He [‘Abdu’l-Baha] is, and should for
all time be regarded, first and foremost, as the Center and Pivot of
Bahá’u’lláh’s peerless and all-enfolding Covenant, His most exalted handiwork,
the stainless Mirror of His light, the perfect Exemplar of His teachings, the
unerring Interpreter of His Word, the embodiment of every Bahá’í ideal, the
incarnation of every Bahá’í virtue, the Most Mighty Branch sprung from the
Ancient Root, the Limb of the Law of God, the Being “round Whom all names
revolve,” the Mainspring of the Oneness of Humanity, the Ensign of the Most
Great Peace, the Moon of the Central Orb of this most holy Dispensation—styles
and titles that are implicit and find their truest, their highest and fairest
expression in the magic name ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He is, above and beyond these
appellations, the “Mystery of God”—an expression by which Bahá’u’lláh Himself
has chosen to designate Him, and which, while it does not by any means justify
us to assign to Him the station of Prophethood, indicates how 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.
- Shoghi
Effendi (‘The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah’)
