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 Isfahán 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 Bahá'u'lláh) returned to Baghdad from his two-year absence in Sulaymáníyyih, Zaynul-Ábidín met him and became more strongly confirmed in his faith. When Bahá'u'lláh proclaimed himself to be the Promised One of God, for whom the Báb was himself a herald, Zaynul-Ábidín immediately became a Bahá'í (follower of Bahá) and settled in Baghdad transcribing holy writings. Bahá'u'lláh gave him the surname "Zaynul-Muqarrabín" which means "the Ornament of the Near Ones".

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

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

References

• Balyuzi, Hasan (1985). Eminent Bahá'ís in the time of Bahá'u'lláh. The Camelot Press Ltd, Southampton. ISBN 0-85398-152-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)