Covenant of Baha’u’llah

Promises of the Centre of the Covenant

The Baha’i Faith began with the mission entrusted by God to two Divine Messengers—the Bab and Baha’u’llah. Today, the distinctive unity of the Faith They founded stems from explicit instructions given by Baha’u’llah that have assured the continuity of guidance following His passing. This line of succession, referred to as the Covenant, went from Baha’u’llah to His Son ‘Abdu’l-Baha, and then from ‘Abdu’l-Baha to His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice, ordained by Baha’u’llah. A Baha’i accepts the divine authority of the Bab and Baha’u’llah and of these appointed successors.

Abdu’l-Baha, the Centre of the Covenant

Source: Memories of Nine Years in Akka, Dr. Youness Afroukhteh

When the Faith of God was the target of the darts of disbelief and dissension, when the winds of test and trial were blowing with great intensity, when the ark of the Cause of God was surrounded by devastating storms, the rudder of the ship rested in the mighty grasp of the Centre of the Covenant Abdu’l Baha, Who with the power of His utterance and Writings guided the ship towards the shores of deliverance and directed humankind towards the highway of salvation. The Master spoke … of the time of the rising of the sun of Jesus and all the affiliations and anguish that He and His disciples had to endure. He spoke of their detachment, their courage and their forbearance in the face of unbearable difficulties, and how they established their sovereignty at last and achieved everlasting salvation. Then the Master described in glowing terms the magnificent future of the Baha’i Faith and the heights of glory and eternal happiness that awaited its faithful followers. Abdu’l Baha expressed these visions with such heavenly power and spiritual force that they penetrated the hearts and souls, creating such an aura of confidence and certitude that the friends could visualize their fulfilment, not in the distant future but at that very instant, and moreover saw themselves as the fortunate participants in that glorious age.