most signal act of His
ministry--the promulgation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. Alluded to in the
Kitab-i-Iqan, the principal repository of that Law which the Prophet
Isaiah had anticipated, and which the writer of the Apocalypse had
described as the "new heaven" and the "new earth", as "the Tabernacle of
God", as the "Holy City", as the "Bride", the "New Jerusalem coming down
from God", this "Most Holy Book", whose provisions must remain inviolate
for no less than a thousand years, and whose system will embrace the
entire planet, may well be regarded as the brightest emanation of the mind
of Baha'u'llah, as the Mother Book of His Dispensation, and the Charter of
His New World Order.

Revealed soon after Baha'u'llah had been transferred to the house of Udi
K{~COMBINING MACRON BELOW~}h{~COMBINING MACRON BELOW~}ammar (circa 1873), at a time when He was still encompassed by the
tribulations that had afflicted Him, through the acts committed by His
enemies and the professed adherents of His Faith, this Book, this treasury
enshrining the priceless gems of His Revelation, stands out, by virtue of
the principles it inculcates, the administrative institutions it ordains
and the function with which it invests the appointed Successor of its
Author, unique and incomparable among the world's sacred Scriptures. For,
unlike the Old Testament and the Holy Books which preceded it, in which
the actual precepts uttered by the Prophet Himself are non-existent;
unlike the Gospels, in which the few sayings attributed to Jesus Christ
afford no clear guidance regarding the future administration of the
affairs of His Faith; unlike even the Qur'an which, though explicit in the
laws and ordinances formulated by the Apostle of God, is silent on the
all-important subject of the succession, the Kitab-i-Aqdas, revealed from
first to last by the Author of the Dispensation Himself, not only
preserves for posterity the basic laws and ordinances on which the fabric
of His future World Order must rest, but ordains, in addition to the
function of interpretation which it confers upon His Successor, the
necessary institutions through which the integrity and unity of His Faith
can alone be safeguarded.

In this Charter of the future world civilization its Author--at once the
Judge, the Lawgiver, the Unifier and Redeemer of mankind--announces to the
kings of the earth the promulgation of the "Most Great Law"; pronounces
them to be His vassals; proclaims Himself the "