[6] According to current estimates, Bábism has no more than a few thousand adherents, most of whom are concentrated in Iran,[7][8][9] but it has persisted into the modern era in the form of the Bahá'í Faith, to which the majority of Bábís eventually converted.

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

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

Additionally, Bayání comes from the Semitic root ب ي ن, which forms a class of words relating to concepts of clarity, differentiation, and separation, including Bayán, which can refer to explanation, commentary, or exposition as well as the branch of Arabic rhetoric dealing with metaphors and interpretation.

[14] They contend that Muhammad al-Mahdi went into the Occultation in 874 CE, at which time communication between the Imam and the Muslim community could only be performed through mediators called bābs ('gates') or nā'ibs ('representatives').

[16] On 22 May 1844,[17] Mullá Husayn, of Boshruyeh in Khorasan, a prominent disciple of Sayyid Kāẓim, entered Shiraz following the instruction by his master to search for al-Qā'im.

[12] Saiedi states the exalted identity the Báb was claiming was unmistakable, but due to the reception of the people, his writings appear to convey the impression that he is only the gate to the Hidden Twelfth Imam.

[22] During his early meetings with Mullá Husayn, the Báb described himself as the Master and the Promised One; he did not consider himself just Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti's successor, but claimed a prophetic status, with a sense of deputyship delegated to him not just from the Hidden Imam, but from Divine authority.

It is this vision which has enabled it to survive to the present day – as Bahaism, which emerged from Babism in the late nineteenth century – in pockets and communities peopled by 5 million souls, and which qualifies it for inclusion in any narrative about modernisation in the Middle East.

[34] These confrontations all resulted in Bábí massacres; Bahá'í authors give an estimate of 20,000 Bábís killed from 1844 to present, with most of the deaths occurring during the first 20 years.

After that, two other big clashes between the Bábís and their opponents took place in the cities of Zanjan and Neyriz in the north and south of Iran, respectively, as well as a smaller conflict in Yazd.

[34] Of the conflicts between the Bábís and the establishment, the first and best known took place in Māzandarān at the remote shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, about 22 kilometres (14 mi) southeast of Bārfarush (modern Babol).

From October 1848 until May 1849, around 300 Bábís (later rising to 600), led by Quddús and Mullá Husayn, defended themselves against the attacks of local villagers and members of the Shah's army under the command of Prince Mahdi Qoli Mirza.

The Bábís became polarized with one group speaking of violent retribution against Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, while the other, under the leadership of Baha'u'lláh, looked to rebuild relationships with the government and advance the Babí cause by persuasion and the example of virtuous living.

On 15 August 1852, three from this small splinter group, acting on their own initiative, attempted to assassinate Naser al-Din Shah Qajar as he was returning from the chase to his palace at Niavarān.

"[62] At the time of the apparent appointment Subh-i Azal was still a teenager, had never demonstrated leadership in the Bábí movement, and was still living in the house of his older brother, Bahá'u'lláh.

He generally absented himself from the Bábí community spending his time in Baghdad in hiding and disguise; and even went so far as to publicly disavow allegiance to the Báb on several occasions.

While this interpretive mode continues throughout all three stages of his teachings, a shift takes place where his emphasis moves to the philosophical elucidation and finally to legislative pronouncements.

[76] 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.

[85] Armin Eschraghi notes the context of 19th century Iran and that, "Modern western readers might not appreciate the revolutionary potential" of the Báb's teaching that "Those who have been brought up in this community, men and women, are allowed to look [at each other], speak and sit together"[85] The Primal Will of God is also personified as the female figure of the Maid of Heaven.

[88] The Báb also foreshadowed later developments in media, by emphasising the need for a rapid system of news communication, which would be available for all to access, no matter their wealth or social standing.

Commenting on the extremes of wealth and poverty in society, the Báb also teaches that the true station of the rich should be as "the depositories of God"[89] and enjoins generosity and charity.

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.

[96] The Báb's major writings include the Qayyúmu'l-Asmáʼ (a commentary on the Sura of Joseph), and the Persian Bayán, which the Bábís saw as superseding the Qurʼan.

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".

[100] John Walbridge views the "unquestionably hypnotic" use of repetition in the Bab's Kitab-i-Panj Sha'n, where "the same evocative words are repeated ceaselessly" with gradual variations over time, as anticipating a minimalist aesthetic as well as possibly prefiguring the modernist style of Finnegans Wake.

[111] Also significant to Bábism are the writings of Quddús, which "display a close similarity to that of the Báb in both form and content" according to Moojan Momen and Todd Lawson,[112] as well as the poetry and prose of Tahirih.

Denis MacEoin, a scholar who was formerly a Baháʼí, describes Bábí law as a "mishmash of rules and regulations that at times are little more than mere whimsy, revolving around some of the Bab's own obsessions about cleanliness, polite behaviour, and elegance.

It is a form of a game, never actually intended to be put into practice, much in the same way that whole sections of the Bab's later books don't, in fact, mean anything very much, but are elaborate exercises in interesting things you can do with Arabic roots.