“For a number of years”, Bahá’u’lláh states in one of His
Tablets, “petitions reached the Most Holy Presence from various lands begging
for the laws of God, but We held back the Pen ere the appointed time had come.”
Not until twenty years from the birth of His Prophetic Mission in the
Síyáh-Chál of Ṭihrán had elapsed did Bahá’u’lláh reveal the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the
Repository of the laws of His Dispensation. Even after its revelation the Aqdas
was withheld by Him for some time before it was sent to the friends in Persia.
This divinely purposed delay in the revelation of the basic laws of God for
this age, and the subsequent gradual implementation of their provisions,
illustrate the principle of progressive revelation which applies even within
the ministry of each Prophet. - The Universal House of Justice (The ‘Notes’
section of the Kitab-i-Aqdas)
