Extract from a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá

O friends of God! ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá is the embodiment of servitude and is not Christ; He is the servant of the world of humanity and is not its chief; He is utter nothingness and is not possessed of any existence; He is pure evanescence and is not ever-abiding. These discussions will yield no result or benefit: We must set all such debates and controversies entirely aside—nay, we must consign them to oblivion and arise to accomplish that which is enjoined and required in this Day. These are mere words bereft of inner meaning; they are mere superficialities devoid of all reality.

That which is true and real is this: that we become united and agreed in our purpose and arise to flood this darksome world with light, to banish all enmity and foreignness from among the children of men, to perfume and revive the world with the sanctified breezes of the character and conduct of the Abhá Beauty, to cast the light of divine guidance upon East and West, to raise the tabernacle of the love of God and gather all people under its sheltering shadow, to confer peace and composure upon every soul beneath the shade of the blessed Tree, to show forth such love as to astonish the enemy, to turn ravenous and bloodthirsty wolves into the gazelles of the meadows of the love of God, to cause the oppressor to taste the sweet savour of meekness, to teach them that kill the submission and acquiescence of those that suffer themselves to be killed, to spread abroad the verses of the one true God, to extol the virtues and perfections of the all-glorious Lord, to raise to the highest heaven the cry of “O Thou the Glory of Glories!”, and to cause the call of “The earth shall shine with the light of her Lord!”¹ to reach the ears of the denizens of His Kingdom. Herein is reality! Herein is guidance! Herein is service! Herein is the exaltation of the world of humanity!

—‘Abdu’l‑Bahá