Table of Contents
Resources 
Nabíl followed Bahá’u’lláh at various points in Bahá’u’lláh’s imprisonment and exile from city to city, from Baghdád all the way to ‘Akká. From ‘Akká, Nabíl was sent by Bahá’u’lláh on several missions to various parts of Iran to teach the people about the new Revelation. While on these trips, Nabíl gathered a lot of historical information from others about the events that transpired related to the birth of the Bábí and Bahá’í revelations. In 1888, Nabíl began to chronicle these events. 4RES He had the assistance of Mírzá Músá, the brother of Bahá’u’lláh, who had also been with Bahá’u’lláh throughout His exile and provided much historical information. As Nabíl was writing the manuscript, as noted by Shoghí Effendí in the introduction to the Dawn-Breakers: “parts of the manuscript were reviewed and approved, some by Bahá’u’lláh, and others by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá”.5RES Nabíl himself notes this in the Dawn-Breakers: “At this stage of my narrative I was privileged to submit to Bahá’u’lláh such sections of my work as I had already revised and completed.”6RES Nabíl then describes how Bahá’u’lláh summoned Nabíl for an audience. The date given by Nabíl for that audience is 11 December 1888.7RES
Nabíl’s original chronicle has not been published. It is at the Bahá’í World Center and available to researchers. The original chronicle is in Fársí [Persian] and covers the history of the life of the Báb and that of Bahá’u’lláh and goes all the way to 1892, that is the passing of Bahá’u’lláh. Shoghí Effendí, the Guardian, made an English translation and edited version of the first half of the chronicle, that is the parts up to January 1853, when Bahá’u’lláh is exiled from Írán. Shoghí Effendí named this English edited version “The Dawn-Breakers – Nabíl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá’í Revelation”. It was first published in 1932. 8RES
2 / 93