Martyrdom of the Bab

Bab, Martyrdom of the

July 9

Martyrdom of the Bab is a solemn commemoration of the day in 1850 when the Bab, the first prophet of the Baha'i faith, was executed in Tabriz, Persia (now Iran). Prayers and readings mark the Baha'i holy day, and work is suspended.
After founding the Babi, a new religion growing out of Shi'ite Islam in 1844, the Bab was repeatedly exiled and imprisoned by Muslim rulers and priests who opposed the idea that the Bab would provide another avenue to the truth. They saw the Babis as revolutionaries and heterodox despoilers. A committee of priests demanded the Bab's execution, and he was led to the town square and tied to a post in front of 750 riflemen. The Baha'i's say that shots were fired, but they only severed the ropes binding him. When the smoke cleared, the Bab was found in his cell completing the work he had been doing before the volley of shots—dictating holy words to a scribe. He was taken before a second regiment of riflemen, and this time he was killed. His body was disposed of in a ditch, but was retrieved by his followers and eventually placed in a mausoleum on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel, where the Baha'i headquarters is today.
See also Bab, Birth of theand Bab, Declaration of the

CONTACTS:
Bahai National Center
1233 Central St.
Evanston, IL 60201
800-228-6483 or 847-869-9039; fax: 847-733-3578
www.us.bahai.org
Bahai International Community
866 United Nations Pl., Ste. 120
New York, NY 10017
212-803-2500; fax: 212-803-2566
www.bahai.org

SOURCES:
AnnivHol-2000, p. 114
ConEncyBahai-2000, p. 57
DictWrldRel-1989, pp. 86, 87
RelHolCal-2004, p. 155

Celebration day: Jul 9