In 1850, Bab —, the forerunner prophet of the Baha'i Faith, born Mirza Ali Mohammed (circa 1819 — July 9, 1850) — was executed in Persia at the age of thirty. On this sacred day, Baha'is abstain from work.
In 1850, Baba («Bab» translated from Arabic means «Gate») was transported to Tabriz, where he was shot twice in the city square near the wall of the barracks. His execution is remarkably covered in religious and secular literature. The fact is that Muslim soldiers flatly refused to shoot Bab, feeling deep sympathy for him.
Then the execution of the sentence was entrusted to a unit of Armenian Christians. But an officer of this regiment named Sam Khan did not want to shed the blood of Bab, who preached the great idea of the unity of Christian love and Muslim mutual assistance. They say that Bab laid him to rest with these words: «Follow the order, and if your thoughts are pure, the Almighty will not leave you in a difficult position».
When the gunpowder smoke from the volley of 750 guns dissipated, the crowds of spectators were amazed: the woman was not there. His student, tied next to him, also remained unharmed. Khan himself refused to resume execution and took his soldiers away. The woman was found in the very cell where he was the day before. The second time Baba actually shot another regiment, prone to execution for a reward.
His companion was also killed. Their bodies were riddled with bullets, but their faces were almost intact. The corpses of those executed were moved outside the city to the edge of the ditch, where they remained for two days. On the second day, the Russian consul appeared with the artist, who painted a posthumous portrait of Bab and his student.
After the execution, Bab's remains were secretly kept for more than fifty years, then transported to the Holy Land, and in 1909 buried in a mausoleum on the slopes of Mount Carmel (Israel).