NABIL-E AKBAR, title of AÚqa@ Moh®ammad Qa@÷eni, a prominent Bahai author and apologist (b. Now Ferest, [Razmara, Farhang IX, p. 428], a village near Qa@÷en, 23 Ramadáa@n 1244/29 March 1829; d. Bukhara, 13 Dòu'l-háejja 1309/6 July 1892).

Mohammad Qa@÷eni, also known as Fa@zµel-e Qa@÷eni, received the title Nabil-e Akbar from Baha@÷-Alla@h (q.v.). He was the son of an influential and popular cleric, Molla@ Ahámad, from a family of mojtaheds. He studied traditional Islamic sciences with his father before going to Sabzava@r, where he studied theology and the philosophy of illuminationism (q.v., háekmat-e eæra@q) with the foremost philosopher of the time in Persia, Háa@jj Molla@ Ha@di Sabzava@ri (q.v.) for five years. On his way to Najaf in 1852 for further studies, he met Sayyed Ya¿qub, a Ba@bi convert, in Tehran, who gave him the writings of the Ba@b (q.v.), which led to his conversion to the Ba@bi movement (Solayma@ni, pp. 435-42). In Najaf, he studied Islamic jurisprudence with eminent mojtaheds of the ¿Osáuli School, in particular with Shaikh Mortazµa@ Ansáa@ri (q.v.), from whom, upon submitting a resa@la, he received the license of ejteha@d (q.v.) after six years, despite being suspected of being a Ba@bi. His mastery of both the illuminationist philosophy and Islamic jurisprudence made him a notable scholar of religion (¿Abd-al-Baha@÷, tr., pp. 1-5; Solayma@ni, pp. 428-29; Raf¿ati, p. 110; Balyuzi, pp. 112-15).

Shortly before leaving for Persia in 1859, Shaikh H®asan Raæti, a Ba@bi convert, persuaded Nabil to visit Baha@÷-Alla@h in Baghdad. He stayed in Baghdad as a guest of Baha@÷-Alla@h and seems to have been one of the few to acknowledge Baha@÷-Alla@h's mission before it was declared in 1863. Upon Baha@÷-Alla@h's instruction, he returned to Persia to promulgate the Ba@bi religion. He is reported to have been initially received in Persia with respect, and the governor of Q@a÷en, Heæmat-al-Molk Amir ¿Alam Khan, admired him and valued his company. This aroused the resentment of local ulema, who arranged a debate between him and Molla@ Ebra@him, a learned cleric of Qa@÷en (Solayma@ni, p. 452; Raf¿ati, p. 111). The debate revealed Nabil's mastery of Islamic sciences, and from then on he was invited to preach from the pulpit (menbar). Preaching in mosques, however, did not prevent him from promoting the Ba@bi movement privately, and some inhabitants of the region embraced Babism. His missionary activities eventually antagonized the local ulema, who persuaded the governor to have him arrested (Fo÷a@di Boæru÷i, forthcoming; Solayma@ni, pp. 454-55). He was imprisoned and tortured for two months in nearby Birjand and then returned to Qa@÷en, where he remained under house arrest for two years before being banished to Maæhad. The governor of Maæhad, SoltÂa@n Mora@d Mirza@ H®osa@m-al-SaltÂana, respected Nabil and offered him protection, and after one year he returned to Qa@÷en as a free man.

During the year that he was in Maæhad, Molla@ Moháammad-¿Ali Zarandi (Nabil-e A¿záam) informed him of Baha@÷-Alla@h's public declaration of his mission. Nabil wrote a letter to all Ba@bis in the region, encouraging them to accept Baha@÷-Alla@h's claim. Local ulema, in particular Sayyed Abu T@®a@leb, a cleric in Qa@÷en, wrote letters to eminent ulema lobbying for a death sentence. Finally Nabil was sent in exile to Tehran in 1870 by the royal order (Fo÷a@di Boæru÷i, forthcoming; Solayma@ni, p. 456).

Nabil could no longer wear the turban denoting his profession and had to wear layman's hat instead, but this did not stop him promulgating the Bahai religion in Tehran for the next three and half years. He left Tehran for Qazvin in 1874 (Samandar, 1976, p. 325) and shortly afterwards visited Baha@÷-Alla@h in Acre and received from him the title of Nabil-e Akbar. In his honor, Baha@÷-Alla@h also penned the Lawhá-e háekmat, a philosophical text that forms the central part of Baha@÷-Alla@h's writings (Shoghi Effendi, p. 219).

After a year in Acre, he returned to Persia and, despite the danger, continued preaching the Bahai religion privately and publicly. He traveled to major cities, including Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, Kerman, Mashad, Zanjan, and Qazvin, meeting with local ulema and other notables. Some converted to the Bahai religion through him, such as Mirza@ H®asan Adib, a prominent early Bahai. The threat to his life and the lives of those associated with him continued, and the Bahais felt unable to protect him (¿Abd-al-Baha@÷, tr., p. 3; Solayma@ni, p. 480). So, in 1890, he left for Ashkabad (q.v.), in the company of his nephew Shaikh Moháammad-¿Ali (q.v.). He was arrested in Sabzava@r on the way to Ashkabad, but the governor of the city was so impressed with him that he helped him escape. Nabil settled in Ashkabad, continued his missionary activities, and contributed to the establishment of a large, resourceful Bahai community there (Solayma@ni, pp. 480-85; Mehára@b-kòa@ni, p. 226; Momen, pp. 286-87). In 1890-91, he and Mirza@ Abu'l-Fazµl Golpa@yega@ni (q.v.) assisted in the establishment of Bahai communities in Bukhara and Samarqand (Shoghi Effendi, p. 195). Shortly afterwards, Nabil died in Bukhara and was buried there.

¿Abd-al-Baha@÷, Baha@÷-Alla@'s son and the leader of the religion since 1892, wrote a zia@rat-na@ma (prayer recited at the time of entering a shrine) for Nabil and instructed the local Bahais of Ashkabad to send an annual delegation of nine believers on his behalf to visit Nabil's grave and recite this text. Twenty years later, ¿Abd-al-Baha@÷ instructed Shaikh Moháammad-¿Ali, Nabil's nephew, to transfer his remains to the Bahai cemetery in Ashkabad, where they remain. He also instructed Moháammad-¿Ali Zarandi to compose a versified biography of Nabil, which he did in the form of a mat¯nawi (Raf¿ati, pp. 107-19).

Nabil has been described by ¿Abd-al-Baha@÷ as a man "of wide learning, at once a mojtahed, a philosopher, a mystic, and gifted with intuitive sight, he was also an accomplished man of letters and an orator without a peer" (tr., p. 5; Balyuzi, pp. 112-15; Samandar, pp. 317-27; Taherzadeh, pp. 91-95). In recognition of his contributions to the Bahai cause, he was posthumously given the title of "Hand of the Cause" (see AYAÚDI-E AMR-ALLAÚH), an honorific title given to eight Bahais during Baha@÷-Alla@h's lifetime, and referred to as one of the nineteen "Apostles of Baha@÷-Alla@h" by Shoghi Effendi (Balyuzi, p. 261).

Works. His major work is his Resa@la (1858) a versified treatise in Arabic on the fundamental tenets of Islam, for which he received the license to practice ejteha@d (Solayma@ni, pp. 444-45; Eæra@q Kòa@vari, pp. 133-50); copies exist in private collections. Qasáida-ye tÂa@÷iyya is a poem in 445 Arabic verses emulating al-T®a@÷iya al-kobra@, the classic mystical masterpiece of Ebn al-Fa@rezµ. It was composed in Iraq in 1859, probably influenced by Baha@÷-Alla@h's Qasáida-ye warqa@÷iya. It is a description of Nabil's mystical search for truth and his eventual belief in Baha@÷-Alla@h (publ. in photocopies of Nabil's own handwriting; see Eæra@q Kòa@vari, pp.133-50; Roháa@ni, pp. 73-106). Other works include: an incomplete qasáida in 65 Arabic verses, discussing Islamic eschatology, in particular the Bahai proofs for the causes of Ba@b and Baha@÷-Alla@h (AÚyati, I, pp. 421-26); ˆab o ruz, a Persian poem in couplet form of 378 lines (partly publ. in Dòoka@÷i Bayzµa@÷i, pp. 279-83); a versified letter of 31 distiches in Persian addressed to a certain ¿Ali-Moháammad Varqa@ (Solayma@ni, pp. 539-42); and a collection of mainly apologetic letters, written in Persian and Arabic to government officials, religious leaders, and friends (Solayma@ni, pp. 464-78, 501-42).

In addition, Nabil edited Mirza@ H®osayn Hamada@ni's Ta@rikò-e Badi¿-e baya@ni (1883-84), on the history of the Ba@bi faith, at the behest of Baha@÷-Alla@h. Based on the noticeable stylistic variation, it is thought that the later sections dealing with the proofs of Babism were written by Nabil (Forqa@ni, pp. 56-72); a copy is held in the International Bahai Archives, Haifa. Other, unpublished works by Nabil remain in private collections, such as a res@a@la in Persian titled Tohfa-ye Na@sáeriya, a Bahai apologetic (®Fo÷a@di Boæru÷i, forthcoming; Solayma@ni, pp. 494).

Bibliography: ¿Abd-al-Bah@a@÷, Tadòkerat al-wafa@÷ fi tarjamat háaya@t qodama@÷ al-aháebba@÷, tr. with annotations Marzieh Gail as Memorials of the Faithful, Wilmette, 1971. ¿Abd-al-H®osayn AÚyati (AÚva@ra), al-Kawa@keb al-dorriya fi ma÷a@t¯er al-baha@÷iya, 2 vols., Cairo, 1914. B aha@÷-Alla@h, "Lawhá-e H®ekmat (Tablet of Wisdom)," in idem, Tablets of Baha@÷u'lla@h Revealed after the Kita@b-i Aqdas, Wilmette, 1984. Hasan M. Balyuzi, Eminent Baha'is in the Time of Baha'u'llah with Some Historical Background, Oxford, 1985, p. 261. Ne¿mat-Alla@h D¨oka@÷i Bayzµa@÷i, Tadòkara-ye æo¿ara@-ye qarn-e awwal-e Baha@÷i IV, Tehran, 1973, pp. 251-89. ¿Abd-al-H®amid Eæra@q K¨a@vari, "Qasáida-ye tÂa@÷iyya, Jana@b-e Nabil-e Akbar AÚqa@ Moháammad Fa@zµel Qa@÷eni," in Sa@l-na@ma-ye java@na@n-e Baha@÷i-e Ira@n, Tehran, 1965. Minou Foa@di, "Zendagi-na@ma-ye Nabil-e Akbar AÚqa@ Moháammad Fa@zµel Qa@÷eni," in Kòuæaha@-i az kòarman-e adab wa honar XIII: dawra-ye Nabil-e Akbar, Darmstadt, 2002, pp. 17-44. H®asan Fo÷a@di Boæru÷i, "Mana@záer-e ta@rikòi-e nahzµat-e amr-e Baha@÷i dar Kòora@sa@n," in Ta@rikò-e amri-e Kòora@sa@n, forthcoming. B. Forg@a@ni, "Nega@hi be AÚtòa@r-e jana@b-e Nabil-e Akbar Qa@÷eni," in Kòuæaha@-i az kòarman-e adab wa honar XIII: dawra-ye Nabil-e Akbar, Darmstadt, 2002, pp. 56-72. R. Mehára@b-kòa@ni, Zendaga@ni-e Mirza@ Abu'l-Fazµl Golpa@yega@ni, Langenheim, 1988, p. 48. Moojan Momen, "The Baha÷i Community of Ashkhabad; Its Social Basis and Importance in Baha'i History," in Shirin Akiner, ed., Cultural Change and Continuity in Central Asia, London, 1991, pp. 286-87. V. Raf¿ati, " Matònawi-e Nabil Zarandi dar ba@ra-ye æarh-e háa@la@t-e Aqa@ Moháammad Nabil-e Akbar Qa@÷eni," in Kòuæaha@-i az kòarman-e adab wa honar XIII: dawra-ye Nabil Akbar, Darmstadt, 2002, pp. 107-19. N. Roháa@ni, " Ra@ha@vard-e eæq: Moruri bar ta@÷iya-ye Hazµrat-e Nabil-e Akbar Qa@÷eni," in ibid., Darmstadt, 2002, pp. 73-106. Ka@záem Samandar, Ta@rikò-e Samandar wa molháaqa@t, Tehran, 1976. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes by, Wilmette, 1987. ¿Aziz-Alla@h Solayma@ni, "Jana@b-e AÚqa@ Moháammad Qa@÷eni," in idem, Masáa@bihá-e heda@yat I, Tehran, 1947, pp. 425-542. Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha@'u'llah I, Oxford, 1974. (No non-Baha'i sources are available on Nabil-e Akbar)

(MINOU FOADI)

March 8, 2005