Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl, Scholar and Servant

A retelling drawn from Bahá'í Chronicles. The account of his weeping at praise is from Adib Taherzadeh's The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, vol. 2, as quoted in Honnold's Vignettes from the Life of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Phrases in quotation marks are words preserved in those records.

Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl was born in 1844 in Gulpáygán, in central Persia, and was given the name Muḥammad. His father was a prominent religious leader in the town. After his father's death in 1871 he attended religious colleges and studied philosophy and mystical philosophy. According to Bahá'í Chronicles he learned from Buddhist scholars and from European instructors as well, and he became head of a religious college, the Madrasih of Ḥakím Háshim, in Ṭihrán.

In 1876 he met a number of Bahá'ís and read two Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, the Súriy-i-Ra'ís and the Lawḥ-i-Fu'ád, which foretold events in the Ottoman Empire. Taherzadeh writes that he waited for those prophecies to be fulfilled before he would accept the Faith. On 20 September 1876 he became a Bahá'í.

His standing did not survive the change. He lost his post at the college and was imprisoned more than once for his faith. After his release Bahá'u'lláh wrote to him, bidding him travel and teach. He was known by the name Abu'l-Faḍl, which Bahá'í Chronicles renders "progenitor of virtue."

He taught the Faith in Egypt and in Turkmenistan. In 1901 Laura Clifford Barney went to Egypt to bring him with her to Paris, and from Paris he went on to America. In 1903 he lectured at Green Acre in Maine, which later became a Bahá'í institution. Professors of philosophy from Harvard and Columbia came to hear him, along with artists and people of influence. Bahá'í Chronicles records the effect: "His knowledge, his intellect, the range of his awareness and his approach both amazed and enlightened the audience."

Those who knew him remembered his humility as much as his learning. After his return from America he sat with a group of American pilgrims in the presence of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 'Akká. The pilgrims began to praise him for the help he had given them: he had taught many souls, defended the Cause against its adversaries, and helped build the Bahá'í community in America. The longer they praised him, the more dejected he became, until he burst into tears and wept aloud. The pilgrims could not understand it. 'Abdu'l-Bahá explained that their praise had hurt him deeply, because he considered himself as nothing in the Cause and sincerely believed he was not worthy of any mention or praise.

At 'Abdu'l-Bahá's request he returned to the Middle East. He fell ill and died in Cairo in January 1914. 'Abdu'l-Bahá named one of the outer doors of the Shrine of the Báb after him. He was one of the Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh, and he never met Bahá'u'lláh in person.

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see Bahá'í Chronicles and Taherzadeh's The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh.

editors, B. C.. *Bahá'í Chronicles*. https://bahaichronicles.org/mirza-abul-fadl/