Bahá'u'lláh

Born into wealth in 1817, Ḥusayn-ʻAlí refused a government post at twenty-two and spent his early years managing estates and funding charities. At twenty-seven he joined the Bábí movement — a sect advocating the overthrow of Islamic law — and became one of its loudest voices. The backlash was swift: at thirty-three, during a crackdown meant to kill the movement, he lost his properties and was thrown into the Síyáh-Chál dungeon, where he said God first spoke to him. Banished from Iran, he landed in Ottoman Iraq, but his growing influence spooked Iranian authorities enough that they lobbied to h…