If the critic and sceptic should be tempted to dismiss the
literature of the Bahá'í Faith as typical of the better class of religious
books designed for the initiate only, he could not for a moment so brush aside
a volume of the quality of Nabil's Narrative , which deserves to be counted as
a classic among epic narratives in the English tongue. Although ostensibly a
translation from the original Persian Shoghi Effendi may be said to have
re-created it in English, his translation being comparable to Fitzgerald's
rendering of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat which gave to the world a poem in a
foreign language that in many ways far exceeded the merits of the original.
The best and most descriptive comments on this masterpiece
of the Guardian are to be found in the words of prominent non-Bahá'ís. The
playwright Gordon Bottemley wrote: "...living with it has been one of the
salient experiences of a lifetime; but beyond that it was a moving experience
both in itself and through the psychological light it throws on the New
Testament narrative."
The well-known scholar and humanitarian, Dr. Alfred W. Martin
of the Ethical Culture Society, in his letter of thanks to Shoghi Effendi for
sending him Nabil's Narrative wrote: "Your magnificent and monumental
work...will be a classic and a standard for all time to come. I marvel beyond
measure at your ability to prepare such a work for the press over and above all
the activities which your regular professional position devolves upon
you."
One of his old professors, Bayard Dodge of the American
University of Beirut, after receiving the gift of Nabil's Narrative from the
Guardian wrote to him: "...The last book - The Dawn-Breakers - is an
especially valuable contribution. I congratulate you heartily for publishing
it. You must have worked very hard to produce such a splendid translation, with
such very interesting notes and photographs."
- Hand of the Cause Ruhiyyih Khanum (‘The Priceless Pearl’)
