THE REAL PRIMAL POINT

The "central figures" of the Faith, as Shoghi Effendi made explicitly clear, are the Bab, Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha. If the Baha'is you have met know anything, they will certainly know this. However, in practice, the situation is completely reversed. In the everyday Baha'i world, here is the situation.

The Central Figure of the Faith is Shoghi Effendi. The other three were his precursors, preparing the way for him to lay the foundations of the Adminstrative Order and to write about the AO endlessly. Here is what the AO really believes about all four figures.

Shoghi Effendi's works on the AO, such as "Baha'i Administration" are much more important the the "Seven Valleys" of Baha'u'llah and should be read many times over. Furthermore, although the writings of the Bab, Baha'u'llah, and Abdul Baha were no doubt quite cute in the original, they really only gained any meaning by being translated by Shoghi Effendi who alone could understand them and whose English renderings of them are far more important than the originals. Of course, Shoghi Effendi's own writings, especially the ones in English, are more important than the revelations of those other three dudes, but if you absolutely must read something by them, read something that Shoghi Effendi translated.

Shoghi Effendi gets extra points for being the only one of the four to have the courtesy to speak English.

Here is what Baha'is think about the secondary figures of the faith, and their order of importance.

2. Abdul Baha. Nice old man whose picture is good to have in your room. Women like the picture of him as a young man, others prefer the grandfatherly picture. Most important work was his Will and Testament in which he said lots of nice things about Shoghi Effendi and made Shoghi Effendi the Guardian.

3. Baha'u'llah. Kind of hard to get to know well, because his writings are so flowery. Clearly a smart guy, but not as much fun to read as Shoghi Effendi.

4. The Bab. Really nice shrine on Mt. Carmel. That shrine is less important now though since the terraces on Mt. Carmel are finished.

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