The Wise and Humble Teacher

A retelling for children, based on the life of Jinab-i-Fadil in Bahá'í Chronicles.

In a small city in the land of Persia, there once lived a boy who loved to learn. His name was Asadu'llah, though most people would later call him by a special name: Fadil.

Even when he was very young, his father became his teacher, and the two of them studied together at home. As Fadil grew, he could not get enough of books. He learned about the stars in the sky, about poetry and languages, about how to think clearly and ask good questions. He studied so hard that by the time he was only twenty years old, the grown-up scholars of his city called him a scholar too.

Here is something surprising. While Fadil was still learning from his own teacher, some of the other students looked at how much he knew, and asked him to teach them. Imagine that — a young man, still a student himself, with students of his own!

One day Fadil came across some writings he had never read before. They were the words of Bahá'u'lláh. The very first one he opened was called "The Glad Tidings." As he read, something inside him woke up. All his life he had been searching for what was true, and now, at last, he felt he had found it. With his whole heart, Fadil became a Bahá'í.

After that, Fadil could not keep such a wonderful discovery to himself. He began to share what he had found with his friends and his students. He even wrote a letter all the way to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, asking how he could best help. 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote back and told him to teach. So Fadil set everything else aside and became a teacher of the Faith — and not just any teacher. He became one of the most loved teachers there was.

Years later, 'Abdu'l-Bahá decided to send Fadil far across the ocean, all the way to America, to teach there too. 'Abdu'l-Bahá called him "a ripened soul" and "a gift to America." He said that Fadil was "wise, well informed and a thinker... learned, sincere, humble." And so Fadil traveled from one side of America to the other, speaking in churches and colleges and big halls full of people, until thousands had heard him.

You might think that someone so clever, who knew so very much and spoke to such great crowds, would become proud. But Fadil was not like that at all. The more he learned, the gentler he became. He was kind and humble, and everyone who met him came to love him. He kept on serving and teaching for the rest of his long life.

That is the quiet secret of a truly wise person. Real wisdom does not make you look down on others — it makes you kinder. The most learned man many people had ever met was also one of the most humble, and that is exactly why he was so loved.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "Mirza Asadu’llah Fadil Mazandarani (Jinab-i-Fadil)".

editors, B. C.. *Bahá'í Chronicles*. https://bahaichronicles.org/mirza-asadullah-fadil-mazandarani-jinab-i-fadil/