Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl

Mírzá Muḥammad (Persian: ميرزا أبوالفضل‎‎), or Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl-i-Gulpáygání (1844–1914), was the foremost Bahá'í scholar who helped spread the Bahá'í Faith in Egypt, Turkmenistan, and the United States. He is one of the few Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh who never actually met Bahá'u'lláh. His given name was Muhammad, and he chose the alias Abu'l-Fadl (progenitor of virtue) for himself, but `Abdu'l-Bahá frequently addressed him as Abu'l-Fada'il (progenitor of virtues).

Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl was born in a village near Gulpaygan, Iran, sometime in the months of June or July 1844. His family were prominent religious scholars in the village; his father, Mirza Muhammad Rida Shari`atmadar, was a religious leader, and his mother, Sharafu'n-Nisa, was related to the prayer leader of the town. Abu'l-Fadl completed his preliminary education in Gulpaygan, and then successively went to Arak, Karbala and Najaf to continue his education. In 1868 he left to Isfahan to study Islamic sciences at one of the religious colleges in the city; he was given a room by one of the prayer leaders, Imam-Jum`ih, Sayyid Muhammad Sultanu'l-`Ulama, who was a friend of his father's. Abu'l-Fadl remained at the college for three years, becoming well versed in several branches of knowledge. Abu'l-Fadl's father died in the winter of 1871, and after his death, Abu'l-Fadl's brothers schemed against him and took all their father's inheritance.

In October 1873, Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl was invited to Tehran to teach Kalam, or speculative theology, at the Madrasih Hakim Hashim, one of the religious colleges in the city. During the time he was at the religious college, he was able to continue learning about philosophy and mystical philosophy, or Irfan, by attending the lectures of Mírzá Abu'l-Hasan Jilvih, one of the leading figures on the subject. Furthermore, during his time at Madrasih Hakim Hashim, he also discussed the history of religion with two Buddhist scholars who were in Tehran at the same time, and attended science classes at the élite school of Dar ol-Fonoon, founded by Amir Kabir, the grand vizier to Nasereddin Shah. After a short time at the Madrasih Hakim Hashim, he was selected to be the head of the religious college.

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