Babism, religion that developed out of the Shia branch of Islam. It began in Shīrāz, Persia (now Iran), on May 23, 1844, when Mirza Ali Muhammad proclaimed some of its principles. Mirza Ali Muhammad became known as the Bab (Arabic, “the Gate”).

The Bab declared that the prophets were divine manifestations of God himself and that he, the Bab, was one of the prophets, equal to Muhammad in importance and the precursor of an even greater “Manifestation,” which was to appear 19 years after the founding of Babism. He also wrote a new holy book, the Bayán (Explanation), to supersede the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam. Babism forbade polygamy and concubinage and sought to alter many other Islamic customs. Babism also proclaimed the coming of an era in which all religions would be united under one spiritual head. The Bab soon founded a group of 18 disciples, 17 men and 1 woman, and the faith spread rapidly in Persia until the accession of Shah Nasr-ed-Din in 1848. During the shah’s rule the government and the Babis came into conflict. After two years the Babis were subdued, and the Bab, although he had not taken part in the conflict, was imprisoned and executed at Tabrīz on July 9, 1850.

After the death of the Bab, Babism continued to be preached throughout Persia and the Middle East. In 1863 a follower of the Bab, Mirza Husayn Ali of Nur, called Baha’u’llah (“the Glory of God”), proclaimed himself the promised “Manifestation,” and on the basis of Babism founded a new faith, called Baha'i.