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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).

Life

Background

Mirza Yahya was the son of Kuchak Khanum of Karmanshah ((Atiyya Ruhi)) 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. Their father was "accomplished, wealthy, and much respected, but was not a prince, as some have alleged." (Miller p 71). 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)

Mirza Jani quotes the following statement (as found in Mirza Huseyn Hamadani who used him as source) which Mirza Husayn Ali had made regarding his younger brother:

I busied myself with the instruction of Janab-i-Azal. The signs of his natural excellence and goodness of disposition were apparent in the mirror of his being. He ever loved gravity of demeanour, silence, courtesy, and modesty, avoiding the society of other children, and their behaviour. I did not, however, know that he would became the possessor of [so high] a station. (Tarikh-i-Jadid, p. 375.)

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. He was told by the Báb that he may complete the unfinished Persian Bayan with permission of He whom God shall make manifest. [citation needed] His title of Subh-i-Azal or the "Morning of Eternity" was given to him by the Báb. [citation needed] after Yahya became the return of Quddús according to Mirza Jani (Tarikh-i-Jadid, p 380)

Appointment as The Báb's successor

Main article: Bahá'í/Bábí split

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)

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 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 accademics to doubt its origin, although they cite error, rather than deception as a motive (Schaefer, 2000).

Baghdad

After the Takur uprising and the assassination attempt on the Shah, Azal exiled himself to Baghdad in the Ottoman Empire, being the recognized supreme spiritual leader of the Bábís.

During these ten years in Baghdad approximately 25 people claimed to be "He whom God shall make manifest". One of these claimants, Mirza Asadu'llah Khu'i Dayyan, was murdered by one Muhammad Mazandarani who was quite possibly Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri Baha'u'llah himself.

Bahá'u'lláh's claim

Main article: Bahá'í/Bábí split

In 1863, Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri Bahá'u'lláh claimed to be the Return of Imam Husayn. Only later in Edirne did he outright claim to be the Babi messiah. Like the other claimants preceding him, Mirza Yahya disputed Baha'u'llah's claim whereupon Baha'u'llah had several of Azal's partisans murdered, evening attempting to poison Azal himself at one point. The remaining loyalists of Mirza Yahya became known to posterity as the Azali sect of Bábism.

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.

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.)

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)

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).

Miller states that Yahya did not name a successor (Miller, p. 107).

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].

Works

A Succinct Account of the New Manifestation

References

  • Browne, E.G. (Ed.) (1910). Kitab-i Nuqtat al-Kaf: Being the Earliest History of the Bábís. E.J. Brill, Leiden.


  • 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.


  • Smith, Peter (1988). The Bahá'í Religion, A Short Introduction to its History and Teachings. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0853982775.
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