points he was making were predominantly derived from Baháʼí scripture, Abu'l-Faḍl was saddened. Abu'l-Faḍl, however, became curious about the Baháʼí Faith, and asked to meet other Baháʼís. There is a famous story of Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl's meeting with a Baháʼí blacksmith: "It so happened that on the way out one of the donkeys lost a shoe, so the party called at the nearest blacksmith for help. Noticing the long beard and large turban of Mirza Abu'l-Faḍl -- indications of his vast knowledge -- the blacksmith Ustad Husayn-i-Na'l-Band (shoeing smith), who was illiterate, was tempted to enter into conversation with the learned man. He said to Mirza that since he had honoured him with his presence, it would be a great privilege for him if he could be allowed to ask a question which had perplexed his mind for some time. When permission was granted he said, 'Is it true that in the Traditions of Shí'ah Islam it is stated that each drop of rain is accompanied by an angel from heaven? And that this angel brings down the rain to the ground?' 'This is true,' Mirza Abu'l-Faḍl responded. After a pause, the blacksmith begged to be allowed to ask another question to which Mirza gave his assent. 'Is it true', the blacksmith asked, 'that if there is a dog in a house no angel will ever visit that house?' Before thinking of the connection between the two questions, Mirza Abu'l-Faḍl responded in the affirmative. 'In that case', commented the blacksmith, 'no rain should ever fall in a house where a dog is kept.' Mirza Abu'l-Faḍl, the noted learned man of Islam, was now confounded by an illiterate blacksmith. His rage knew no bounds, and his companions noticed that he was filled with shame. They whispered to him, 'This blacksmith is a Baháʼí!'" In the next several months, Abu'l-Faḍl met with some of the leading Baháʼís including Nabíl-i-Akbar, Mirza Ismaʻil Dhabih and Aqa Mirza Haydar ʻAli Ardistani. While he was at Mirza Ismaʻil Dhabih's house, he read two of Baháʼu'lláh's tablets, the Lawh-i-Ra'ís (Tablet of the Chief) and the Lawh-i-Fu'ád (Tablet of Fu'ad Pasha), which contain prophecies both of the fall of the Ottoman Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz and vizier ʻAli Páshá and of the loss of Adrianople from the Sultan. He determined that if the events portrayed in those tablets came to pass, he would believe in Baháʼu'lláh. A few months later, when