On reaching His twenty-fifth year, in response to divine command, He declared that “God the Exalted had elected Him to the station of Bábhood.” In “A Traveller’s Narrative” 1 we read that:—“What he intended by the term Báb was this, that he was the channel of grace from some great Person still behind the veil of glory, who was the possessor of countless and boundless perfections, by whose will he moved, and to the bond of whose love he clung.”—A Traveller’s Narrative (Episode of the Báb), p. 3.

In those days belief in the imminent appearance of a Divine Messenger was especially prevalent among a sect known as the Shaykhís, and it was to a distinguished divine belonging to this sect, called Mullá Husayn Bushrú’i, that the Báb first announced His mission. The exact date of this announcement is given in the Bayán, one of the Báb’s Writings, as two hours and eleven minutes after sunset on the eve preceding the fifth day of the month of Jamádiyu’l-Avval 1260 A.H. 2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was born in the course of the same night, but the exact hour of His birth has not been ascertained. After some days of anxious investigation and study, Mullá Husayn became firmly convinced that the Messenger long expected by the Shí’ihs had indeed appeared. His eager enthusiasm over this discovery was soon shared by several of his friends. Before long the majority of the Shaykhís accepted the Báb, becoming known as Bábís; and soon the fame of the young Prophet began to spread like wildfire throughout the land.