In Persia, a devoted band of students gathered around two scholars who prepared them to scatter and look for a new Messenger from God Who would fulfill the prophecies of Islam. The Bahá'ís believe that all of these hopes were eventually realized.

The Báb (The Gate)

In May of 1844, a young Persian declared that He was the promised Qa'im of Shi'ah Islam. He assumed the title of The Báb (Gate). The Báb's mission was twofold: first, He was an independent Messenger of God and, second, like John the Baptist, He prepared the way for another Messenger of God soon to follow, Bahá'u'lláh.

The first six years of the Báb's Ministry saw a dramatic increase in both the number of his followers and in the energy spent by the Shi'ah clergy of Iran to stamp out this new religion. Eventually 20,000 Bábis were put to death for their beliefs. The Báb Himself was imprisoned and, at the youthful age of thirty, cruelly executed in July of 1850.

During His Ministry, the Báb, in numerous writings and in clear language, directed the people to prepare themselves for the coming of another Manifestation of God Who would be none other than the Promised One of all the religions of the world. The Báb, emphatically and repeatedly, stated that the Promised One was already on earth and that many of His own followers would have the bounty of meeting Him and embracing the Cause of "He, Whom God shall make manifest."

The Faith of the youthful Herald was, like Himself, magnificent, intense and short-lived. It lasted for only 19 years. It remained for the second Manifestation to administer the full range of the divine teachings needed to vivify a sorely-ailing humanity.

Bahá'u'lláh (The Glory of God)

Among the followers of the Báb was Mirza Husayn-`Ali, later given the title of

Bahá'u'lláh, which means the Glory of God. He was born in 1817 in Tehran, the capital of Persia. His father, Mirza Buzurg of Nur, wealthy nobleman from the mountainous regions of Mazindaran, was a Vazir, or Minister, of the Shah of Persia. From His earliest years Bahá'u'lláh possessed remarkable and unusual powers. At the age of seven, He appeared before the Shah to argue a case on behalf of His father, and won His claim. The loftiness and purity of His character endeared Him not only to His kinsmen and immediate associates, but to strangers as well. His father, the minister, was fully aware of his son's extraordinary powers, although the destiny of the Child could not be known to him.

Bahá'u'lláh grew up in an environment of wealth, power and comfort. When His father died, his post in the court was offered to Bahá'u'lláh, but He declined to accept it. The Grand Vazir reportedly responded by saying that the young man was destined for a work of greater magnitude, and service in the government was too insignificant for His vast capacities.

Although unschooled, Bahá'u'lláh displayed an unequaled knowledge of many subjects, ranging from religious scriptures and history to poetry and the arts. His love of animals and nature was matched by His deep affection for the poor, the downtrodden and the sick. Married at an early age to a young woman of an equally noble family, He and His wife devoted themselves to the service of all who needed help, sustenance and the redress of injustice. They became known as "the Father and the Mother of the Poor." Those who sought their help found them truly loving and caring.

Soon after the Báb declared His Mission in 1844, this young nobleman embraced the Faith of the Báb and arose, in the face of grave danger, to champion His Cause.

The Báb spoke and wrote of Bahá'u'lláh with great love and fervor and longed to offer His all in service to Him, knowing full well that Bahá'u'lláh was the Promised One, Who would announce His Own mission in the fullness of time.

After the Martyrdom of the Báb, as the chief Champion of the Faith of His Herald, Bahá'u'lláh attracted the pure in heart and those who were spiritually awakened. At the same time, the misguided and self-serving clergy found Him a great threat to their positions of power.

Eventually, the government of the Shah capitulated to the clamor of the clergy that the new religion be extinguished. In 1853 Bahá'u'lláh was imprisoned by the government in a dreadful dungeon in Tehran for several months. The infamous Garah Guhar chain, weighing a hundred pounds and reserved for the worst criminals, was placed around His neck, leaving its marks on His body for the rest of His life. He was put into a deep, underground pit crowded with notorious thieves and murderers, as well as other innocent believers of the Báb.

Those imprisoned for the new Faith prayed and sang together in the total darkness, amid the stench of that loathsome place. Every day several of the Báb's followers were summoned from the dungeon to their executions. It was here that Bahá'u'lláh began to receive His full revelation from God. He told no one what was occurring to Him.

Through the intercession of foreign diplomatic missions, His life was spared with the stipulation that He be permanently banished from Persia. Exiled to Baghdad, His ill-wishers hoped that the longstanding animosity of the local people against Persians would make life there like a prison for Him.

Bahá'u'lláh, His young family, and followers reached Baghdad after a tortuous journey through the mountains in the depths of winter, poorly clad, and ill-fed. Once settled there in a small dwelling, the magnificence of the transcendent character of Bahá'u'lláh quickly overcame the deeply-rooted Arab-Persian hostility. Many people, from all strata of society, were irresistibly attracted to Him and sought His presence.

Once again the clergy became alarmed at Bahá'u'lláh's spiritual influence and induced the two despotic kings, the Shah of Iran and the Sultan of the Ottoman Turks, to banish Bahá'u'lláh even farther away, to Constantinople, now called Istanbul.

In April, 1863, just before leaving Baghdad in exile, Bahá'u'lláh camped with His family and followers for 12 days in a garden named Ridvan on the banks of the Tigris River in preparation for the arduous journey ahead. Many of the citizens of Baghdad, from all classes, were heartbroken when they learned of their impending separation from the Person they had come to love and revere. They came, Arabs, Kurds, visiting Persians alike, to attain the presence of Bahá'u'lláh and to bid Him a tearful farewell. Even the Governor of the province came to the garden to pay his respects.

Bahá'u'lláh received them with loving kindness, assuring them that a physical separation was temporary and that the souls of the pure at heart would forever abide together in the spiritual worlds of God. He exhorted one and all to lead a sanctified life worthy of the high destiny that God has ordained for every soul.

It was in the garden of Ridvan, filled with the lovely roses of the season, just before His forced departure to distant lands, that Bahá'u'lláh chose to reveal His great Announcement, that He was, indeed, the Promised One expected by all the world's religions.

Beholding the Manifestation of God with one's very own eyes was almost more than many souls could bear. What an honor! What a joy to see Him, to hear Him and receive His glad tidings of the new age for all of humanity.

"...how numerous are those people of divers beliefs,...who, through the reviving fragrance of the Divine springtime, breathing from the Ridvan of God, have been arrayed with the new robe of divine Unity..." --Bahá'u'lláh, Kitab-I-Iqan, pp. 112-3

The brief interlude ended and the exiles departed for a weary journey of three months to Constantinople. After a brief stay, Bahá'u'lláh and His followers were again exiled, in the dead of winter, to Adrianople, a city in European Turkey.

Finally in 1868, Bahá'u'lláh was exiled for the last time. He was sent to the dreaded prison city of Akka (Acre) in Palestine where He was expected to die in the terrible conditions of that place. The worst criminals of the entire Ottoman empire were confined to that filthy and unhealthy prison. The air of the city was so foul, it was said that a bird flying over it would drop dead. Even so, Bahá'u'lláh's family and devoted followers, numbering around seventy, voluntarily accompanied Him, choosing to share the misery of the prison city rather than to be separated from their Beloved.

Slowly, as before, the presence of the Messenger had its effect upon all who came in contact with Him. His prison guard, perceiving the Station of Bahá'u'lláh, became a believer. Eventually even the Governor of Akka would humbly request to be received by Bahá'u'lláh and to ask His advice. Although gradually the situation of the exiles improved somewhat, Bahá'u'lláh remained in Akka and its vicinity, nominally still a prisoner of the Ottoman Turks, until the end of His life in 1892.

In 1889, famed Cambridge orientalist, Professor Edward G. Browne became the only Westerner to meet Bahá'u'lláh and leave an account of his experience. Browne, who visited Bahá'u'lláh in His home at Bahji, near Akka, recorded the meeting: