Calligraphic exercise of the Báb written before He was 10 years old

(The Báb – The Herald of the Day of Days, by Hand of the Cause Balyuzi)

The Báb's first day at school

The principal of the school that the Báb attended when He was almost five years old has left an account concerning His first day at school:

On the promised morning the Child arrived followed by a servant carrying a small [copper-tray] filled with sweets and a student’s version of the Qur’an, which is customary for the new pupil to read from in schools in Shiraz.

Because of Aqa Mirza Muhammad-Rida’s [the father of the Báb] descriptions of Him, the Shaykh, several of students who had reached the age of maturity, and I were thoroughly enthralled in watching Him. He came in, greeted [every one] and sat before Shaykh Anam [His teacher]. Soon after, His maternal uncle, Haji Mirza Siyyid Ali, arrived as well and sat next to the Shaykh. After the exchange of formal pleasantries, the Shaykh took the Qur’an from the tray of sweet-meats, opened it, and said [to the young Pupil], “Come Aqa, read.” He smiled and said, “As you please.” As was customary, the Shaykh told Him to read, “He is the Deliverer, the All-Knowing.” His Holiness remained silent. The Shaykh repeated the verse, but He kept His silence. The Shaykh persisted. He [the Bab] asked, “Who is ‘He’. Can you explain?” The Shaykh responded, “’He’ is God. You are still a child, and what concern of Yours is the meaning of ‘He’?” The Pupil responded, “I am the Deliverer, the All-Knowing!” The Shaykh was deeply enraged and picked up his stick and said to Him, “Do not utter such things here!” His Holiness commenced reading, and His maternal uncle smiled and ordered certain arrangements and then left.

- ‘Mirza Habibu’llah Afnan  (‘Tarikh Amr-i-Fars va Shiraz’, translated and annotated as ‘The Genesis of the Bábi-Baha’i Faiths in Shiraz and Fars’, by Ahang Rabbani)  

Two accounts of the Bab’s childhood days at school

There are some accounts left for posterity concerning the time that the Báb attended school in Shiraz, Persia. Such accounts are priceless because they help us understand how each Manifestation of God exhibits very special God given qualities even in their childhood.

First Account:

A fellow student who was then twelve years old related the following account many years later concerning the Báb’s first day at school.

“The Báb had taken a seat, with great courtesy, in between this boy and another pupil who was also much older than Himself. His head was bowed over the primer put in front of Him, the first lines of which He had been taught to repeat. But He would not utter a word. When asked why He did not read aloud as other boys were doing He made no reply. Just then two boys, sitting near them, were heard to recite a couplet from Hafiz (a well-known Persian poet), which runs thus:

From the pinnacles of Heaven they call out unto thee;

I know not what hath thee here entrapped.

'That is your answer,' said the Báb, turning to …” the older boy who recalled this incident. (The Bab, 'The Herald of the Day of Days', by Hand of the Cause Balyuzi)

The thing remarkable about this account is that not only the Báb who was then only about five years old understood fully the meaning of this couplet, but that he equated himself with the phrase “thee”. To posses such keen understanding of such issues at such a young age is another proof of His innate and God given knowledge.

Outskirts of Shiraz where the Báb often walked

(The Baha'i World 1930-1932)