The Youthful Sage of Baghdád
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When in Bahá'í history
Baghdád (today: Baghdad, Iraq)
Bahíyyih Khánum, the daughter of Bahá’u’lláh, recalled her brother’s youth in Baghdád:
During these years Abbas Effendi was accustomed to frequent the mosques and argue with the doctors and learned men. They were astonished at His knowledge and acumen, and He came to be known as the youthful sage. They would ask Him, 'Who is your teacher - where do you learn the things which you say?' His reply was that His Father had taught Him. Although He had never been a day in school, He was as proficient in all that was taught as well-educated young men, which was the cause of much remark among those who knew Him.
In appearance my brother was at this time a remarkably fine-looking youth. He was noted as one of the handsomest young men in Baghdad.
Source: Myron H. Phelps, Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi (1903), pp. 25–26, from the account given him by Bahíyyih Khánum.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: abdul-baha-childhood).
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