Early Life
Mirza 'Ali Muhammad, Who afterwards assumed the title of Bab (i.e. Gate), was born at Shiraz, in the south of Persia, on the 20th of October 1819 A.D. He was a Siyyid, that is, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. His father, a well-known merchant, died soon after His birth, and He was then placed under the care of a maternal uncle, a merchant of Shiraz, who brought Him up. In childhood He learned to read, and received the elementary education customary for children. At the age of fifteen He went into business, at first with His guardian, and afterward with another uncle who lived at Bushihr, on the shore of the Gulf of Persia. (15:1)

As a youth He was noted for great personal beauty and charm of manner, and also for exceptional piety, and nobility of character. He was unfailing in His observance of the prayers, fasts and other ordinances of the Muhammadan religion, and not only obeyed the letter, but lived in the spirit of the Prophet's teachings. He married when about twenty-two years of age. Of this marriage one son was born, who died while still an infant, in the first year of the Bab's public ministry. (15:2)

Declaration
On reaching His twenty-fifth year, in response to divine command, He declared that "God the Exalted had elected Him to the station of Babhood." In "A Traveller's Narrative" we read that: "What he intended by the term Bab was this, that he was the channel of grace from some great Person still behind the veil of glory, who was the possessor of countless and boundless perfections, by whose will he moved, and to the bond of whose love he clung." - A Traveller's Narrative (Episode of the Bab), p. 3. (15:3)

In those days belief in the imminent appearance of a Divine Messenger was especially prevalent among a sect known as the Shaykhis, and it was to a distinguished divine belonging to this sect, called Mulla Husayn Bushru'i, that the Bab first announced His mission. The exact date of this announcement is given in the Bayan, one of the Bab's Writings, as two hours and eleven minutes after sunset on the eve preceding the fifth day of the month of Jamadiyu'l-Avval 1260 A.H. 'Abdu'l-Baha was born in the course of the same night, but the exact hour of His birth has not been ascertained. After some days of anxious investigation and study, Mulla Husayn became firmly convinced that the Messenger long expected by the Shi'ihs had indeed appeared. His eager enthusiasm over this discovery was soon shared by several of his friends. Before long the majority of the Shaykhis accepted the Bab, becoming known as Babis; and soon the fame of the young Prophet began to spread like wildfire throughout the land. (15:4)

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