By Shoghi Effendi
On the 23rd of May of this auspicious year the Bahá’í world will celebrate the 90th anniversary of
the founding of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. We, who at this hour find ourselves standing on the
threshold of the last decade of the first century of the Bahá’í era, might well pause to reflect
upon the mysterious dispensations of so august, so momentous a Revelation. How vast, how
entrancing the panorama which the revolution of four scores years and ten unrolls before our
eyes! Its towering grandeur well-nigh overwhelms us. To merely contemplate this unique
spectacle, to visualize, however dimly, the circumstances attending the birth and gradual
unfoldment of this supreme Theophany, to recall even in their barest outline the woeful struggles
that proclaimed its rise and accelerated its march, will suffice to convince every unbiased
observer of those eternal truths that motivate its life and which must continue to impel it forward
until it achieves its destined ascendancy.
Dominating the entire range of this fascinating spectacle towers the incomparable figure of
Bahá’u’lláh, transcendental in His majesty, serene, awe-inspiring, unapproachably glorious.
Allied, though subordinate in rank, and invested with the authority of presiding with Him over the
destinies of this supreme Dispensation, there shines upon this mental picture the youthful glory
of the Báb, infinite in His tenderness, irresistible in His charm, unsurpassed in His heroism,
matchless in the dramatic circumstances of His short yet eventful life. And finally there emerges,
though on a plane of its own and in a category entirely apart from the one occupied by the twin
Figures that preceded Him, the vibrant, the magnetic personality of ‘Abdu’l Bahá, reflecting to a
degree that no man, however exalted his station, can hope to rival, the glory and power with
which They who are the Manifestations of God are alone endowed.
With ‘Abdu’l Bahá’s ascension, and more particularly with the passing of His well-beloved and
illustrious sister the Most Exalted Leaf—the last survivor of a glorious and heroic age—there
draws to a close the first and most moving chapter of Bahá’í history, marking the conclusion of
the Primitive, the Apostolic Age of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. It was ‘Abdu’l Bahá Who, through the
provisions of His weighty Will and Testament, has forged the vital link which must for ever
connect the age that has just expired with the one we now live in—the Transitional and Formative
period of the Faith—a stage that must in the fullness of time reach its blossom and yield its fruit
in the exploits and triumphs that are to herald the Golden Age of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.Dearly-beloved friends! The onrushing forces so miraculously released through the agency of two independent and swiftly successive Manifestations are now under our very eyes and through the care of the chosen stewards of a far-flung Faith being gradually mustered and disciplined.They are slowly crystallizing into institutions that will come to be regarded as the hall-mark and glory of the age we are called upon to establish and by our deeds immortalize. For upon our present-day efforts, and above all upon the extent to which we strive to remodel our lives after the pattern of sublime heroism associated with those gone before us, must depend the efficacy of the instruments we now fashion—instruments that must erect the structure of that blissful Commonwealth which must signalize the Golden Age of our Faith.
It is not my purpose, as I look back upon these crowded years of heroic deeds, to attempt even a
cursory review of the mighty events that have transpired since 1844 until the present day. Nor
have I any intention to undertake an analysis of the forces that have precipitated them, or to
evaluate their influence upon peoples and institutions in almost every continent of the globe. The
authentic record of the lives of the first believers of the primitive period of our Faith, together
with the assiduous research which competent Bahá’í historians will in the future undertake, will
combine to transmit to posterity such masterly exposition of the history of that age as my own
efforts can never hope to accomplish. My chief concern at this challenging period of Bahá’í
history is rather to call the attention of those who are destined to be the champion-builders of
the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh to certain fundamental verities the elucidation of which
must tremendously assist them in the effective prosecution of their mighty enterprise.
The international status which the Religion of God has thus far achieved, moreover, imperatively
demands that its root principles be now definitely clarified. The unprecedented impetus which
the illustrious deeds of the American believers have lent to the onward march of the Faith; the
intense interest which the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the West is fast awakening among divers
races and nations; the rise and steady consolidation of Bahá’í institutions in no less than forty of
the most advanced countries of the world; the dissemination of Bahá’í literature in no fewer than
twenty-five of the most widely-spoken languages; the success that has recently attended the
nation-wide efforts of the Persian believers in the preliminary steps they have taken for the
establishment, in the outskirts of the capital-city of their native land, of the third Mashriqu’lAdhkár of the Bahá’í world; the measures that are being taken for the immediate formation of their first National Spiritual Assembly representing the interests of the overwhelming majority of Bahá’í adherents; the projected erection of yet another pillar of the Universal House of Justice, the first of its kind, in the Southern Hemisphere; the testimonies, both verbal and written, that a struggling Faith has obtained from Royalty, from governmental institutions, international tribunals, and ecclesiastical dignitaries; the publicity it has received from the charges which unrelenting enemies, both new and old, have hurled against it; the formal enfranchisement of a section of its followers from the fetters of Muslim orthodoxy in a country that may be regarded as the most enlightened among Islamic nations—these afford ample proof of the growing momentum with which the invincible community of the Most Great Name is marching forward to ultimate victory.
Dearly-beloved friends! I feel it incumbent upon me, by virtue of the obligations and
responsibilities which as Guardian of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh I am called upon to discharge, to lay
special stress, at a time when the light of publicity is being increasingly focused upon us, upon
certain truths which lie at the basis of our Faith and the integrity of which it is our first duty to
safeguard. These verities, if valiantly upheld and properly assimilated, will, I am convinced,
powerfully reinforce the vigor of our spiritual life and greatly assist in counteracting the
machinations of an implacable and vigilant enemy.
To strive to obtain a more adequate understanding of the significance of Bahá’u’lláh’s
stupendous Revelation must, it is my unalterable conviction, remain the first obligation and the
object of the constant endeavor of each one of its loyal adherents. An exact and thorough
comprehension of so vast a system, so sublime a revelation, so sacred a trust, is for obvious
reasons beyond the reach and ken of our finite minds. We can, however, and it is our bounden
duty to seek to derive fresh inspiration and added sustenance as we labor for the propagation of
His Faith through a clearer apprehension of the truths it enshrines and the principles on which it
is based.In a communication addressed to the American believers I have in the course of my explanation of the station of the Báb made a passing reference to the incomparable greatness of the Revelation of which He considered Himself to be the humble Precursor. He Whom Bahá’u’lláh
has acclaimed in the Kitáb-i-Íqán as that promised Qá’im Who has manifested no less than
twenty-five out of the twenty-seven letters which all the Prophets were destined to reveal—so
great a Revealer has Himself testified to the preëminence of that superior Revelation that was
soon to supersede His own. “The germ,” the Báb asserts in the Persian Bayán, “that holds within
itself the potentialities of the Revelation that is to come is endowed with a potency superior to
the combined forces of all those who follow me.” “Of all the tributes,” He again affirms, “I have
paid to Him Who is to come after Me, the greatest is this, My written confession, that no words
of Mine can adequately describe Him, nor can any reference to Him in My Book, the Bayán, do
justice to His Cause.” “The Bayán,” He in that same Book categorically declares, “and whosoever
is therein revolve round the saying of ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest,’ even as the Alif (the
Gospel) and whosoever was therein revolved round the saying of Muhammad, the Apostle of
God.” “A thousand perusals of the Bayán,” He further remarks, “cannot equal the perusal of a
single verse to be revealed by ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest.’… Today the Bayán is in the
stage of seed; at the beginning of the manifestation of ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest’ its
ultimate perfection will become apparent.… The Bayán and such as are believers therein yearn
more ardently after Him than the yearning of any lover after his beloved.… The Bayán deriveth all
its glory from ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest.’ All blessing be upon him who believeth in
Him and woe betide him that rejecteth His truth.”
Addressing Siyyid Yahyáy-i-Darábí surnamed Vahíd, the most learned, the most eloquent and
influential among His followers, the Báb utters this warning: “By the righteousness of Him Whose
power causeth the seed to germinate and Who breatheth the spirit of life into all things, were I to
be assured that in the day of His manifestation thou wilt deny Him, I would unhesitatingly disown
thee and repudiate thy faith.… If, on the other hand, I be told that a Christian, who beareth no
allegiance to My Faith, will believe in Him, the same will I regard as the apple of Mine Eye.”
In one of His prayers He thus communes with Bahá’u’lláh: “Exalted art Thou, O my Lord the
Omnipotent! How puny and contemptible my word and all that pertaineth unto me appear unless
they be related to Thy great glory. Grant that through the assistance of Thy grace whatsoever
pertaineth unto me may be acceptable in Thy sight.”
In the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá—the Báb’s commentary on the Súrih of Joseph—characterized by the
Author of the Íqán as “the first, the greatest and mightiest” of the books revealed by the Báb, we
read the following references to Bahá’u’lláh: “Out of utter nothingness, O great and omnipotent
Master, Thou hast, through the celestial potency of Thy might, brought me forth and raised me
up to proclaim this Revelation. I have made none other but Thee my trust; I have clung to no will
but Thy will… O Thou Remnant of God! I have sacrificed myself wholly for Thee: I have accepted
curses for Thy sake, and have yearned for naught but martyrdom in the path of Thy love. Sufficient witness unto me is God, the Exalted, the Protector, the Ancient of Days.” “And when
the appointed hour hath struck,” He again addresses Bahá’u’lláh in that same commentary, “do
Thou, by the leave of God, the All-Wise, reveal from the heights of the Most Lofty and Mystic
Mount a faint, an infinitesimal glimmer of Thy impenetrable Mystery, that they who have
recognized the radiance of the Sinaic Splendor may faint away and die as they catch a lightening
glimpse of the fierce and crimson Light that envelops Thy Revelation.”
As a further testimony to the greatness of the Revelation identified with Bahá’u’lláh may be cited
the following extracts from a Tablet addressed by ‘Abdu’l Bahá to an eminent Zoroastrian
follower of the Faith: “Thou hadst written that in the sacred books of the followers of Zoroaster it
is written that in the latter days, in three separate Dispensations, the sun must needs be brought
to a standstill. In the first Dispensation, it is predicted, the sun will remain motionless for ten
days; in the second for twice that time; in the third for no less than one whole month. The
interpretation of this prophecy is this: the first Dispensation to which it refers is the
Muhammadan Dispensation during which the Sun of Truth stood still for ten days. Each day is
reckoned as one century. The Muhammadan Dispensation must have, therefore, lasted no less
than one thousand years, which is precisely the period that has elapsed from the setting of the
Star of the Imamate to the advent of the Dispensation proclaimed by the Báb. The secondDispensation referred to in this prophecy is the one inaugurated by the Báb Himself, which began in the year 1260 A.H. and was brought to a close in the year 1280 A.H. As to the third Dispensation—the Revelation proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh—inasmuch as the Sun of Truth when attaining that station shineth in the plenitude of its meridian splendor its duration hath been fixed for a period of one whole month, which is the maximum time taken by the sun to pass through a sign of the Zodiac. From this thou canst imagine the magnitude of the Bahá’í cycle—a cycle that must extend over a period of at least five hundred thousand years.”
From the text of this explicit and authoritative interpretation of so ancient a prophecy it is evident
how necessary it is for every faithful follower of the Faith to accept the divine origin and uphold
the independent status of the Muhammadan Dispensation. The validity of the Imamate is,
moreover, implicitly recognized in these same passages—that divinely-appointed institution of
whose most distinguished member the Báb Himself was a lineal descendant, and which
continued for a period of no less than two hundred and sixty years to be the chosen recipient of
the guidance of the Almighty and the repository of one of the two most precious legacies of
Islám.
This same prophecy, we must furthermore recognize, attests the independent character of the
Bábí Dispensation and corroborates indirectly the truth that in accordance with the principle of
progressive revelation every Manifestation of God must needs vouchsafe to the peoples of His
day a measure of divine guidance ampler than any which a preceding and less receptive age
could have received or appreciated. For this reason, and not for any superior merit which the
Bahá’í Faith may be said to inherently possess, does this prophecy bear witness to the unrivaled
power and glory with which the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh has been invested—a Dispensation
the potentialities of which we are but beginning to perceive and the full range of which we can
never determine.
The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh should indeed be regarded, if we wish to be faithful to the tremendous
implications of its message, as the culmination of a cycle, the final stage in a series of
successive, of preliminary and progressive revelations. These, beginning with Adam and ending
with the Báb, have paved the way and anticipated with an ever-increasing emphasis the advent
of that Day of Days in which He Who is the Promise of All Ages should be made manifest.
To this truth the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh abundantly testify. A mere reference to the claims
which, in vehement language and with compelling power, He Himself has repeatedly advanced
cannot but fully demonstrate the character of the Revelation of which He was the chosen bearer.
To the words that have streamed from His pen—the fountainhead of so impetuous a Revelation—
we should, therefore, direct our attention if we wish to obtain a clearer understanding of its
importance and meaning. Whether in His assertion of the unprecedented claim He has
advanced, or in His allusions to the mysterious forces He has released, whether in such
passages as extol the glories of His long-awaited Day, or magnify the station which they who
have recognized its hidden virtues will attain, Bahá’u’lláh and, to an almost equal extent, the Báb
and ‘Abdu’l Bahá, have bequeathed to posterity mines of such inestimable wealth as none of us
who belong to this generation can befittingly estimate. Such testimonies bearing on this theme
are impregnated with such power and reveal such beauty as only those who are versed in the
languages in which they were originally revealed can claim to have sufficiently appreciated. So
numerous are these testimonies that a whole volume would be required to be written in order to
compile the most outstanding among them. All I can venture to attempt at present is to share
with you only such passages as I have been able to glean from His voluminous writings.
“I testify before God,” proclaims Bahá’u’lláh, “to the greatness, the inconceivable greatness of
this Revelation. Again and again have We in most of Our Tablets borne witness to this truth, that
mankind may be roused from its heedlessness.” “In this most mighty Revelation,” He
unequivocally announces, “all the Dispensations of the past have attained their highest, their
final consummation. That which hath been made manifest in this preëminent, this most exalted
Revelation, stands unparalleled in the annals of the past, nor will future ages witness its like.” “He
it is,” referring to Himself He further proclaims, “Who in the Old Testament hath been named
Jehovah, Who in the Gospel hath been designated as the Spirit of Truth, and in the Qur’án
acclaimed as the Great Announcement.” “But for Him no Divine Messenger would have beeninvested with the robe of prophethood, nor would any of the sacred scriptures have been
revealed. To this bear witness all created things.” “The word which the one true God uttereth in
this day, though that word be the most familiar and commonplace of terms, is invested with
supreme, with unique distinction.” “The generality of mankind is still immature. Had it acquired
sufficient capacity We would have bestowed upon it so great a measure of Our knowledge that
all who dwell on earth and in heaven would have found themselves, by virtue of the grace
streaming from Our pen, completely independent of all knowledge save the knowledge of God,
and would have been securely established upon the throne of abiding tranquillity.” “The Pen of
Holiness, I solemnly affirm before God, hath writ upon My snow-white brow and in characters of
effulgent glory these glowing, these musk-scented and holy words: ‘Behold ye that dwell on
earth, and ye denizens of heaven, bear witness, He in truth is your Well-Beloved. He it is Whose
like the world of creation hath not seen, He Whose ravishing beauty hath delighted the eye of
God, the Ordainer, the All-Powerful, the Incomparable!’”
“Followers of the Gospel,” Bahá’u’lláh addressing the whole of Christendom exclaims, “behold
the gates of heaven are flung open. He that had ascended unto it is now come. Give ear to His
voice calling aloud over land and sea, announcing to all mankind the advent of this Revelation—a
Revelation through the agency of which the Tongue of Grandeur is now proclaiming: ‘Lo, the
sacred Pledge hath been fulfilled, for He, the Promised One, is come!’” “The voice of the Son of
Man is calling aloud from the sacred vale: ‘Here am I, here am I, O God my God!’ … whilst from
the Burning Bush breaketh forth the cry: ‘Lo, the Desire of the world is made manifest in His
transcendent glory!’ The Father hath come. That which ye were promised in the Kingdom of God
is fulfilled. This is the Word which the Son veiled when He said to those around Him that at that
time they could not bear it… Verily the Spirit of Truth is come to guide you unto all truth… He is
the One Who glorified the Son and exalted His Cause…” “The Comforter Whose advent all the
scriptures have promised is now come that He may reveal unto you all knowledge and wisdom.
Seek Him over the entire surface of the earth, haply ye may find Him.”
“Call out to Zion, O Carmel,” writes Bahá’u’lláh, “and announce the joyful tidings: ‘He that was
hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-conquering sovereignty is manifest; His allencompassing splendor is revealed… Hasten forth and circumambulate the City of God that hath descended from heaven—the celestial Kaaba round which have circled in adoration the favored of God, the pure in heart and the company of the most exalted angels.’” “I am the One,” He in another connection affirms, “Whom the tongue of Isaiah hath extolled, the One with Whose
name both the Torah and the Evangel were adorned.” “The glory of Sinai hath hastened to circle
round the Day-Spring of this Revelation, while from the heights of the Kingdom the voice of the
Son of God is heard proclaiming: ‘Bestir yourselves, ye proud ones of the earth, and hasten ye
towards Him.’ Carmel hath in this day hastened in longing adoration to attain His court, whilst
from the heart of Zion there cometh the cry: ‘The promise of all ages is now fulfilled. That which
had been announced in the holy writ of God, the Beloved, the Most High, is made manifest.’”
“Hijáz is astir by the breeze announcing the tidings of joyous reunion. ‘Praise be to Thee,’ We
hear her exclaim, ‘O my Lord, the Most High. I was dead through my separation from Thee; the
breeze laden with the fragrance of Thy presence hath brought me back to life. Happy is he that
turneth unto Thee, and woe betide the erring.’” “By the one true God, Elijah hath hastened unto
My court and hath circumambulated in the day-time and in the night-season My throne of glory.”
“Solomon in all his majesty circles in adoration around Me in this day, uttering this most exalted
word: ‘I have turned my face towards Thy face, O Thou omnipotent Ruler of the world! I am
wholly detached from all things pertaining unto me, and yearn for that which Thou dost
possess.’” “Had Muhammad, the Apostle of God, attained this Day,” Bahá’u’lláh writes in a Tablet
revealed on the eve of His banishment to the penal colony of ‘Akká, “He would have exclaimed: ‘I
have truly recognized Thee, O Thou the Desire of the Divine Messengers!’ Had Abraham attained
it, He too, falling prostrate upon the ground, and in the utmost lowliness before the Lord thy God,
would have cried: ‘Mine heart is filled with peace, O Thou Lord of all that is in heaven and on
earth! I testify that Thou hast unveiled before mine eyes all the glory of Thy power and the full
majesty of Thy law!’… Had Moses Himself attained it, He, likewise, would have raised His voice
saying: ‘All praise be to Thee for having lifted upon me the light of Thy countenance and enrolled
me among them that have been privileged to behold Thy face!’” “North and South both vibrate
to the call announcing the advent of our Revelation. We can hear the voice of Mecca acclaiming:‘All praise be to Thee, O Lord my God, the All-Glorious, for having wafted over me the breath
redolent with the fragrance of Thy presence!’ Jerusalem, likewise, is calling aloud: ‘Lauded and
magnified art Thou, O Beloved of earth and heaven, for having turned the agony of my
separation from Thee into the joy of a life-giving reunion!’”
“By the righteousness of God,” Bahá’u’lláh wishing to reveal the full potency of His invincible
power asserts, “should a man, all alone, arise in the name of Bahá and put on the armor of His
love, him will the Almighty cause to be victorious, though the forces of earth and heaven be
arrayed against him.” “By God besides Whom is none other God! Should any one arise for the
triumph of our Cause, him will God render victorious though tens of thousands of enemies be
leagued against him. And if his love for Me wax stronger, God will establish his ascendancy over
all the powers of earth and heaven. Thus have We breathed the spirit of power into all regions.”
“This is the King of Days,” He thus extols the age that has witnessed the advent of His
Revelation, “the Day that hath seen the coming of the Best-beloved, Him Who through all
eternity hath been acclaimed the Desire of the World.” “The world of being shineth in this Day
with the resplendency of this Divine Revelation. All created things extol its saving grace and sing
its praises. The universe is wrapt in an ecstasy of joy and gladness. The Scriptures of past
Dispensations celebrate the great jubilee that must needs greet this most great Day of God. Well
is it with him that hath lived to see this Day and hath recognized its station.” “Were mankind to
give heed in a befitting manner to no more than one word of such a praise it would be so filled
with delight as to be overpowered and lost in wonder. Entranced, it would then shine forth
resplendent above the horizon of true understanding.”
“Be fair, ye peoples of the world;” He thus appeals to mankind, “is it meet and seemly for you to
question the authority of one Whose presence ‘He Who conversed with God’ (Moses) hath
longed to attain, the beauty of Whose countenance ‘God’s Well-beloved’ (Muhammad) had
yearned to behold, through the potency of Whose love the ‘Spirit of God’ (Jesus) ascended to
heaven, for Whose sake the ‘Primal Point’ (the Báb) offered up His life?” “Seize your chance,” He
admonishes His followers, “inasmuch as a fleeting moment in this Day excelleth centuries of a
bygone age… Neither sun nor moon hath witnessed a day such as this… It is evident that every
age in which a Manifestation of God hath lived is divinely ordained and may, in a sense, be
characterized as God’s appointed Day. This Day, however, is unique and is to be distinguished
from those that have preceded it. The designation ‘Seal of the Prophets’ fully reveals and
demonstrates its high station.”
Expatiating on the forces latent in His Revelation Bahá’u’lláh reveals the following: “Through the
movement of Our Pen of glory We have, at the bidding of the omnipotent Ordainer, breathed a
new life into every human frame and instilled into every word a fresh potency. All created things
proclaim the evidences of this world-wide regeneration.” “This is,” He adds, “the most great, the
most joyful tidings imparted by the pen of this wronged One to mankind.” “How great,” He in
another passage exclaims, “is the Cause! How staggering the weight of its message! This is the
Day of which it hath been said: ‘O my son! verily God will bring everything to light though it were
but the weight of a grain of mustard seed, and hidden in a rock, or in the heavens or in the earth;
for God is subtile, informed of all.’” “By the righteousness of the one true God! If one speck of a
jewel be lost and buried beneath a mountain of stones, and lie hidden beyond the seven seas,
the Hand of Omnipotence will assuredly reveal it in this day, pure and cleansed from dross.” “He
that partaketh of the waters of My Revelation will taste all the incorruptible delights ordained by
God from the beginning that hath no beginning to the end that hath no end.” “Every single letter
proceeding from Our mouth is endowed with such regenerative power as to enable it to bring
into existence a new creation—a creation the magnitude of which is inscrutable to all save God.
He verily hath knowledge of all things.” “It is in Our power, should We wish it, to enable a speck
of floating dust to generate, in less than the twinkling of an eye, suns of infinite, of unimaginable
splendor, to cause a dewdrop to develop into vast and numberless oceans, to infuse into every
letter such a force as to empower it to unfold all the knowledge of past and future ages.” “We are
possessed of such power which, if brought to light, will transmute the most deadly of poisons
into a panacea of unfailing efficacy.”Estimating the station of the true believer He remarks: “By the sorrows which afflict the beauty of the All-Glorious! Such is the station ordained for the true believer that if to an extent smaller than a needle’s eye the glory of that station were to be unveiled to mankind, every beholder would be consumed away in his longing to attain it. For this reason it hath been decreed that in this earthly life the full measure of the glory of his own station should remain concealed from the eyes of such a believer.” “If the veil be lifted,” He similarly affirms, “and the full glory of the station of those who have turned wholly towards God, and in their love for Him renounced the world, be made manifest, the entire creation would be dumbfounded.”
Stressing the superlative character of His Revelation as compared with the Dispensation
preceding it, Bahá’u’lláh makes the following affirmation: “If all the peoples of the world be
invested with the powers and attributes destined for the Letters of the Living, the Báb’s chosen
disciples, whose station is ten thousand times more glorious than any which the apostles of old
have attained, and if they, one and all, should, swift as the twinkling of an eye, hesitate to
recognize the light of My Revelation, their faith shall be of no avail and they shall be accounted
among the infidels.” “So tremendous is the outpouring of Divine grace in this Dispensation that if
mortal hands could be swift enough to record them, within the space of a single day and night
there would stream verses of such number as to be equivalent to the whole of the Persian
Bayán.”
“Give heed to my warning, ye people of Persia,” He thus addresses His countrymen, “If I be slain
at your hands, God will assuredly raise up one who will fill the seat made vacant through my
death; for such is God’s method carried into effect of old, and no change can ye find in God’s
mode of dealing.” “Should they attempt to conceal His light on the continent, He will assuredly
rear His head in the midmost heart of the ocean and, raising His voice, proclaim: ‘I am the
lifegiver of the world!’… And if they cast Him into a darksome pit, they will find Him seated on
earth’s loftiest heights calling aloud to all mankind: ‘Lo, the Desire of the world is come in His
majesty, His sovereignty, His transcendent dominion!’ And if He be buried beneath the depths of
the earth, His Spirit soaring to the apex of heaven shall peal the summons: ‘Behold ye the
coming of the Glory; witness ye the Kingdom of God, the most Holy, the Gracious, the AllPowerful!’” “Within the throat of this Youth,” is yet another astounding statement, “there lie
prisoned accents which, if revealed to mankind to an extent smaller than a needle’s eye, would
suffice to cause every mountain to crumble, the leaves of the trees to be discolored and their
fruits to fall; would compel every head to bow down in worship and every face to turn in
adoration towards this omnipotent Ruler Who, at sundry times and in diverse manners,
appeareth as a devouring flame, as a billowing ocean, as a radiant light, as the tree which, rooted
in the soil of holiness, lifteth its branches and spreadeth out its limbs as far as and beyond the
throne of deathless glory.”
Anticipating the System which the irresistible power of His Law was destined to unfold in a later
age, He writes: “The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this
most great, this new World Order. Mankind’s ordered life hath been revolutionized through the
agency of this unique, this wondrous System—the like of which mortal eyes have never
witnessed.” “The Hand of Omnipotence hath established His Revelation upon an unassailable, an
enduring foundation. Storms of human strife are powerless to undermine its basis, nor will men’s
fanciful theories succeed in damaging its structure.”
In the Súratu’l-Haykal, one of the most challenging works of Bahá’u’lláh, the following verses,
each of which testifies to the resistless power infused into the Revelation proclaimed by its
Author, have been recorded: “Naught is seen in My temple but the Temple of God, and in My
beauty but His Beauty, and in My being but His Being, and in My self but His Self, and in My
movement but His Movement, and in My acquiescence but His Acquiescence, and in My pen but
His Pen, the Mighty, the All-Praised. There hath not been in My soul but the Truth, and in Myself
naught could be seen but God.” “The Holy Spirit Itself hath been generated through the agency
of a single letter revealed by this Most Great Spirit, if ye be of them that comprehend.”… “Within
the treasury of Our Wisdom there lies unrevealed a knowledge, one word of which, if We chose
to divulge it to mankind, would cause every human being to recognize the Manifestation of God
and to acknowledge His omniscience, would enable every one to discover the secrets of all the
sciences, and to attain so high a station as to find himself wholly independent of all past andfuture learning. Other knowledges We do as well possess, not a single letter of which We can
disclose, nor do We find humanity able to hear even the barest reference to their meaning. Thus
have We informed you of the knowledge of God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.” “The day is
approaching when God will have, by an act of His Will, raised up a race of men the nature of
which is inscrutable to all save God, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsisting.” “He will, ere long, out
of the Bosom of Power draw forth the Hands of Ascendancy and Might—Hands who will arise to
win victory for this Youth and who will purge mankind from the defilement of the outcast and the
ungodly. These Hands will gird up their loins to champion the Faith of God, and will, in My name
the self-subsistent, the mighty, subdue the peoples and kindreds of the earth. They will enter the
cities and will inspire with fear the hearts of all their inhabitants. Such are the evidences of the
might of God; how fearful, how vehement is His might!”
Such is, dearly-beloved friends, Bahá’u’lláh’s own written testimony to the nature of His
Revelation. To the affirmations of the Báb, each of which reinforces the strength, and confirms
the truth, of these remarkable statements, I have already referred. What remains for me to
consider in this connection are such passages in the writings of ‘Abdu’l Bahá, the appointed
Interpreter of these same utterances, as throw further light upon and amplify various features of
this enthralling theme. The tone of His language is indeed as emphatic and His tribute no less
glowing than that of either Bahá’u’lláh or the Báb.
“Centuries, nay ages, must pass away,” He affirms in one of His earliest Tablets, “ere the DayStar of Truth shineth again in its mid-summer splendor, or appeareth once more in the radiance
of its vernal glory… How thankful must we be for having been made in this Day the recipients of
so overwhelming a favor! Would that we had ten thousand lives that we might lay them down in
thanksgiving for so rare a privilege, so high an attainment, so priceless a bounty!” “The mere
contemplation,” He adds, “of the Dispensation inaugurated by the Blessed Beauty would have
sufficed to overwhelm the saints of bygone ages—saints who longed to partake for one moment
of its great glory.” “The holy ones of past ages and centuries have, each and all, yearned with
tearful eyes to live, though for one moment, in the Day of God. Their longings unsatisfied, they
repaired to the Great Beyond. How great, therefore, is the bounty of the Abhá Beauty Who,
notwithstanding our utter unworthiness, hath through His grace and mercy breathed into us in
this divinely-illumined century the spirit of life, hath gathered us beneath the standard of the
Beloved of the world, and chosen to confer upon us a bounty for which the mighty ones of
bygone ages had craved in vain.” “The souls of the well-favored among the concourse on high,”
He likewise affirms, “the sacred dwellers of the most exalted Paradise, are in this day filled with
burning desire to return unto this world, that they may render such service as lieth in their power
to the threshold of the Abhá Beauty.”
“The effulgence of God’s splendrous mercy,” He, in a passage alluding to the growth and future
development of the Faith, declares, “hath enveloped the peoples and kindreds of the earth, and
the whole world is bathed in its shining glory… The day will soon come when the light of Divine
unity will have so permeated the East and the West that no man dare any longer ignore it.” “Now
in the world of being the Hand of divine power hath firmly laid the foundations of this all-highest
bounty and this wondrous gift. Whatsoever is latent in the innermost of this holy cycle shall
gradually appear and be made manifest, for now is but the beginning of its growth and the
dayspring of the revelation of its signs. Ere the close of this century and of this age, it shall be
made clear and evident how wondrous was that springtide and how heavenly was that gift!”
In confirmation of the exalted rank of the true believer, referred to by Bahá’u’lláh, He reveals the
following: “The station which he who hath truly recognized this Revelation will attain is the same
as the one ordained for such prophets of the house of Israel as are not regarded as
Manifestations ‘endowed with constancy.’”
In connection with the Manifestations destined to follow the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l
Bahá makes this definite and weighty declaration: “Concerning the Manifestations that will come
down in the future ‘in the shadows of the clouds,’ know verily that in so far as their relation to the
source of their inspiration is concerned they are under the shadow of the Ancient Beauty. In their
relation, however, to the age in which they appear, each and every one of them ‘doeth
whatsoever He willeth.’”
“O my friend!” He thus addresses in one of His Tablets a man of recognized authority and standing, “The undying Fire which the Lord of the Kingdom hath kindled in the midst of the holy Tree is burning fiercely in the midmost heart of the world. The conflagration it will provoke will envelop the whole earth. Its blazing flames will illuminate its peoples and kindreds. All the signs have been revealed; every prophetic allusion hath been manifested. Whatever hath been enshrined in all the Scriptures of the past hath been made evident. To doubt or hesitate is no more possible… Time is pressing. The Divine Charger is impatient, and can tarry no longer. Ours is the duty to rush forward and, ere it is too late, win the victory.” And finally, is this most stirring passage which He, in one of His moments of exultation, was moved to address to one of His most trusted and eminent followers in the earliest days of His ministry: “What more shall I say? What else can my pen recount? So loud is the call that reverberates from the Abhá Kingdom that mortal ears are well-nigh deafened with its vibrations. The whole creation, methinks, is being disrupted and is bursting asunder through the shattering influence of the Divine summons issued from the throne of glory. More than this I cannot write.”
Dearly-beloved friends! Enough has been said, and the quoted excerpts from the writings of the
Báb, of Bahá’u’lláh and of ‘Abdu’l Bahá are sufficiently numerous and varied, to convince the
conscientious reader of the sublimity of this unique cycle in the world’s religious history. It would
be utterly impossible to over-exaggerate its significance or to overrate the influence it has
exerted and which it must increasingly exert as its great system unfolds itself amidst the welter
of a collapsing civilization.
To whoever may read these pages a word of warning seems, however, advisable before I
proceed further with the development of my argument. Let no one meditating, in the light of the
afore-quoted passages, on the nature of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, mistake its character or
misconstrue the intent of its Author. The divinity attributed to so great a Being and the complete
incarnation of the names and attributes of God in so exalted a Person should, under no
circumstances, be misconceived or misinterpreted. The human temple that has been made the
vehicle of so overpowering a Revelation must, if we be faithful to the tenets of our Faith, ever
remain entirely distinguished from that “innermost Spirit of Spirits” and “eternal Essence of
Essences”—that invisible yet rational God Who, however much we extol the divinity of His
Manifestations on earth, can in no wise incarnate His infinite, His unknowable, His incorruptible
and all-embracing Reality in the concrete and limited frame of a mortal being. Indeed, the God
Who could so incarnate His own reality would, in the light of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, cease
immediately to be God. So crude and fantastic a theory of Divine incarnation is as removed from,
and incompatible with, the essentials of Bahá’í belief as are the no less inadmissible pantheistic
and anthropomorphic conceptions of God—both of which the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh
emphatically repudiate and the fallacy of which they expose.
He Who in unnumbered passages claimed His utterance to be the “Voice of Divinity, the Call of
God Himself” thus solemnly affirms in the Kitáb-i-Íqán: “To every discerning and illumined heart
it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immeasurably exalted
beyond every human attribute such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and
regress… He is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain
in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men… He standeth exalted beyond and
above all separation and union, all proximity and remoteness… ‘God was alone; there was none
else beside Him’ is a sure testimony of this truth.”
“From time immemorial,” Bahá’u’lláh, speaking of God, explains, “He, the Divine Being, hath been
veiled in the ineffable sanctity of His exalted Self, and will everlasting continue to be wrapt in the
impenetrable mystery of His unknowable Essence… Ten thousand Prophets, each a Moses, are
thunderstruck upon the Sinai of their search at God’s forbidding voice, ‘Thou shalt never behold
Me!’; whilst a myriad Messengers, each as great as Jesus, stand dismayed upon their heavenly
thrones by the interdiction ‘Mine Essence thou shalt never apprehend!’” “How bewildering to me,
insignificant as I am,” Bahá’u’lláh in His communion with God affirms, “is the attempt to fathom
the sacred depths of Thy knowledge! How futile my efforts to visualize the magnitude of the
power inherent in Thine handiwork—the revelation of Thy creative power!” “When I contemplate,O my God, the relationship that bindeth me to Thee,” He, in yet another prayer revealed in His own handwriting, testifies, “I am moved to proclaim to all created things ‘verily I am God!’; and when I consider my own self, lo, I find it coarser than clay!”
“The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days,” Bahá’u’lláh further states in the Kitáb-i-Íqán,
“being thus closed in the face of all beings, He, the Source of infinite grace … hath caused those
luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the noble form of the
human temple, and be made manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the
mysteries of the unchangeable Being and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable Essence… All
the Prophets of God, His well-favored, His holy and chosen Messengers are, without exception,
the bearers of His names and the embodiments of His attributes… These Tabernacles of
Holiness, these primal Mirrors which reflect the Light of unfading glory, are but expressions of
Him Who is the Invisible of the Invisibles.”
That Bahá’u’lláh should, notwithstanding the overwhelming intensity of His Revelation, be
regarded as essentially one of these Manifestations of God, never to be identified with that
invisible Reality, the Essence of Divinity itself, is one of the major beliefs of our Faith—a belief
which should never be obscured and the integrity of which no one of its followers should allow to
be compromised.
Nor does the Bahá’í Revelation, claiming as it does to be the culmination of a prophetic cycle and
the fulfillment of the promise of all ages, attempt, under any circumstances, to invalidate those
first and everlasting principles that animate and underlie the religions that have preceded it. The
God-given authority, vested in each one of them, it admits and establishes as its firmest and
ultimate basis. It regards them in no other light except as different stages in the eternal history
and constant evolution of one religion, Divine and indivisible, of which it itself forms but an
integral part. It neither seeks to obscure their Divine origin, nor to dwarf the admitted magnitude
of their colossal achievements. It can countenance no attempt that seeks to distort their features
or to stultify the truths which they instill. Its teachings do not deviate a hairbreadth from the
verities they enshrine, nor does the weight of its message detract one jot or one tittle from the
influence they exert or the loyalty they inspire. Far from aiming at the overthrow of the spiritual
foundation of the world’s religious systems, its avowed, its unalterable purpose is to widen their
basis, to restate their fundamentals, to reconcile their aims, to reinvigorate their life, to
demonstrate their oneness, to restore the pristine purity of their teachings, to coördinate their
functions and to assist in the realization of their highest aspirations. These divinely-revealed
religions, as a close observer has graphically expressed it, “are doomed not to die, but to be
reborn… ‘Does not the child succumb in the youth and the youth in the man; yet neither child nor
youth perishes?’”
“They Who are the Luminaries of Truth and the Mirrors reflecting the light of Divine Unity,”
Bahá’u’lláh explains in the Kitáb-i-Íqán, “in whatever age and cycle they are sent down from their
invisible habitations of ancient glory unto this world to educate the souls of men and endue with
grace all created things, are invariably endowed with an all-compelling power and invested with
invincible sovereignty… These sanctified Mirrors, these Day-Springs of ancient glory are one and
all the exponents on earth of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe, its essence and
ultimate purpose. From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from Him is derived their
sovereignty. The beauty of their countenance is but a reflection of His image, and their revelation
a sign of His deathless glory… Through them is transmitted a grace that is infinite, and by them is
revealed the light that can never fade… Human tongue can never befittingly sing their praise, and
human speech can never unfold their mystery.” “Inasmuch as these Birds of the celestial
Throne,” He adds, “are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise to
proclaim His irresistible Faith, they therefore are regarded as one soul and the same person…
They all abide in the same tabernacle, soar in the same heaven, are seated upon the same
throne, utter the same speech, and proclaim the same Faith… They only differ in the intensity of
their revelation and the comparative potency of their light… That a certain attribute of God hath
not been outwardly manifested by these Essences of Detachment doth in no wise imply that they
Who are the Day-Springs of God’s attributes and the Treasuries of His holy names did not
actually possess it.
”It should also be borne in mind that, great as is the power manifested by this Revelation and however vast the range of the Dispensation its Author has inaugurated, it emphatically repudiates the claim to be regarded as the final revelation of God’s will and purpose for mankind. To hold such a conception of its character and functions would be tantamount to a betrayal of its
cause and a denial of its truth. It must necessarily conflict with the fundamental principle which
constitutes the bedrock of Bahá’í belief, the principle that religious truth is not absolute but
relative, that Divine Revelation is orderly, continuous and progressive and not spasmodic or final.
Indeed, the categorical rejection by the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh of the claim to finality
which any religious system inaugurated by the Prophets of the past may advance is as clear and
emphatic as their own refusal to claim that same finality for the Revelation with which they stand
identified. “To believe that all revelation is ended, that the portals of Divine mercy are closed,
that from the daysprings of eternal holiness no sun shall rise again, that the ocean of everlasting
bounty is forever stilled, and that out of the tabernacle of ancient glory the Messengers of God
have ceased to be made manifest” must constitute in the eyes of every follower of the Faith a
grave, an inexcusable departure from one of its most cherished and fundamental principles.
A reference to some of the already quoted utterances of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l Bahá will surely
suffice to establish, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the truth of this cardinal principle. Might not
the following passage of the Hidden Words be, likewise, construed as an allegorical allusion to
the progressiveness of Divine Revelation and an admission by its Author that the Message with
which He has been entrusted is not the final and ultimate expression of the will and guidance of
the Almighty? “O Son of Justice! In the night-season the beauty of the immortal Being hath
repaired from the emerald height of fidelity unto the Sadratu’l-Muntahá, and wept with such a
weeping that the concourse on high and the dwellers of the realms above wailed at His
lamenting. Whereupon there was asked, Why the wailing and weeping? He made reply: As
bidden I waited expectant upon the hill of faithfulness, yet inhaled not from them that dwell on
earth the fragrance of fidelity. Then summoned to return I beheld, and lo! certain doves of
holiness were sore tried within the claws of the dogs of earth. Thereupon the Maid of heaven
hastened forth unveiled and resplendent from Her mystic mansion, and asked of their names,
and all were told but one. And when urged, the first letter thereof was uttered, whereupon the
dwellers of the celestial chambers rushed forth out of their habitation of glory. And whilst the
second letter was pronounced they fell down, one and all, upon the dust. At that moment a voice
was heard from the inmost shrine: ‘Thus far and no farther.’ Verily We bear witness to that which
they have done and now are doing.”
In a more explicit language Bahá’u’lláh testifies to this truth in one of His Tablets revealed in
Adrianople: “Know verily that the veil hiding Our countenance hath not been completely lifted.
We have revealed Our Self to a degree corresponding to the capacity of the people of Our age.
Should the Ancient Beauty be unveiled in the fullness of His glory mortal eyes would be blinded
by the dazzling intensity of His revelation.”
In the Súriy-i-Sabr, revealed as far back as the year 1863, on the very first day of His arrival in
the garden of Ridván, He thus affirms: “God hath sent down His Messengers to succeed to
Moses and Jesus, and He will continue to do so till ‘the end that hath no end’; so that His grace
may, from the heaven of Divine bounty, be continually vouchsafed to mankind.”
“I am not apprehensive for My own self,” Bahá’u’lláh still more explicitly declares, “My fears are
for Him Who will be sent down unto you after Me—Him Who will be invested with great
sovereignty and mighty dominion.” And again He writes in the Súratu’l-Haykal: “By those words
which I have revealed, Myself is not intended, but rather He Who will come after Me. To it is
witness God, the All-Knowing.” “Deal not with Him,” He adds, “as ye have dealt with Me.”
In a more circumstantial passage the Báb upholds the same truth in His writings. “It is clear and
evident,” He writes in the Persian Bayán, “that the object of all preceding Dispensations hath
been to pave the way for the advent of Muhammad, the Apostle of God. These, including the
Muhammadan Dispensation, have had, in their turn, as their objective the Revelation proclaimed
by the Qá’im. The purpose underlying this Revelation, as well as those that preceded it, has, in
like manner, been to announce the advent of the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest. And
this Faith—the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest—in its turn, together with all the Revelations gone before it, have as their object the Manifestation destined to succeed it. And the latter, no less than all the Revelations preceding it, prepare the way for the Revelation which is yet to follow. The process of the rise and setting of the Sun of Truth will thus indefinitely continue —a process that hath had no beginning and will have no end.”
“Know of a certainty,” Bahá’u’lláh explains in this connection, “that in every Dispensation the light
of Divine Revelation hath been vouchsafed to men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity.
Consider the sun. How feeble its rays the moment it appeareth above the horizon. How gradually
its warmth and potency increase as it approacheth its zenith, enabling meanwhile all created
things to adapt themselves to the growing intensity of its light. How steadily it declineth until it
reacheth its setting point. Were it all of a sudden to manifest the energies latent within it, it would
no doubt cause injury to all created things… In like manner, if the Sun of Truth were suddenly to
reveal, at the earliest stages of its manifestation, the full measure of the potencies which the
providence of the Almighty hath bestowed upon it, the earth of human understanding would
waste away and be consumed; for men’s hearts would neither sustain the intensity of its
revelation, nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of its light. Dismayed and overpowered, they
would cease to exist.”
In the light of these clear and conclusive statements it is our clear duty to make it indubitably
evident to every seeker after truth that from “the beginning that hath no beginning” the Prophets
of the one, the unknowable God, including Bahá’u’lláh Himself, have all, as the channels of God’s
grace, as the exponents of His unity, as the mirrors of His light and the revealers of His purpose,
been commissioned to unfold to mankind an ever-increasing measure of His truth, of His
inscrutable will and Divine guidance, and will continue to “the end that hath no end” to
vouchsafe still fuller and mightier revelations of His limitless power and glory.
We might well ponder in our hearts the following passages from a prayer revealed by Bahá’u’lláh
which strikingly affirm, and are a further evidence of, the reality of the great and essential truth
lying at the very core of His Message to mankind: “Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God, for the
wondrous revelations of Thine inscrutable decree and the manifold woes and trials Thou hast
destined for myself. At one time Thou didst deliver me into the hands of Nimrod; at another Thou
hast allowed Pharaoh’s rod to persecute me. Thou alone canst estimate, through Thine allencompassing knowledge and the operation of Thy Will, the incalculable afflictions I have
suffered at their hands. Again Thou didst cast me into the prison-cell of the ungodly for no
reason except that I was moved to whisper into the ears of the well-favored denizens of Thy
kingdom an intimation of the vision with which Thou hadst, through Thy knowledge, inspired me
and revealed to me its meaning through the potency of Thy might. And again Thou didst decree
that I be beheaded by the sword of the infidel. Again I was crucified for having unveiled to men’s
eyes the hidden gems of Thy glorious unity, for having revealed to them the wondrous signs of
Thy sovereign and everlasting power. How bitter the humiliations heaped upon me, in a
subsequent age, on the plain of Karbilá! How lonely did I feel amidst Thy people; to what state of
helplessness I was reduced in that land! Unsatisfied with such indignities, my persecutors
decapitated me and carrying aloft my head from land to land paraded it before the gaze of the
unbelieving multitude and deposited it on the seats of the perverse and faithless. In a later age I
was suspended and my breast was made a target to the darts of the malicious cruelty of my
foes. My limbs were riddled with bullets and my body was torn asunder. Finally, behold how in
this day my treacherous enemies have leagued themselves against me, and are continually
plotting to instill the venom of hate and malice into the souls of Thy servants. With all their might
they are scheming to accomplish their purpose… Grievous as is my plight, O God, my Wellbeloved, I render thanks unto Thee, and my spirit is grateful for whatsoever hath befallen me in the path of Thy good-pleasure. I am well pleased with that which Thou didst ordain for me, and welcome, however calamitous, the pains and sorrows I am made to suffer.”