5  Belief in the Commands of God

5.1 Introduction: The Divine Command as the Source of Order

Belief in the Command of God is central to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the entire revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. It has been a central tenet of all religion. It is a direct reflection of God’s names as Commander, Fulfiller, and Ordainer. As established in Chapter 1, the name of God as Commander becomes clear and actionable once we understand God as the Just Reckoner, the Greatest Infallibility, and the Independent. The Command is built upon nine prior layers of attributes before serving as the pivot to the nine other layers that proceed from the Command. Let us explore what the Command is and what it means for our liberation.

5.2 Command of God Before and After

“This is the command of God, before and after, and with it He has adorned the scriptures of former generations. This is the mention of God, before and after, with which He has embroidered the fabric of the Book of Existence, if you are of those who perceive. This is the command of God, before and after.”1

Bahá’u’lláh affirms this is the religion of God from before and after.2 The Book of Existence encompasses all of creation, not just the Command. However, the Command is derived from the Book of Existence and is the standard for creation. The Command from before does not have everything within the Book of Existence, neither does the current, and neither does the future Command. Bahá’u’lláh says “Regarding the question about the heavenly names, the pulse of the world is in the hands of the knowledgeable physician. He sees the ailment and with His wisdom, He treats it. Each day has its own secret, and every matter has its own sound. The remedy for today’s pain is one thing, and for tomorrow, another. Be mindful of today and speak of today’s matters.”3

Basically there are many chapters in the Book of Existence, an eternal reality which precedes and outlasts creation itself. God does not promise any chapter will be the only chapter forever, but through the covenant expressed within each chapter, there is also the promise of future chapters which are more adapted to the needs and aspirations of humankind. Not everything in a chapter is completely new, but each prior chapter establishes the foundations for the next. Any archaeologist will testify history is built in layers. Religion is a part of this history.

5.2.1 Revelation

Each chapter of the Book of Existence is unveiled through divine revelation, adapting to the spiritual needs of each age. Revelation is the disclosure of truth or knowledge from God. It is the process by which God’s command is unveiled, renewing itself in every age. Given one of God’s attributes is Subtlety, it could be difficult for a person to believe in revelation when it happens. There are many traditions out there which teach their revelation is the final revelation for the rest of time. There are other traditions where it is taught because the recent revelation is true, prior revelations could not have been true.

This is the Revelation around which evidence and proof circle.4 God does what He wills and decrees what He desires. This is a test of faith for many. “They do not consider the manifestations of divine Oneness impossible in the realm of dominion, and if a soul deems it impossible, what difference is there between him and those who considered God’s hand to be tied? And if they regard God, exalted be His mention, as free to choose, they must accept every command that emanates from the source of His decree, without escape or refuge. There is no sanctuary or shelter except in Him. The matter that requires presenting evidence and proof of a claim is not contingent upon the opinions of people, whether knowledgeable or ignorant, and it never has been and never will be.”5 Revelation itself is the proof of divine authority, not whether people accept it.

The Kitáb-i-Aqdas describes this revelation as the most exalted and most wondrous. “In every subsequent manifestation, the appearance of God is the most exalted.”6 This does not take away from the station of prior revelations, and future revelations will also be most exalted and wondrous when compared to this current one.

5.2.2 The Book

Throughout the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh refers to the Book. Bahá’u’lláh uses the word Book to describe various aspects of creation and the knowledge God has. Often times in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Book without any other description refers to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas itself. “This blessed verse was mentioned: His Exalted Majesty said, “Refer what you do not understand from the Book to the branch that has branched from this mighty root.” The ‘Book’ refers to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, and the ‘branch that has branched off from this mighty root’ refers to the Aghṣán.”7

Belief in the Command of God means believing in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas as the Book, the Most Exalted and Wondrous Revelation, and an update in the single religion of God. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas is central to the continuity of God’s favor upon us, the latest expression of Divine Will. It is a Mercy for us and a proof of divine authority. It is the source of true freedom. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas is all of this and a source of the divine ordinances and laws. The rest of the chapter will expand upon these themes further.

Reflection: Do I treat divine command as an intrusion, or as an expression of love that gives shape to life?

To see why the Command matters now, we must first see how it has always moved through history.

5.3 The Continuity of Divine Command Across Dispensations

When the King of Austria (a Christian) visited the al-Aqṣá Mosque (Muslim) in Jerusalem (Jewish Holy Place), Bahá’u’lláh tells him he passed by the Light of Divine Unity coming from the prison of ’Akká.8 There was an opportunity to experience the Oneness of God. There was an opportunity to experience the continuity of divine command across revelatory dispensations. The King had an opportunity to believe in unity. Believing in the command of today would mean believing in the command of yesterday. It encompasses all prior commands.

The prior commands and prior books span across history, but not all words claiming to be God’s book is God’s book. For example, Bahá’u’lláh says the Qur’án, the Gospel, the Psalms, the Torah, and the Bayán9 are revelations from God. If we look at the Bible, the Gospel would include the words and actions of Jesus Christ as documented in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke. This does not include the sermons of Paul who wrote or inspired the writings of Acts, Romans, and other New Testament books. There is a distinction in the command coming through a Manifestation of God versus the inspirations of the leader immediately following the Manifestation. Paul was not the Word but was subservient to the Word. Elsewhere, Bahá’u’lláh testifies to the truths of Zoroastrian and Hindu teachings as being relevant to the relative position of people in time and condition.10 This command could be inclusive of all cultures which discuss a deity, worship, and social guidance. Belief in the command does not necessarily mean spending a great effort determining what exactly from the past was from God and what was from the inspirations of normal people like you and I. Belief in the command means to acknowledge God is the source of all truth before, during, and after today. Bahá’u’lláh warns in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas “The books of the world and all the scriptures therein avail you nothing today, except by this Book, which speaks at the pivot of creation.”11 Through the name of God All-Encompassing, the Command of Today encompasses and surpasses all the Commands of Yesterday. This is a vital belief on the path of Divine Unity.

5.3.1 The Bayán as Paradise Awaiting Its Lord

The Persian and Arabic Bayán were revealed by the Báb around 1848. Together they are known simply as the Bayán, whose very name means “Paradise.” It reveals how divine Command flows from dispensation to dispensation. He revealed only 11 Unities in the Arabic, and the Persian ended at Unity 9 Gate 10. The Arabic Bayán consists of short commands, while the Persian expands on those same commands with the deeper theology of why, explaining why paradise awaits its Lord.

The Báb structured His revelation with intentional incompleteness. It was designed for 19 Unities of 19 Gates (361 sections total). Yet what paradise could be complete without its Lord? It is the Persian Bayán which prepares a garden whose gates would only open when “He Whom God Shall Make Manifest” arrived. From beginning to end, the Bayán serves less as a final destination than as a prepared dwelling, a paradise awaiting its Beloved. The Báb warned His followers not to use His own book as grounds for rejecting the Promised One, knowing that those who clung to the garden’s gates might miss the Lord of the garden Himself. This makes the Bayán unique. It is scripture that teaches believers how to move beyond itself, a paradise that exists primarily to welcome its Sovereign. The Báb says: “I counsel all followers of the Bayán: If, at the appearance of Him Whom God will make manifest, you are all granted success to attain the greatest paradise and the supreme encounter, then blessed are you, thrice blessed!”12

The laws of paradise are not complete until the Master of paradise gives them life. The Báb declared: “In Him Whom God will make manifest, all the ordinances of the Bayán are fulfilled. He is none other than the Point of the Bayán.”13 Every Bayánic law was like a seed planted in paradise’s soil, not because the Báb’s authority was incomplete, but because divine wisdom knows which seeds must grow and which must transform when the divine Gardener arrives. When Bahá’u’lláh appeared, He both honored the Bayán’s preparation and cultivated its garden according to the season’s needs, bringing some plants to flower while planting new varieties for a maturing world. The pattern is clear. Command flows continuously from age to age, each paradise preparing the ground for its successor, each garden teaching souls how to recognize the next Gardener. This is why recognition of the Manifestation and belief in His Command are inseparable. For what use is paradise without the One for whom it was made?

“The fruit of this is that, on the Day of Resurrection, no soul should remain veiled from the commands of He Whom God shall make manifest. For if He commands over all existence, His command is the command of God—yesterday, today, and forever.”14 The Lord of paradise has arrived. Let us turn to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.

5.3.2 The Most Great Command

Bahá’u’lláh describes the Command of today as the Most Great Order, the Most Great Law, the Most Great Proof, and the Most Great Balance. He says “The order has been disturbed by this Most Great Order, and the arrangement has been altered by this wondrous Revelation, the like of which the eye of creation has never witnessed.”15 This is a testament to the fact there are good things from the past worth keeping, which can provide a positive contribution to the future. It is also a testament to the fact there is a need for the old to be rearranged and altered in a new and substantial way. Progress cannot happen if we hold onto the old ways of doing things. Progress requires a belief that God’s religion is progressively unfolding and adapting to the needs of different ages.

When the Kitáb-i-Aqdas declares that ‘the order has been disturbed by this Most Great Order’, it signals an integrated design rather than a collection of isolated commands. In this work, I attempt to map that integrated Order as I perceive it within the text. The names and structures I employ are tools of reference and indexing; they are not claims of authority. Other mappings are possible.

The Most Great Proof testifies to the truthfulness of this claim. “This is the Balance of Guidance for those in the heavens and on the earth, and the Most Great Proof, if only you knew. Say: Through it, every proof has been established throughout the ages, if only you were certain. Say: Through it, every poor soul has been enriched, every learned one has been taught, and whoever desires to ascend unto God has been lifted up. Beware lest you differ concerning it.”16 The proof can be witnessed through the development of the ages, such as through the Islamic Golden Age or the rise of powerful Hindu kingdoms throughout Southeast Asia. New revelation brings new prosperity for those who believe and implement the Most Great Command. Just as the Islamic Golden Age ended and the Hindu Kingdoms of the Khmer gave way to Buddhist cultures, we must also allow God to continue guiding us to better ways of living and being.

This is because of the Command being the Most Great Balance and Most Great Law. The balance cannot be measured by prior rules and sciences which existed yesterday.17 The Balance fulfills the prophecies of old,18 the Covenant of God, and is the balance of justice. When the balance of justice is set up on the Day of Resurrection, everyone will be given their due.19 Who has status and honor yesterday may not have status and honor today. A law which was raised to the heights of heaven yesterday may be annulled today. The Command is both immutable and variable depending on what we need. The Most Great Law is for all in heaven and on earth,20 not just for a select few. It is the standard of judgment for all today, not only for tomorrow.

“Everything is realized by His decisive command when the Sun of ordinances rises from the horizon of explanation. All are to follow it, even if it be a command that rends asunder the hearts of the adherents of religions. He does as He wills and is not questioned about what He wills.”21

Reflection: Do I recognize divine authority as living guidance, or do I only accept it when it agrees with what I already prefer?

If the Command is truly from God, it must also illuminate the mind and awaken understanding.

5.4 The Command is Manifestations of Light

The Kitáb-i-Aqdas utilizes many forms of symbolism to describe the Command and Revelation of God. Many of these names and symbols focus on how the Command manifests the Light, such as is associated with the Day of Resurrection. The Command is the Sun of Wisdom and the Sun of Explanation. Within the laws and counsel, there are pathways to understanding, the application of knowledge, and explanations and interpretations.

The Sun emerges from the Sidrat al-Muntahá at dawn. The Command is the dawning place of the knowledge of God and is adorned with the Seal of the Breaker of the Dawn, who speaks between the heavens and the Earth.22 This affirms the Command is authentically divine and a true pathway away from darkness. Just as God had bestowed upon Muhammad the title Seal of the Prophets, the seal authenticates what came prior, it also unseals divine mysteries. As a seal could also denote finality, we know the Sun and the command are unalterable. They are forever true, even when the Sun arises again in the future. As the Sun rises for the new Day, the Command can also be known as the Book of Origin.23 While final and unalterable, it is also new and as fresh as the first days of springtime.

Even outside of the revelation being the dawn of a new day, the command also serves as a lamp, lighting a pathway for us on our spiritual destination. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas describes the command as a Lamp of God’s Care, a Lamp of Wisdom, a Lamp of Success, and a Lamp of Eternity. These lamps serve to guide us, providing direction, nurture, and a promise of success for our souls. Much like how God led the Jews from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas will lead people to their spiritual destiny.

“This is a Book that has become the Lamp of Eternity for the world and its most upright Path among the peoples. Say: It is the Dawning-Place of the knowledge of God, if you but knew, and the Rising-Point of the commandments of God, if you but recognized.”24

Reflection: Do I see the Command as something that forms me, or as something I merely study from a distance?

Light is not only meant to be seen, but to be walked in.

5.5 The Command Nurtures Us

“O Greatest Sea! Sprinkle upon the nations that which you have been commanded by the Ancient Lord, and adorn the temples of humankind with the fabric of the laws through which hearts may rejoice and eyes be brightened.”25

When you look at a fabric, you can see the finest fabrics have a high density of interwoven threads which provide strength, durability, and protection. The fine fabric provides comfort and beauty, being able to help a person uniquely express their own personality and character. The fabric of laws serves a similar purpose. They are to adorn the temple of humankind, the same temple used to elevate the souls to the heights of heaven. One must beware not to remove threads from the fabric. The fabric could seem weak and dull. It will not cause hearts to rejoice nor brighten the eyes of those who witness it. All of the laws are like an ornament26 helping others to recognize the beauty of the Command.

“From My laws, the fragrance of My garment is diffused.”27 Bahá’u’lláh expresses fragrance regularly in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and elsewhere. Fragrance is a pleasant smell emanating from an object, in this case God’s garment. The laws are a source of this diffusion. As a pleasant smell attracts a lover to their beloved, or a bee to a flower, the laws can also attract the hearts of a spiritual seeker. “Blessed is the lover who has inhaled the fragrance of the Beloved from this word, from which the breezes of bounty have wafted in an indescribable manner. By My life, whoever drinks the nectar of justice from the hands of grace will circle around My commands which have shone forth from the horizon of creativity.”28 The nectar is also described as the nectar of life.29 Anyone who wears this fabric of laws will be examples of a loving and nurturing justice and life.

Bahá’u’lláh tells us not to consider the Command and the Kitáb-i-Aqdas as merely laws, but as the choice sealed wine.30 Drinking from this wine, much like how the disciples of Jesus did in the last supper, will cause every bone to be set in motion with life.31 Imagine the fragrance of such a wine. Who would not want to inhale it and drink it? Who would not want others to inhale it and drink it?

The Command is also often referred to in terms of water. Water has always been considered a purifying element. The Báb says “it symbolizes the radiance of the Sun of His bounty.”32 Those who act in accordance with the Command are drinking from the Kawthar (abundant river from paradise) of life.33 These pure and flowing waters from the clear stream provide prosperity when drunk with the belief and remembrance of God.34 The water may be provided as showers of grace35 poured down from heaven as a favor from God to us. These waters act as a salvation and a great gift to us.

We are also nurtured by the Command coming forth from the Most Great Ocean. Within the ocean are pearls of knowledge and wisdom.36 The ocean serves as a great metaphor for the bounties of God. Depending on the depths one is able to dive to, there is incredible amounts of knowledge, wisdom, and mysteries waiting to be attained. These pearls are valuable, but as they can only be had through diving, it requires effort and work to reach. These are not just free gifts.

“Beware that compassion does not prevent you from carrying out the laws of God. Act according to what you have been commanded by a compassionate and merciful Lord. We have nurtured you with the whips of wisdom and laws for your own protection and the elevation of your station, just as parents nurture their children.”37 As this nurture is from God in the role of Divine Parent out of love for us, we must also “carry out My ordinances out of love for My beauty.”38

Belief in the commands of God is belief in the love of God. Belief in the commands of God also requires a love for God and the beauty of God’s creation.

Reflection: Do I mistake freedom for the absence of restraint, or do I see freedom as the power to live with dignity and purpose?

To understand liberation, we must first understand what the Command is protecting.

5.6 The Command Provides True Liberation

The laws of the Command serve mostly as bounds.39 These boundaries serve as a framework whereupon the soul may be elevated and the world within which we live can better manifest the spiritual qualities of heaven. This does not mean we should expect some type of fraudulent utopia. All of this requires work and requires skill navigating these boundaries. These boundaries are not particularly strict and are the cause of absolute freedom.40

In this small sermon about freedom from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh says:

123 Freedom ends in consequences that lead to discord, whose fire cannot be extinguished—thus informs you the Reckoner, the All-Knowing. Know that the sources and manifestations of freedom are found in animals. For humanity, it is necessary to be under laws that protect them from the ignorance of their own selves and the harm of the deceitful. Freedom removes a person from the realm of courtesy and dignity, reducing them to the lowest of the low.

124 Observe the people; they are like sheep, in need of a shepherd to protect them—this is indeed an absolute truth. We affirm this in certain contexts but not in others, for We are all-knowing.

125 Say: True freedom lies in following My commandments, if you are of those who know. If people were to follow what We have revealed to them from the heaven of divine revelation, they would find themselves in absolute freedom. Blessed is the one who understands the purpose of God in what has been revealed from the heaven of His will, which reigns supreme over all the worlds. Say: The freedom that benefits you is found in servitude to the True God, and whoever has tasted its sweetness will not trade it for the kingdom of the heavens and the earth.

True freedom is derived from the protection the Command provides. The command is a key to God’s mercy,41 helping us unlock new doors of realization and possibility derived from God’s love. These possibilities from true freedom are not solely for the individual. “The ordinances of God are the greatest means for the order of the world and the preservation of nations.”42 The scope of the Command is great. The Command is not merely for individual belief, but is also designed for the order of the world.

Within this wider scope, the Command establishes a pattern of trusteeship rather than domination. Just as a shepherd is accountable for the care, safety, and nourishment of the flock, authority under the Command carries responsibility before it carries power. The sheep are not owned as objects but entrusted as lives, each with dignity, limits, and protection owed to them. In this sense, the Command defines both rights and responsibilities at once: the right of souls and communities to be safeguarded from harm and confusion, and the responsibility of those who act in God’s name to serve, preserve, and guide without exploitation. Order is therefore not imposed for its own sake, but upheld as a trust, measured by care, justice, and fidelity to the purpose for which the Command was given.

“‘There is none other God but Me, the One, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.’ This is a station God has designated for this most wondrous, most exalted Revelation. This is from the grace of God, if you are of those who know. This is from His irrevocable command, His greatest name, His supreme word, and the dawning place of His most excellent names, if you are of those who understand. Indeed, by it, all the rising and setting points are made manifest. Reflect, O people, on what has been revealed in truth, and ponder it, and do not be of the transgressors.”43

Reflection: Do I want the benefits of divine order without accepting the trust and responsibility that make it possible?

To close this chapter, we can gather its images and claims into a single view of what the Command is, and why it liberates.

5.7 Conclusion

With the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Command of God has been made new. It is more than laws. It is fabric adorning souls, fragrance attracting seekers, wine enlivening bones, water purifying hearts, and light guiding humanity. Command is not restriction but revelation, not burden but bounty, not constraint but freedom’s foundation.

Belief in the Command reflects belief in God, the soul, and the worlds of God. The Command flows from the Book of Existence like eternal chapters. Each complete in itself, each preparing for what follows. From Torah to Gospel, from Gospel to Qur’án, from Qur’án to Bayán, from Bayán to Aqdas, paradise prepares for its Lord.

Yet Command cannot exist without Commander. To believe in the Command is to believe in the unfolding of God’s will, to see divine order in all things, and to recognize that belief in the Manifestation of God Himself is the foundation upon which all Command rests.

  1. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #138↩︎

  2. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #182↩︎

  3. Tablet of Mánikchí Ṣáḥib↩︎

  4. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #136↩︎

  5. Súriy-i-Haykal Verses 241 & 242↩︎

  6. The Persian Bayán, Váḥid 4, Gate 12↩︎

  7. A Tablet to Varqá (Letters to Yazd) and BH00057↩︎

  8. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #85↩︎

  9. The Kitáb-i-Badí‘↩︎

  10. Tablet to Mánikchí Ṣáḥib↩︎

  11. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #168↩︎

  12. Persian Bayán Váḥid 2, Gate 16↩︎

  13. Persian Bayán Váḥid 4, Gate 7↩︎

  14. The Persian Bayán Váḥid 8, Gate 4↩︎

  15. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #181↩︎

  16. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #183↩︎

  17. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #99↩︎

  18. Lawḥ-i-Ishrāqāt (Tablet of Splendors)↩︎

  19. Súriy-i-Mulúk (Súriy-i-Mulúk)↩︎

  20. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #6↩︎

  21. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #7↩︎

  22. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #117↩︎

  23. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #121↩︎

  24. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #186↩︎

  25. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #96↩︎

  26. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #98↩︎

  27. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #4↩︎

  28. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #4↩︎

  29. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #150↩︎

  30. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #5↩︎

  31. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #173↩︎

  32. The Persian Bayán Váḥid 5, Gate 14↩︎

  33. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #73↩︎

  34. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #50↩︎

  35. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #55↩︎

  36. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #180↩︎

  37. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #45↩︎

  38. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #4↩︎

  39. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #148↩︎

  40. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #125↩︎

  41. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #3↩︎

  42. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #3↩︎

  43. Kitáb-i-Aqdas #143↩︎