Thou hadst written that in the sacred books of the followers
of Zoroaster it is written that in the latter days, in three
separate Dispensations, the sun must needs be brought to a standstill. In the
first Dispensation, it is predicted, the sun will remain motionless for ten
days; in the second for twice that time; in the third for no less than one
whole month. The interpretation of this prophecy is this: the first
Dispensation to which it refers is the Muḥammadan Dispensation during which the
Sun of Truth stood still for ten days. Each day is reckoned as one century. The
Muḥammadan Dispensation must have, therefore, lasted no less than one thousand
years, which is precisely the period that has elapsed from the setting of the
Star of the Imamate to the advent of the Dispensation proclaimed by the Báb.
The second Dispensation referred to in this prophecy is the one inaugurated by
the Báb Himself, which began in the year 1260 A.H. and was brought to a close
in the year 1280 A.H. As to the third Dispensation—the Revelation proclaimed by
Bahá’u’lláh—inasmuch as the Sun of Truth when attaining that station shineth in
the plenitude of its meridian splendor its duration hath been fixed for a
period of one whole month, which is the maximum time taken by the sun to pass
through a sign of the Zodiac. From this thou canst imagine the magnitude of the
Bahá’í cycle—a cycle that must extend over a period of at least five hundred
thousand years.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Dispensation of
Baha’u’llah’)
