The heroes whose deeds shine upon the record of this fierce
spiritual contest, involving at once people, clergy,
monarch and government, were the Báb’s chosen disciples, the Letters of the
Living, and their companions, the trail-breakers of the New Day, who to so much
intrigue, ignorance, depravity, cruelty, superstition and cowardice opposed a
spirit exalted, unquenchable and awe-inspiring, a knowledge surprisingly
profound, an eloquence sweeping in its force, a piety unexcelled in fervor, a
courage leonine in its fierceness, a self-abnegation saintly in its purity, a
resolve granite-like in its firmness, a vision stupendous in its range, a
veneration for the Prophet and His Imáms disconcerting to their adversaries, a
power of persuasion alarming to their antagonists, a standard of faith and a
code of conduct that challenged and revolutionized the lives of their
countrymen.
(Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)
