God, the Creator of the universe, is All-Knowing, All-Loving and All-Merciful Who sheds His light upon all Creation. God’s eternal Covenant with humanity assures us that we will never be left alone and empowers humanity to reflect the qualities of love and nobility with which it has been endowed. This Covenant, in essence, is about knowing God and responding to His guidance and commandments that are progressively revealed by His Prophets or Manifestations in accord with the needs of each period of humanity’s material and spiritual development. The eternal or “Greater Covenant” is also supplemented by a “Lesser Covenant that a Manifestation of God makes with His followers that they will accept His appointed successor after Him. If they do so, the Faith can remain united and pure. If not, the Faith becomes divided and its force spent. It is a Covenant of this kind that Bahá’u’lláh made with His followers regarding ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá perpetuated through the Administrative Order.”

The following sections principally focus on the distinctive features, history and implications of the Lesser Covenant, the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh.

In this section

• What is the Covenant?
• What is the “Greater Covenant”?
• What is the “Lesser Covenant”?
• What are the powers and blessings manifested through the Covenant?
• Why is it important to study the Covenant?
• What does it mean to be firm in the Covenant?
• What should we do when we are faced with a Bahá’í law or teaching that we do not understand?
• What is the role of freedom in relation to the Covenant?
• What should we do if we disagree with a decision that has been made by a Bahá’í Institution?
• What is the role of questioning and criticism in the Bahá’í community?
• What is the difference between individual and authoritative interpretation?
• What is the difference between interpretations of the Guardian and elucidations of the Universal House of Justice?
• What is the relationship between Church and State in the context of the Covenant?