- 1828-00-01 —
Passing of Mírzá Muhammad Ridá, the father of the Báb.
- The Báb was placed in the care of His maternal uncle, Hájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí, Khál-i-A`zam (the Most Great Uncle). He was a leading merchant of Shíráz and was the first, after the Letters of the Living, to embrace the new Cause in that city. He was one of the Seven Martyrs of Tihrán. [BBD14]
- In the household was an Ethiopian servant named Mubarak who nurtured and tutored Him throughout His later childhood and adolescence. "the Bab, in fact, places Mubarak on the same plane as his father." [The Ethiopian King by Nader Saiedi translated by Omid Ghaemmaghami Baha'i Studies Review, Volume 17 p181-186] This servant was not, in fact, the Hají Mubarak who later accompanied Him to Mecca.
- According to Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl-i-Gulpáygání, the Báb was still an infant and had not yet been weaned when His father passed away. [DB72]
- 1845-02-28 —
The Báb returned to Búshihr. He sent Quddús to Shíráz with a letter addressed to His uncle Hájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí who, upon receiving it, embraced his Nephew's Cause, the first, after the Letters of the Living, to do so in Shíráz. The Báb also entrusted Quddús with a treatise for him entitled Khasá'il-i-Sab`ih (`the Seven Qualifications') and promised him his impending martyrdom. Later he gave his life as one of the Seven Martyrs of Tehran, see 1850 19 or 20 Feb. [Bab77–8; DB142–3; MS2, GPB9-10; provisional translation.]
- To the departing Quddus He promised intense suffering in Shíráz and eventual martyrdom. [DB142-143]
- Bab77 and GPB10 say the Báb arrived in Búshihr in February - March.
- SSBH1p23 and BBRSM216 say 15 May, 1845.
- Before leaving on pilgrimage the Báb had stated that He would return to Karbalá and asked His followers to congregate there. An explanation in part for the large following that had gathered there is the messianic expectation associated with the year 1261, a thousand years after the Twelfth Imám's disappearance in 260 A.H.. This gathering was perceived as a threat by the authorities. [BBRSM15, 45, 216; DB157–8; SBBH1p23, 32]
- The Báb changed His plan to meet His followers in Karbalá and instructed them to go to Isfahán instead. A number abandon Him, regarding this as badá', `alteration of divine will'. [BBRSM16; DB158; MH125; SBBH23]
- Some speculate that He did not go to Karbalá to avoid conflict and sedition. Many Bábís had gone to Karbalá armed in preparation for holy war, `jihád'. [BBRSM21–2; SBBH1:23]
- 1845-07-07 —
The Báb arrived in Shíráz.
-
Note: Other estimates for the time of His arrival in Shíráz are from about the 8th to 16th of August based on the fact that Husayn Khán ordered His arrest after the beating of Mullá Sádiq and Quddús. "According to A. L. M. Nicolas' "Siyyid 'Alí-Muhammad dit le Báb" (footnote 175, p. 225), this meeting took place on August 6, 1845 A.D." [DB146n2]
- Bab105 says it must have taken the Báb another week at least to reach Shíráz;
- SBBH1:24 says He arrived in Shíráz in early July.
- Upon arrival in Shíráz the Báb was taken to the governor who publicly interrogated Him, rebuked Him and ordered his attendant to strike Him across the face. He was struck such a violent blow that His turban fell to the ground. Due to the intervention of Shay Abú-Turáb, the head ímam of the region He was released into the custody of His maternal uncle Hájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí. [Bab85–9; BBRSM216; DB150–1; GPB11]
- Note: DB155 states that after He was released and "regained His home" He was able to celebrate Naw-Rúz that fell on 10 Rabí'u'l-Avval, 1261 (19 March, 1945). This is an error. GPB11 says He was able to "celebrate the Naw-Rúz of that and the succeeding year in an atmosphere of relative tranquillity in the company of His mother, His wife and His uncle.'' This too appears to be in error. If He left Shíráz in September of 1846 He would not have been present In March of 1847.
- Three of the divines of Shíráz passed a verdict of death upon The Báb. But for the intercession of Zahrá Bagum, the sister of the wife of The Báb, Khadíjih-Bagum, the mother of The Báb, Fátimih Bagum, with Shay Abú-Turáb, the Imám-Jum'ih of Shíráz, the Báb would have been executed. [LTDT12]
- 1861-01-00 —
Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Kitáb-i-Íqán (The Book of Certitude), 'a comprehensive exposition of the nature and purpose of religion'. In the early days this Tablet was referred to as the Risáliy-i-Khál (Epistle of the Uncle). [BBD134, 162; BKG159; BBD134; BBRSM64–5; GPB138–9; RB1:158]
- Online at bahai.org: Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book of Certitude.
- The Tablet was revealed in answer to four questions put to Bahá'u'lláh by Hájí Mírzá Siyyid Muhammad, a maternal uncle and caregiver of the Báb (the Greater Uncle, the eldest of the three brothers). He had been persuaded by a devout Bábí, Aqá Mírzá Núru'd-Dín, to make a pilgrimage to the holy Shrines of the Imáms in Iraq and where he could put these questions to Bahá'u'lláh as well as visit his sister, the mother of the Báb, who was not yet herself a Bábí. [BBD134, 162; BKG163–5; RB1:158]
- It was revealed in the course of two days and two nights in early January. [BBS107; BBD 134; BKG165; GPB238; RB1:158]
- The original manuscript, in the handwriting of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, is in the Bahá'í International Archives. See Reflections p149 for the story of the receipt of the original tablet, written in the hand of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, by Shoghi Effendi in the Holy Land. [BKG165; RB1:159]
- It was probably the first of Bahá'u'lláh's writings to appear in print. [BKG165; EB121]
- For a discussion of the circumstances of its revelation, its content and major themes see RB1:153–97.
- BEL1.77 gives the year of Revelation as 1862.
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