Bab (gateway)
Bāb is an Arabic word for gateway, also found as a loanword in Persian and Ottoman Turkish. Commonly used names of several gateways built throughout the centuries in Arabic or Persianate societies start with "Bab", such as the Babs of Cairo and those of Marrakech.
The word was taken by Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází, the founder of Bábism and one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith, who called himself "The Báb" in reference to the promised Twelver Mahdi or al-Qá'im. His followers were known as Bábís.
