Honoring The Bab

The Báb was the Divine Founder of the Bábí religion, which prepared tens of thousands of followers for the arrival of Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith.  On July 9th, the millions of Bahá’ís around the world will solemnly remember the persecution, imprisonment, and killing of the Báb in 1850 by intolerant government and religious leaders.

The short but turbulent history of the Báb is recorded in the reports and letters of European diplomats ...  It engaged the interest of intellectual Europe and became a leading subject in their discussions.  However, it was not the Báb's teachings, nor His announcement of the imminent appearance of the Promised One of all ages, but rather His own youthful charm and tragic martyrdom and the savagery with which His followers were exterminated which attracted the attention of the European world. They did not discern that His brief dispensation was the turning point in humanity's spiritual history, His revelation the link, the period of transition between the old, prophetic, growing-up age of mankind, and the new era of maturity.

David Hofman, Bahá’u’lláh, The Prince of Peace, p. 38.