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| Juliet Thompson in her studio |
In these days when a civilization is dying before our very
eyes, and when the great Prophet, Baha’u’llah, has appeared, standing on the
threshold of a new age with a scroll of new commandments in His hand, two other
Figures stand with Him, of heart-captivating beauty: - the youthful Báb, His
Forerunner, equal in rank with Him as an independent Revelator, and the Son of
Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha. “’Abdu'l-Baha", translated, means "Servant
of the Glory", and this is His self-assumed title. Baha'u'llah entitled
Him ‘The Master’".
In the language of Shoghi Effendi, the present Guardian of
the Baha'i Faith, 'Abdu'l-Baha "holds not only in the Dispensation of
Baha'u'lIah, but in the entire field of religious history, a unique function.
Though moving in a sphere of His own and holding a rank radically different
from that of the Author and the Forerunner of the Baha'i Revelation, He, by
virtue of the station ordained for Him through the Covenant of Baha'u'llah
forms, together with Them, what may be termed the Three Central Figures of a
Faith unapproached in the world's spiritual history. He towers, in conjunction
with Them, above the destinies of this infant Faith of God from a level to
which no individual or body ministering to its needs after Him, and for no less
a period than a thousand years, can ever hope to rise."
Among the many titles conferred by His Father on
'Abdu'l-Baha is that of "The Mystery of God". The Guardian, referring
to these titles, writes that they "invest Him with a power and surround
Him with a halo which the present generation can never adequately
appreciate."
