Letters and Essays, 1886-1913 [first edition]

Here are collected the letters and scholarly treatises of Mírzá Abú'l Fadl, famed as the greatest and most learned of all Bahá'í scholars. Included are commentaries, essays and correspondence written in Iran, Russia and Egypt over a period of almost thirty years. The letters written from 1886-1888, in Southwestern Iran, are among the few documents which throw light on Abú'l Fadl's early Bahá'í career. Also available for the first time in English is "A Treatise for Alexander Tumansky," written for the noted orientalist-a major work which provides an invaluable summary of the life of Bahá'u'lláh, as well as unique information on the controversial histories Táríkh-i Jadíd and Naqtatu'l-Káf. There is the courageous defense of the Bahá'í Faith that Abú'l Fadl was able to publish in the Egyptian press, the first article of its kind. And finally, the letters collected from the last years of his life that show his scholarship at its most profound and most mature. The startling modernity of Abú'l Fadl's thought is as challenging today as it was when first written. This book is required reading for any serious student of the Bahá'í religion.