…it is our clear duty to make it indubitably evident to
every seeker after truth that from "the beginning that hath no
beginning" the Prophets of the one, the unknowable God, including
Bahá'u'lláh Himself, have all, as the channels of God's grace, as the exponents
of His unity, as the mirrors of His light and the revealers of His purpose,
been commissioned to unfold to mankind an ever-increasing measure of His truth,
of His inscrutable will and Divine guidance, and will continue to "the end
that hath no end" to vouchsafe still fuller and mightier revelations of
His limitless power and glory.
We might well ponder in our hearts the following passages
from a prayer revealed by Bahá'u'lláh which strikingly affirm, and are a
further evidence of, the reality of the great and essential truth lying at the
very core of His Message to mankind:
"Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God, for the wondrous
revelations of Thine inscrutable decree and the manifold woes and trials Thou
hast destined for myself. At one time Thou didst deliver me into the hands of
Nimrod; at another Thou hast allowed Pharaoh's rod to persecute me. Thou alone
canst estimate, through Thine all-encompassing knowledge and the operation of
Thy Will, the incalculable afflictions I have suffered at their hands. Again
Thou didst cast me into the prison-cell of the ungodly for no reason except
that I was moved to whisper into the ears of the well-favored denizens of Thy
kingdom an intimation of the vision with which Thou hadst, through Thy
knowledge, inspired me and revealed to me its meaning through the potency of
Thy might. And again Thou didst decree that I be beheaded by the sword of the
infidel. Again I was crucified for having unveiled to men's eyes the hidden
gems of Thy glorious unity, for having revealed to them the wondrous signs of
Thy sovereign and everlasting power. How bitter the humiliations heaped upon
me, in a subsequent age, on the plain of Karbila! How lonely did I feel amidst
Thy people; to what state of helplessness I was reduced in that land!
Unsatisfied with such indignities, my persecutors decapitated me and carrying
aloft my head from land to land paraded it before the gaze of the unbelieving
multitude and deposited it on the seats of the perverse and faithless. In a
later age I was suspended and my breast was made a target to the darts of the
malicious cruelty of my foes. My limbs were riddled with bullets and my body
was torn asunder. Finally, behold how in this day my treacherous enemies have
leagued themselves against me, and are continually plotting to instill the
venom of hate and malice into the souls of Thy servants. With all their might
they are scheming to accomplish their purpose... Grievous as is my plight, O
God, my Well-beloved, I render thanks unto Thee, and my spirit is grateful for
whatsoever hath befallen me in the path of Thy good-pleasure. I am well pleased
with that which Thou didst ordain for me, and welcome, however calamitous, the
pains and sorrows I am made to suffer."
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Dispensation
of Baha’u’llah’, included in ‘The World Order of Baha'u'llah’)
As to the list of the prophets with whom Baha’u’llah
identified Himself in the passage found on pages 26 and 27 of ‘The Dispensation
of Baha’u’llah,’ their names are as follows: Abraham, Moses, Joseph, John the
Baptist, Jesus, Imam Husayn, on whom Baha’u’llah has conferred an exceptionally
exalted station, (and) the Bab.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 7 August, 1934, written on
behalf of Shoghi Effendi to NSA of the United States and Canada; Baha’i News,
no. 87, September 1934)
