Not only in the character of the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh,
however stupendous be His claim, does the greatness of this Dispensation
reside. For among the distinguishing features of His Faith ranks, as a further
evidence of its uniqueness, the fundamental truth that in the person of its
Forerunner, the Báb, every follower of Bahá’u’lláh recognizes not merely an
inspired annunciator but a direct Manifestation of God. It is their firm belief
that, no matter how short the duration of His Dispensation, and however brief
the period of the operation of His laws, the Báb had been endowed with a
potency such as no founder of any of the past religions was, in the providence
of the Almighty, allowed to possess. That He was not merely the precursor of
the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, that He was more than a divinely-inspired
personage, that His was the station of an independent, self-sufficient
Manifestation of God, is abundantly demonstrated by Himself, is affirmed in
unmistakable terms by Bahá’u’lláh, and is finally attested by the Will and
Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. (Shoghi Effendi in a letter dated March 21, 1932; ‘The
World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
