Portal:Religion/Selected biography/33

Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází (/ˈseɪjəd ˈæli moʊˈhæməd ʃɪˈrɑːzi/; Persian: سيد علی ‌محمد شیرازی; October 20, 1819 – July 9, 1850) was the founder of Bábism, and one of three central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. He was a merchant from Shíráz, Persia who, at the age of twenty-four (on May 23, 1844), symbolically claimed to be the promised Qá'im (or Mahdi). After his declaration he took the title of Báb (/bɑːb/; Arabic: باب) meaning "Gate". He composed hundreds of letters and books (often termed tablets) in which he stated his messianic claims and defined his teachings, which constituted a new sharí'ah or religious law. His movement eventually acquired tens of thousands of supporters, was opposed by Iran's Shi'a clergy, and was suppressed by the Iranian government, leading to the persecution and killing of thousands of his followers, called Bábís. In 1850, at the age of thirty, the Báb was shot by a firing squad in Tabriz.