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vindication of the Cause and Religion of God. Baha'u'llah abrogates this

specific law of the Bayan.



As to the nature and severity of the laws of the Bayan, Shoghi Effendi in

a letter written on his behalf provides the following comment:





The severe laws and injunctions revealed by the Bab can be

properly appreciated and understood only when interpreted in the

light of His own statements regarding the nature, purpose and

character of His own Dispensation. As these statements clearly

reveal, the Babi Dispensation was essentially in the nature of a

religious and indeed social revolution, and its duration had

therefore to be short, but full of tragic events, of sweeping and

drastic reforms. Those drastic measures enforced by the Bab and

His followers were taken with the view of undermining the very

foundations of Shi'ih orthodoxy, and thus paving the way for the

coming of Baha'u'llah. To assert the independence of the new

Dispensation, and to prepare also the ground for the approaching

Revelation of Baha'u'llah, the Bab had therefore to reveal very

severe laws, even though most of them were never enforced. But the

mere fact that He revealed them was in itself a proof of the

independent character of His Dispensation and was sufficient to

create such widespread agitation, and excite such opposition on

the part of the clergy that led them to cause His eventual

martyrdom.