Chapter 24
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Conflicting writings on the "unique" station of Abdu'l-Baha.

In passage 1 Shoghi Effendi states that Abdu'l-Baha is "One Who, not only in the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh but in the entire field of religious history, fulfills a unique function", which conflicts with the writings of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha. Based on the writings of Baha'u'llah, it's evident Abdu'l-Baha had the same station as Imam Ali in the era of Muhammad, and as Aaron in the era of Moses. In other words, Abdu'l-Baha was a Branch (hence the "Tablet of the Branch" revealed about his station), a Dependent/Lesser Prophet (one of the two classes of Prophets), a Manifestation of God (the Self of God). In passages #2, "a company of Our favoured angels" is one of many references to Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah, the first of whom was Abdu'l-Baha, as indicated by him. Abdu'l-Baha is also one of the "stars of guidance" (one of the Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah) mentioned in passage 3. At the following link are references/links to over a dozen brief compilations showing the parallels in the station of Abdu'l-Baha and Imam Ali (both are "angels", "moons", "the firm handle", "the Cord of God", "Temples", and so on). See also passages #4.


1)
An attempt I strongly feel should now be made to clarify our minds regarding the station occupied by 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the significance of His position in this holy Dispensation. It would be indeed difficult for us, who stand so close to such a tremendous figure and are drawn by the mysterious power of so magnetic a personality, to obtain a clear and exact understanding of the role and character of One Who, not only in the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh but in the entire field of religious history, fulfills a unique function. Though moving in a sphere of His own and holding a rank radically different from that of the Author and the Forerunner of the Bahá'í Revelation, He, by virtue of the station ordained for Him through the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, forms together with them what may be termed the Three Central Figures of a Faith that stands unapproached in the world's spiritual history...
-- Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 131


2)
Say: Let not your hearts be perturbed, O people, when the glory of My Presence is withdrawn, and the ocean of My utterance is stilled. In My presence amongst you there is a wisdom, and in My absence there is yet another, inscrutable to all but God, the Incomparable, the All-Knowing. Verily, We behold you from Our realm of glory, and shall aid whosoever will arise for the triumph of Our Cause with the hosts of the Concourse on high and a company of Our favoured angels.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 38

The Blessed Beauty, in unmistakable language, hath made this promise in His Book: 'We behold you from Our realm of glory, and shall aid whosoever will arise for the triumph of Our Cause with the hosts of the Concourse on high and a company of Our favoured angels.'[1]
[1 Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, LXXII ]
God be thanked, that promised aid hath been vouchsafed [as Abdu'l-Baha], as is plain for all to see, and it shineth forth as clear as the sun in the heavens.
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 270


3)
19. Praise be to Him through Whose splendours the earth and the heavens are aglow, through Whose fragrant breathings the gardens of holiness that adorn the hearts of the chosen are trembling for joy, to Him Who hath shed His light and brightened the face of the firmament. Verily there appeared luminous and sparkling stars, glittering, shining out, and casting forth their rays upon the supreme horizon. They derived their grace and brilliance from the bounties of the Abha Realm, then, stars of guidance, they poured down their lights upon this earth.

Praise be to Him Who hath fashioned this new era, this age of majesty, even as an unfolding pageant where the realities of all things can be exposed to view. Now are clouds of bounty raining down and the gifts of the loving Lord are clearly manifest [as Abdu'l-Baha]; for both the seen and the unseen worlds have been illumined, and the Promised One hath come to earth and the beauty of the Adored One hath shone forth.
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 38

... for 1000 years there shall arise no Sun. All the appearances will be beneath the shadow of the Most Great Appearance [Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet]: they will be as stars of guidance. All of them shall gather around this Fountain of Life; all of them will become illumined with the rays of this Sun; all of them will receive a share and a portion from this great Sea; all of them will become vivified with this soul-imparting breeze;..
-- Compilations, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 283


4)
Amongst the proofs demonstrating the truth of this Revelation is this, that in every age and Dispensation, whenever the invisible Essence was revealed in the person of His Manifestation, certain souls, obscure and detached from all worldly entanglements, would seek illumination from the Sun of Prophethood and Moon of divine guidance, and would attain unto the divine Presence. For this reason, the divines of the age and those possessed of wealth, would scorn and scoff at these people. Even as He hath revealed concerning them that erred: "Then said the chiefs of His people who believed not, 'We see in Thee but a man like ourselves; and we see not any who have followed Thee except our meanest ones of hasty judgment, nor see we any excellence in you above ourselves: nay, we deem you liars.'"[1] They caviled at those holy Manifestations, and protested saying: "None hath followed you except the abject amongst us, those who are worthy of no attention." Their aim was to show that no one amongst the learned, the wealthy, and the renowned believed in them. By this and similar proofs they sought to demonstrate the falsity of Him that speaketh naught but the truth.
[1 Qur'án 11:27.]
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 221

Thy unity is inscrutable, O my God, to all except them that have recognized Him Who is the Manifestation of Thy singleness and the Day-Spring of Thy oneness. Whoso assigneth a rival unto Him hath assigned a rival unto Thee, and whoso hath set up a peer for Him hath set up a peer for Thyself. No, no, none can withstand Thee in the whole of creation. Thou hast everlastingly been exalted far above all comparison and likeness. Thy oneness hath been demonstrated by the oneness of Him Who is the Dawning-Place of Thy Revelation. Whosoever denieth this, hath denied Thy unity, and disputed with Thee about Thy sovereignty, and contended with Thee in Thy realm, and repudiated Thy commandments.

Assist Thou Thy servants, O my Lord, to recognize Thy unity and to declare Thy oneness, that all may gather together around what Thou didst desire in this Day whereon the sun of Thine essence [Baha'u'llah] hath shone forth above the horizon of Thy will, and the moon of Thine own being [Abdu'l-Baha] hath risen from the Day-Spring of Thy behest. Thou art He, O my Lord, from Whose knowledge nothing whatsoever escapeth, and Whom no one can frustrate. Thou doest Thy pleasure, by Thy sovereignty that overshadoweth the worlds.
-- Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 57

Blessed is he who hath remained faithful to My Covenant, and whom the things of the world have not kept back from attaining My Court of holiness. Blessed is the man who hath detached himself from all else but Me, hath soared in the atmosphere of My love, hath gained admittance into My Kingdom, gazed upon My realms of glory, quaffed the living waters of My bounty, hath drunk his fill from the heavenly river of My loving providence, acquainted himself with My Cause, apprehended that which I concealed within the treasury of My Words, and hath shone forth from the horizon of divine knowledge engaged in My praise and glorification. Verily, he is of Me. Upon him rest My mercy, My loving-kindness, My bounty and My glory.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 17

They whom God hath endued with insight will readily recognize that the precepts laid down by God constitute the highest means for the maintenance of order in the world and the security of its peoples. He that turneth away from them, is accounted among the abject and foolish. We, verily, have commanded you to refuse the dictates of your evil passions and corrupt desires, and not to transgress the bounds which the Pen of the Most High hath fixed, for these are the breath of life unto all created things. The seas of Divine wisdom and divine utterance have risen under the breath of the breeze of the All-Merciful. Hasten to drink your fill, O men of understanding! They that have violated the Covenant of God by breaking His commandments, and have turned back on their heels, these have erred grievously in the sight of God, the All-Possessing, the Most High.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 330

Say: O people, be faithful to the covenant of God, and break not the pact to which ye swore in the world of pre-existence, in the Presence of God, the Mighty, the Glorious, the All-Knowing. Say: Then open your eyes! By God, the Eternal Truth, He hath resurrected all on that Day, at that time. And God hath come in the shadows of the clouds. Blessed be God, the Dispatcher, the Mighty, the Exalted, the Great. Then shall all who are in the heavens be stricken with fear, and all the people of the concourse on High shall lament, save for the one who hath been taken by the hand of the Most Glorious by virtue of His mighty, exalted and most high Sovereignty, the one who hath had the veils obscuring his sight torn by the fingers of the divine decree, and the one whom God hath delivered from those who were in doubt about attaining the presence of God, the King, the Mighty, the Beauteous.
-- Baha'u'llah, Garden of Justice - provisional translation by Juan Cole.



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