Bábism

Bábism (Persian: بابیه, romanized: Bâbiyye) is a messianic movement founded in 1844 by the Báb (b. 'Ali Muhammad of Shiraz). The Báb, an Iranian merchant-turned-prophet, professed that there is one incorporeal, unknown, and incomprehensible God who manifests his will in an unending series of theophanies, called Point (Arabic: نقطة, romanized: nuqta) in Bábí terminology. The Báb's revelation, throughout which there was much evolution as he progressively outlined his teachings, was turbulent and short-lived and ended with his public execution in Tabriz in 1850. A campaign of extermination followed, in which thousands of followers were killed in what has been described as potentially one of the bloodiest actions of the Qajar Iranian military in the 19th century.

According to current estimates, Bábism has no more than a few thousand adherents, most of whom are concentrated in Iran, but it has persisted into the modern era in the form of the Bahá'í Faith, to which the majority of Bábís eventually converted.

Bábism flourished in Iran until 1852, then lingered on in exile in the Ottoman Empire, especially Cyprus, as well as underground in Iran. An anomaly amongst Islamic messianic movements, the Bábí movement signaled a break with Shia Islam, beginning a new religious system with its own unique laws, teachings, and practices. While Bábism was violently opposed by both clerical and government establishments, it led to the founding of the Bahá'í Faith, whose followers consider the religion founded by the Báb as a predecessor to their own.