BABISM (from BInt, or BABY); the appellation of a sect in Persia, founded by Seyd Mohammed Ali, b. about 1824, who assumed the name. of " Bilb," i.e. "the sate." On returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1843, Seyd appeared in his native city (Shiraz) with a new commentary on the Koran, and soon became engaged in controversy with the regular priests, who, exasperated by his free criticism of their conduct, obtained an order forbidding him to teach in public and confining him to his house. Here he taught pri vately, increasing his pretensions, and declared that he was Nokteh, "the point;" not merely the recipient of a new divine revelation, but the focus in which all preceding dis pensations would converge. He gained proselytes rapidly, among them a woman—a wonderful circumstance in any country of tire east—known as Gourred-Oul-Ayn (" Con, solntion of the Eyes,") because of her surpassing loveliness. The new religion made rapid progress, and the efforts of the authorities to suppress it produced civil war. Iltissier, one of Seyd's disciples, was taken, after defeating several expeditions sent against him, and put to death in 1849; and the next year Balfouroushi, another leader, was slain in battle. The Bab himself was imprisoned and executed, but his death did' not discourage his followers. They recognized Mirza Yahya, a youth of noble descent, as his successor, who established himself in Bagdad, where he is now, or was not long ago, living. An attempt in 1852 of some zealous Babis to assassinate the Shah led to a
terrible persecution, in which the beautiful " Consolation of the Eyes" perished. The Bill, doctrines are essentially a system of pantheism, with additions from gnostic and other sources. All individual existence is regarded as emanating from the superior deity, by whom it will ultimately be reabsorbed. Great importance is attached to the number as indicating the attributes supposed to be displayed in tire act of creation; and to the number 19. which mystically expresses the name of the Deity himself, and is, moreover, tire sum of the prophets among whom the latest incarnation of the divine nature is conceived to be distributed in the present dispensation. The sacred college cannot become extinct until the final judgment, tire death of any of its members being immediately followed by a re-incarnation, as in the case of the grand lama. Moses. Christ, and Mohammed are considered to be prophets, but merely precursors of the Bab. The morals of the sect are good; polygamy and concubinage are forbidden; the veiling of woman's face is omitted, and the equality of the sex is so far recognized that at least one of the 19 prophets must always be a female. Asceticism is discountenanced, men dicancy prohibited, and hospitality, charity, generous living, and abstinence from intoxi cating liquors and drugs, are taught and practiced.