Every year during the evening of May 22 and May 23, Baha’is celebrate the Declaration of The Bab with prayers, storytelling, and reflections. It is one of the nine holy days when work is suspended. The holiday begins two hours and eleven minutes after sunset on May 22, which is the exact time at which the Báb declared himself.

The Báb was born Siyyid Ali-Muhammad, in Shiraz, Iran. Born in 1819 into a family of merchants and traders, raised by his maternal uncle after the premature death of his father in 1826, a mystic descended from many generations of mystical Sufis, known from childhood for his wisdom, intelligence and humility, The Bab would start a religious movement unparalleled in history.

During the early evening of May 22, 1844, Siyyid Ali Muhammad declared his mission as The Bab to an ardent seeker named Mulla Husayn. He took the name “Báb,” which means “gate” or “door” in Arabic to emphasize his role as the portal through which the Revelation of God would enter.

Younger than Jesus when he declared His revelation, The Bab started, on that day, a new era of faith–and the renewal of the eternal promise of religion itself. Soon many thousands of people became followers of The Bab. He upended the corrupt practices of the Persian clergy, challenged tradition by abrogating the laws of the past and declared that He had come, like John the Baptist, as the herald for another Manifestation of God, the Promised One of All Ages, the founder of a universal and unifying world religion—Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith.

The effect of the Declaration of a Manifestation of God is impossible for us to understand. ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá explains it as follows.

The appearances of the Manifestations of God are the divine springtime. When Christ appeared in this world, it was like the vernal bounty; the outpouring descended; the effulgences of the Merciful encircled all things; the human world found new life. Even the physical world partook of it. The divine perfections were upraised; souls were trained in the school of heaven so that all grades of human existence received life and light.

Then by degrees these fragrances of heaven were discontinued; the season of winter came upon the world; the beauties of spring vanished; the excellences and perfections passed away; the lights and quickening were no longer evident; the phenomenal world and its materialities conquered everything; the spiritualities of life were lost; the world of existence became like unto a lifeless body; there was no trace of the spring left. Continue reading →