On no previous occasion, since the inception of the Faith,
not even during the days when the Báb in Isfáhán, in Tabríz and in Chihríq was
acclaimed by the ovations of an enthusiastic populace, had any of its exponents
risen to such high eminence in the public mind, or exercised over so
diversified a circle of admirers an influence so far reaching and so potent.
Yet unprecedented as was the sway which Bahá’u’lláh held while, in that
primitive age of the Faith, He was dwelling in Baghdád, its range at that time
was modest when compared with the magnitude of the fame which, at the close of
that same age, and through the immediate inspiration of the Center of His
Covenant, the Faith acquired in both the European and American continents.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
