Written entirely in His own hand; unsealed, on the ninth day
after His ascension in the presence of nine witnesses chosen from amongst His
companions and members of His Family; read subsequently, on the afternoon of
that same day, before a large company assembled in His Most Holy Tomb,
including His sons, some of the Báb’s kinsmen, pilgrims and resident believers,
this unique and epoch-making Document, designated by Bahá’u’lláh as His “Most
Great Tablet,” and alluded to by Him as the “Crimson Book” in His “Epistle to
the Son of the Wolf,” can find no parallel in the Scriptures of any previous
Dispensation, not excluding that of the Báb Himself. For nowhere in the books
pertaining to any of the world’s religious systems, not even among the writings
of the Author of the Bábí Revelation, do we find any single document
establishing a Covenant endowed with an authority comparable to the Covenant
which Bahá’u’lláh had Himself instituted.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
