The Kitáb-i-Aqdas
Notes
had elapsed did
Bahá’u’lláh reveal the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Repository of the laws of His
Dispensation. Even after its revelation the Aqdas was withheld by Him for some time before it was sent to the friends in
Persia. This divinely purposed delay in the revelation of the basic laws of God for this age, and the subsequent gradual implementation of their provisions, illustrate the principle of progressive revelation which applies even within the ministry of each Prophet.
This is a reference to the prison-city of
‘Akká. In the Bahá’í Writings the word “crimson” is used in several allegorical and symbolic senses. (See also note
115.)
128.the Sadratu’l-Muntahá
¶100
Literally “the furthermost
Lote-Tree”, translated by
Shoghi Effendi as “
the Tree beyond which there is no passing”. This is used as a symbol in
Islám, for example in the accounts of
Muḥammad’s Night Journey, to mark the point in the heavens beyond which neither men nor angels can pass in their approach to God, and thus to delimit the bounds of divine knowledge as revealed to mankind. Hence it is often used in the Bahá’í Writings to designate the
Manifestation of God Himself. (See also note
164.)
The term “
Mother Book” is generally used to designate the central Book of a religious Dispensation. In the
Qur’án and Islamic
Ḥádith, the term is used to describe the Qur’án itself. In the
Bábí Dispensation, the
Bayán is the Mother Book, and the Kitáb-i-Aqdas is the Mother Book of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh. Further, the
Guardian in a letter written on his behalf has stated that this concept can
220