Important as these differences are, both sects agree,
however, in expecting a twofold Manifestation. The shí’ahs look for the Qá’im,
who is to come in the fulness of time, and also for the return of the Imám Husayn.
The sunnís await the appearance of the Mihdí and also “the return of Jesus
Christ.” When, at the beginning of his Mission, the Báb, continuing the tradition
of the shí’ahs, proclaimed His function under the double title of, first, the
Qá’im and, second, the Gate, or Báb, some of the Muhammadans misunderstood the
latter reference. They imagined His meaning to be that He was a fifth Gate In
succession to Abu’l Hasan-‘Alí. His true meaning, however, as He himself
clearly announced, was very different. He was the Qá’im; but the Qá’im, though
a High Prophet, stood in relation to a succeeding and greater Manifestation as
did John the Baptist to the Christ. He was the Forerunner of One yet more
mighty than Himself. He was to decrease; that Mighty One was to increase. And
as John the Baptist had been the Herald or Gate of the Christ, so was the Báb
the Herald or Gate of Bahá’u’lláh.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘Introduction to ‘The
Dawn-Breakers’)
