The Dawn-Breakers: NabÃÂl's Narrative of the Early Days of the BaháüàRevelation (Maá¹ÂÃÂleÿ al-anwÃÂr) or NabÃÂl's Narrative (TárÃÂkh-i-NabÃÂl) is an account of the early Bábàand BaháüàFaiths written in Persian by NabÃÂl-i-Aûzam in 1887âÂÂ1888. The English translation by Shoghi Effendi was published in 1932.
The book relies mainly on the memoirs of surviving early BábÃÂs, and NabÃÂl himself was a participant in many of the scenes which he recounts.
Many of the photographs of the Baháüàhistorical sites in Iran that illustrate the book were made by Effie Baker. She was requested to do so by Shoghi Effendi in the early 1930s, and travelled to Iran alone by car from Haifa, Mandate Palestine, wearing a chador for safety purposes.
Shoghi Effendi's intention for publishing the English translation was to inspire greater dedication and self-sacrifice in its readers. He gave importance to the study of The Dawn-Breakers and describes the BaháüÃÂs as "spiritual descendants of the dawn-breakers".
William P. Collins states that the narrative reflects, in addition to history, a universal sacred story or monomyth as described by Joseph Campbell (e.g. the story of Mullá Husayn).
The part of the book that has been published in English tells the story of the early Baháüàhistory and is set in 19th-century Iran until around 1853. The narrative focuses on Shaykh Ahmad and Sayyid Kazim Rashti, the life of the Báb, the Letters of the Living, among whom are Mullá Husayn, Quddús, Táhirih, and further Dayyán, Hujjat and Baháüu'lláh.
The work was first edited, partially translated into English and printed in 1932 by Shoghi Effendi, great-grandson of Baháüu'lláh and then head of the religion. This translation covers roughly the first half of the original narrative. The original text has never been published in full, though there are Persian and Arabic translations of Shoghi Effendi's English version. The book, either the complete edition or the abridged one, has been translated in several other languages as well. The original manuscript is held in the International BaháüàArchives in Haifa, Israel.
H.M. Balyuzi, who used the second part of the manuscript as one of his sources for Baháüu'lláh, King of Glory, states that it mostly concerns events which NabÃÂl witnessed with his own eyes. Significant portions of the original text were included in the eight volumes of the Tarikh Zuhur al-Haqq, a history of the Bábàand Baháüàreligions which includes copious documentary material, written and compiled by the Iranian Baháüàscholar MÃÂrzá Asadu'lláh Fádil Mázandaránàin the late 1930s and early 1940s and has been published in Persian online.
The book had a great impact on the Western BaháüÃÂs' understanding of their religion and its links to Bábism.
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani uses the story of the theft of the Báb's saddlebag during his pilgrimage to Mecca, in chapter VII of The Dawn-Breakers, as the focal point for her novel The Saddlebag â A Fable for Doubters and Seekers.
Many groups and organizations have been named after it, most notably the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival, Dawn Breakers High School in India and the Los Angeles-based music group Dawnbreaker Collective, London based Dawnbreakers (b-boy dance crew), 1966 music group by Seals and Crofts called "Dawnbreakers" and the Germany-based publishing company "DawnBreakers Publisher".