The prohibition on representing the Manifestation of God in paintings and drawings or in dramatic presentations applies to all the Manifestations of God. There are, of course, great and wonderful works of art of past Dispensations, many of which portrayed the Manifestations of God in a spirit of reverence and love. In this Dispensation however the greater maturity of mankind and the greater awareness of the relationship between the Supreme Manifestation and His servants enable us to realize the impossibility of representing, in any human form, whether pictorially, in sculpture or in dramatic representation, the person of God's Manifestation. In stating the Bahá'í prohibition, the beloved Guardian pointed out this impossibility. (From a letter dated 9 March 1977 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; compilation ‘Manifestations of God and the Master: Representation of in Portraits, Photographs, and Dramatic Presentations’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice)
