An attempt I strongly feel should now be made to clarify our
minds regarding the station occupied by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the significance of
His position in this holy Dispensation. It would be indeed difficult for us,
who stand so close to such a tremendous figure and are drawn by the mysterious
power of so magnetic a personality, to obtain a clear and exact understanding
of the rôle and character of One Who, not only in the Dispensation of
Bahá’u’lláh but in the entire field of religious history, fulfills a unique
function. Though moving in a sphere of His own and holding a rank radically
different from that of the Author and the Forerunner of the Bahá’í Revelation,
He, by virtue of the station ordained for Him through the Covenant of
Bahá’u’lláh, forms together with them what may be termed the Three Central
Figures of a Faith that stands unapproached in the world’s spiritual history.
He towers, in conjunction with them, above the destinies of this infant Faith
of God from a level to which no individual or body ministering to its needs
after Him, and for no less a period than a full thousand years, can ever hope
to rise.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah’)
