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Mirza Yahya Nuri Subh-i Azal (1831 - 1912) was a Persian religious leader. He was a disciple of the Báb's, and before the Báb's martyrdom in 1850, Mirza Yahya was named as his successor in the leadership of the Babis, and was also appointed by the Bab to finish his work the Persian Bayan. His title of Subh-i-Azal or the "Morning of Eternity" was conferred on him by the Bab after Yahya became the return of Quddus as Mirza Jani tells us. On these points it is instructive to read what the Bab stated in his will regarding Mirza Yahya:
"....This is a letter from God, the Guardian, the Self-Subsisting, to God, the Guardian, the Self-Subsisting.... This is a letter from Ali before Nabil, the Reminder of God for the worlds, to him whose name is equivalent to the name of the One, the Reminder of God for the worlds.... That, O thou, name of the One, guard what has been revealed in the Bayan and enjoin the same, for thou art surely the way, the great truth." (Quoted from the "History and Doctrines of the Babi Movement" who quotes Browne's "Introduction to Nuqtatul Qaf".)
Mirza Yahya was the son of Mirza Buzurg of Nur, and a younger-half-brother of Mirza Husain Ali, better known as Bahá'u'lláh.
Since he was in prison at the time of the Báb's death, he escaped to Baghdad in the Ottoman Empire, and under the title of Subh-i Azal (the Dawn of Eternity), became the pontiff of the Bábís.
In 1863, after Bahá'u'lláh claimed that he was the one whom the Báb prophesized about and asked the Bábís to follow him, Mirza Yayha became the leader of the Azali sect of Bábism. Mirza Yahya followed Bahá'u'lláh through his exiles to Constantinople and Adrianople and was constantly at odds with him.
In 1868 Mirza Yahya was exiled to Cyprus and died in Famagusta, Cyprus in 1912. His followers are usually called Azalis or Azali Bábis; their populations are likely to be quite low. He is sometimes considered to be the antichrist by Bahá'ís.
References
- Browne, E.G. (1891). A Travellers Narrative. Cambridge.
- Britannica (Eds.) (1911). Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Chicago.
- "History and Doctrines of The Babi Movement", by Maulana Muhammad Ali; Lahore, India. 1933
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