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One of the first words that a new student of Arabic learns is "Bab." It is one of the simplest combinations of the two initial letters of the alphabet, and means "gate" or "door." This easy combination, however, becomes a gateway or a door to countless hours of study needed to master one of the world's richest languages.

My Arabic professor on that first night of class at George Washington University also said this, with a smile on his face: "The word Bab means "gate," "door" or "the co-founder of a world-religion." "That last reference was to a young merchant named Siyyid-Ali Muhammad who was born in the city of Shiraz, Persia (now Iran) on October 20, 1819. In his mid-twenties, he announced that he was the bearer of a new religious message and took the title of "the Bab." One interpretation of his reason for choosing this title is that his teachings would serve as a gate for religion to evolve to an entirely new phase. Another interpretation is that his teachings would serve as a gate to the holy land that is potentially within all of us -- the human heart or soul.