To degrade His [‘Abdu’l-Baha’s] lofty rank by identifying
His station with or by regarding it as roughly equivalent to, the position of
those on whom the mantle of His authority has fallen would be an act of impiety
as grave as the no less heretical belief that inclines to exalt Him to a state
of absolute equality with either the central Figure or Forerunner of our Faith.
For wide as is the gulf that separates ‘Abdu’l-Bahá from Him Who is the Source
of an independent Revelation, it can never be regarded as commensurate with the
greater distance that stands between Him Who is the Center of the Covenant and
His ministers who are to carry on His work, whatever be their name, their rank,
their functions or their future achievements. Let those who have known
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who through their contact with His magnetic personality have come
to cherish for Him so fervent an admiration, reflect, in the light of this
statement, on the greatness of One Who is so far above Him in station.
- Shoghi
Effendi (‘The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah’)
