Portrait of 'Abdu'l-Baha by renowned Gertrude Kasebier

Portrait of 'Abdu'l-Baha by renowned Gertrude Kasebier, taken June 20th, 1912.

'Abdu'l-Bahá ... "incarnates an institution for which we can find no parallel whatsoever in any of the world's recognized religious systems"

'Abdu'l-Baha

'Abdu'l-Bahá, Who incarnates an institution for which we can find no parallel whatsoever in any of the world's recognized religious systems, may be said to have closed the Age to which He Himself belonged and opened the one in which we are now laboring. His Will and Testament should thus be regarded as the perpetual, the indissoluble link which the mind of Him Who is the Mystery of God has conceived in order to insure the continuity of the three ages that constitute the component parts of the Bahá'í Dispensation. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh, ‘The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters’; The Compilation of Compilations vol II)

"I am the lamp and the love of God is my light ..."

'Abdu'l-Baha at Lincoln Park in Chicago, 1912

I am the lamp and the love of God is my light. This light hath become reflected in the mirrors of hearts. Therefore turn thou unto thy heart, that is, when it is in the utmost freedom, and behold how the radiance of my love is manifest in that mirror, and thou art near unto me. Recite the Greatest Name at every morn, and turn thou unto the Kingdom of Abha, until thou mayest apprehend my mysteries. 

-‘Abdu'l-Baha  (Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v III)

"My name is 'Abdu'l-Bahá ..."

My name is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My qualification is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My reality is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My praise is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Thraldom to the Blessed Perfection is my glorious and refulgent diadem, and servitude to all the human race my perpetual religion... No name, no title, no mention, no commendation have I, nor will ever have, except 'Abdu'l-Bahá. This is my longing. This is my greatest yearning. This is my eternal life. This is my everlasting glory." 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha'u'llah’)