Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Eberhard Kienle, Baath v. Baath: The 

Conflict between Syria and Iraq, 1968–1989 (London: I.B. 

Tauris & Co., 1990); Kanan Makiya (Samir al-Khalil), 

Republic of Fear: The Inside Story of Saddam’s Iraq (New 

York: Pantheon Books, 1990); Marion Farouq-Sluglett 

and Peter Sluglett, Iraq since 1958: From Revolution to 

Dictatorship (London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 2001).

Babism

Babism was a 19th-century Shii messianic move-

ment based in i

raq

 and i

ran

 that announced the 

immanent return of the Hidden Imam, a redeemer 

sent by God, and thereby challenged the legitimacy 

of powerful religious and political authorities at the 

time. As a result, it was violently suppressed, but 

it gave birth to a new movement, which became 

the b

ahai

 F

aith

. The name Babism (Babiyya) was 

based on the Arabic word bab, “gate” or “door,” 

indicating a living man inspired by God who pro-

vides access to the Hidden Imam.

Ali Muhammad (1819–50), a young mer-

chant from Shiraz, Iran, launched the movement. 

As a student pilgrim at the Shii holy cities of 

k

arbala

 and Najaf in Iraq, he was attracted to 

the Shaykhis, a Shii sect that had arisen earlier in 

the century. After returning to Shiraz, he gained a 

following of disciples, and in 1844, he proclaimed 

that he was the bab, offering as proof an inspired 

interpretation of a chapter in the q

Uran

 (Q 12). 

He sent his followers throughout Iran and Iraq 

to win converts, one of whom was Mirza Husayn 

Ali Nuri (1817–92), who would later be known 

as Baha Ullah, the founder of the Bahai Faith. Ali 

Muhammad’s growing popularity and criticism of 

the 

aUthority

 of the traditional Shii 

Ulama

 soon 

caused them to look at him with disfavor, and 

he was imprisoned in a remote mountain fortress 

in Azerbaijan in 1847. He wrote many religious 

tracts in his prison cell, the most famous of which 

was the Bayan (exposition), which claimed to be a 

holy book with a new universal law that replaced 

other religious laws, including the 

sharia

. Some 

followers regarded him as a new prophet, and at 

the end of his life, before being executed for 

apos

-

tasy

 in 1850, he proclaimed that he was the Qaim 

(one who will arise)—the Hidden Imam himself.

Babi leaders, including an influential woman 

named Qurrat al-Ayn (d. 1852), decided to break 

the movement’s ties with the Islamic religion and 

lead a revolt against authorities in northern Iran. 

Thousands of Babis were reported to have died at 

the hands of government troops, especially after a 

failed assassination attempt against Nasir al-Din 

Shah (d. 1896), the ruler of Iran, in 1852. Most 

of the movement’s survivors turned to the religion 

of Baha Ullah (the Bahai Faith) in 1863, but oth-

ers stayed loyal to Ali Muhammad’s designated 

heir, Mirza Yahya (or Subh-i Azal, d. 1912), and 

this group of Babis became known as Azalis. Azali 

Babism survived a period of exile in Iraq and Tur-

key, and its adherents participated in the Iranian 

K  82  

Babism

---

c

onstitUtional

 r

evolUtion

 of 1906. A very small 

number of Babis survive today in the Central Asian 

republic of Uzbekistan.

See also 

imam

; m

ahdi

; s

hiism

.