Introduction by Shoghi Effendi

• Nabil’s chronicle gives us “not only great historical value but high moral power”
• Nabil was “a participant in some of the scenes which he recites”
• Nabil’s style of composition
• The main features of Nabil’s narrative
• One needs to have “some knowledge of the condition of church and state in Persia [at that time] and of the customs and mental outlook of the people and their masters”
• English literature about Persia in the nineteenth century
• Pocket Qur'an of the Báb (photo)
• Nineteenth century Persia as seen by various Western observers
• ‘Abdu’l-Baha compares Persia’s glorious past to her darkened condition in the nineteenth century
• A Church-State Country - The right to take life was vested in the Shah alone; and so were all the functions of government, legislative, executive, and judicial.
• All major and many minor leadership posts were given to descendants of the Shah
• Obstacles to a Shah being able to make just decisions
• Robe of the Báb (photo)
• The system of giving and receiving gifts permeated government and all aspects of life in Persia
• The practice of the “balance of personal advantage” – “usually expressed in money form”: a system “so open, so shameless, or so universal” in the entire country in the nineteenth century Persia; “far from being limited to the sphere of domestic economy or to commercial transactions, it permeates every walk and inspires most of the actions of life.”
• Penalties and prisons in 19th Century Persia
• Features of government administration and judicial procedure in 19th Century Persia
• 1906: One of Tehran's City Gates (photo)
• From the beginning the Báb made “frank enunciation of His claims” and “open presentation of His Cause”
• Prophetic expectations of the Shi’ah sect of Islam
• Successorship to Prophet Muhammad according to the Sunni sect of Islam
• A “twofold Manifestation” expected by both Shi’ah and Sunni sects of Islam
• The reason the Báb encountered intense opposition from the divines
• The cause of the rejection and persecution of the Báb was similar to what happened to Christ
• The only European who met the Báb
• The Báb “would win over almost all with whom He was brought into personal contact”
• The “mullás inaugurated a campaign of outrage and spoliation”
• The happenings at Mázindarán, Nayríz, and Zanján – proof that “the mullás’ allegations of a political motive were untrue”
• Circumstances that forced some Bábis to join together and take up arms – “the moral aspect of their action”
• The “fire, though smothered, was not quenched”
• “The Second and greater Manifestation of God”: – “Nine years after the beginning of the Bábí Dispensation”
• 1888: Vakil Bazar in Shiraz, Persia (photo)
• The full range and magnificence of the great Movement that the Báb prepared
• Nabíl’s Chronicle – “He was throughout his life closely associated with the leaders of the Cause”
• Nabil’s close association with Baha’u’llah
• ‘The Dawn-Breakers’ book currently available contains the first half of Nabil’s chronicle – “parts of the manuscript were reviewed and approved, some by Bahá’u’lláh, and others by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá”
• Shiraz, circa 1850 (photo)
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: The Qajar Sovereigns - The absolute powers of the king
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: The Qajar Sovereigns – Some of the titles of the king
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: The Qajar Sovereigns – How the public viewed the king
• Tabriz, circa 1890 (photo)
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: The divinity attributed to the Shah and his inability to fully address the needs of the nation
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: - Qajar Kings proved extraordinarily prolific of male offspring
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: - three successive Kings put their respective Grand Vazírs to death
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: The Government – “the arbitrary exercise of authority by a series of units in a descending scale from the sovereign to the headman of a petty village.”
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: The Government: – majority of Ministers and chief officers of the Court are “venal, artful, and false”
• Portrait of Muhammad Shah (1834 – 1848) and his Vizier Haj Mirza Aghasi (photo)
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: - “life itself, in that country may be said to consist for the most part of an interchange of presents”
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: - the “balance of personal advantage, usually expressed in money form, which can be squeezed out of any and every transaction”
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: - “the enormous number of attendants and retainers that swarm round a minister, or official of any description”
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: The Ecclesiastical Order
• Persia's Prime Minister: 1848-1851 (photo)
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: - the plight of the Jews
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century: “provision… for the material solace” of pilgrims to the Shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Shi'ih Imam, in the city of Mashhad
• Persia in mid-19th Century: - Penalties and Prisons
• circa 1908: The Anderoon Palace, Tehran (photo)
• Persia in mid-19th Century: - Need for “a radical twist to the national character and institutions”
• Baha’u’llah’s Tribute to the Báb and His Chief Disciples: - “so great a Revelation”
• Baha’u’llah’s Tribute to the Báb and His Chief Disciples: - “He prophesied His own martyrdom”
• Baha’u’llah’s Tribute to the Báb and His Chief Disciples: - He walked “the way of God” and “yearned for aught else except His good-pleasure”
• Baha’u’llah’s Tribute to the Báb and His Chief Disciples: - “what steadfastness He, the Beauty of God, hath revealed!”
• Baha’u’llah’s Tribute to the Báb and His Chief Disciples: - “that Essence of Essences and Sea of Seas”; “All these stainless hearts and sanctified souls have, with absolute resignation, responded to the summons of His decree.”
• Distinguishing Features of Shi’ah Islam: - the doctrine of the Imámate
• Distinguishing Features of Shi’ah Islam: - The Twelve Imáms
• 1946: A village in Northwestern Iran (photo)
• Theory and Administration of Law in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century Persia: - “that which is administered by ecclesiastical, and that which is administered by civil tribunals”
• Theory and Administration of Law in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century Persia: - “the ‘Urf, or Common Law”
• 1841: Masjed-i-Shah, (Shah Mosque) Isfahan, Persia (photo)
• Nabil’s intention for writing the chronicle
• Individuals acknowledged by the Guardian for their assistance with the book