In 1850, the chief minister of the Shah ordered Bab's execution. On July 9 in the city of Tabriz, The Bab was suspended from a military barracks along with a young follower named Anis. The first assemblage of 750 soldiers fired their rifles but left the Bab and His companion unharmed. As a British diplomatic cable reported, when the smoke and dust cleared away after the volley, The Bab was not to be seen. The balls had broken the ropes by which He was bound. The Bab was found in His cell, dictating final instructions to His secretary. The second regiment of soldiers replaced the first, completing their orders.

The Babs ' dramatic life and personality were so incandescent and heroic that His fame reached the heart of Europe in the decades following His death. The French literacy critic Jules Bois recalled the continued influence of His story on Europe leading writers in the 19th century:

All Europe was stirred to pity and indignation. Among the literature of my generation, in the Paris of 1890, the martyrdom of the Bab was still as fresh a topic as had been the first news of His death in 1850. We wrote poems about Him. Sarah Bernhardt entreated Catulle Mendes for a play on the theme of this historic tragedy.

Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol College at Oxford, remarked that the Babs religion may have the promise of the future, which might prove, he said to a companion, the most important religious movement since the foundation of Christianity. Others in the West talked and wrote about the moving story of the Bab in the salons and coffee houses of Europe as late as the 1890s, including among them Leo Tolstoy, Edward Granville Browne, A.L.M Nicolas, Ernest Renan, Matthew Arnold, and George Curzon.

Herald of Baha'u'llah

In His title and His teachings, The Bab made it clear that He was the gate to the revelation of Baha'u'llah, which followed only 19 years after Bab had announced His religion in 1844. He said that He was the humble Precursor to one greater than Himself, writing, Well is it with him who fixed his gaze upon the order of Baha'u'llah, and rendered thanks unto his Lord.

Abdul Baha, the son of Bah'u'llah, would later compare the Revelation of these central figures of the Baha'i Faith by analogy to the rising sun. The Bab, the Exalted One, He writes, is the Morn of Truth, the splendor of Whose light shineth throughout all regions. The daybreak of the Babs Revelation was swiftly followed by Baha'u'llah's appearance, the sun mid-summer, and the highest station.

Even now as Baha'is make their way on pilgrimage to the world Center of their Faith, the first visit the majestic, gold-domed shrine of the Bab that adorns Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, before then traveling an hour north to offer their prayers at the shrine of Baha'u'llah.

The combined teachings of the Bab and Baha'u'llah constitute the sacred writings of the Baha'i Faith, which convey the message of humanity coming age, the peoples of the world are passing from our long childhood, through the tumultuous period of adolescence, and are now approaching the maturity of the human race as one, inseparable organic family. In the scriptures of these two manifestations of God, we see the vision and promise that the human race will become one, and that's a global civilization of peace and justice, prosperity, and well-being will be established.

It will require a growing consciousness of the human race to generate the unity of thought and collective action required to navigate the challenges and overcome the problems ahead. Yet there is no question that the Bab, like Baha'u'llah, foresaw a future for humankind more glorious than civilization has ever been, where the power of human reason and imagination, creativity, and love will flourish.

The Baha'i Scriptures