A Radiant Gem - A Biography of Jináb-i-Fádil-i-Shírází
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Book Details
About the Book
Born in 1863, Shaykh Muhammad-Ibráhím was already, by his early twenties, a
profoundly erudite Islamic mystic. His thirst for spiritual knowledge and his deep longing
to reach the sublime heights of the ineffable, launched him on an arduous quest which
led him, often by visions and dreams, to eventually embrace a Faith he once would have
denounced as heresy, and to join a community of people he would at one time have
considered "unclean". Numerous were the strange occurrences and unexpected events
with which the path of his search lay strewn, including the mysterious arrival of a man
with a Book which, upon his reading of it, unraveled for Shaykh Muhammad-Ibráhím
intricate and incomprehensible questions which had long baffled his mind.
Arriving on foot in Akká, Palestine some years later he was rewarded for the purity of
his longing and his earnest and steadfast search by attaining the presence of a personage
he had seen in one of his exalted dreams -- 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the beloved Master. It was then,
during the first time Shaykh Muhammad-Ibráhím attained His presence, that the Master
bestowed upon him the title, "Fádil" (Learned) and it was during Fádil's subsequent four
month stay in Akká that he became the recipient of a knowledge that tranformed his
soul.
His return to Írán on the instructions of 'Abdu'l-Bahá opened Fádil's life to experiences
readers will find fascinating. Particularly engaging are some accounts of the many
encounters he had with Muslim clergy when he refuted their claims, defeated their
arguments and proved the truth of the Bahá'í teachings.