Important as these differences are, both sects agree,
however, in expecting a twofold Manifestation. The shí’ahs look for the Qá’im,
who is to come in the fulness of time, and also for the return of the Imám Husayn.
The sunnís await the appearance of the Mihdí and also “the return of Jesus
Christ.” When, at the beginning of his Mission, the Báb, continuing the
tradition of the shí’ahs, proclaimed His function under the double title of,
first, the Qá’im and, second, the Gate, or Báb, some of the Muhammadans
misunderstood the latter reference. They imagined His meaning to be that He was
a fifth Gate In succession to Abu’l-Hasan-‘Alí. His true meaning, however, as
He himself clearly announced, was very different. He was the Qá’im; but the
Qá’im, though a High Prophet, stood in relation to a succeeding and greater
Manifestation as did John the Baptist to the Christ. He was the Forerunner of
One yet more mighty than Himself. He was to decrease; that Mighty One was to
increase. And as John the Baptist had been the Herald or Gate of the Christ, so
was the Báb the Herald or Gate of Bahá’u’lláh.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘Introduction
to ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
