That seat of learning [theological seminary that Bahá’u’lláh was staying at] had been renowned for its vast endowments, its numerous takyihs, and its association with Saláhi’d-Dín-i-Ayyúbí and his descendants; from it some of the most illustrious exponents of Sunní Islám had gone forth to teach its precepts, and now a delegation, headed by Shaykh Ismá‘íl himself, and consisting of its most eminent doctors and most distinguished students, called upon Bahá’u’lláh, and, finding Him willing to reply to any questions they might wish to address Him, they requested Him to elucidate for them, in the course of several interviews, the abstruse passages contained in the Futúhát-i-Makkíyyih, the celebrated work of the famous Shaykh Muḥyi’d-Dín-i-‘Arabí.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 7)