Him Whom God Hath Purposed

*A retelling drawn from the **Kitáb-i-Aqdas** of Bahá'u'lláh, His Book of the Covenant (the Kitáb-i-'Ahd, in **Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh**), and Shoghi Effendi's account in **God Passes By**. The words in quotation marks are from the authorized translations in the Bahá'í Reference Library.*

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Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, His Most Holy Book, in 'Akká around 1873, soon after He had been moved to the house of Údí Khammár. Shoghi Effendi describes it as "the Mother Book of His Dispensation, and the Charter of His New World Order."

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Among its laws and counsels is a verse about the time after Bahá'u'lláh's own passing:

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"When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root."

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The verse gives no name. Bahá'u'lláh is the Ancient Root, and the one to whom the believers are to turn is a Branch that has sprung from Him. Later in the same Book He returns to the subject: "O people of the world! When the Mystic Dove will have winged its flight from its Sanctuary of Praise and sought its far-off goal, its hidden habitation, refer ye whatsoever ye understand not in the Book to Him Who hath branched from this mighty Stock."

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Bahá'u'lláh then set the matter down plainly in a separate document, which He called "the Book of My Covenant." Shoghi Effendi records that He wrote it entirely in His own hand and entrusted it to 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His last illness. It was unsealed on the ninth day after His ascension, in the presence of nine witnesses from among His companions and family, and read that afternoon to a large company gathered at His Tomb.

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In it Bahá'u'lláh bids His family turn "one and all, their faces towards the Most Mighty Branch," the title by which He referred to 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He then quotes the verse from the Aqdas and explains it: "The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most Mighty Branch."

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Shoghi Effendi wrote that this document "can find no parallel in the Scriptures of any previous Dispensation, not excluding that of the Báb Himself." The Day of the Covenant honours 'Abdu'l-Bahá as the Centre of the Covenant that these two texts established.

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*This is a retelling. For the verse, see the **Kitáb-i-Aqdas**, paragraphs 121 and 174; for its interpretation, see Bahá'u'lláh's Book of the Covenant (Kitáb-i-'Ahd) in **Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh**, and **God Passes By**, chapter XIV.*

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