Azali

An Azali or Azali Bábí is a follower of the monotheistic religion of Subh-i-Azal and the Báb. Early followers of the Báb were known as Bábís; however, in the 1860s a split occurred after which the vast majority of Bábís followed Mirza Husayn `Ali, known as Bahá'u'lláh, and became known as Bahá'ís, while the minority who followed Subh-i-Azal came to be called Azalis.

Current estimates are that there are no more than a few thousand.

Azalis do not accept any who advanced claims to be the Báb's promised one ("Him whom God shall make manifest"). The most bitterly contested claim is that of Bahá'u'lláh in 1863. Azalis rejected the divine claims of Bahá'u'lláh, arguing that the world must first accept the laws of the Báb before "He Whom God Shall Make Manifest" can appear.

With respect to the direction that Azali Bábism took immediately after the split, MacEoin notes:

Azali Babism represents the conservative core of the original Babi movement, opposed to innovation and preaching a religion for a non-clerical gnostic elite rather than the masses. It also retains the original Babi antagonism to the Qajar state and a commitment to political activism, in distinction to the quietist stance of Baháism [sic]. Paradoxically, Azali conservatism in religious matters seems to have provided a matrix within which radical social and political ideas could be propounded.

After the split with the Bahá'ís, some Azalis were very active in secular reform movements and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905–1907), including Shaykh Ahmad Ruhi Kermani and Mirza Abd-al-Hosayn Kermani. However, the community was still suppressed as a heresy and the accusation of being an Azali was often enough for most to believe it to be true. Coupled with the Azali practice of taqiyya (dissimulation) determining whether or not a particular figure in Persian politics was an Azali is difficult.

Taqiya ("dissimulation") was practiced by some Bábís. It was justified by some as a response to the often violent oppression the community faced. However, prominent Bábí leaders never encouraged individuals to practice it; and some who had practiced taqiyya later abandoned it, declared themselves openly, and were put to death.

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