Siyyid `Alí-Muḥammad had some six to seven years of schooling with [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] `Ábid. In all probability He left the school at the Qahviy-i-Awlíyá' before He was thirteen. According to Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥabíbu'lláh's narrative, He joined Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí, His uncle-guardian, in business when He was fifteen years old,[AL] and shortly afterwards moved to Bú[_sh_]ihr. Pages of commercial accounts which He kept put it beyond doubt that the Báb left [_Sh_]íráz for Bú[_sh_]ihr when He was nearly sixteen. There can be little doubt that at an early age the Báb took over the complete management of the trading-house in Bú[_sh_]ihr. His scrupulous attention to detail and His undeviating fairness in transactions became widely known in the region. A man who had consigned to Him some goods to sell was astonished to find, when he received his money, that it was more than could be obtained at current prices. He wanted to return some of it. The Báb told him that it was only fair and just that he should be given that particular sum, because his goods would have fetched exactly that amount had they been offered for sale when the market was at its best. [Footnote AL: Islamic law specifies fifteen as the age of maturity.] A.-L.-M. Nicolas maintains that the Báb was also engaged in writing and composing, during this period of His sojourn in Bú[_sh_]ihr. He mentions a treatise, the _Risáliy-i-Fiqhíyyih_, as having come from the pen of the Báb during those years.[6] His statement is corroborated by Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥabíbu'lláh's narrative: One day in Egypt during the time when Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl was occupied with writing his book, the _Fará'id_, we came to talk about the early years of the Báb, prior to His declaration, and the period when He was engaged in trading. Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl related the following to me: 'I myself heard the late Ḥájí Siyyid Javád-i-Karbilá'í say that when the Báb was pursuing the career of a merchant in Bú[_sh_]ihr, he ... because of his friendship with the uncles of the Báb used to stay with them whenever he visited either [_Sh_]íráz or Bú[_sh_]ihr. One day Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad came to him with a request. "Give some good counsel to my nephew ... tell Him not to write certain things which can only arouse the jealousy of some people: these people cannot bear to see a young merchant of little schooling show such erudition, they feel envious." Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad had been very insistent that Ḥájí Siyyid Javád should counsel the Báb to desist from writing. Ḥájí Siyyid Javád had however replied with these lines of verse: "The fair of face cannot put up with the veil; Shut him in, and out of the window will he show his visage," and had added: "We are earth-bound and He is celestial. Our counsel is of no use to Him."'