The Book That Showed the Way

*A retelling for children, based on **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi. The words in quotation marks are from Bahá'u'lláh's Book of the Covenant.*

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Bahá'u'lláh passed away at dawn on 29 May 1892, at Bahjí, near the city of 'Akká. For many years His followers had turned to Him for guidance, through prison and exile.

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Bahá'u'lláh had made sure they would know where to turn. During His last illness He had given a sealed document to His eldest Son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He had written every word of it in His own hand. He called it "the Book of My Covenant."

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On the ninth day after Bahá'u'lláh's passing, the document was opened in front of nine witnesses, chosen from His companions and His family. That same afternoon it was read aloud to a large gathering at His resting-place: His sons, relatives of the Báb, pilgrims, and believers who lived nearby.

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In it Bahá'u'lláh told His sons, the relatives of the Báb and His own family to "turn, one and all, their faces towards the Most Mighty Branch." The Most Mighty Branch was His eldest Son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

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So the friends knew that after Bahá'u'lláh, they were to turn to 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, wrote that nothing like this document can be found in the holy books of any religion before.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["The Reading of the Covenant"](/stories/gpb-reading-of-the-covenant).*

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