It
should be remembered, however, that apart from the miracle associated with the
Báb’s execution, He, unlike the Founder of the Christian religion, is not only
to be regarded as the independent Author of a divinely revealed Dispensation,
but must also be recognized as the Herald of a new Era and the Inaugurator of a
great universal prophetic cycle. Nor should the important fact be overlooked
that, whereas the chief adversaries of Jesus Christ, in His lifetime, were the
Jewish rabbis and their associates, the forces arrayed against the Báb
represented the combined civil and ecclesiastical powers of Persia, which, from
the moment of His declaration to the hour of His death, persisted, unitedly and
by every means at their disposal, in conspiring against the upholders and in
vilifying the tenets of His Revelation.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
