There are many authentic traditions showing that the Qá’im
on His appearance would bring new laws with Him and would thus abrogate Islám.
But this was not the understanding of the established hierarchy. They
confidently expected that the promised Advent would not substitute a new and
richer revelation for the old, but would endorse and fortify the system of
which they were the functionaries. It would enhance incalculably their personal
prestige, would extend their authority far and wide among the nations, and
would win for them the reluctant but abject homage of mankind. When the Báb
revealed His Bayán, proclaimed a new code of religious law, and by precept and
example instituted a profound moral and spiritual reform, the priests
immediately scented mortal danger. They saw their monopoly undermined, their
ambitions threatened, their own lives and conduct put to shame. They rose
against Him in sanctimonious indignation. They declared before the Sháh and all
the people that this upstart was an enemy of sound learning, a subverter of
Islám, a traitor to Mhammad, and a peril not only to the holy church but to the
social order and to the State itself.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘Introduction to ‘The
Dawn-Breakers’)
