Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín

Mullá Zaynul-Ábidín was born in the month of Rajab 1233 AH (May 1818 AD) in one of the villages of Najafábád, Iran, near Isfahan, to a family of Muslim clerics. He himself became a preacher at a mosque in Najafábád. In 1851, he became a Bábí (follower of the Báb), and began teaching his newfound faith in his hometown. It soon became a stronghold of the Bábí faith. In the mid-1850s, when Jináb-i-Bahá (later named Baháʼu'lláh) returned to Baghdad from his self-exile in Sulaymáníyyih where he had spent two years under the pseudonym "Darvish Muhammad-i-Irani",[1][2] Zaynul-Ábidín met him and became more strongly confirmed in his faith. When Baháʼu'lláh proclaimed himself to be the Promised One of God, for whom the Báb was himself a herald, Zaynul-Ábidín immediately became a Baháʼí (follower of Bahá) and settled in Baghdad transcribing holy writings. Baháʼu'lláh gave him the surname "Zaynul-Muqarrabín" which means "the Ornament of the Near Ones".

In 1870 the Baháʼís of Baghdad were exiled to Mosul. Zaynul-Muqarrabín provided them with leadership and guidance and continued to transcribe the tablets of Baháʼu'lláh that arrived from Akká on their way to Iran.

In Dhu'l-hijjah 1302 AH (Sept-Oct 1885 AD) Baháʼu'lláh gave him permission to come to Akká where he continued serving faithfully until the end of his life in 1903.

References
  1. Smith 2008, p. 17
  2. Balyuzi 2000, p. 116
  • Balyuzi, Hasan (1985). Eminent Baháʼís in the time of Baháʼu'lláh. The Camelot Press Ltd, Southampton. ISBN 0-85398-152-3.
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