Baháʼí Communities Commemorate the Birth Anniversaries of the Twin Holy Birthdays of the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh
Throughout the world, Baháʼí Communities Commemorate the 204th and 206th Birth Anniversaries of the Twin Holy Birthdays of the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh respectively on 1, 2 ‘Ilm, 180 B. E. (Baháʼí Era) i.e 16, 17 October 2023.
Every Faith celebrates the birth of its Founder with great joy—but the Baha’is around the world double that joy when they observe the Twin Holy Days.
Baha’is celebrate the births of both the Bab and Baha’u’llah, the two Prophets associated with the Baha’i revelation, in quick succession—one right after the other.
Baha’is regard the Bab and Baha’u’llah as twin Manifestations of God, both Prophets and Founders of independent religions, whose Faiths ultimately came together as one.
In 2014 the Universal House of Justice announced that it was time for all Baha’i communities around the world to adopt the Baha’i calendar. Now, Baha’is and their friends all over the globe can truly celebrate the these Twin Holy Days as one joyous festival.
They are observed on the first and the second day following the occurrence of the eighth new moon after Naw-Rúz, as determined in advance by astronomical tables using Tehran as the point of reference. This results in the observance of the Twin Birthdays moving, year to year, within the months of Mashíyyat, ʻIlm, and Qudrat of the Baháʼí calendar, or from mid-October to mid-November in the Gregorian calendar.
(Universal House of Justice (10 July 2014).
Prior to 2015 and a decision by the Universal House of Justice, these two holy days had been observed on the first and second days of Muharram in the Islamic lunar calendar in the Middle East, while other countries observed them according to the Gregorian calendar on 20 October (for the birth of the Báb) and 12 November (for the birth of Baháʼu'lláh).
For centuries, the peoples of the world have awaited the Promised Day of God, a Day when peace and harmony would be established on earth. The dawn of this new Day witnessed the appearance of not one but two Manifestations of God, the Bab and Baha’u’llah, Whose Revelations released the spiritual forces destined to transform society.
With the birth of the Baha’i Faith the realization of two related but independent religions arising within one age was actualized.
All the peoples of the world are awaiting two Manifestations, Who must be contemporaneous; all wait for the fulfillment of this promise. In the Bible the Jews have the promise of the Lord of Hosts and the Messiah; in the Gospel the return of Christ and Elijah is promised. In the religion of Muhammad there is the promise of the Mihdi and the Messiah, and it is the same with the Zoroastrian and the other religions. ('Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, US Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1990, p39).
The reason behind this rapid succession, and the unprecedented bounties released by the Revelation of Twin Manifestations, remains a mystery.
“That so brief an interval,” He [Baha’u’llah], moreover has asserted, “should have separated this most mighty and wondrous Revelation from Mine own previous Manifestation is a secret that no man can unravel, and a mystery such as no mind can fathom. Its duration had been foreordained.” (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, US Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1979, p92).
'Abdu’l-Baha sets forth conclusively the true relationship between the twin Founders of the Faith, with this illuminating explanation:
The Revelation of the Bab may be likened to the sun. The station of Baha’u’llah’s Revelation, on the other hand, is represented by the sun’s mid-summer and highest station. By this is meant that this holy Dispensation is illumined with the light of the Sun of Truth shining from its most exalted station, and in the plenitude of its resplendency, its heat and glory. (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, US Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1979, pp99-100).
The notion of "twin Manifestations of God" is a concept fundamental to Baháʼí belief, describing the relationship between the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh. Both are considered Manifestations of God in their own right, having each founded separate religions (Bábism and the Baháʼí Faith) and revealed their own holy scriptures.
To Baháʼís, however, the missions of the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh are inextricably linked: The Báb's mission was to prepare the way for the coming of Him whom God shall make manifest, who eventually appeared in the person of Baháʼu'lláh. For this reason, both the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh are revered as central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. A parallel is made between Baháʼu'lláh and the Báb as between Jesus and John the Baptist.
In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Baháʼu'lláh wrote that his birthday and that of the Báb "are accounted as one in the sight of God".
It has been prophesied that in the time of these two Manifestations the earth will be transformed, the world of existence will be renewed. Justice and truth will encompass the world; enmity and hatred will disappear; all causes of division among peoples, races and nations will vanish; and the cause of union, harmony and concord will appear. ('Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, US Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1990, p39).
Further cementing the bond between these two Manifestations is the celebration of their Twin Birthdays. “The Festival of the Twin Birthdays” or “Twin Holy Days” celebrates the birth of the Bab on the first day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar (20 October 1819) and the birth of Baha’u’llah on the second day of Muharram (two years prior, on 12 November 1817). Regarding the Twin Birthdays, Baha’u’llah has stated:
These two days are accounted as one in the sight of God. (Baha’u’llah, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Baha’i World Centre, 1992, p225).
The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh were unique in religious history. Never before had a Manifestation of God served as the Herald of another Manifestation, as the Báb did for Bahá’u’lláh. As a result, They are known as the Twin Manifestations of God. This book shares the facts and major milestones of the lives of both Manifestations, in a format that is easy for children to compare.
A “Manifestation of God” is a Baha’i concept used to define an intermediary between God and humanity, or what is commonly referred to as a Messenger or Prophet. The term “Twin Manifestations” refers to the unprecedented Revelation of the Bab and Baha’u’llah in rapid succession of one another.
The Báb and Baháʼu'lláh are revered as Central Figures of the Baháʼí Faith. Both are Manifestations of God in their own right. The lives and missions of the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh are inextricably linked. Together, these Divine Messengers are the twin Manifestations of God for this Era.
Bahá'ís believe that there is only one God, unknowable in His essence, Who is the Creator and absolute ruler of the universe. Bahá'u'lláh says, “It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.”
The title Baha’u’llah means “the Glory of God” – and in the Book of Revelation, Jesus foretold the coming of the “Glory of God”:
The title Baha’u’llah means “the Glory of God” – and in the Book of Revelation, Jesus foretold the coming of the “Glory of God”:
Two years later, in 1819, Siyyid ‘Ali-Muhammad was born in Shiraz, a city in southern Persia. He later took the title, the Bab, meaning “the Gate.”
In 1844, in Shiraz, at age 25, the Bab declared that He had been called by God to be humanity’s gateway to a new and glorious future. As one of God’s Divine Educators, the Bab established a new religion. He called for the people to prepare for the coming of “Him Whom God shall make manifest,” another Divine Messenger Who would soon appear and initiate an era of global justice, unity, and peace. The Bab was an advocate of the poor. He supported the advancement of women, universal education, and the study of science—radical ideas in that time and place.
The Bab’s revelation lasted only six years, from 1844 to His martyrdom in 1850. Both before and after His death, the Babis suffered intense persecution from the Persian government and Shia Islamic clerical establishment, with more that 20,000 Babis killed for their beliefs. Known as the “Dawn-Breakers,” the Bab and his early followers sacrificed everything in their quest to promulgate his new teachings:
From the beginning the Bab must have divined the reception which would be accorded by His countrymen to His teachings, and the fate which awaited Him at the hands of the mullas. But He did not allow personal misgivings to affect the frank enunciation of His claims nor the open presentation of His Cause. The innovations which He proclaimed, though purely religious, were drastic; the announcement of His own identity startling and tremendous. He made Himself known as the Qa’im, the High Prophet or Messiah so long promised, so eagerly expected by the Muhammadan world. He added to this the declaration that he was also the Gate (that is, the Bab) through whom a greater Manifestation than Himself was to enter the human realm. – Introduction to The Dawn-Breakers, p. xxix.
The Bab, referred to by Baha’u’llah as “My Forerunner,” as well as his Herald and Primal Point, prepared the way for Baha’u’llah’s revelation. Baha’u’llah described the Bab’s supreme sacrifice as the one “Who laid down His life for this Great Announcement.” – Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 140.
Baha’u’llah pledged his reciprocal support to the Bab in this statement:
We stand, life in hand, wholly resigned to His will; that perchance, through God’s loving kindness and His grace, this revealed and manifest Letter (Baha’u’llah) may lay down His life as a sacrifice in the path of the Primal Point, the most exalted Word. – Baha’u’llah, The Book of Certitude, p. 251.
Though the Bab was a Manifestation of God and the Founder of a great religion, He also perceived Himself to be a forerunner and had ardently urged His followers to seek out the second Manifestation, cryptically referred to as “He Whom God shall make manifest,” who would emerge “in less than the twinkling of an eye” after His own mission, to complete the unique appearance of twin Manifestations in a single age.
It was not until 1863, nineteen years after the inception of the Babi Faith (thirteen since the Bab’s death), that Baha’u’llah publicly declared Himself as not only the One promised by the Bab, thus yielding that Faith’s “destined fruit and revealing its ultimate purpose” but indeed, He proclaimed to be the Promised One of all Ages.
Then, in 1863 Baha’u’llah fulfilled the Bab’s prophecies by proclaiming and establishing the Baha’i Faith, which eventually subsumed the Bab’s followers and became a global religion.
Baha’u’llah made pivotal comments about the Bab’s revelation. He described the Bab in personal terms as a necessary catalyst in their combined enterprise to build a new society. The Bab, allied with Baha’u’llah, was a “twin figure,” a prophet in his own right invested with the authority of presiding with Baha’u’llah over the destinies of this new dispensation.
Clearly, the Bab willingly gave up his life for the principles of the new cause, doing everything in his power to assist the readiness of the people for the coming of Baha’u’llah. After the final horrific massacres of 1852, with almost no Babis left to revive the faith of the Bab, the task fell to the leading nobleman from Persia, Baha’u’llah. Exiled from His native land in the winter months of 1853, Baha’u’llah went to Baghdad and provided the extinguished flame of the Bab’s new faith the chance to spring back to life.
Baha’u’llah’s son, 'Abdu’l-Baha made it very clear that the Bab played a gigantic role in the establishment of the Baha’i Faith:
Consider how the Bab endured difficulties and tribulations; how He gave His life in the Cause of God; how He was attracted to the love of the Blessed Beauty, Baha’u’llah; and how He announced the glad tidings of His manifestation. We must follow His heavenly example; we must be self-sacrificing and aglow with the fire of the love of God. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 138.
No understanding can grasp the nature of His Revelation, nor can any knowledge comprehend the full measure of His Faith. … He (the Bab) is the Revealer of the divine mysteries, and the Expounder of the hidden and ancient wisdom. – The Book of Certitude, p. 242.
The Bab was the Gate who announced a new day, his mission to close the old era and open a new one. The Bab prepared society for a greater figure, arising courageously against enormous odds to announce his revelation to the religious and state leaders of his time. His life appeared to end in tragic loss and sorrow, but he valiantly did everything in his power to prepare the way for the coming of Baha’u’llah—and succeeded. While most of the Bab’s leading disciples died at the hands of the oppressors, a core group of followers did recognize the fulfillment of the words of the Bab in the person and message of Baha’u’llah. In this way, the Bab exerted a tremendous, incalculable influence on the history of religion and the establishment of the first truly global movement for peace and unity.
Baha’u’llah wrote that humanity would never know the importance of the knowledge and influence of the Bab, that irresistible youth from Shiraz:
To Israel He was neither more nor less than the incarnation of the “Everlasting Father,” the “Lord of Hosts” come down “with ten thousands of saints”; to Christendom Christ returned “in the glory of the Father,” to Shi’ah Islam the return of the Imam Husayn; to Sunni Islam the descent of the “Spirit of God” (Jesus Christ); to the Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram; to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna; to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha. (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, US Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1979, p94)
In April of 1863, Baha’u’llah announced that He was the Promised One foretold by the Bab and all of the Divine Messengers of the past. Baha’u’llah’s Mission was to spiritually re-awaken humanity and unite all the peoples of the world. Through Baha’u’llah God has released a fresh, far-reaching, creative spiritual energy into the world. Baha’u’llah’s teachings shed new light on God’s eternal relationship with humanity and offer a vision of infinite hope and healing.
*Their birthdays* are observed on the first and the second day following the occurrence of the eighth new moon after the Baha’i New Year, which is called Naw-Ruz, and occurs on the first day of spring as determined in advance by astronomical tables using Tehran as the point of reference. This results in the observance of the Twin Birthdays moving, year to year, from mid-October to mid-November in the Gregorian calendar.
In 2014 the Universal House of Justice announced that it was time for all Baha’i communities around the world to adopt the Baha’i calendar. Now, Baha’is and their friends all over the globe can truly celebrate the these Twin Holy Days as one joyous festival.
The Baháʼí Faith has eleven holy days, which are important anniversaries in the history of the religion. On nine of these holy days, work is suspended.
Bahá'ís commemorate 11 holy days each year. These occasions are usually observed with community gatherings in large or small settings, with programs befitting the significance of the day.
16th and 17th October 2023 are Holy days in the Bahá'í calendar when believers suspend work and school.
Compiled by:-
Jaya Raju Thota, India