During the seven years that elapsed between the resumption
of His [Baha’u’llah’s] labors and the declaration of His prophetic
mission—years to which we now direct our attention—it would be no exaggeration
to say that the Bahá’í community, under the name and in the shape of a
re-arisen Bábí community was born and was slowly taking shape, though its
Creator still appeared in the guise of, and continued to labor as, one of the
foremost disciples of the Báb. It was a period during which the prestige of the
community’s nominal head steadily faded from the scene, paling before the
rising splendor of Him Who was its actual Leader and Deliverer. It was a period
in the course of which the first fruits of an exile, endowed with incalculable
potentialities, ripened and were garnered. It was a period that will go down in
history as one during which the prestige of a recreated community was immensely
enhanced, its morals entirely reformed, its recognition of Him who
rehabilitated its fortunes enthusiastically affirmed, its literature enormously
enriched, and its victories over its new adversaries universally acknowledged.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
