Hají Shaykh Muhammad

Hají Shaykh Muhammad

Hají Shaykh Muhammad (d. 1862) also known by the title Nabíl-i-Akbar was an early Persian Bábí who met with the Báb three times.

Biography

Muhammad was the son of Hají Rasul. Both Muhammad and his father became Shaykhís in the time of Shaykh Ahmad, and Muhammad accepted Siyyid Káẓim as Ahmad's successor. In his professional career Muhammad established himself as a successful merchant in Qazvín. In the 1840's he moved to Lahijan with his brother, Mashhadi Muhammad-Rahim, and conducted business in the city briefly before returning to Qazvín.

Muhammad had several sons who died in infancy and he asked Siyyid Káẓim to pray for him to have a son who would live longer than him. Siyyid Káẓim prayed for him and in February 1844, shortly after Siyyid Káẓim's passing, Muhammad had a son who survived infancy and named them after Kázim. He later had another son named Hají Shaykh Muhammad-‘Alí. Shortly after the Declaration of the Báb in May 1844 Muhammad became a Bábí and he met the Báb in Máh-Kú between July 1847 and April 1848 and received a Tablet from Him.

Around 1848 Muhammad relocated to Tabriz where he established a business and he met with the Báb while He was imprisoned in Chihríq. While living in Tabriz Muhammad was taken before a mujtahid and beaten by a mob due to his Faith but he was saved from being martyred by a constable who intervened but also advised him that the mujtahid had given orders for him to be expelled from the city. He was able to remain in Tabriz due to the intervention of a prominent and influential merchant, Haji Mir Muhammad-Husayn-i-Isfahani, who intervened with the mujtahid on Muhammad's behalf securing permission for him to remain in the city. This allowed Muhammad to meet with the Báb a final time while He was in Tabriz shortly before His Martyrdom in July 1850.

In 1852 an intense period of persecution of the Bábí community was triggered by an assassination attempt on the Shah of Iran by two Bábís acting alone seeking to avenge the Báb. Muhammad faced persecution in Tabriz however he was protected again by Haji Mir Muhammad-Husayn-i-Isfahani. In the mid 1850's Muhammad visited Baghdad and met Bahá’u’lláh and after returning to Iran he moved to Qazvín from Tabriz in order to settle his business affairs so he could move to Baghdad. After settling his business in Qazvín he traveled to Lahijan to visit his brother and passed away after a short illness shortly after arriving the city in approximately 1862.