Mírzá Muhammad ʻAlí was one of the sons of Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith. He was the eldest son of his father's second wife, Fatimih Khanum, later known as Mahd-i-'Ulya, whom Baháʼu'lláh married in Tehran in 1849. Muhammad ʻAlí received the title from his father of G͟husn-i-Akbar.
Mírzá Muhammad ʻAlí. Detail from a larger photograph, assumed to have been taken in Adrianople in 1868, when ʻAlí was 16.
Baháʼu'lláh was the founder of the Baháʼí Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Persia and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Bábí Faith. In 1863, in Iraq, he first announced his claim to a revelation from God and spent the rest of his life in further imprisonment in the Ottoman Empire. His teachings revolved around the principles of unity and religious renewal, ranging from moral and spiritual progress to world governance.
Baháʼu'lláh in 1868
A depiction of Mírzá Buzurg, the father of Baháʼu'lláh
The Shrine of the Báb, set amidst 19 terraces on Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel
Evening view of the Shrine of the Báb, an important pilgrimage site for all Bahá’ís