During that same year [1930] the Guardian began work on the
second book published during this period, a work that was neither a translation
of Bahá'u'lláh's words nor one of Shoghi Effendi's general letters, but which
must be considered a literary masterpiece and one of his most priceless gifts
for all time. This was the translation of the first part of the narrative
compiled by a contemporary follower of both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh known as
Nabil, which was published in 1932 under the title The Dawn-Breakers. If the
critic and sceptic should be tempted to dismiss the literature of the Bahá'í
Faith as typical of the better class of religious books designed for the
initiate only, he could not for a moment so brush aside a volume of the quality
of Nabil's Narrative , which deserves to be counted as a classic among epic
narratives in the English tongue. Although ostensibly a translation from the
original Persian Shoghi Effendi may be said to have re-created it in English,
his translation being comparable to Fitzgerald's rendering of Omar Khayyam's
Rubaiyat which gave to the world a poem in a foreign language that in many ways
far exceeded the merits of the original. The best and most descriptive comments
on this masterpiece of the Guardian are to be found in the words of prominent
non-Bahá'ís. The playwright Gordon Bottemley wrote: "...living with it has
been one of the salient experiences of a lifetime; but beyond that it was a
moving experience both in itself and through the psychological light it throws
on the New Testament narrative." The well-known scholar and humanitarian,
Dr Alfred W. Martin of the Ethical Culture Society, in his letter of thanks to
Shoghi Effendi for sending him Nabil's Narrative wrote: "Your magnificent
and monumental work...will be a classic and a standard for all time to come. I
marvel beyond measure at your ability to prepare such a work for the press over
and above all the activities which your regular professional position devolves
upon you." One of his old professors, Bayard Dodge of the American University
of Beirut, after receiving the gift of Nabil's Narrative from the Guardian
wrote to him: "...The last book - The Dawn-Breakers - is an especially
valuable contribution. In congratulate you heartily for publishing it. You must
have worked very hard to produce such a splendid translation, with such very
interesting notes and photographs."
- Ruhiyyih Khanum ('The Priceless Pearl')
