What the Baha’is say about the grave of Ali Mohammad Shirazi known as Bab is that his grave is in the city of Haifa in Israel alongside Mount Carmel which is also called Bab’s Sepulcher, but by scrutinizing the Babis and Azalis documents, we found out that the Baha’is’ claim is baseless.
1-The believers in the Book of Bayan (Bayanis) say the burial place of the body of Seyed Ali Mohammad Bab and Mohammad Ali Zonoozi is in Tehran’s Imamzadeh Ma’sum, considering it as their pilgrimage site. Also, Professor Edward Browne in the book “A year amongst the Persians” says:
“Vali Suleiman Khan and several other Babis, who had an influence in Tabriz, by their influence and most likely by bribery, took the bodies out of the city and wrapped them in a white shroud, put them in a box and sent them to Tehran. In Tehran, upon the order of Mirza Yahya, nicknamed the Subh-i-Azal (who, although a young man in his twenties, was chosen to succeed Bab), the bodies were transferred to the Imamzadeh Ma’sum, located on the road to Hamadan, near Robat Karim. (1)
1- Seyed Hossein Kateb has been the name of the scribe of Ali Mohammad Shirazi known as Bab. While sending the Bab’s body from Tehran to Tabriz, in a letter to his friend Haj Suleiman Khan writes:
“I beg you that as long as you are in Arz-e Baha’, whenever the Leqa Rab is fed, say a Zekr, and whenever some ayas were sent from the eternal sky, send them within your book, and I sent Arshullah al-Azam.”
An explanation about the letter: This tablet was written by Mr. Seyyed Hossein Kateb in 1268 AH when the body of the Primal Point was sent from Tabriz to Haj Suleiman Khan and has great historical significance and most of the tablets are in Persian. In this letter, Arz-e Baha’ means (Tehran) (3) and Leqa Rab means (Subh-i-Azal) and Arshullah al-Azam means (the body of the Primal Point or the same Bab).
Therefore, it should be said that Subh-i- Azal was in Tehran at the time of writing this letter, and in this letter he says that I sent the body of the Primal Point (Arshullah al-Azam) to Tehran by the Bearer, so the words of the Bob’s scribe in this letter indicate that the body of Bob was transferred to Tehran, not as a prey to animals.
1-Also, regarding the current site of the Bob’s grave, the official website of Bayan says:
“The empyrean of the Primal Point according to his own and on the order of Subh-i-Azal will was buried in Tehran’s Imamzadeh Ma’sum Shrine. The Muslims do not believe in it and the Baha’i historian unanimously believe that empyrean of the Primal Point was stolen from that place and taken to Acre. People of Bayan consider the first place.” (4)
In their works, the Babis and Azalis refer to the delivery of Bab’s body to the Subh-i-Azal and write that Bahaullah was not aware of Bab’s burial place, although the Baha’is in the Epistle of Ma’aref Amri no. 14, page 4 refers to delivery of the Bab’s body to Bahaullah and his burial in Tehran’s Imamzadeh Ma’sum but they believe that in 1316, by the order of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, he was taken to Acre and buried in Haifa after 50 years. But the question here is why he was buried in Haifa after 50 years?
It seems that the documents presented by Babis and Azalis are stronger because according to the Bab’s will, Subh-i- Azal was the successor of Bab and had to be acted according to his order and the other point is that the scribe of Bab does not mention Bahaullah in his letter.
At any rate, the Babis consider as scared the same old place in Tehran’s Imamzadeh Ma’sum. Due to the sanctity this place had among the Babis and the Baha’is, some elders of these two sects such as Mrs. Azieh (the sister of Babi Subh-i-Azal and Bahaullah) and among the Bahai elders Molla Ali Akbar Shahmirzadi and Mirza Naeem Sedehi, this place has a special sanctity for Babis. (5)
Footnotes:
1-Edward G. Browne, A year amongst the Persians, Marefat Center, 1888, 79.
2-Part of the tablets of the Primal Point and Agha Seyed Hossein Kateb, P. 38
3-The Bab had called Tehran as Arz-e Baha (Asadollah Fazel Mazandarani, Secrets of Private Works, pp. 271 & 272)
4- The site www.bayanic.com the official website of Bayan
5- Who is Bab and what is his word? By Nooreddin Chahardehi, p. 102, History of Sodour al-Sodour by Nasrollah Rastegar pp.417 & 418
