Mullā Muḥammad-ʿAlī al-Zanjānī (Arabic: ملا محمد علي الزنجاني), surnamed Ḥujjat (1812 - 1851), was an early leader of the Bábí movement of 19th-century Persia.
As a boy, Muḥammad-ʻAlí showed promise, such that his father sent him to the shiite shrine-cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, where he studied under the prominent Sharífu'l-'Ulamá Mázandarání.
The Akhbarís, who had a greater reliance on the traditions of the Imams, were opposed by the Usúlís, who relied on rationalism and ijtihád (Islamic rulings based on the judgement of the clerics).
[1] When Ḥujjat first heard of the Bábí movement, he dispatched a messenger named Mullá Iskandar to investigate.
[1] He is reported to have told some of his followers openly: "The author of these verses claims to be the Bab, as