The Genesis of the Bábi-Bahá'í Faiths in Shíráz and Fárs

The Babi and Bahaʾi Faiths represent two of the most important religious movements of modern times. This book relates the story of the evolution of the Babi-Bahaʾi community, beginning with the birth of its founder, Siyyid ʾAli-Muhammad, known as the Bab, in 1819 and then traced over the next century and a half in the city of his birth, Shiraz. Its author, Mirza Habibuʾllah Afnan, was himself born in the house of the Bab, reared by the widow of the Bab, who shared with him many stories of the Bab's life, then spent nearly a year with Bahaʾuʾllah in the ʾAkka-Haifa area, and some ten years in close proximity to Bahaʾuʾllah's son ʾAbduʾl-Baha. He served for the next half century as the hereditary custodian of the house of the Bab, and as such was uniquely qualified to tell the story of the Babi-Bahaʾi Faiths in the city of Shiraz in remarkable and moving detail.