|
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 |