, a term applied in early S̲h̲īʿism to the senior authorised disciple of the Imām. The hagiographical Uterature of the Twelver S̲h̲īʿa usually names the bābs of the Imāms. Among the Ismāʿīliyya [q.v.] bāb was a rank in the hierarchy. The term was already in use in pre-Fāṭimid times, though its significance is uncertain (cf. W. Ivanow, The Alleged Founder of Ismailism , Bombay 1946, 125 n. 2, citing al-Kas̲h̲s̲h̲ī, Rid̲j̲āl , 322; idem, Notes sur l’Ummu ’l-Kitab , in REI, 1932, 455; idem, Studies in early Persian Ismailism ², Bombay 1955, 19 ff.). Under the Fāṭimids in Egypt the bāb cornes imme…