Nabíl-i-Akbar was one of the most learned clerics of Persia, a mujtahid and expert debater, a specialist of islamic philosophy and jurisprudence, and a Bahá’í. He spent a lifetime serving the Bahá’ís of Persia, was appointed posthumously to the rank of Hand of the Cause by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and named Apostle of Bahá’u’lláh by Shoghi Effendi.