Siyyid (or Mirza) 'Ali-Muhammad, known to history as the
Báb, was the son of Siyyid (or Mir) Muhammad-Rida, a mercer of Shiraz [Persia].
He was born on October 20th 1819 (Muharram 1st, 1235 A.H.). Through both His
father and His mother He was descended from Imam Husayn, the third Imam. Thus
He stood in direct line of descent from the Prophet Muhammad. According to
Mirza Abu'l-Fadl-i-Gulpaygani [a renown Baha’i scholar], Siyyid Muhammad-Rida,
the Bab's father, died when his only child was an infant, unweaned. Then the
care of the child devolved upon a maternal uncle, Haji Mirza Siyyid 'Ali. He
was the only relative of the Báb to espouse His Cause openly during His
lifetime and, as will be seen, to accept martyrdom for His sake. But according
to a manuscript history of the Bábí-Bahá'í Faith in Shiraz by Haji Mirza
Habibu'llah-i-Afnan,[1] Siyyid Muhammad-Rida [the Bab’s father] passed away
when his son was nine years old, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá appears to confirm this
account.[2]
(H.M. Balyuzi, The Bab - The Herald of the Day of Days, p. 32)
[1] Haji Mirza Habibu'llah's father, Aqa Mirza-Aqa, was a
nephew of the wife of the Báb, and his paternal grandfather, Aqa Mirza Zaynu'l-'Abidin,
was a paternal cousin of the father of the Báb.
[2] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 2.]
