Stations of the Primal Point & Baha

1. Baha's Own Version
Baha similar to the Primal Point refers to himself as "Servant" in his human personality, and speaks of "Service", which, according to him, denotes "Lordship or divinity" (Rubybiyya). He is according to him, the manifestation of service. In his Epistle to the Son of the Wolf - Julie Chamler's translation, P.85, Baha quotes the Imam Sadiq as saying: "servitude [i.e. Rububiyya] is an essence whose base is divinity". He adduces this saying in support of his pretensions. In his will and testament, Mirza Muhammad Ali says : Now, Sir Abbas Effendi also refers to himself as 'servant' and speaks of 'service', a bone of contention between the followers of Sir Abbas Effendi and the partisans of Mirza Muhammad Ali. In his al-Kawakib-al Durriya, Vol. II, P.33. Mirza Abd-al-Husayn Ayati speaks of Sir Abbas Effendi's 'service' [Ubudiyya], which he does not define.

The text sums as follows:

« و چون نوبت به حضرت عبد البهاء رسید با آنکه جز عبودیّت و ترویج امر پدر داعیه ئی نفرمود بلکه از نسبتی هم که ارادتمندان به حضرتش میدادند استنکاف مینمود معهذا دارای همان قوّه بود i,e, like his father که توانست مقاومت جمع مدعیان نماید و امر بهائی را به اروپ و امریک بالغ سازد. »

In Bahaullah and the New Era by G.E. Esslemont, Bahai publishing committee, New York, revised Edition, First Printing, 1937, the Preface runs as follows:
"The author's explanation of the stations of the BÂB and Abdul Baha have been replaced in the minds of Bahais by the authoritative interpretations since made by Shoghi Effendi." PP. 85-87, ibid : "The very completeness of servitude with which Abdul Baha promulgated the faith of Baha in East and West resulted at times in a confusion of belief concerning his station on the part of believers…. A number of Bahais felt that they honoured Abdul Baha by likening him to a manifestation, or hailing him as a return of Christ… the will and testament of Abdul Baha itself set forth with complete clarity the mystery of the stations of the BÂB, and of Baha, and his own mission".

In Bahaullah and the New Era, ibid P.19, the Primal Point is spoken of as a letter of the living: The first eighteen disciples of the Point (with himself as nineteen) became known as "the letters of the living".
The Primal Point was not a letter of the living. He was the centre of the letters. "The BÂB was like the Sun and the outer letters like mirrors placed before it." P.B Wáhid III, BÂB 12, P.26. The eighteen disciples who first believed in the Primal Point are called "Letters of the Living". Together with the Primal Point they constitute the "Primal Unity". P.B. Exordium. P.2. The Primal Unity should not be confused with Letters of the Living.

To the conflicting and contradictory expressions of learned and authoritative opinion as to the station of the Primal Point and of Baha, Baha himself adds further confusion.
In a separate provision in the Aqdas [E.T. P.54), Baha states that "we sent him [i.e. the Primal Point] who should tell the people the good news of the name by which the dead are raised and those who are in the heavens and earth are assembled.
In a passage in the epistle to Nasir [Lawh-Nasir] Baha declares that he is Sayyid Ali Muhammad returned again: "Had they reflected, they would not on my second manifestation have been veiled from my beauty by a name amongst my names."
The Traveller's Narrative, English translation, P.96, footnote 1 by Prof. Browne.

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