BahÃĄâ•Žuâ•ŽllÃĄh and the New Era - Knowledge Rush

Station of ‘Abdu’l-BaháThe unique station assigned to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá by the BlessedPerfection is indicated in the following passage written by thelatter:—“When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and theBook of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces towards HimWhom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this AncientRoot.” And again:—“ ... refer ye whatsoever ye understandnot in the Book to Him Who hath branched from this mightyStock.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself wrote the following:—“In accordancewith the explicit text of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas Bahá’u’lláh hathmade the Center of the Covenant the Interpreter of His Word—aCovenant so firm and mighty that from the beginning of timeuntil the present day no religious Dispensation hath produced itslike.”The very completeness of the servitude with which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá promulgated the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in East and Westresulted at times in a confusion of belief concerning His stationon the part of believers. Realizing the purity of the spirit animatingHis word and deed, surrounded by religious influencesmarking the breakdown of their traditional doctrines, a numberof Bahá’ís felt that they honored ‘Abdu’l-Bahá by likening Himto a Manifestation, or hailing Him as the “return of Christ.”Nothing caused Him such intense grief as this failure to perceivethat His capacity to serve Bahá’u’lláh proceeded from the purityof the mirror turned to the Sun of Truth, and not from the Sunitself.Moreover, unlike previous Dispensations, the Faith ofBahá’u’lláh had within it the potency of a universal humansociety. During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mission covering the period1892 to 1921, the Faith evolved through successive stages ofdevelopment in the direction of a true world order, Its developmentrequired continuous direction and specific instruction from‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who alone knew the fullness of that new potent