The most vital duty, in this day, is to purify your
characters, to correct your manners, and improve your conduct. The beloved of
the Merciful must show forth such character and conduct among His creatures,
that the fragrance of their holiness may be shed upon the whole world, and may
quicken the dead, inasmuch as the purpose of the Manifestation of God and the
dawning of the limitless lights of the Invisible is to educate the souls of
men, and refine the character of every living man — so that blessed individuals,
who have freed themselves from the murk of the animal world, shall rise up with
those qualities which are the adornings of the reality of man....
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Selections from the Writings
of `Abdu'l-Bahá’, also quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Advent of Divine
Justice’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Excellence in All Things)
