It would, however, be helpful and instructive to bear in mind certain
basic principles with reference to the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,
which, together with the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, constitutes the chief depository
wherein are enshrined those priceless elements of that Divine
Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary mission of the
Bahá’í Faith. A study of the provisions of these sacred documents will
reveal the close relationship that exists between them, as well as the
identity of purpose and method which they inculcate. Far from regarding
their specific provisions as incompatible and contradictory in spirit,
every fair-minded inquirer will readily admit that they are not only
complementary, but that they mutually confirm one another, and are
inseparable parts of one complete unit. A comparison of their contents
with the rest of Bahá’í sacred Writings will similarly establish the
conformity of whatever they contain with the spirit as well as the letter
of the authenticated writings and sayings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
In fact, he who reads the Aqdas with care and diligence will not find it
hard to discover that the Most Holy Book itself anticipates in a number of
passages the institutions which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ordains in His Will. By
leaving certain matters unspecified and unregulated in His Book of Laws,
Bahá’u’lláh seems to have deliberately left a gap in the general scheme of
Bahá’í Dispensation, which the unequivocal provisions of the Master’s Will
have filled. To attempt to divorce the one from the other, to insinuate
that the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh have not been upheld, in their entirety
and with absolute integrity, by what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has revealed in His
Will, is an unpardonable affront to the unswerving fidelity that has
characterized the life and labors of our beloved Master.
I will not attempt in the least to assert or demonstrate the authenticity
of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for that in itself would betray
an apprehension on my part as to the unanimous confidence of the believers
in the genuineness of the last written wishes of our departed Master. I
will only confine my observations to those issues which may assist them to
appreciate the essential unity that underlies the spiritual, the
humanitarian, and the administrative principles enunciated by the Author
and the Interpreter of the Bahá’í Faith.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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