'Abdu'l-Bahá's position in the Faith is
one for which we find "no parallel" in past Dispensations. For
example, Bahá'u'lláh, in addition to His reference to the Centre of His
Covenant as the "Mystery of God", states that 'Abdu'l-Bahá should be
regarded as God's "exalted Handiwork" and "a Word which God hath
adorned with the ornament of His Own Self, and made it sovereign over the earth
and all that there is therein..." And from Shoghi Effendi we have the
incontrovertible statement that the Guardian of the Faith while "overshadowed"
by the "protection'' of Bahá'u'lláh and of the Bab, "remains
essentially human", whereas in respect of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Shoghi Effendi
categorically states that "in the person of 'Abdu'l-Bahá the incompatible
characteristics of a human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have
been blended and are completely harmonized."
(From a letter dated 3 June
1982 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual
believer)
