Memorial of Shaykh Muḥammad-'Alíy-i-Qá'iní (Nabíl-i-Akbar of Khurásán)

Among the great learned figures of the Cause whom 'Abdu'l-Bahá remembers in Memorials of the Faithful is Shaykh Muḥammad-'Alíy-i-Qá'iní, known in the Bahá'í records also as Nabíl-i-Akbar of Khurásán. He was, before his recognition of the Cause, one of the most distinguished young clerical scholars of his generation in eastern Persia.

Shaykh Muḥammad-'Alí was born in Qá'in, in the province of South Khurásán. He pursued the traditional clerical education of his time, travelling for the higher portion of his studies to the Shi'a holy cities of Najaf and Karbalá in Mesopotamia. There he studied under the greatest mujtahids of the day. He distinguished himself by his memory, his sharpness in argument, and the seriousness of his piety. His teachers predicted for him a future at the highest levels of the Persian religious establishment.

The story 'Abdu'l-Bahá tells is of a great learning that, at its height, encountered a greater. While in the holy cities, Shaykh Muḥammad-'Alí heard of the Cause of God. The first reports came to him through scholarly channels — texts brought back from Persia by other students, reports of the new teachings circulating among the 'ulamá themselves. He investigated.

He read carefully. He weighed what he read against the prophetic literature he had been studying for fifteen years. He arrived, after a period of struggle, at the conclusion that the Cause was true.

The recognition cost him everything. He was, by his ecclesiastical standing, on the threshold of a brilliant career. The conversion to the Cause closed every door that had been opening before him. His teachers disowned him; his colleagues turned away; the network of patronage that would have carried him into senior religious appointment was cut at once.

He bore the loss without protest. The Master records that his learning lay down at the door of his Lord, and his pride was the first sacrifice he offered. He returned to Persia, took up the dress and conduct of an ordinary believer, and began the patient teaching work of a faithful disciple.

His learning was, in the new mode, a different kind of asset. He could speak to the 'ulamá in their own vocabulary. He could meet the most subtle of objections in the language of the objector. He drew, by patient reasoned exposition, a substantial number of clerical recognitions of the Cause across the Khurásán province.

He travelled in his later years to Egypt, where he laboured among the small Persian community of Cairo. He died there, in exile from his birthplace, in the service of the Faith that had cost him every other career.

The Master closes: He has joined the host of the great learned among the believers, and his place is high.

Source: 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Memorials of the Faithful (Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1915). Public domain text from Project Gutenberg eBook #19279.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1915). *Memorials of the Faithful*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/memorials-faithful/