Subh-i-Azal
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Mírzá Yaḥyá Núrí (1831 - 29 April 1912) or often called Ṣubḥ-i-Azal (Morning of Eternity) was a Persian religious leader of the Bayani people (sometimes referred to as Bábís or Azalis).
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[edit] Life
[edit] Background
Mirza Yahya was the son of Kuchak Khanum of Karmanshah (Ruhi, A Brief Biography) and Mírzá Buzurg of Nur, in the province of Mazandaran, and a younger-half-brother of Mírzá Husaynn `Ali, better known as Bahá'u'lláh. His mother died while giving birth to him, and his father died in 1834 when Mirza Yahya was three years old. His father is buried at Vadi-al-Islam in Najaf. Mirza Yahya was committed to the care of his step-mother Khadíjih Khánum, the mother of Bahá'u'lláh (Atiyya Ruhi)
He was a follower of the Báb's, and before the Báb's martyrdom in 1850, Mirza Yahya was named as the leader of the Babis until the time that He whom God shall make manifest would appear. His title, Subh-i-Azal, means "Morning of Eternity".
[edit] Appointment as The Báb's successor
While Mirza Yahya would seem to have been appointed as leader of the Bábis after the death of the movement's founder, the Báb's Will and Testament also appears to order Mirza Yahya in verse 27 "...to obey Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest." The Bab sent him a letter, which was viewed as his appointment to succeed him.
The calibre of Mirza Yahya's leadership of the Bábís was controversial. One account describes his conduct during his banishement in Baghdad thus:
- "In Baghdad, Mírzá Yahyá [Azal] would always stay in the house, and on the rare occasions when he came out, he would arrange things so that no one was aware of it. When Bahá'u'lláh was about to leave the city, He told Azal: 'Say where you would want to go. I will provide a servant for you, so you will be safe.'
- Azal had answered, 'My Lord, wherever You go, I will go too.' And he thought it prudent to add; 'But send me on ahead. Let me go first, so that I will not be seen in Your company.'
- (Salmání, My Memories of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 26)
[edit] Titles
His most widely known title, "Subh-i-Azal" appears in an Islamic tradition called the Hadith-i-Kumayl (Kumayl was a student of the first Imam, Ali) which the Báb quotes in his book Dalá'il-i-Sab'ih.
It was common practice among the Bábís to receive titles. The Báb's Will and Testament addresses Mirza Yahya in the first verse:
- "Name of Azal, testify that there is no God but I, the dearest beloved."
Manuchehri (2004) notes that Subh-e Azal(sic) was the only Bábí with such a title as "Azal".
However, the Báb appears to mention him only occasionally, if ever, specifically as "Subh-i-Azal", while attributing others with the title. He appeared to prefer calling him "Thamaratu'l-Azaliyya" and "'Ismu'l-Azal", while in early books he is called "Hadrat-i-Azal". This has led certain academics to doubt its origin, although they cite error, rather than deception as a motive (Schaefer, 2000).
[edit] Baghdad
Since he was in prison at the time of the Báb's death, he escaped to Baghdad in the Ottoman Empire, and under the title of Subh-i Azal (the Dawn of Eternity), became the titular leader of the Bábís.
During the ten years in Baghdad approximately 25 people claimed to be "He whom God shall make manifest", and some of the claimants were murdered.
[edit] Bahá'u'lláh's claim
In 1863, Bahá'u'lláh claimed that he was the one whom the Báb prophesized about. Unlike the other claimants, he had almost universal acceptance by the Bábís. Mirza Yahya disputed his claim and never accepted him as "He whom God shall make manifeset", although his son eventually did. The group that followed Mirza Yayha became known as the Azali sect of Bábism.
[edit] Exile
In 1863 both half-brothers and their retinue were exiled to Adrianople.
In 1868 Mirza Yahya was exiled to Cyprus where he died in Famagusta, Cyprus on April 29, 1912. He was buried with Muslim rites. (Browne, Materials, pp. 310-312).
[edit] Family
According to Browne, Mirza Yahya had several wives, and at least nine sons and five daughters. His sons included: Nurullah, Hadi, Ahmad, Abdul Ali, Rizwan Ali, and four others. Rizvan Ali reports that he had eleven or twelve wives. (Browne, JRAS, p. 767.) Later research reports that he had up to seventeen wives including four in Iran and at least five in Baghdad, although it is not clear how many, if any, were simultaneous. (Momen, The Cyprus Exiles, pp. 87-96)
[edit] Legacy
Many of the facts about Mirza Yahya are disputed by the respective Bahá'í and Bayani historical sources. Bahá'ís claim that he was unscrupulous, jealous, frustrated, and behind several murders and attempted murders of his enemies, including the poisoning of Bahá'u'lláh (Balyuzi). Bayani sources take all the allegations against him and re-apply them to Bahá'u'lláh, even claiming that he poisoned himself.
His legacy did continue, however with diminishing success. Shoghi Effendi reports that Mirza Yahya appointed a distinguished Bábí, Aqa Mirza Muhammad Hadi of Daulatabad (Mirza Hadiy-i-Dawlat-Abadi) successor, but he later publicly recanted his faith in the Báb and in Mirza Yahya. Mirza Yahya's eldest son apparently became a Bahá'í himself. (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 233), (Momen, The Cyprus Exiles, pp. 99)
Browne reports that there was confusion over who was to be Mirza Yayha's successor at his death. Mirza Yayha's son, Rizwán `Ali, reported that he had appointed the son of Aqa Mirza Muhammad Hadi of Daulatabad as his successor; while another, H.C. Lukach's, states that Mirza Yahya had said that whichever of his sons "resembled him the most" would be the successor. None appear to have stepped forward. (Browne, Materials, pp. 312-314).In the 1970s there were believed to be between 500 and 5000 Bayanis, mostly concentrated in Iran. The Encyclopædia Britannica estimates that currently there are no more than a few thousand [1].
Miller states that Yahya did not name a successor (Miller, p. 107).
[edit] Works
A Succinct Account of the New Manifestation
[edit] References
- `Abdu'l-Bahá, (Browne, E.G., Tr.) (1891). A Traveller's Narrative: Written to illustrate the episode of the Bab. Cambridge University Press.
- `Abdu'l-Bahá, (Browne, E.G., Tr.) [1886] (2004). A Traveller's Narrative: Written to illustrate the episode of the Bab, 2004 reprint, with translator's notes, Los Angeles, USA: Kalimát Press. ISBN 1-890688-37-1.
- Browne, E.G. (Ed.) (1910). Kitab-i Nuqtat al-Kaf: Being the Earliest History of the Bábís. E.J. Brill, Leiden.
- Browne, E.G. (1918). Materials for the Study of the Bábí Religion. Cambridge University Press.
- Browne, E.G. (1897). "Personal Reminiscences of the Babi Insurrection at Zanjan in 1850, written by Aqa `Abdu'l-Ahad-i-Zanjan". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society v. 29: pp. 761–827.
- Effendi, Shoghi (1944). God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0-87743-020-9.
- Mirza Huseyn Hamadani. The Tarikh-i-Jadid, or New History of Mirza 'Ali Muhammad The Bab. Translated by Edward G. Browne. Cambridge: University Press, 1893. Includes Subh-i-Ezel's A Succinct Account of the Babi Movement. Reprinted. H-Bahai: Lansing, Michigan, 2005.
- Miller, William M (1974). The Bahá'í Faith: Its History and Teachings. William Carey Library. ISBN 0-87808-137-2.
- Momen, M. (1991). "The Cyprus Exiles". Bahá'í Studies Bulletin: pp. 81–113.
- Nabíl-i-Zarandí (1932). Shoghi Effendi (Translator): The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative, Hardcover, Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0-900125-22-5.
- Ruhi, Attiya. A Brief Biography of His Holiness Subh-i-Azal.
- Schaefer, U., & Wilson, T. (2000). Making the Crooked Straight: A Contribution to Bahá'í Apologetics. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-443-3.
- Salmání, Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i (1982). My Memories of Bahá'u'lláh. Kalimát Press, Los Angeles, USA.
- Smith, Peter (1988). The Bahá'í Religion, A Short Introduction to its History and Teachings. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-277-5.
- Taherzadeh, Adib (1972). The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-344-5.
[edit] External links
- The Primal Point's Will and Testiment - Commentry on the Báb's will
- The Religion of Bayan A website maintained by current followers of Subh-i Azal, including:
