Seeds of Revelation and the Mystic Bond between The Báb and Bahá'u'lláh:
An Exposition on Excerpts from the Persian Bayán

by James B. Thomas

Abstract:

In the Persian Bayán, the Báb advised His followers on a number of subjects about essential elements of faith that covered a broad spectrum. They included attributes, conditions, warnings, spiritual reality, principles, nature of prayer, expectations, relationships of Divine Messengers, proofs, the nature of God and the meaning of eternity. This paper compares the elements in the Bayán to those of Bahá'u'lláh in His various tablets with the purpose of showing the characterization of the Bayán as being in a stage of seed and of showing the unique, mysterious bond between the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. The Báb introduced new concepts in religion regarding faith and human relations that were revolutionary for the time and place in which they were uttered and in the process He abrogated many of the laws of Islam. He further made a promise that One Greater than Himself would come within a span of nine years. Bahá'u'lláh, in fulfillment of the Báb's prophecy, introduced a large number of new concepts of far reaching import as He addressed the world and in the process abrogated many of the laws embraced by all the world's great religions.

It will be shown here that within this context He enlarged upon a number of the Báb's concepts from the Bayán and permanently made some of them part of the foundation of His own Faith. The proof of the Báb's station and the truth of His Revelation were so profound, so powerful that He was brutally martyred by the Persian leaders out of abject fear of His charismatic popularity six short years after His declaration in 1844. Later Bahá'u'lláh, Whose earthly ministry lasted forty years, indicated that He and the Báb should be regarded as "identical in reality." They were contemporaries and never physically met, but an extraordinary relationship emerged that would forever tie Them together as the Twin Messengers of the Bahá'í Dispensation.