- 1903-00-00 —
The passing of Mullá Zaynu'l-'Ábidín, surnamed Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín (the Ornament of the Near Ones) in 'Akká. He is sometimes referred to as Jináb-i-Zayn (The Excellent Zayn), or Harfu'z-Zá (the Letter Z). He was born in the month of Rajab, in one of the villages of Najafábád near Isfahán to a family of Muslim clerics in May 1818. He had first heard of the Báb's claim while on pilgrimage in Karbilá in 1844 and became a believer in 1851. He met Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád after His return from Kurdistán in 1856. He was among the believers who were exiled from Baghdád in July of 1868 and under his leadership and guidance the believers in Mosul became a model community. He was invited by Bahá'u'lláh to come to 'Akká in Sep-Oct 1885 and shortly after that Baha'u'lláh asked that the community in Mosul be abandoned. [EB274-276; MoF150-154; TN412-425]
Jináb-i-Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín was well versed in Islamic jurisprudence. After the revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, he was authorized to submit questions concerning the laws. The treatise, titled Questions and Answers, an appendix to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, is a compilation he made of Bahá'u'lláh's answers to questions concerning the laws of the Most Holy Book. It took more than two decades for "Questions and Answers" to be published in Persian and much longer to be published in English and other languages. [KA9]
- See Some Answered Questions" and Its Compiler by Baharieh Rouhani Ma'ani published in Lights of Irfan, 18, pages 425-452. In this paper the author compares the similarities and differences of Questions and Answers and Some Answered
Questions.
- For an image Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín see Picture Gallery (miniature by Ethel Rosenberg). This image can also been found in RoB1p78
- He was named as one of the Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh.
- 1910-00-00 —
The publication of Questions and Answers in the East. It was a document comprising exclusively of answers Bahá'u'lláh revealed in response to questions about the laws of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Questions were submitted in writing and answers were likewise revealed in writing. It is by nature of small size regarded as an appendix to the Most Holy Book. Its compiler was Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín, one of the erudite, devoted and trusted followers of Bahá'u'lláh. He was a mujtahid (specialized in Islamic jurisprudence) before embracing the Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths. Bahá'u'lláh authorized him not only to ask questions about the laws of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, but also to compile Risálih-i-Su'ál va Javáb (Questions and Answers).
The text of Questions and Answers, though compiled during Bahá'u'lláh's ministry, remained unpublished until 1910. Its English translation was published together with the authorized English translation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in 1992-3. The reason for the delay in the publication of Questions and Answers was the necessity for Bahá'u'lláh's Book of Laws to be translated and annotated under the aegis of the Universal House of Justice. Without the Book, the appendix would have had no source of reference.
[Lights of Irfán vol. 18 p430-432]
- See Chronology 1993
- 1993-03-00 —
The English translation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas was published. [BW92–3:44] [CBN vol 5 no 10 Mar93 pg1] [CoB310-13 UHJ Message 5Mar93] [VV142]
- For the significance of its publication see BW92–3:45–6.
- For its place in Bahá'í literature see BW92-3p45-6, p105-118.
- This date also marks the first publication in the West of Questions and Answers, a document comprising exclusively of answers Bahá'u'lláh revealed in response to questions about the laws of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. See Chronology 1910.
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