Viewing these periods of Bahá’í history as the constituents
of a single entity, we note the chain of events proclaiming successfully the
rise of a Forerunner, the Mission of One Whose advent that Forerunner had
promised, the establishment of a Covenant generated through the direct
authority of the Promised One Himself, and lastly the birth of a System which
is the child sprung from both the Author of the Covenant and its appointed
Center. We observe how the Báb, the Forerunner, announced the impending
inception of a divinely-conceived Order, how Bahá’u’lláh, the Promised One,
formulated its laws and ordinances, how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the appointed Center,
delineated its features, and how the present generation of their followers have
commenced to erect the framework of its institutions. We watch, through these
periods, the infant light of the Faith diffuse itself from its cradle, eastward
to India and the Far East, westward to the neighboring territories of ‘Iráq, of
Turkey, of Russia, and of Egypt, travel as far as the North American continent,
illuminate subsequently the major countries of Europe, envelop with its
radiance, at a later stage, the Antipodes, brighten the fringes of the Arctic,
and finally set aglow the Central and South American horizons. (Shoghi Effendi,
‘God Passes By’)
