Ponder likewise the Dispensation of the Apostle of God which
lasted twelve hundred and seventy years[1] till the dawn of the manifestation
of the Bayán. He directed everyone to await the advent of the Promised Qá’im.
All deeds which in the Islamic Dispensation began with Muhammad should find
their consummation through the appearance of the Qá’im. God hath made Him
manifest invested with the proof wherewith the Apostle of God was invested, so
that none of the believers in the Qur’án might entertain doubts about the
validity of His Cause, for it is set down in the Qur’án that none but God is
capable of revealing verses. During the period of 1270 years no one among the
followers of the Qur’án ever witnessed a person appearing with conclusive
proofs. Now the Ever-Living Lord hath made manifest and invested with supreme
testimony this long-awaited Promised One from a place no one could imagine and
from a person whose knowledge was deemed of no account. His age is no more than
twenty-five years, yet His glory is such as none of the learned among the
people of Islám can rival; inasmuch as man’s glory lieth in his knowledge.
Behold the learned who are honoured by virtue of their ability to understand
the Holy Writings, and God hath exalted them to such a degree that in referring
to them He saith: ‘None knoweth the meaning thereof except God and them that
are well-grounded in knowledge.’ [Qur’án 3:5] How strange then that this
twenty-five-year-old untutored one should be singled out to reveal His verses
in so astounding a manner. (The Báb, excerpts from ‘The Seven Proofs’, ‘Selections
from the Writings of the Báb)
[1] From the Declaration of Muhammad; this occurred ten
years before the Hijrah which marks the starting point of the Muslim calendar]
