171-583: The Báb (born ʿAlí Muḥammad ; / ˈ æ l i m oʊ ˈ h æ m ə d / ; Persian : علی محمد ; 20 October 1819 – 9 July 1850) was an Iranian religious leader who was the founder of the Bábi Faith , and is also one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith . The Báb gradually and progressively revealed his claim in his extensive writings to be a Manifestation of God , of a status as great as Moses , Jesus , and Muhammad , receiving revelations as profound as
342-638: A Dari dialect. In the 19th century, under the Qajar dynasty , the dialect that is spoken in Tehran rose to prominence. There was still substantial Arabic vocabulary, but many of these words have been integrated into Persian phonology and grammar. In addition, under the Qajar rule, numerous Russian , French , and English terms entered the Persian language, especially vocabulary related to technology. The first official attentions to
513-538: A collective sense as "mankind". Genesis 1 tells of God's creation of the world and its creatures, including the Hebrew word adam , meaning humankind. In Genesis 2 God forms "Adam", this time meaning a single male human, out of "the dust of the ground", places him in the Garden of Eden , and forms a woman, Eve , as his companion. In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge and God condemns Adam to labour on
684-445: A daughter of a prominent Shiraz merchant. She later became a Baháʼí. His father died when he was quite young, and his maternal uncle Hájí Mírzá Siyyid ʿAlí , a merchant, reared him. In Shiraz, his uncle sent him to a maktab primary school, where he remained for six or seven years. In contrast to the formal, orthodox theology which dominated the school curriculum of the time, which included the study of jurisprudence and Arabic grammar,
855-485: A deep sleep to fall upon Adam and forms a woman ( Genesis 2:21–22 ), and Adam awakes and greets her as his helpmate. Genesis 3 , the account of the Fall: A serpent persuades the woman to disobey God's command and eat of the tree of knowledge, which gives wisdom. Woman convinces Adam to do likewise, whereupon they become conscious of their nakedness, cover themselves, and hide from the sight of God. God questions Adam, who blames
1026-418: A dictionary called Words of Scientific Association ( لغت انجمن علمی ), which was completed in the future and renamed Katouzian Dictionary ( فرهنگ کاتوزیان ). The first academy for the Persian language was founded on 20 May 1935, under the name Academy of Iran . It was established by the initiative of Reza Shah Pahlavi , and mainly by Hekmat e Shirazi and Mohammad Ali Foroughi , all prominent names in
1197-614: A dynamic phenomenon resulting from the interaction between God's will and humanity's historical stage. He rejects the traditional view of religion as an absolute and unchanging imposition of God's will. Religion, like humanity, is a dynamic and progressive reality. Unlike earlier religions with occasional hints of future prophets, the Bábí scripture, the Bayan, revolves around a messianic figure greater than himself, referred to as "He Whom God Shall Make Manifest." The Báb positions his own mission as preparing
1368-505: A forerunner or founder of their own religion. Adherence to the Báb as a divine messenger has survived into modern times in the form of the 8-million-member Baháʼí Faith, whose founder, Baháʼu'lláh , claimed in 1863 to be the fulfillment of the Báb's prophecy. The majority of Bábí adherents converted and became Baháʼís by the end of the 19th century. The Baháʼís consider him a Manifestation of God, like Adam , Abraham , Moses , Zoroaster , Krishna ,
1539-500: A language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Farsi , which is the Persian word for the Persian language, has also been used widely in English in recent decades, more often to refer to Iran's standard Persian. However, the name Persian is still more widely used. The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has maintained that the endonym Farsi is to be avoided in foreign languages, and that Persian
1710-677: A larger audience. He is also considered an important prophet of God in Druze faith, being among the seven prophets who appeared in different periods of history. Some Taoists in the Tang dynasty , inspired by Emperor Taizong 's syncretic beliefs and policies encouraging it, viewed the Christian version of Jesus as a redemptive manifestation of " the Way ", and respected his ancestors, including Adam, as well. Some Mongolian Christians and Muslims thought Adam
1881-417: A literary language considerably different from the spoken Persian of the time. This became the basis of what is now known as "Contemporary Standard Persian". There are three standard varieties of modern Persian: All these three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from
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#17328547270872052-573: A long life. A similar warning can be found in The Zohar . The Sefer Raziel HaMalakh (רזיאל המלאך) ( Raziel the Angel ) is a collection of esoteric writings, probably compiled and edited by the same hand, but originally not the work of one author, which according to tradition was revealed to Adam by the angel Raziel. The book cannot be shown to predate the 13th century, but may in parts date back to Late Antiquity , and like other obscure ancient texts such as
2223-440: A mosque, travelled to Shiraz, where he met the Báb. Sources commonly describe the Báb as gentle, precocious, or gifted with great intelligence. One of his contemporary followers described him as: ...very taciturn, and [he] would never utter a word unless it was absolutely necessary. He did not even answer our questions. He was constantly absorbed in his own thoughts, and was preoccupied with repetition of his prayers and verses. He
2394-529: A period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish (which was highly Persianised itself) had developed toward a fully accepted language of literature, and which was even able to lexically satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. In the Ottoman Empire, Persian was used at the royal court, for diplomacy, poetry, historiographical works, literary works, and
2565-666: A progressive society built on well-organized schools, teaching ethics, respect for diverse opinions, scientific inquiry, and the role of women in society. He encourages the learning of natural sciences and proposes educational reforms like eliminating archaic topics and using simpler language. The Bábí faith significantly improved the lives of women compared to prevailing norms. He generally treats women and men equally in his laws, alleviating burdens imposed by Islamic law. He discourages polygamy, forbids forced marriage and concubinage, and grants women greater control over their lives. He encourages women's education and sees them as equals to men in
2736-618: A religious leader began with a dream in which he drank seven drops of blood dripping from the lacerated throat of Imam Husayn – a significant martyr and symbol of sacrifice in Shia Islam. Although previously inclined toward sharing the Qur'an, it was after this dream that he was able to write his own verses and prayers, claiming divine inspiration. In April 1844, his wife Khadijih became the first to believe in his revelation. The Báb's first religiously inspired experience, claimed and witnessed by his wife,
2907-590: A sacred undertaking; a task that can only be understood, the Báb indicates, by fixing one's "gaze on the Order of Baha'u'llah." As underscored by Saiedi, "the wider importance of the Báb's writings lie in their inextricable relation to those of Baha'u'llah..." The teachings of the Báb offer new interpretations of the notions of God, religion, and prophets, and reinterpret religious concepts such as heaven, hell, and resurrection accordingly. Progressive revelation, continuity, and renewal of religion, modernizing education, improving
3078-580: A speaker of Persian. Persian is a member of the Western Iranian group of the Iranian languages , which make up a branch of the Indo-European languages in their Indo-Iranian subdivision . The Western Iranian languages themselves are divided into two subgroups: Southwestern Iranian languages, of which Persian is the most widely spoken, and Northwestern Iranian languages, of which Kurdish and Balochi are
3249-404: A teenager, had never demonstrated leadership in the Bábí movement, and was still living in the house of his older brother, Baháʼu'lláh. According to Amanat, it seems very unlikely that Mírzá Yahyá, a young man who was no more than 18 years old in could have been directly the focus of the Báb's attention, especially in the situation where the Báb was prohibited from communicating with his followers in
3420-515: A woman from the dust, as he had created Adam, and named her Lilith ; but the two could not agree, for Adam wanted Lilith to lie under him, and Lilith insisted that Adam should lie under her, and so she fled from him, and Eve was created from Adam's rib. Her story was greatly developed, during the Middle Ages , in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim , the Zohar and Jewish mysticism . Other rabbis explained
3591-507: A young Bábí, Muhammad-Ali (Anis) from Zonuz , begged for martyrdom with him, then was immediately arrested and placed in the same cell as the Báb. On the morning of 9 July 1850 (28 Sha'ban 1266 AH ), the Báb was taken to the courtyard of the barracks where he was imprisoned. Thousands of people gathered to watch his execution. The Báb and Anis were suspended on a wall and a large firing squad of soldiers prepared to shoot. Numerous eye-witness reports, including those of Western diplomats, recount
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#17328547270873762-644: Is a continuation of Middle Persian , an official language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), itself a continuation of Old Persian , which was used in the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE). It originated in the region of Fars ( Persia ) in southwestern Iran. Its grammar is similar to that of many European languages. Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in West Asia , Central Asia , and South Asia . Old Persian
3933-610: Is a direct descendant of Middle and Old Persian. Gernot Windfuhr considers new Persian as an evolution of the Old Persian language and the Middle Persian language but also states that none of the known Middle Persian dialects is the direct predecessor of Modern Persian. Ludwig Paul states: "The language of the Shahnameh should be seen as one instance of continuous historical development from Middle to New Persian." The known history of
4104-411: Is also likely that the government as a face-saving measure and to appease the religious clergy may have spread rumours that the Báb recanted. The Shaykh al-Islām , a champion of the anti-Bábist campaign, not at the Báb's trial, issued a conditional death sentence if the Báb was found to be sane. A fatwa was issued establishing the Báb's apostasy and stated, "The repentance of an incorrigible apostate
4275-812: Is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan , as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran . It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet , a derivative of the Arabic script , and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet , a derivative of the Cyrillic script . Modern Persian
4446-654: Is attested in Old Persian cuneiform on inscriptions from between the 6th and 4th century BC. Middle Persian is attested in Aramaic -derived scripts ( Pahlavi and Manichaean ) on inscriptions and in Zoroastrian and Manichaean scriptures from between the third to the tenth centuries (see Middle Persian literature ). New Persian literature was first recorded in the ninth century, after the Muslim conquest of Persia , since then adopting
4617-610: Is considered the founder of the religion and the first prophet. He heralds manda (knowledge) and the true path of enlightenment. He is viewed as the propagator of kushta or divine truth. According to the Mandaean calendar , 2021–2022 CE in the Gregorian calendar would correspond to the Mandaean year 445391 AA (AA = after the creation of Adam). In the ancient Gnostic text On the Origin of
4788-425: Is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable. New Persian texts written in the Arabic script first appear in the 9th-century. The language is a direct descendant of Middle Persian, the official, religious, and literary language of
4959-521: Is dated to about the evening of 3 April 1844. The Báb's first public connection with his sense of a mission came with the arrival of Mullá Husayn in Shiraz. On the night of 22 May, Mullá Husayn was invited by the Báb to his home where Mullá Husayn told him of his search for the possible successor to Kazim Rashti, the Promised One. The Báb claimed this, and to be the bearer of divine knowledge. Mullá Husayn became
5130-650: Is described as a handsome man with a thin beard, dressed in clean clothes, wearing a green shawl and a black turban. An Irish physician described him as "a very mild and delicate-looking man, rather small in stature and very fair for a Persian, with a melodious soft voice, which struck me much". Shoghi Effendi notes "the gentle, the youthful and irresistible person of the Báb" and praises him as being "matchless in His meekness, imperturbable in His serenity, magnetic in His utterance" This personality has been described as having "captivated many of those who met him". The Báb's mission as
5301-404: Is found in all nine eyewitness sources, where the Báb states that "I am that person you have been awaiting for one thousand years." The trial did not bring a decisive result. Some clergy called for capital punishment, but the government pressured them to issue a lenient judgement because the Báb was popular. The government asked medical experts to declare the Báb insane to prevent his execution. It
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5472-399: Is not accepted, and the only thing which has caused the postponement of thy execution is a doubt as to thy sanity of mind." The crown prince's physician, William Cormick , examined the Báb and complied with the government's request to find grounds for clemency. The physician's opinion saved the Báb from execution for a time, but the clergy insisted that he face corporal punishment instead, so
5643-455: Is not actually attested until 600 years later when it appears in the Sassanid era (224–651 AD) inscriptions, so any form of the language before this date cannot be described with any degree of certainty. Moreover, as a literary language, Middle Persian is not attested until much later, in the 6th or 7th century. From the 8th century onward, Middle Persian gradually began yielding to New Persian, with
5814-558: Is not easily legible..." But Amanat considers the document, which has no signature and date, to be fabricated. According to Amanat the document does not match the writing style of the Báb and was forged by the government officials of Tabriz to discredit him and please the Shah. Amanat believes that in the best scenario, the document may have been prepared by the government officials, but the Báb refused to sign it. He stood his ground despite great pressure to recant and gain his freedom. Consequently, he
5985-822: Is not found in Judaism nor in Islam, and was introduced into Christianity by the Apostle Paul , drawing on currents in Hellenistic Jewish thought which held that Adam's sin had introduced death and sin into the world. Sin, for Paul, was a power to which all humans are subject, but Christ's coming held out the means by which the righteous would be restored to the Paradise from which Adam's sin had banished mankind. He did not conceive of this original sin of Adam as being biologically transmitted or that later generations were to be punished for
6156-468: Is one of Afghanistan's two official languages, together with Pashto . The term Dari , meaning "of the court", originally referred to the variety of Persian used in the court of the Sasanian Empire in capital Ctesiphon , which was spread to the northeast of the empire and gradually replaced the former Iranian dialects of Parthia ( Parthian ). Tajik Persian ( форси́и тоҷикӣ́ , forsi-i tojikī ),
6327-570: Is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages. According to certain historical assumptions about the early history and origin of ancient Persians in Southwestern Iran (where Achaemenids hailed from), Old Persian was originally spoken by a tribe called Parsuwash , who arrived in the Iranian Plateau early in the 1st millennium BCE and finally migrated down into the area of present-day Fārs province. Their language, Old Persian, became
6498-691: Is that the final text of Genesis dates from the Persian period (the 5th century BCE), but the absence of all the other characters and incidents mentioned in chapters 1–11 of Genesis from the rest of the Hebrew Bible has led a sizeable minority to the conclusion that these chapters were composed much later than those that follow, possibly in the 3rd century BCE. The Bible uses the word אָדָם ( 'adam ) in all of its senses: collectively ("mankind", Genesis 1:27 ), individually (a "man", Genesis 2:7 ), gender nonspecific ("man and woman", Genesis 5:1–2 ), and male ( Genesis 2:23–24 ). In Genesis 1:27 "adam"
6669-486: Is the appropriate designation of the language in English, as it has the longer tradition in western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity. Iranian historian and linguist Ehsan Yarshater , founder of the Encyclopædia Iranica and Columbia University 's Center for Iranian Studies, mentions the same concern in an academic journal on Iranology , rejecting
6840-445: Is used in the collective sense, and the interplay between the individual "Adam" and the collective "humankind" is a main literary component to the events that occur in the Garden of Eden , the ambiguous meanings embedded throughout the moral, sexual, and spiritual terms of the narrative reflecting the complexity of the human condition. Genesis 2:7 is the first verse where "Adam" takes on the sense of an individual man (the first man), and
7011-486: The Encyclopædia Iranica notes that the Iranian, Afghan, and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist. The following are some languages closely related to Persian, or in some cases are considered dialects: More distantly related branches of the Iranian language family include Kurdish and Balochi . The Glottolog database proposes
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7182-502: The Kalila wa Dimna . The language spread geographically from the 11th century on and was the medium through which, among others, Central Asian Turks became familiar with Islam and urban culture. New Persian was widely used as a trans-regional lingua franca , a task aided due to its relatively simple morphology, and this situation persisted until at least the 19th century. In the late Middle Ages, new Islamic literary languages were created on
7353-523: The Apocalypse of Moses , which probably originates in first-century CE Jewish literature, the altar of the Temple of Solomon was the centre of the world and the gateway to God's Garden of Eden, and it was here that Adam was both created and buried. In the 17th-century book Kav ha-Yashar , the author warns not to talk negatively about Adam, and writes that those who talk positively about Adam will be blessed with
7524-679: The Bahir and Sefer Yetzirah , it has been extant in a number of versions. Zunz ("G. V." 2d ed., p. 176) distinguishes three main parts: (1) the Book Ha-Malbush; (2) the Great Raziel; (3) the Book of Secrets, or the Book of Noah. These three parts are still distinguishable—2b–7a, 7b–33b, 34a and b. After these follow two shorter parts entitled "Creation" and "Shi'ur Ḳomah", and after 41a come formulas for amulets and incantations. The idea of original sin
7695-508: The Book of Jubilees , tells how Adam had a daughter, Awân, born after Cain and Abel, and another daughter, Azura , born after Seth, and they had nine other sons; Cain married Awân and Seth married Azûrâ, thus accounting for their descendants. The Life of Adam and Eve and its Greek version the Apocalypse of Moses recount how Adam repented his sin in exile and was rewarded by being transported to
7866-651: The British colonization , Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent . It took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts on the subcontinent and became the sole "official language" under the Mughal emperors . The Bengal Sultanate witnessed an influx of Persian scholars, lawyers, teachers, and clerics. Thousands of Persian books and manuscripts were published in Bengal. The period of
8037-573: The Islamic creation myth , he was the first prophet of Islam and the first Muslim . The Qur'an states that all the prophets preached the same faith of submission to God . When God informed the angels that he would create a vicegerent ( Arabic : خليفة , romanized : khalifa , lit. 'caliph') on Earth, the angels enquired, asking, "will You place therein that which will spread corruption and bloodshed?" God responded, "I know what you know not" ( Qur'an 2:30 ), and commanded
8208-535: The Quran has Adam placed in a garden where he sins by taking from the Tree of Immortality , so loses his abode in the garden. When Adam repents from his sin, he is forgiven by God. This is seen as a guidance for human-life, who sin, become aware of their mistake, and repent. In Gnostic belief-systems, the bodily creation of Adam is viewed in a negative light. Due to the underlying demonization of matter, Gnostic cosmologies depict
8379-608: The Sharif of Mecca , the Custodian of the Kaaba, proclaiming his mission. After their pilgrimage, the Báb and Quddús returned to Bushehr , where they last saw each other. Quddús' travel to Shiraz brought the Báb's claim to the attention of the governor, Husayn Khan, who tortured Quddús and summoned the Báb to Shiraz in June 1845. The Imam-Jum'ih of Shiraz questioned Báb about his claims. He denied that he
8550-655: The Sultanate of Rum , Turkmen beyliks of Anatolia , Delhi Sultanate , the Shirvanshahs , Safavids , Afsharids , Zands , Qajars , Khanate of Bukhara , Khanate of Kokand , Emirate of Bukhara , Khanate of Khiva , Ottomans , and also many Mughal successors such as the Nizam of Hyderabad . Persian was the only non-European language known and used by Marco Polo at the Court of Kublai Khan and in his journeys through China. A branch of
8721-486: The Torah , Gospel , and Quran . This new revelation, he claimed, would release the creative energies and capacities necessary for the establishment of global unity and peace. He referred to himself by the traditional Muslim title "Báb" (meaning the gate) although it was apparent from the context that he intended by this term a spiritual claim very different from any which had previously been associated with it. He proclaimed that
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#17328547270878892-688: The Turkic , Armenian , Georgian , & Indo-Aryan languages . It also exerted some influence on Arabic, while borrowing a lot of vocabulary from it in the Middle Ages. Some of the world's most famous pieces of literature from the Middle Ages, such as the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi , the works of Rumi , the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám , the Panj Ganj of Nizami Ganjavi , The Divān of Hafez , The Conference of
9063-483: The ezāfe construction, expressed through ī (modern e/ye ), to indicate some of the relations between words that have been lost with the simplification of the earlier grammatical system. Although the "middle period" of the Iranian languages formally begins with the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the transition from Old to Middle Persian had probably already begun before the 4th century BC. However, Middle Persian
9234-466: The talmudic hypothesis that Adam instituted the custom of fasting before the winter solstice and rejoicing afterwards – an observance that devolved into Saturnalia and the Calends . Adam withdrew from Eve for 130 years after their expulsion from Eden, and in this time both he and Eve had sex with demons, until at length they reunited and Eve gave birth to Seth. A 2nd-century BCE Jewish religious work ,
9405-585: The " Persianized " Turko-Mongol dynasties during the 12th to 15th centuries, and under restored Persian rule during the 16th to 19th centuries. Persian during this time served as lingua franca of Greater Persia and of much of the Indian subcontinent . It was also the official and cultural language of many Islamic dynasties, including the Samanids, Buyids , Tahirids , Ziyarids , the Mughal Empire , Timurids , Ghaznavids , Karakhanids , Seljuqs , Khwarazmians ,
9576-572: The Birds by Attar of Nishapur , and the miscellanea of Gulistan and Bustan by Saadi Shirazi , are written in Persian. Some of the prominent modern Persian poets were Nima Yooshij , Ahmad Shamlou , Simin Behbahani , Sohrab Sepehri , Rahi Mo'ayyeri , Mehdi Akhavan-Sales , and Forugh Farrokhzad . There are approximately 130 million Persian speakers worldwide, including Persians , Lurs , Tajiks , Hazaras , Iranian Azeris , Iranian Kurds , Balochs , Tats , Afghan Pashtuns , and Aimaqs . The term Persophone might also be used to refer to
9747-399: The Buddha , Jesus , Muhammad and Baháʼu'lláh . The Báb was born on 20 October 1819 (1 Muharram 1235 AH /27 Mehr 1198 SH ), in Shiraz to a middle-class merchant of the city and given the name ʿAlí Muḥammad. He was a Sayyid , descendant of Muhammad , with both parents tracing their lineage through Husayn ibn Ali . His father was Muhammad Riḍá, and his mother was Fátimih (1800–1881),
9918-427: The Báb , identifies its author as a Messenger of God, in the line of Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and those who had preceded them. This commentary is addressed to the whole of humankind, with many references to the peoples of the earth, and of the rulers of East and West, inviting them to accept a new, "wondrous" Cause of spiritual and social renewal. In many places in this commentary, Sayyid Ali Muhammad referred to himself by
10089-428: The Báb and Anis were thrown into a ditch and assumed eaten by dogs, an action condemned by Justin Sheil , then British Minister in Tehran. The remains were clandestinely rescued by a handful of Bábís and then hidden. Over time the remains were secretly transported according to the instructions of Baháʼu'lláh and then ʿAbdu'l-Bahá by way of Isfahan, Kirmanshah, Baghdad , Damascus , Beirut , and then by sea to Acre on
10260-417: The Báb envisioned a community centered on unity, love, service, and the rejection of violence. Because of the prominent social position of Bahá'u'lláh , a leading Bábi figure of the time, and that a death warrant had already been once issued against him (by Mohammad Shah shortly before the king's death), great care was taken to avoid putting him in the spotlight. Even the Báb's letters to Bahá'u'lláh came in
10431-562: The Báb from a young age felt inclined towards unconventional subjects like mathematics and calligraphy, which were little studied. The Báb's preoccupation with spirituality, creativity and imagination also angered his teachers and was not tolerated in the atmosphere of the 19th-century Persian school system. This led the Báb to become disillusioned with the education system; he later instructed adults to treat children with dignity, to allow children to have toys and engage in play and to never show anger or harshness to their students. Sometime between
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#173285472708710602-399: The Báb in an unfavorable light. There are 62 questions found in the nine sources, however eighteen occur in one source, fifteen in two, eight in three, five in four, thirteen in five, and three in six. Not including "yes" and "he did not answer", only thirty-five answers remain, of which ten occur in one source, eight in two, six in three, three in four, two in five, five in six. Only one answer
10773-407: The Báb more explicitly proclaimed his station as that of the Hidden Imam and a new messenger from God. The nature of the Báb's different claims and how they were understood to various groups is complicated. Detractors argue that the changing claims represent the Báb's own changing aspirations, while supporters describe the issue as a prudent and gradual disclosure of a coherent identity. For example,
10944-403: The Báb suffered foot whipping – 20 lashes to the bottoms of his feet. The unsigned and undated official government report states that because of his harsh beating, the Báb orally and in writing recanted, apologized, and stated that he would not continue to advance claims of divinity. The document of his alleged recantation was written shortly after his trial in Tabriz. Some authors theorise that
11115-404: The Báb transferred to the fortress of Maku , Iran in the province of Azerbaijan near the Turkish border. During his incarceration there, the Báb began his most important work, the Persian Bayán , that remained unfinished. Because of the Báb's growing popularity in Maku, even the governor of Maku converting, the prime minister transferred him to the fortress of Chihríq in April 1848. There too
11286-416: The Báb's first disciple. Within five months, seventeen other disciples of Kazim Rashti recognized the Báb as a Manifestation of God. Among them was a woman, Fátimih Zarrín Táj Barag͟háni, a poet, who later received the name of Táhirih , the Pure. These 18 disciples later became known as the Letters of the Living (each soul containing one letter of the Spirit of God , which combine to form the Word) and given
11457-412: The Báb's first writing was designed in the same style as the Qur'an, something that would have been easily recognized at the time as a claim to revelation. Saiedi writes: His early writings prior to His exile to Maku are ambiguous about His real claim in order to prepare the people for the subsequent unveiling of His true station. According to Manuchehri, the approach of laying claim to a lower position
11628-432: The Báb's mother. Later, Khadijih became a Baháʼí. In the 1790s in Iraq, Shaykh Ahmad (1753–1826) began a religious school of thought within Shia Islam . His followers, who became known as Shaykhis , were expecting the imminent return of divine guidance through the appearance of the Mahdi , the Hidden Imam , or a deputy of the Hidden Imam. He took a less-literalist approach to Islamic teachings, for example teaching that
11799-444: The Báb's popularity grew, and his jailors relaxed restrictions on him. In June 1848, the Báb was brought from Chihríq to Tabríz to face trial for apostasy in front of a body of Islamic clergy. On the way, he spent 10 days in the town of Urmia , where the only known portrait of him was made, a copy of which was later sent to Baháʼu'lláh and is still held in the International Archives at the Baháʼí World Centre. The trial, attended by
11970-423: The Crown Prince, occurred in July 1848 and involved numerous local clergy. They questioned the Báb about the nature of his claims, his teachings, and demanded that he produce miracles to prove his divine authority. They admonished him to recant his claims. There are nine extant eyewitness reports of the trial, of which several may originate from an earlier source. Six of the reports are from Muslim accounts and portray
12141-431: The Imamate, would also hold the position of enunciator and prophet ( Arabic : نبي , romanized : nabi ). In the Islamic traditions ( ahadith ), Adam is given the name Adam-aI-Safi ( Arabic : آدم ألصافي , lit. 'Adam, The Chosen One') by Allah. The Druze regard Adam as the first spokesman ( natiq ), who helped to transmit the foundational teachings of monotheism ( tawhid ) intended for
12312-484: The Islamic religious tradition. He writes that Adam was the first enunciator of divine revelation ( Arabic : ناطق , romanized : nāṭiq , lit. 'orator') and Seth was his legatee ( Arabic : وصي , romanized : wasī , lit. 'inheritor, guardian'). He argues that the descendants of Seth are Aimmah , culminating in the seventh Imam, Nuh/Noah who, in addition to holding
12483-558: The Middle Ages, and is because of the lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The standard Persian of Iran has been called, apart from Persian and Farsi , by names such as Iranian Persian and Western Persian , exclusively. Officially, the official language of Iran is designated simply as Persian ( فارسی , fārsi ). The standard Persian of Afghanistan has been officially named Dari ( دری , dari ) since 1958. Also referred to as Afghan Persian in English, it
12654-532: The Ottoman Empire all spoke Persian, such as Sultan Selim I , despite being Safavid Iran's archrival and a staunch opposer of Shia Islam . It was a major literary language in the empire. Some of the noted earlier Persian works during the Ottoman rule are Idris Bidlisi 's Hasht Bihisht , which began in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers, and the Salim-Namah , a glorification of Selim I. After
12825-521: The Persian language can be divided into the following three distinct periods: As a written language , Old Persian is attested in royal Achaemenid inscriptions. The oldest known text written in Old Persian is from the Behistun Inscription , dating to the time of King Darius I (reigned 522–486 BC). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran , Romania ( Gherla ), Armenia , Bahrain , Iraq , Turkey, and Egypt . Old Persian
12996-425: The Persian language, a language historically called Dari, emerged in present-day Afghanistan. The first significant Persian poet was Rudaki . He flourished in the 10th century, when the Samanids were at the height of their power. His reputation as a court poet and as an accomplished musician and singer has survived, although little of his poetry has been preserved. Among his lost works are versified fables collected in
13167-401: The Persian model: Ottoman Turkish , Chagatai Turkic , Dobhashi Bengali , and Urdu, which are regarded as "structural daughter languages" of Persian. "Classical Persian" loosely refers to the standardized language of medieval Persia used in literature and poetry . This is the language of the 10th to 12th centuries, which continued to be used as literary language and lingua franca under
13338-848: The Perso-Arabic script. Persian was the first language to break through the monopoly of Arabic on writing in the Muslim world , with Persian poetry becoming a tradition in many eastern courts. It was used officially as a language of bureaucracy even by non-native speakers, such as the Ottomans in Anatolia , the Mughals in South Asia, and the Pashtuns in Afghanistan. It influenced languages spoken in neighboring regions and beyond, including other Iranian languages,
13509-479: The Sasanian Empire (224–651). However, it is not descended from the literary form of Middle Persian (known as pārsīk , commonly called Pahlavi), which was spoken by the people of Fars and used in Zoroastrian religious writings. Instead, it is descended from the dialect spoken by the court of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon and the northeastern Iranian region of Khorasan , known as Dari. The region, which comprised
13680-575: The Sassanids (who were Persians, i.e. from the southwest) from the preceding Arsacids (who were Parthians, i.e. from the northeast). While Ibn al-Muqaffa' (eighth century) still distinguished between Pahlavi (i.e. Parthian) and Persian (in Arabic text: al-Farisiyah) (i.e. Middle Persian), this distinction is not evident in Arab commentaries written after that date. "New Persian" (also referred to as Modern Persian)
13851-457: The Seljuks, the Sultanate of Rum , took Persian language, art, and letters to Anatolia. They adopted the Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans , who can roughly be seen as their eventual successors, inherited this tradition. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire. The educated and noble class of
14022-561: The Study of the Babi Religion , where he states, "[The document], unsigned and undated, was claimed to be in the Báb's handwriting and consists of a complete recantation and renunciation of any superhuman claim which he may have advanced or have appeared to advance. There is nothing to show to whom it is addressed, or whether it is the recantation referred to in the last paragraph of the [government report] or another. The handwriting, though graceful,
14193-448: The World , Adam originally appears as a primordial being born from light poured out by the aeon known as forethought. Accordingly, his primordial form is called Adam of Light. But when he desired to reach the eighth heaven , he was unable to because of the corruption mixed with his light. Thus he creates his own realm, containing six universes and their worlds which are seven times better than
14364-442: The advent of a new stage in human history: "be as the leaves and fruit of the same tree, that haply ye may become a source of comfort to one another... It behooveth you all to be one indivisible people...". A universal ethical perspective was thus emphasized by the Báb, including the moral imperative of making no distinction between believers and nonbelievers and of recognizing the objective needs of others. The intent of these teachings
14535-457: The ages 15 and 20 he joined his uncle in the family business, a trading house, and became a merchant in the city of Bushehr , Iran, near the Persian Gulf . As a merchant, he was renowned for his honesty and trustworthiness in his business, which was focused on trade with India, Oman, and Bahrain. Some of his earlier writings suggest that he did not enjoy the business and instead applied himself to
14706-455: The angels to prostrate to Adam. Adam and Eve both ate from the Tree of Immortality ( Arabic : شَجَرَةُ الْخُلْد , romanized : šajara al-ḫuld ) despite Allah's warnings against it, and both shared guilt equally, for Eve neither tempted Adam or ate before him; nor is Eve to blame for the pain of childbirth, for God never punishes one person for the sins of another. The Shia school of Islam does not even consider that their action
14877-493: The area of Lake Urmia in the records of Shalmaneser III . The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain, but from a linguistic viewpoint the word matches Old Persian pārsa itself coming directly from the older word * pārćwa . Also, as Old Persian contains many words from another extinct Iranian language, Median , according to P. O. Skjærvø it is probable that Old Persian had already been spoken before
15048-468: The assertions were made to embarrass the Báb and undermine his credibility with the public, and that the language of this document is very different from the Báb's usual style, and so prepared by the authorities. Orientalist Edward Granville Browne received copies of the trial documents from Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney, the first French Baha'i. A facsimile of the recantation is published in Browne's Materials for
15219-436: The birth of their first sons (except Adam himself, for whom his age at the birth of Seth, his third son, is given) and their ages at death (Adam lives 930 years, up to the 56th year of Lamech, father of Noah ). The chapter notes that Adam had other sons and daughters after Seth, but does not name them. Louis Ginzberg retells a midrash that God himself took dust from all four corners of the earth, and with each color (red for
15390-433: The blood, black for the bowels, white for the bones and veins, and green for the pale skin), created Adam. The soul of Adam is the image of God , and as God fills the world, so the soul fills the human body: "as God sees all things, and is seen by none, so the soul sees, but cannot be seen; as God guides the world, so the soul guides the body; as God in His holiness is pure, so is the soul; and as God dwells in secret, so doth
15561-469: The body as a form of prison of Adam's soul. This soul would have been transferred by Sophia (wisdom) onto the creator (Demiurge) of the material world , who in turn is tricked into blowing the soul into a body. In Genesis , the name "Adam" is given to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, the Hebrew word adam is also used in the Bible as a pronoun , individually as "a human" and in
15732-570: The central purpose of his mission was to prepare for the coming of a spiritual luminary greater than himself – the promised one of the world's great religions; he referred to this promised deliverer as " he whom God will make manifest ". The Báb was the "gateway" to this messianic figure, whose message would be carried throughout the world. The Báb was born in Shiraz on 20 October 1819, to a family of sayyids of Husaynid lineage , most of whom were engaged in mercantile activities in Shiraz and Bushehr . He
15903-657: The centre of the world and the gateway to the Garden of Eden. The early Christian community adapted this to their own legend of Golgotha , replacing the altar with the place of Jesus's crucifixion. According to this Christian legend, current in the time of Origen (early 3rd century CE), the holy blood of Christ trickled down and restored to life the father of the human race, who then led the saints who appeared to many in Jerusalem on that day as described in Scripture. In Mandaeism , Adam
16074-457: The code fas for the dialects spoken across Iran and Afghanistan. This consists of the individual languages Dari ( prs ) and Iranian Persian ( pes ). It uses tgk for Tajik, separately. In general, the Iranian languages are known from three periods: namely Old, Middle, and New (Modern). These correspond to three historical eras of Iranian history ; Old era being sometime around the Achaemenid Empire (i.e., 400–300 BC), Middle era being
16245-512: The collapse of the Sassanid state, Parsik came to be applied exclusively to (either Middle or New) Persian that was written in the Arabic script . From about the 9th century onward, as Middle Persian was on the threshold of becoming New Persian, the older form of the language came to be erroneously called Pahlavi , which was actually but one of the writing systems used to render both Middle Persian as well as various other Middle Iranian languages. That writing system had previously been adopted by
16416-504: The context of sex is absent; the gender distinction of "adam" is then reiterated in Genesis 5:1–2 by defining "male and female". A recurring literary motif is the bond between Adam and the earth ( adamah ): God creates Adam by molding him out of clay in the final stages of the creation narrative . After the loss of innocence, God curses Adam and the earth as punishment for his disobedience. Adam and humanity are cursed to die and return to
16587-465: The context of the aforementioned promised figure. Unlike previous religions, which sporadically alluded to promised figures, the primary focus of the Bayán , the foundational text of the Bábí faith, was to prepare for the arrival of the promised one. The Báb was popular among the lower classes, the poor and the urban merchants, artisans and some villagers. However, he faced opposition from the orthodox clergy and
16758-579: The death of the governor of Isfahan, Manouchehr Khan Gorji , his supporter, pressure from the clergy of the province led to Mohammad Shah Qajar ordering the Báb to Tehran in January 1847. After spending several months in a camp outside Tehran, and before the Báb could meet the Shah, the Prime Minister sent the Báb to Tabriz in the northwestern corner of the country, to his confinement. After 40 days in Tabriz,
16929-515: The death oracle given to Adam in Genesis 3:19 forms a link between man's creation from "dust" ( Genesis 2:7 ) to the "return" of his beginnings. Genesis 4 deals with the birth of Adam's sons Cain and Abel and the story of the first murder, followed by the birth of a third son, Seth. Genesis 5 , the Book of the Generations of Adam, lists the descendants of Adam from Seth to Noah with their ages at
17100-402: The decline of an old religion and its revival through a new revelation. He uses the metaphor of seasons to explain this cyclical progression. He argues that just as a tree dies in winter but reemerges in spring, so too do religions experience periods of decline and renewal. This concept embraces historical change and human agency, promoting a forward-looking perspective. The Báb views religion as
17271-401: The deeds of a remote ancestor. It was Augustine who took this step, locating sin itself in male semen: when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they were ashamed and covered their genitals, identifying the place from which the first sin was passed on to all succeeding generations. Only Jesus Christ, who was not conceived by human semen, was free of the stain passed down from Adam. (Augustine's idea
17442-508: The details, but all agree that the first volley failed to kill him. This widely documented event increased interest in his message. His remains were secretly stored and transported until they were interred in 1909 into the shrine built for them by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá on the slopes of Mount Carmel . To Baháʼís, the Báb fills a similar role as Elijah in Judaism or John the Baptist in Christianity:
17613-560: The earth (or ground) from which he was formed. This "earthly" aspect is a component of Adam's identity, and Adam's curse of estrangement from the earth seems to describe humankind's divided nature of being earthly yet separated from nature. Genesis 1 tells of God's creation of the world and its creatures, with humankind as the last of his creatures: "Male and female created He them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam ..." ( Genesis 5:2 ). God blesses mankind, commands them to " be fruitful and multiply ", and gives them "dominion over
17784-474: The earth for his food and to return to it on his death. Genesis 4 deals with the birth of Adam's sons, and Genesis 5 lists his descendants from Seth to Noah . In the entire Hebrew Bible, Adam appears only in chapters 1–5 of the Book of Genesis, with the exception of a mention at the beginning of the Books of Chronicles where, as in Genesis, he heads the list of Israel's ancestors. The majority view among scholars
17955-404: The emergence of a still more perfect religion. These prophets are seen as perfect reflections of God in the world. He emphasizes the unity of prophets, comparing them to mirrors reflecting the same sun (God). Additionally, the Báb asserts that divine revelation is an ongoing process, with new prophets appearing throughout history. The Báb reinterprets resurrection not as the end of the world but as
18126-632: The extent of its influence on certain languages of the Indian subcontinent. Words borrowed from Persian are still quite commonly used in certain Indo-Aryan languages, especially Hindi - Urdu (also historically known as Hindustani ), Punjabi , Kashmiri , and Sindhi . There is also a small population of Zoroastrian Iranis in India, who migrated in the 19th century to escape religious execution in Qajar Iran and speak
18297-474: The eyes of God. His support for Táhirih , a leading female disciple who challenged social norms, further exemplifies his commitment to improving women's rights. The Báb emphasizes forgiveness, kindness, and doing good to others, even those who wrong you. He advocates for personal improvement, environmental preservation, and creating a beautiful and prosperous society. He forbids violence and promotes peaceful coexistence through kindness and gentle manners. Overall,
18468-404: The figurehead of the Bábí community and would be kept in hiding out of harm's way. This would leave Bahá'u'lláh freer to continue his activities as a leading Bábí. Accordingly, the Báb sent a letter to Mírzá Yahyá naming him to nominal leadership pending the imminent appearance of the Promised One, commonly referred to as ' Him Whom God shall make manifest ' by the Báb. At the time Mírzá Yahyá, still
18639-474: The first to accept the Báb's claims to be an inspired figure and a likely successor to Kazim Rashti. The Báb had replied satisfactorily to all of Mullá Husayn's questions and had written in his presence, with extreme rapidity, a long tafsir , commentary, on Surah Yusuf , known as the Qayyúmu'l-Asmáʼ and considered the Báb's first revealed work. The date has been adopted as a Baháʼí Holy Day . Mullá Husayn became
18810-443: The fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" ( Genesis 1.26–27 ). In Genesis 2 , God forms "Adam", this time meaning a single male human, out of "the dust of the ground" and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" ( Genesis 2:7 ). God then places this first man in the Garden of Eden , telling him that "Of every tree of
18981-449: The following phylogenetic classification: Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God , and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism , Christianity , Gnosticism and Islam ). According to Christianity, Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . This action introduced death and sin into
19152-505: The forerunner or "Gate of Ba" – a reference to Baha'u'llah, the promised universal messenger anticipated by the world's major scriptures. In mid-1850 a new prime minister, Amir Kabir , ordered the execution of the Báb, probably because of various Bábí insurrections' defeats and because the movement's popularity appeared to be waning. The Báb was brought back to Tabriz from Chehriq for an execution by firing squad . The night before his execution, while being conducted to his cell,
19323-562: The formation of many modern languages in West Asia, Europe, Central Asia , and South Asia . Following the Turko-Persian Ghaznavid conquest of South Asia , Persian was firstly introduced in the region by Turkic Central Asians. The basis in general for the introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties. For five centuries prior to
19494-471: The formation of the Achaemenid Empire and was spoken during most of the first half of the first millennium BCE. Xenophon , a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BCE, which is when Old Persian was still spoken and extensively used. He relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like
19665-430: The garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" ( Genesis 2:16–17 ). God notes that "It is not good that the man should be alone" ( Genesis 2:18 ) and brings the animals to Adam, who gives them their names, but among all the animals there was not found a companion for him ( Genesis 2:20 ). God causes
19836-500: The government, which eventually executed him and thousands of his followers, who were known as Bábís. When the Báb was executed for apostasy, he was tied up in a public square in Tabriz and faced a firing squad of 750 rifles. Following the first volley, the Báb was discovered to be missing and later found and returned to the square. He was eventually killed by the second volley. Accounts differ on
20007-449: The heavenly paradise, foreshadowing the destiny of all the righteous at the end of time. The Archangel Michael attended Adam's death, together with Eve and his son Seth, still living at that time, and he was buried together with his murdered son Abel. Because they repented, God gave Adam and Eve garments of light, and similar garments will clothe the Messiah when he comes. According to
20178-478: The heavens of Chaos . All these realms exist within the region between the eighth heaven and the Chaos beneath it. But when the archons saw him, they realize the chief creator of the material world ( Yaldabaoth ) had lied to them by claiming he was the only god. However, they decide to create a physical version of Adam in the image of the spiritual Adam. But Sophia later sends her daughter Zoe (the spiritual Eve) to give
20349-522: The inherent capacity of humans to think critically and engage in independent investigation of truth. He abolishes the clergy and emphasizes the words of revelation, not miracles, as the true test of a prophet's legitimacy. He removes the power structure of priests and prohibits congregational prayer led by clerics, arguing that worship requires no human mediation. He views the clergy as a major cause of religious corruption. The Báb strongly advocates for rationality, science, and efficient education. He envisions
20520-461: The language of the Persians. Related to Old Persian, but from a different branch of the Iranian language family, was Avestan , the language of the Zoroastrian liturgical texts. The complex grammatical conjugation and declension of Old Persian yielded to the structure of Middle Persian in which the dual number disappeared, leaving only singular and plural, as did gender. Middle Persian developed
20691-471: The main focus of the Bayan, the mother book of the Bábí dispensation, is preparing the way for "he whom God shall make manifest." A core Bábí belief is the concept of continuous and evolving religion. God progressively reveals himself through prophets, and as humanity advances, divine teachings become more comprehensive and sophisticated. Each religion arises in response to the specific social needs of its time, surpassing its predecessor but ultimately leading to
20862-515: The material body of Muhammad did not ascend during the Mi'raj , and that the expected Resurrection of the Dead was spiritual in nature. Shaykh Ahmad came into conflict with the orthodox Shia theologians of the time and was denounced as an infidel in 1824. After Shaykh Ahmad's death, leadership passed to Kazim Rashti (1793–1843), and emphasis was placed on the year 1260 AH (1844 CE), one thousand lunar years after
21033-773: The metaphorical identity of the Letters of the Living as the Fourteen Infallibles of Twelver Shiʿi Islam: Muhammad , the Twelve Imams , and Fatimah , and the four archangels . After the eighteen Letters of the Living recognized him, the Báb and Quddús left on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina , the sacred cities of Islam. At the Kaaba in Mecca, the Báb publicly claimed to be the Qa'im, and wrote to
21204-432: The middle-period form only continuing in the texts of Zoroastrianism . Middle Persian is considered to be a later form of the same dialect as Old Persian. The native name of Middle Persian was Parsig or Parsik , after the name of the ethnic group of the southwest, that is, "of Pars ", Old Persian Parsa , New Persian Fars . This is the origin of the name Farsi as it is today used to signify New Persian. Following
21375-525: The most widely spoken. The term Persian is an English derivation of Latin Persiānus , the adjectival form of Persia , itself deriving from Greek Persís ( Περσίς ), a Hellenized form of Old Persian Pārsa ( 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which means " Persia " (a region in southwestern Iran, corresponding to modern-day Fars ). According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the term Persian as
21546-409: The name of his younger brother Mírzá Yahyá. The danger that threatened Bahá'u'lláh was from Amir Kabir . According to Saiedi, if Amir Kabir knew about the key role that Bahá'u'lláh was playing in the Bábí community, he would have him executed. Bahá'u'lláh, Mírzá Yahyá and one of the Báb's secretaries had reached an agreement that in order to protect Bahá'u'lláh, the younger brother would be recognized as
21717-461: The nationalist movement of the time. The academy was a key institution in the struggle to re-build Iran as a nation-state after the collapse of the Qajar dynasty. During the 1930s and 1940s, the academy led massive campaigns to replace the many Arabic , Russian , French , and Greek loanwords whose widespread use in Persian during the centuries preceding the foundation of the Pahlavi dynasty had created
21888-448: The necessity of protecting the Persian language against foreign words, and to the standardization of Persian orthography , were under the reign of Naser ed Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1871. After Naser ed Din Shah, Mozaffar ed Din Shah ordered the establishment of the first Persian association in 1903. This association officially declared that it used Persian and Arabic as acceptable sources for coining words. The ultimate goal
22059-414: The next period most officially around the Sasanian Empire , and New era being the period afterward down to present day. According to available documents, the Persian language is "the only Iranian language" for which close philological relationships between all of its three stages are established and so that Old, Middle, and New Persian represent one and the same language of Persian; that is, New Persian
22230-713: The northern part of Greece). Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in the Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken. However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and throughout the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary. The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" ( Rumili Farsisi ). As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became
22401-529: The official language of the Achaemenid kings. Assyrian records, which in fact appear to provide the earliest evidence for ancient Iranian (Persian and Median) presence on the Iranian Plateau, give a good chronology but only an approximate geographical indication of what seem to be ancient Persians. In these records of the 9th century BCE, Parsuwash (along with Matai , presumably Medians) are first mentioned in
22572-520: The physical Adam life before leaving the physical Eve with Adam and entering the Tree of Knowledge . However, according to the Hypostasis of the Archons , a spirit descends on the physical Adam and gives him a living soul. In Islam, Allah created Adam ( Arabic : آدم ) from a handful of earth taken from the entire world, which explains why the peoples of the world are of different skin colors. According to
22743-531: The plain below Mount Carmel in 1899. On 21 March 1909, the remains were interred in a special tomb, the Shrine of the Báb , erected for this purpose by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá , on Mount Carmel in present-day Haifa , Israel. In its vicinity, the Baháʼí World Centre welcomes visitors to tour the gardens. At the heart of the teachings of the Báb was a call for the reconciliation of all members of the human family, marking
22914-628: The present territories of northwestern Afghanistan as well as parts of Central Asia, played a leading role in the rise of New Persian. Khorasan, which was the homeland of the Parthians, was Persianized under the Sasanians. Dari Persian thus supplanted Parthian language , which by the end of the Sasanian era had fallen out of use. New Persian has incorporated many foreign words, including from eastern northern and northern Iranian languages such as Sogdian and especially Parthian. The transition to New Persian
23085-846: The prisons of Maku and Chihriq. Persian language Russia Persian ( / ˈ p ɜːr ʒ ən , - ʃ ən / PUR -zhən, -shən ), also known by its endonym Farsi ( فارسی , Fārsī [fɒːɾˈsiː] ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages . Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran , Afghanistan , and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties , respectively Iranian Persian (officially known as Persian ), Dari Persian (officially known as Dari since 1964), and Tajiki Persian (officially known as Tajik since 1999). It
23256-404: The public and for some of his followers. Some early believers saw him as a messenger from God with divine authority, and this resulted in disagreement within the Bábí community. Even though the Báb had intended to convey his message with discretion, many of his followers such as Táhirih openly declared the coming of the promised Hidden Imam and Mahdi. The Qayyūm al-asmā , the first major work of
23427-578: The region during the following centuries. Persian continued to act as a courtly language for various empires in Punjab through the early 19th century serving finally as the official state language of the Sikh Empire , preceding British conquest and the decline of Persian in South Asia. Beginning in 1843, though, English and Hindustani gradually replaced Persian in importance on the subcontinent. Evidence of Persian's historical influence there can be seen in
23598-589: The reign of Sultan Ghiyathuddin Azam Shah is described as the "golden age of Persian literature in Bengal". Its stature was illustrated by the Sultan's own correspondence and collaboration with the Persian poet Hafez ; a poem which can be found in the Divan of Hafez today. A Bengali dialect emerged among the common Bengali Muslim folk, based on a Persian model and known as Dobhashi ; meaning mixed language . Dobhashi Bengali
23769-423: The result. The order was given to fire. Accounts differ on the details, but all agree that the first volley failed to kill the Báb; the bullets had instead cut the rope suspending them from the wall. A second firing squad was brought in and a second order to fire given. This time the Báb was killed. In Bábí and Baháʼí tradition, the failure of the first volley to kill the Báb is believed to be a miracle. The remains of
23940-549: The same canonical book, like the Genesis flood narrative , are also understood as having been influenced by older literature, with parallels in the older Epic of Gilgamesh . In biology, the most recent common ancestors of humans, when traced back using the Y-chromosome for the male lineage and mitochondrial DNA for the female lineage, are commonly called the Y-chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve respectively as
24111-426: The same verse as meaning that Adam was created with two faces, male and female, or as a single hermaphrodite being, male and female joined back to back, but God saw that this made walking and conversing difficult, and so split them apart. The serpent approached Eve rather than Adam because Adam had heard the word of God with his own ears, whereas Eve had only his report; Eve tasted the fruit and knew at once that she
24282-607: The site of a flourishing Persianate linguistic and literary culture. The 16th-century Ottoman Aşık Çelebi (died 1572), who hailed from Prizren in modern-day Kosovo , was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian". Many Ottoman Persianists who established a career in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ) pursued early Persian training in Saraybosna, amongst them Ahmed Sudi . The Persian language influenced
24453-416: The soul." According to Jewish literature, Adam possessed a body of light, identical to the light created by God on the first day, and the original glory of Adam can be regained through mystical contemplation of God. The rabbis, puzzled by fact that Genesis 1 states that God created man and woman together while Genesis 2 describes them being created separately, told that when God created Adam he also created
24624-561: The standard Persian of Tajikistan, has been officially designated as Tajik ( тоҷикӣ , tojikī ) since the time of the Soviet Union . It is the name given to the varieties of Persian spoken in Central Asia in general. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa for the Persian language, as its coding system is mostly based on the native-language designations. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses
24795-687: The standard Persian. The Hazaragi dialect (in Central Afghanistan and Pakistan), Herati (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), Basseri (in Southern Iran), and the Tehrani accent (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility . Nevertheless,
24966-545: The status of women, abolishing the priesthood, and emphasizing ethics, independent investigation of truth, and human nobility are among the key teachings of the Báb. Another fundamental focus of his teachings is his emphasis on the advent of a messianic figure, whom he frequently refers to as "he whom God shall make manifest." The Báb consistently discusses his own revelation and laws in the context of this promised figure. Unlike previous religions where references to promised figures were only occasional and hinted at through allusions,
25137-453: The status of women. He introduced the concept of progressive revelation , highlighting the continuity and renewal of religion. He also emphasized ethics, independent investigation of truth, and human nobility. Additionally, he provided prescriptions to regulate marriage, divorce, and inheritance, and set forth rules for a future Bábí society, although these were never implemented. Throughout, the Báb always discussed his own revelation and laws in
25308-457: The study of religious literature. In 1842, at age 23 and following his mother's wishes, he married 20-year-old Khadíjih-Sultán Bagum (1822–1882), the daughter of a prominent merchant in Shíráz. The marriage proved a happy one, though their only child – a boy named Ahmad – died the year he was born (1843) and Khadijih never conceived again. The young couple occupied a modest house in Shiraz along with
25479-459: The task of spreading the new faith (understood as the return or continuation of the one Faith of Abraham) across Iran and Iraq. The Báb emphasized the spiritual station of these 18 individuals, who, along with himself, made the first "Unity" of his religion according to the Arabic term wāḥid , unity, that has a numerical value of 19 using abjad numerals . The Báb's book, the Persian Bayán , gives
25650-447: The traditional Muslim title "Báb" (Gate) although it was apparent from the context that he intended by this term a spiritual claim very different from any which had previously been associated with it. At one level, his use of the title "Gate" was designed to lessen the challenging impact of his claim to be an independent Messenger of God, while at another, for those who grasped the implications of his claims, this title pointed to his role as
25821-527: The twelfth Imam went into occultation . In 1841 the Báb went on pilgrimage to Iraq and stayed for seven months mostly in and around Karbala , where he attended lectures of Kazim Rashti. As of his death in December 1843, Kazim Rashti counselled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Mahdi, who, according to his prophecies, would soon appear. One of these followers, Mullá Husayn , after keeping vigil for 40 days in
25992-478: The use of Farsi in foreign languages. Etymologically, the Persian term Farsi derives from its earlier form Pārsi ( Pārsik in Middle Persian ), which in turn comes from the same root as the English term Persian . In the same process, the Middle Persian toponym Pārs ("Persia") evolved into the modern name Fars. The phonemic shift from /p/ to /f/ is due to the influence of Arabic in
26163-409: The way for this promised one. This figure is described as possessing all divine attributes and having authority equal to God's. The Báb encourages independent investigation to recognize the promised one based on their character and actions, not external factors. He warns against rejecting the promised one based on the Bábí scriptures, mirroring how past religions opposed new prophets. The Báb emphasizes
26334-411: The woman. God passes judgment, first upon the serpent, condemned to go on his belly, then the woman, condemned to pain in childbirth and subordination to her husband, and finally Adam, who is condemned to labour on the earth for his food and to return to it on his death. God then expels the man and woman from the garden, lest they eat of the Tree of Life and become immortal. The chiastic structure of
26505-507: The world and developed the ability to receive revelation, God sent Adam to each and every branch of civilization. This opinion has also been alluded to and accepted by Islamic scholars of different sects. According to a revelation received by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , the founder of the community, the Adam mentioned in the Qur'an was born 4,598 years before Muhammad. The Muslim thinker Nasir Khusraw offers another interpretation of Adam's significance to
26676-458: The world. This sinful nature infected all his descendants, and led humanity to be expelled from the Garden. Only through the crucifixion of Jesus , humanity can be redeemed. In Islam, Adam is considered Khalifa (خليفة) (successor) on earth. This is understood to mean either that he is God's deputy, the initiation of a new cycle of sentient life on earth, or both. Similar to the Biblical account,
26847-466: Was a merchant from Shiraz in Qajar Iran who, in 1844 at the age of 25, began the Bábi Faith. In the next six years, the Báb composed numerous letters and books in which he abrogated Islamic laws and traditions, establishing a new religion and introducing a new social order focused on unity, love, and service to others. He encouraged the learning of arts and sciences, modernizing education, and improving
27018-465: Was a sin, for obedience and disobedience are possible only on Earth, and not in heaven where the paradise is located. According to Qisas al-Anbiya , Adam fell on Adam's Peak located in central Sri Lanka , the tallest mountain in the world and so the closest to Heaven, and from there God sent him to Mecca , where he repented and was forgiven. At Mecca he built the first Sanctuary (the Kaabah – which
27189-578: Was already complete by the era of the three princely dynasties of Iranian origin, the Tahirid dynasty (820–872), Saffarid dynasty (860–903), and Samanid Empire (874–999). Abbas of Merv is mentioned as being the earliest minstrel to chant verse in the New Persian tongue and after him the poems of Hanzala Badghisi were among the most famous between the Persian-speakers of the time. The first poems of
27360-426: Was based on the ancient world's ideas on biology, according to which male sperm contained the entire unborn baby, the mother's womb being no more than a nurturing chamber in which it grew.) As mentioned above , the Apocalypse of Moses , a Jewish writing containing material probably originating from the first century CE, places both Adam's place of creation and his burial at the altar of the Temple of Solomon, seen as
27531-499: Was doomed to death, and said to herself that it was better she trick Adam into eating so that he too would die, and not take another woman in her place. Adam ate the fruit unaware of what he was doing, and was filled with grief. When Adam blamed Eve after eating the forbidden fruit, God rebuked him that Adam as a man should not have obeyed his wife, for he is the head, not her. An Aggadic legend found in tractate Avodah Zarah 8a has observations regarding Roman midwinter holidays, and
27702-471: Was executed by a firing squad in public in Tabriz to crush the Bábí movement and to display the restored power of the Qajar government under the new minister, Amir Kabir . After the trial, the Báb was ordered back to the fortress of Chehríq . In his early writings (1844–1847), the Báb appears to identify himself as a gate ( báb ), a reference to the Four Deputies of the Hidden Imam , the last of whom went into occultation in 941 CE. In his later writings,
27873-437: Was intended to create a sense of anticipation for the appearance of the Hidden Imam, as well to avoid persecution and imprisonment, because a public proclamation of mahdi status could bring a swift penalty of death. In the early months of his public declarations, the adoption of a cautious policy had essentially achieved maximum attention with minimum controversy. The gradual unfolding of claims caused some confusion, both among
28044-422: Was later rebuilt by Ibrahim ) and was taught the ritual of the Hajj, and wove the first cloak for himself and the first veil and shift for Eve, and after this returned to India where he died at the age of 930, having seen the sons of the sons of his children, 1400 in all. According to the Ahmadiyya sect, Adam was not the first human being on earth, but when the human race came into existence, and spread all over
28215-484: Was patronised and given official status under the Sultans of Bengal , and was a popular literary form used by Bengalis during the pre-colonial period, irrespective of their religion. Following the defeat of the Hindu Shahi dynasty, classical Persian was established as a courtly language in the region during the late 10th century under Ghaznavid rule over the northwestern frontier of the subcontinent . Employed by Punjabis in literature, Persian achieved prominence in
28386-403: Was placed under house arrest at the home of his uncle until a cholera epidemic broke out in the city in September 1846. Once released he departed for Isfahan . There, many came to see him at the house of the Imam-Jum'ih , who became sympathetic. After an informal gathering where the Báb debated the local clergy and displayed his speed in producing instantaneous verses, his popularity soared. After
28557-488: Was taught in state schools, and was also offered as an elective course or recommended for study in some madrasas . Persian learning was also widespread in the Ottoman-held Balkans ( Rumelia ), with a range of cities being famed for their long-standing traditions in the study of Persian and its classics, amongst them Saraybosna (modern Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mostar (also in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Vardar Yenicesi (or Yenice-i Vardar, now Giannitsa , in
28728-500: Was the representative of the Qá'im or an intermediary to the faithful; the Báb later repeated the same in front of a congregation at the Vakil Mosque . This renunciation saved him from immediate execution. According to Abbas Amanat in conformity with his own policy of prudence during the early stages of his mission, the Báb wrote a statement, apparently under pressure, renouncing his claims to the position of Bábiya (gatehood) and disowning those who advocated such beliefs about him. The Báb
28899-466: Was the same person as Gautama Buddha . While a traditional view was that the Book of Genesis was authored by Moses and has been considered historical and metaphorical, modern scholars consider the Genesis creation narrative as one of various ancient origin myths . Analysis like the documentary hypothesis also suggests that the text is a result of the compilation of multiple previous traditions, explaining apparent contradictions. Other stories of
29070-464: Was to lay the basis "for the revolutionary transformation of humankind." Ultimately, the Báb explained that human happiness and well-being was dependent on treating other human beings in accord with the Golden Rule , especially refraining from causing others sadness, and in bringing all things, whether in nature or man-made, to a state of perfection, a process of imbuing all things with beauty and spiritual purpose. In this way, civilization itself becomes
29241-425: Was to prevent books from being printed with wrong use of words. According to the executive guarantee of this association, the government was responsible for wrongfully printed books. Words coined by this association, such as rāh-āhan ( راهآهن ) for "railway", were printed in Soltani Newspaper ; but the association was eventually closed due to inattention. A scientific association was founded in 1911, resulting in
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