[the Kitáb-i-Aqdas] Revealed soon after Bahá'u'lláh had been transferred to the house of 'Udi Khammar [1] (circa 1873), at a time when He was still encompassed by the tribulations that had afflicted Him, through the acts committed by His enemies and the professed adherents of His Faith, this Book, this treasury enshrining the priceless gems of His Revelation, stands out, by virtue of the principles it inculcates, the administrative institutions it ordains and the function with which it invests the appointed Successor of its Author, unique and incomparable among the world's sacred Scriptures. For, . . . the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, revealed from first to last by the Author of the Dispensation Himself, not only preserves for posterity the basic laws and ordinances on which the fabric of His future World Order must rest, but ordains, in addition to the function of interpretation which it confers upon His Successor, the necessary institutions through which the integrity and unity of His Faith can alone be safeguarded.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, quoted by the Universal
House of Justice in the Introduction to the ‘Synopsis and Codification of the
Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
[1 This house was later joined to the adjacent house of
'Abbud, by which name both are now known.]
