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The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh
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Pages 94-119
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The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh
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To the beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout
the West.
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Fellow-laborers in the Divine Vineyard:
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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 score 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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'l-Adhkár
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.
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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
focussed 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.
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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.
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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 préeminence 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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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 second Dispensation 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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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"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 préeminent, 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 been invested 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!'"
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"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."
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"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 all-encompassing
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!'"
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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"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 All-Powerful!'" "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."
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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."
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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 and future 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!"
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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.
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"Centuries, nay ages, must pass away," He affirms in one of His
earliest Tablets, "ere the Day-Star 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."
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"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!"
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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.'"
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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.'"
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"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."
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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.
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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.
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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."
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"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!"
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"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."
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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.
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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 cöordinate 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?'"
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"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."
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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.
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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."
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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."
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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."
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"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."
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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."
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"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."
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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.
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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 all-encompassing
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 Kárbilá! 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
Well-beloved, 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."
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