ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF THE BAB

22nd October 2025

Baha’i

The Bab (the title means ‘the Gate’) was born in Shiraz, Persia in 1819. He was the prophet-herald of the Baha’i community and called people to religious renewal and to await the coming of a new messenger from God – ‘the one whom God shall make manifest’. Baha’is believe that this latter figure was Baha’u’llah (the title means ‘Glory of God’). Baha’is observe this holy day by abstaining from work.   Their gatherings normally involve prayers, devotional readings, music and fellowship.

Bahá’ís believe that God causes very special people to be born at different times in history and in different places in order to ‘educate the souls of men, and refine the character of every living man…’ (Abdu’l-Bahá, son of Bahá’u’lláh). The Bahá’í Faith refers to such people as ‘Manifestations of God’ and, for Bahá’ís, Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, and Muhammad are all held to be Manifestations of God, as were untold others whose names and stories are now lost. But, for the era in which we are now living, Baha’is believe God sent two Manifestations of himself in the persons of the Báb (ʿAli Muhammad Shirāzi – October 20, 1819 – July 9, 1850) and Bahá’u’lláh (Mírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Núrí – 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) both of whom were born in Persia / Iran).

The birthdays of the Báb and and Bahá’u’lláh are now celebrated as the Twin Holy Birthdays on two consecutive days each year and these are two days that Bahá’ís will wish to be absent from work or school. (In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the most holy of the Bahá’í scriptures, Bahá’u’lláh wrote that his birthday and that of Báb “are accounted as one in the sight of God”).