...Bahá’u’lláh covenanted, not that I (‘Abdu’l-Bahá) am the Promised One, but that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is the Expounder of the Book and the Centre of His Covenant, and that the Promised One of Bahá’u’lláh will appear after one thousand or thousands of years. This is the Covenant which Bahá’u’lláh made. If a person shall deviate, he is not acceptable at the threshold of Bahá’u’lláh. In case of difference, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá must be consulted. All must revolve around his good pleasure. After ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, whenever the Universal House of Justice is organized it will ward off differences.
- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (cited in “Star of the West”, vol. IV, no. 14, November 1913; compilation: ‘The Covenant’, Materials assembled by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, December 1987; updated at the Baha’i World Center website)
