Youth
From that time onwards, He became His father's closest companion and, as it were, protector. Although a mere youth, He already showed astonishing sagacity and discrimination, and undertook the task of interviewing all the numerous visitors who came to see His father. If He found they were genuine truth seekers, He admitted them to His father's presence, but otherwise He did not permit them to trouble Baha'u'llah. On many occasions He helped His father in answering the questions and solving the difficulties of these visitors. For example, when one of the Súfi leaders, named 'Ali Shawkat Pasha, asked for an explanation of the phrase: "I was a Hidden Mystery," which occurs in a well- known Muhammadan tradition,2 Baha'u'llah turned to the "Mystery of God," 'Abbas, and asked Him to write the explanation. The boy, who was then about fifteen or sixteen years of age, at once wrote an important epistle giving an exposition so illuminating as to astonish the Pasha. This epistle is now widely spread among the Baha'is, and is well known to many outside the Baha'i faith (39:1)

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