Bábism

                                             

Bábism or Bábíism^[1] (Persian: بابیه‎‎, Babiyye), also known as the Bábi,  faith, was a new religious movementthat flourished in Persia from 1844 to 1852, then lingered on in exile in the Ottoman Empire, especially Cyprus, as well as underground. Its founder was ʿAli Muhammad Shirazi, who took the title Báb (lit. "Gate") out of the belief that he was the gate to theTwelfth Imam. The Bábí movement signaled a break with Islam and started a new religious system. While the Bábí movement was violently opposed and crushed by the clerical and government establishments in the country in the mid-1850s, the Bábí movement led to the founding of the Bahá'í Faith which sees the religion brought by the Báb as a predecessor to their own religion. "The relative success of Bahaism inside Iran (where it constitutes the largest religious minority) and in numerous other countries, where it claims the status of an independent religion, gives renewed significance to its Babi origins", as Bahaism continued many aspects of the earlier sect.

The Báb abrogated Islamic law and in the Persian Bayán promulgated a system of Bábí law, thus establishing a separate religion distinct from Islam. Some of the new laws included changing the direction of the Qibla to the Báb's house in Shiraz, Iran and changing the calendar to a solar calendar of nineteen months and nineteen days (which became the basis of the Bahá'í calendar) and prescribing the last month as a month of fasting.

The Báb also created a large number of rituals and rites which remained largely unpracticed.Some of these rituals include the carrying of arms only in times of necessity, the obligatory sitting on chairs, the advocating of the cleanliness displayed by Christians, the non-cruel treatment of animals, the prohibition of beating children severely, the recommendation of the printing of books, even scripture and the prohibition on the study of logic or dead languages. While some statements in the Bayan show tolerance, there are other very harsh regulations in regards to relations with non-believers. For example, non-believers are forbidden to live in five central Iranian provinces, the holy places of previous religions are to be demolished, all non-Bábí books should be destroyed, believers are not to marry or sit in the company of non-believers, and the property of non-believers can be taken from them.^[73] Some further ritual include elaborate regulations regarding pilgrimage, fasting, the manufacture of rings, the use of perfume, and the washing and disposal of the dead.

Denis MacEoin writes, regarding the Bayán: "One comes away from the Bayan with a strong sense that very little of this is to be taken seriously. It is a form of game, never actually intended to be put into practice." Instead he states that "the Bábí shari'a made an impact... it stated very clearly that the Islamic code could be replaced." Nader Saiedi states that the severe laws of the Bayán were never meant to be put in practice, because their implementation depended on the appearance of He whom God shall make manifest, while at the same time all of the laws would be abrogated unless the Promised One would reaffirm them. Saiedi concludes that these can then only have a strategic and symbolic meaning, and were meant to break through traditions and to focus the Báb’s followers on obedience to He whom God shall make manifest.