As to the true leaders of religion and the favoured servants
of the celestial Threshold, their rank and station is that of spiritual honour
and majesty, and their prerogative the vicegerency of the All-Merciful Lord.
Their crown of glory is the dust of the pathway of God, and their resplendent
diadem the light of the bestowals of the Almighty. Their throne of justice is
established upon the hearts, and their exalted and glorious honour is the seat
of truth in the realm of the Kingdom. They are the monarchs of the realms of
heart and soul, not of the world of water and clay, and the sovereign lords of
the lands of the placeless, not of the narrow straits of this contingent world.
And none can ever usurp or deny this sublime station and ancient glory.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Extract from Risaliy-i-Siyasiyyih, authorized translation by the
Baha’i World Center; included in a letter dated 18 April 2001 written on behalf
of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)
