The Báb (born ʿAlí Muḥammad; /ˈæli moʊˈhæməd/; Persian: علی محمد; 20 October 1819 – 9 July 1850) was an Iranian religious leader who founded Bábism,[1] and is also one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith.

The Báb gradually and progressively revealed his claim in his extensive writings to be a Manifestation of God, of a status as great as Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, receiving revelations as profound as the Torah, Gospel, and Quran.

[5] He referred to himself by the traditional Muslim title "Báb" (meaning the gate)[b] although it was apparent from the context that he intended by this term a spiritual claim very different from any which had previously been associated with it.

In the next six years, the Báb composed numerous letters and books in which he abrogated Islamic laws and traditions, establishing a new religion and introducing a new social order focused on unity, love, and service to others.

[44] The Báb's mission as a religious leader began with a dream in which he drank seven drops of blood dripping from the lacerated throat of Imam Husayn – a significant martyr and symbol of sacrifice in Shia Islam.

The Báb's book, the Persian Bayán, gives the metaphorical identity of the Letters of the Living as the Fourteen Infallibles of Twelver Shiʿi Islam: Muhammad, the Twelve Imams, and Fatimah, and the four archangels.

[52] According to Abbas Amanat in conformity with his own policy of prudence during the early stages of his mission, the Báb wrote a statement renouncing his claims to the position of Bábiya (gatehood) and disowning those who advocated such beliefs about him.

[50]His tone, conduct, behaviour, and calm demeanour before a partly hostile audience impressed many of those in attendance and encouraged others in Shiraz to inquire further about His position and become adherents.

"[56] Samuel Graham Wilson, an American Presbyterian missionary in Tabriz, wrote in 1915 that the Báb had signed a recantation at his examination at Shiraz, based on the report of Frenchman A. L. M. Nicolas in the introduction to his 1911 translation of the Persian Bayán.

[61] After the death of the governor of Isfahan, Manouchehr Khan Gorji, his supporter, pressure from the clergy of the province led to Mohammad Shah Qajar ordering the Báb to Tehran in January 1847.

[69][70][71] Consequently, he was executed by a firing squad in public in Tabriz to crush the Bábí movement and to display the restored power of the Qajar government under the new minister, Amir Kabir.

[73]According to Manuchehri, the approach of laying claim to a lower position was intended to create a sense of anticipation for the appearance of the Hidden Imam, as well to avoid persecution and imprisonment, because a public proclamation of mahdi status could bring a swift penalty of death.

[52] Even though the Báb had intended to convey his message with discretion, many of his followers such as Táhirih openly declared the coming of the promised Hidden Imam and Mahdi.

This commentary is addressed to the whole of humankind, with many references to the peoples of the earth, and of the rulers of East and West, inviting them to accept a new, "wondrous" Cause of spiritual and social renewal.

[75] In many places in this commentary, Sayyid Ali Muhammad referred to himself by the traditional Muslim title "Báb" (Gate) although it was apparent from the context that he intended by this term a spiritual claim very different from any which had previously been associated with it.

The Báb explained that earlier in his ministry, out of compassion, he adhered to the Qur’anic laws to ease the transition for people and avoid unsettling them with a new revelation.

Indeed observe how He Who representeth the origin of creation, He Who is the Exponent of the verse, ‘I, in very truth, am God’, identified Himself as the Gate (Báb) for the advent of the promised Qá’im, a descendant of Muḥammad, and in His first Book enjoined the observance of the laws of the Qur’án, so that the people might not be seized with perturbation by reason of a new Book and a new Revelation and might regard His Faith as similar to their own, perchance they would not turn away from the Truth and ignore the thing for which they had been called into being.

[55]In mid-1850 a new prime minister, Amir Kabir,[77] ordered the execution of the Báb, probably because of various Bábí insurrections' defeats and because the movement's popularity appeared to be waning.

Over time the remains were secretly transported according to the instructions of Baháʼu'lláh and then ʿAbdu'l-Bahá by way of Isfahan, Kirmanshah, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and then by sea to Acre on the plain below Mount Carmel in 1899.

[78] On 21 March 1909, the remains were interred in a special tomb, the Shrine of the Báb, erected for this purpose by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, on Mount Carmel in present-day Haifa, Israel.

[81] A universal ethical perspective was thus emphasized by the Báb, including the moral imperative of making no distinction between believers and nonbelievers and of recognizing the objective needs of others.

[88] Progressive revelation, continuity, and renewal of religion,[15] modernizing education,[13] improving the status of women,[14] abolishing the priesthood,[17] and emphasizing ethics,[16] independent investigation of truth, and human nobility are among the key teachings of the Báb.

Unlike previous religions where references to promised figures were only occasional and hinted at through allusions, the main focus of the Bayan, the mother book of the Bábí dispensation, is preparing the way for "he whom God shall make manifest.

[15] Unlike earlier religions with occasional hints of future prophets, the Bábí scripture, the Bayan, revolves around a messianic figure greater than himself, referred to as "He Whom God Shall Make Manifest.

[94] He even warns them not to be deprived of the promised one by arguing against him from the works of the Báb, the same way the followers of the previous religions opposed the next prophet while citing their holy scriptures, a theme he repeatedly stressed throughout the Bayán.

Both are considered Manifestations of God in their own right, having each founded separate religions (Bábism and the Baháʼí Faith) and revealed their own holy scriptures, but seen to be forming one inseparable continuity.

It is this vision which has enabled it to survive to the present day – as Bahá'ísm – in pockets and communities peopled by five million souls, and which qualifies it for inclusion in any narrative about modernisation in the Middle East.

Elham Afnan describes the writings of the Báb as having "restructured the thoughts of their readers, so that they could break free from the chains of obsolete beliefs and inherited customs".

Numbers, colors, minerals, liquids, the human body, social relationships, gestures, deeds, language (letters and words), and nature itself are all mirrors or signs that reflect the profounder reality of the names and attributes (asmá va sifát) of God".

His earliest teachings are primarily defined by his interpretation of the Quran and hadith, which recast common understandings of theological belief in light of a new hermenutics emphasizing the unity of God and his prophets and of all people.