Title of Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad, Founder of the Bábí Faith, regarded by Bahá’ís as a Messenger of God in His own right and as the forerunner of Bahá’u’lláh. A devout young merchant born on 20 October 1819 in the city of Shiraz in southern Iran, the Báb declared His mission in 1844. His first disciples, the Letters of the Living, quickly spread His teachings throughout Iran, enlisting thousands of followers. On the orders of Haji Mirza Aqasi, the prime minister of Muhammad Shah Qajar, the Báb was arrested in 1847 and successively held in two remote fortresses in the province of Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran. He was executed by firing squad in the provincial capital, Tabriz, in July 1850. Followers retrieved and hid His remains, which were eventually transferred to the Holy Land—first, to Acre, and then to their final resting place in a mausoleum on Mount Carmel in the city of Haifa (See: Bahá’í World Center).