard of His arrest. You can imagine the grief and despair that we felt. We worried about him all of the time, but it was not until one year after His death that we heard about His execution. After all these years, I still can’t begin to tell you how this news pained me. On that day in Tabriz, I was not with him . . .
The Wife of the Báb
I also knew Him well. I am Halijeh, the Báb’s wife. We were childhood friends, and as our houses were beside each other, the Báb would often visit us with His family. Usually He wouldn’t join in our games, but when He did He was always very kind and considerate.
After He went to Buchir with His uncle, I had a very vivid dream in which I saw him standing in a field of beautiful flowers. He was facing toward (Natay?) in an attitude of prayer and He was wearing a beautiful coat, which was embroidered in gold thread with verses from the Koran. His face was radiant. When I told this dream to His mother and grandmother, they assured me that it was my friend, the Báb’s, assiduous attention to His prayer that had brought this vision to me. He was 17 at that time.
After He returned from Buchir to live in Shiraz again, I had another dream which puzzled me. I dreamed that Fatimeh, the daughter of Mohammad, had come to ask for my hand in marriage to her son, the Imam Hussein. When I woke up, I told my mother, and she said that this dream foretold good fortune for me. That same day the Báb’s mother and grandmother came to visit my mother. I served them some fruit and tea, and then I left the room. Before our company left, the Báb’s mother kissed my forehead. My mother told me that this kiss signified that the Báb’s mother was asking for my hand in marriage to her son. She said, “you see, the dream you had last night came true”.
From that day I felt a great stirring in my heart. I felt immeasurably proud of my coming union. We were married in His home two months later. It was August 1842. I remember the first few months as the happiest days of my life. His care and kindness towards me were indescribable. Both He and His mother showered me with kindness and consideration.
Not long after, however, I dreamt one night, that a fiercesome lion was standing in the courtyard of our house and I had my arms around His neck. The beast dragged me twice around the entire perimeter to our courtyard and once again around half of it. I woke up alarmed and trembling with fright. I told my husband about it. He said, “You awoke too soon”. Your dream foretells that our life together will not last more than two and a half years. I was greatly distressed, but His affection and words of comfort consoled me. It must have helped to prepare me to accept the adversity which lay ahead.
First came the death of our son. I so wanted a child, and when Ahmad died, the Báb again gave me comfort and solace. He said that Ahmad was with Fatimeh, the daughter of Mohammed, in the sanctified paradise.
One day in the late afternoon He came home earlier than usual. That evening He said He had a particular task to attend to, so we had an early dinner with the family in His mother’s room and He retired for the night. An hour later, when the house was quiet and all were asleep, He rose from His bed and left the room. At first, I took no particular notice to His absence, but when it lengthened to more than an hour, I felt some concern. I looked for him, but He was nowhere to be found. Then I walked to the western side of the house, looked up at the roof top, and saw that the upper chamber was well lit. So with some trepidation, I went up the steps at the northern side of the courtyard. There I saw him standing in that chamber, His hands raised heavenward, intoning a prayer in a most melodious voice, with tears streaming down His face. And His face! His face was luminous. Rays of light radiating from it. He looked so majestic and resplendent, that fear seized me and I stood transfixed where I was, trembling uncontrollably. I could neither enter the room nor retrace my steps. My willpower was gone and I was on the verge of screaming when He made a gesture with His blessed hands, telling me to go back. This movement of His hands gave me back my courage and I returned to my room and my bed. Sleep was impossible and the coming dawn was foreboding.
At sunrise, He went to His mother’s room for tea. I followed Him there, and as soon as my eyes fell on Him that same attitude of majesty that I had seen the night before took shape before me. He raised His face to me and with great kindness, asked me to sit beside him. Then He passed to me what was left of the tea in His own cup, which I drank. He gently asked what was troubling me, to which I replied, “You are no longer the same person I knew in our childhood. We grew up together and we have been married for two years, living in this house and now I see a different person before me. You have been transformed and it makes me anxious and uneasy.”
He smiled at me and said that although He wished I had not seen him in the previous condition of last night, God had ordained otherwise. It was the Will of God, He said, that you should have seen me in the way you did last night, so that no shadow of doubt should ever cross your mind. And you should know with absolute certitude that I am the Manifestation of God, whose advent has been invoked for a thousand years. This light radiates from my heart and from My being. As soon as I heard Him speak these words, I believed in Him and my heart became calm and assured. From that moment, I lived only to serve Him, evanescent and self effacing before him; no thought of myself ever intruding.
It is very difficult for me to talk about what came after. Fierce, fierce opposition. As His claim became known; as many people became attracted to him, the greater the denial of the priests and government leaders. They arrested him one night, and it was rumored that they would put him to death. That same night, a cholera epidemic suddenly struck Shiraz taking a heavy toll of lives. Many people fled the city, including the governor. The Báb’s life was spared. They said He saved the life of the son of the man who was to put him to death.
One day, to our incredible joy, He came home and stayed three days. These were the last days of my life with him. On the last night, He said He was leaving the city. We were happy that He might reach a place of safety. The family kept us informed of His whereabouts. Unfortunately, He was arrested again. He was taken to various prisons and then to Tabriz. Before He left Shiraz, He had confided to me the secret of His future sufferings and unfolded to my eyes, the significance of the events that were to transpire in this day.
He gave me a special prayer, revealed and written by Himself. He said: “In the hour of your perplexity, recite this prayer, ere you go to sleep. I myself will appear to you, and will banish your anxiety.” I found this to be absolutely true. Every time I turned to Him in prayer, the light of His unfailing guidance illumined my path, and resolved my problems.
My greatest happiness came when I recognized the Great One that my husband had given His life for; Bahá’u'lláh. I believed that the Báb guided me to see this truth.
So you see, those years with Him were so wonderful. The rest is history. How I wish that I could have been with him, on that day in Tabriz . . .
Watch Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLX6-021EWU
Tablet revealed by Bahá’u'lláh
in honor of the anniversary of the Báb’s birth
All praise be to Thee, O my God, inasmuch as Thou hast adorned the world with the splendour of the dawn following the night wherein was born the One Who heralded the Manifestation of Thy transcendent sovereignty, the Dayspring of Thy divine Essence and the Revelation of Thy supreme Lordship. I beseech Thee, O Creator of the heavens and Fashioner of names, to graciously aid those who have sheltered beneath the shadow of Thine abounding mercy and have raised their voices amidst the peoples of the world for the glorification of Thy Name.
O my God! Thou beholdest the Lord of all mankind confined in His Most Great Prison, calling aloud Thy Name, gazing upon Thy face, proclaiming that which hath enraptured the denizens of Thy kingdoms of revelation and of creation. O my God! I behold Mine own Self captive in the hands of Thy servants, yet the light of Thy sovereignty and the revelations of Thine invincible power shine resplendent from His face, enabling all to know of a certainty that Thou art God, and that there is none other God but Thee. Neither can the power of the powerful frustrate Thee, nor the ascendancy of the rulers prevail against Thee. Thou doest whatsoever Thou willest by virtue of Thy sovereignty which encompasseth all created things, and ordainest that which Thou pleasest through the potency of Thy behest which pervadeth the entire creation.
I implore Thee by the glory of Thy Manifestation and by the power of Thy might, Thy sovereignty and Thine exaltation to render victorious those who have arisen to serve Thee, who have aided Thy Cause and humbled themselves before the splendour of the light of Thy face. Make them then, O my God, triumphant over Thine enemies and cause them to be steadfast in Thy service, that through them the evidences of Thy dominion may be established throughout Thy realms and the tokens of Thine indomitable power be manifested in Thy lands. Verily Thou art potent to do what Thou willest; no God is there but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
Tablet of Visitation
The praise which hath dawned from Thy most august Self, and the glory which hath shone forth from Thy most effulgent Beauty, rest upon Thee, O Thou Who art the Manifestation of Grandeur, and the King of Eternity, and the Lord of all who are in heaven and on earth! I testify that through Thee the sovereignty of God and His dominion, and the majesty of God and His grandeur, were revealed, and the Day-Stars of ancient splendor have shed their radiance in the heaven of Thine irrevocable decree, and the Beauty of the Unseen hath shone forth above the horizon of creation. I testify, moreover, that with but a movement of Thy Pen Thine injunction “Be Thou” hath been enforced, and God’s hidden Secret hath been divulged, and all created things have been called into being, and all the Revelations have been sent down.
I bear witness, moreover, that through Thy beauty the beauty of the Adored One hath been unveiled, and through Thy face the face of the Desired One hath shone forth, and that through a word from Thee Thou hast decided between all created things, causing them who are devoted to Thee to ascend unto the summit of glory, and the infidels to fall into the lowest abyss.
I bear witness that he who hath known Thee hath known God, and he who hath attained unto Thy presence hath attained unto the presence of God. Great, therefore, is the blessedness of him who hath believed in Thee, and in Thy signs, and hath humbled himself before Thy sovereignty, and hath been honored with meeting Thee, and hath attained the good pleasure of Thy will, and circled around Thee, and stood before Thy throne. Woe betide him that hath transgressed against Thee, and hath denied Thee, and repudiated Thy signs, and gainsaid Thy sovereignty, and risen up against Thee, and waxed proud before Thy face, and hath disputed Thy testimonies, and fled from Thy rule and Thy dominion, and been numbered with the infidels whose names have been inscribed by the fingers of Thy behest upon Thy holy Tablets.
Waft, then, unto me, O my God and my Beloved, from the right hand of Thy mercy and Thy loving-kindness, the holy breaths of Thy favors, that they may draw me away from myself and from the world unto the courts of Thy nearness and Thy presence. Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. Thou, truly, hast been supreme over all things.
The remembrance of God and His praise, and the glory of God and His splendor, rest upon Thee, O Thou Who art His Beauty! I bear witness that the eye of creation hath never gazed upon one wronged like Thee. Thou wast immersed all the days of Thy life beneath an ocean of tribulations. At one time Thou wast in chains and fetters; at another Thou wast threatened by the sword of Thine enemies. Yet, despite all this, Thou didst enjoin upon all men to observe what had been prescribed unto Thee by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
May my spirit be a sacrifice to the wrongs Thou didst suffer, and my soul be a ransom for the adversities Thou didst sustain. I beseech God, by Thee and by them whose faces have been illumined with the splendors of the light of Thy countenance, and who, for love of Thee, have observed all whereunto they were bidden, to remove the veils that have come in between Thee and Thy creatures, and to supply me with the good of this world and the world to come. Thou art, in truth, the Almighty, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate.
Bless Thou, O Lord my God, the Divine Lote-Tree and its leaves, and its boughs, and its branches, and its stems, and its offshoots, as long as Thy most excellent titles will endure and Thy most august attributes will last. Protect it, then, from the mischief of the aggressor and the hosts of tyranny. Thou art, in truth, the Almighty, the Most Powerful. Bless Thou, also, O Lord my God, Thy servants and Thy handmaidens who have attained unto Thee. Thou, truly, art the All-Bountiful, Whose grace is infinite. No God is there save Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous. [4]
[1] Bahá’u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u'lláh p. 234
[2] The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, pp. 173-174
[3] The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 180-182
[4] Bahá’u'lláh: Prayers and Meditations, pages 310-313
Dear Susan,
I would like to thank you for this absolutely beautiful program. I have no more words.
With deep Baha’i love,
Andria
Dear Susan,
Thank you for this wonderful program. I God bless you.
Love to all,
John
May God Bless You!!
Dear Susan
Thank you very much for sharing this program with everyone. It is more beautiful than anything I would have come up with!
Greetings
Naghmeh