Fádil Mazandarání

Jináb-i-Fádil
Born	1880 Barfurush, Mazindaran, Iran
Died	December 26, 1957 Tehran, Iran
NSA member	Iran
Media

Mírzá Asadu’llah Fádil Mázandarání (1880 - December 26, 1957), also known as Jináb-i-Fádil, was a Persian Bahá'í scholar. He is notable for his travel teaching in the United States and Canada, his efforts to record the history of the Faith in Iran, and for serving on the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran and Local Spiritual Assembly of Tehran. He also assisted in the publication of Star of the West during one of his visits to America.

Biography

Fádil was born into a noble family in Barfurush in 1880. His father, Mirza Mahmud, was a Shaykhi who worked as a merchant and government official. His mother was daughter of the poet Mīrzā Āqā Bozorg Qaṣṣāb Māzandarānī. He studied under his father in his youth, and as a teenager he engaged with Shaykhi scholars. By the time he was twenty he was recognized as a scholar, with expertise in Arabic literature, philosophy, astronomy, logic, and Islamic traditions.

He came into contact with the Bahá'í Faith while in Barfurush, and was able to meet with survivors of the Battle at Fort Tabarsi. He moved to Tehran to continue his studies at some point, and was able to obtain a copy of Bishárát, a Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh. He became a Bahá'í in 1909 after studying the Tablet and began teaching the Faith, resulting in him being ostracized by some of his fellow students. He wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá around this time and received a reply advising him to teach the Faith.

In 1910 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent Fádil to Iraq with Mīrzā ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Ardestānī, instructing them to meet with Mulla Muhammad Kazim, a leading Shiah Muslim, in Najaf and convince him of the non-political and non-violent nature of the Faith. They were arrested after arriving and interrogated, and while they were deported back to Iran after the interrogation it allowed them to address the Mulla as they had been instructed to, as the details of the interrogation were reported to him. In late 1910/early 1911 Fádil visited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Egypt, and then traveled through India and Burma to promote the Faith. In 1917 he married a woman named Ziayyih Khanum in Rasht, who he eventually had two sons with.

In April 1920 he was sent to the United States and Canada by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to assist and stimulate the communities there and he spoke at that years National Convention. He remained in North America for a year, returning to the Holy Land in July 1921. Shoghi Effendi sent Fádil to America again in 1923, and he remained there until 1925, teaching the Faith in the United States and Canada during his visit. In 1928 he visited Caucasia and Turkestan for a shorter time before returning to serve the Faith in Iran.

In the mid-1920's he began to document the history of the Bábi and Bahá'í Faiths in Iran, compiling his work in a multi-volume work he titled Tarikh Zuhuru’l-Haqq, and he was encouraged by Shoghi Effendi in this endeavor. It was partially published in the 1940's. In the 1990's it was claimed that Fádil was reprimanded for the work, with it being withdrawn from circulation, however this did not actually occur. It has not yet been translated into English, but the World Centre has said that it will be translated at some point in the future with appropriate accompanying footnotes.

In 1934 he was elected to the first properly constituted National Spiritual Assembly of Iran and served until at least 1940, and he also served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tehran for a time.

In 1957 Fádil passed in Tehran after suffering a heart attack.

Status as Hand of the Cause

It was found in the late 1990's that Shoghi Effendi had addressed Fádil as a Hand of the Cause in a private letter in 1932, however he was not publicly appointed as a Hand. Amelia Collins was similarly addressed as a Hand privately in 1947 and not appointed publicly until 1951.

The World Centre has stated that determination of whether he is a Hand of the Cause would require research of archival materials in Iran which are inaccessible. A memorandum from the Universal House of Justice issued in 1979 stated that individuals outside of the list of known Hands published in Bahá'í World should not be included in lists of the Hands.

Bibliography

Persian

• 1932 - Namih Mahfil-i Milli dar Murid Zuhuru'l-Haq
• 1954-1974 - Amr wa ḵalq, published in four volumes.
• 1968 - Asraru'l-Athar, Volume 1
• 1968 - Asraru'l-Athar, Volume 2
• 1972 - Asraru'l-Athar, Volume 3
• 1973 - Asraru'l-Athar, Volume 4
• 1973 - Asraru'l-Athar, Volume 5
• 1974 - Zuhuru'l-Haqq Volume 8.1
• 1975 - Zuhuru'l-Haqq Volume 8.2
• 1975 - Rahbaran va Rahruvan dar Tarikh-i Adyan, Volume 1
• 1976 - Rahbaran va Rahruvan dar Tarikh-i Adyan, Volume 2

English

• 1921 - Addresses
• 1923 - Life of Tahirih: The Wonderful Life of Kurratu'l-Ayn, published in Star of the West, Set 7 Vol 14 Num 8, page 138.
• 1923 - Seven Cities in the Spiritual Journey to God: Gems of Divine Mystersies (Javáhiru'l-Asrár) and Seven Valleys, published in Star of the West, 13:11, pages 301-303.
• 1938 - The Life of Bahá'u'lláh, published in Star of the West, Set 7, Vol 14, Num 10, page 291.
• 1938 - The Life of the Báb, published in Star of the West, Set 7, Vol 14, Num 7, page 193
• 1999 - Further Extracts Concerning the Remains of the Bab in Tehran
• 2009 - Jináb-i-Fádil Mazandarání in the United States, collection of talks given in the U.S. compiled by Omeed Rameshni.
• 2011 - The State When Asleep: Dreams, Their Interpretation and Wisdom

References

• Obituary published in Bahá'í World, Vol. 14, pp 334-336
• Asraru'l-Athar Volumes & Publication Dates available online on H-Net.
• Rahbaran va Rahruvan dar Tarikh-i Adyan Volumes & Publication Dates available online on H-Net.
• Some works listed in Persian/Arabic Bahá'í Books in the Library of Ahang Rabbani, compiled by Ahang Rabbani, 1999 at BahaiLibraryOnline