Relative rank of Bahá'í figures

1. Bahá'u'lláh
2. The Báb
3. 'Abdu'l-Bahá
4. Shoghi Effendi
5. Greatest Holy Leaf
6. The Purest Branch and Navváb ('Abdu'l-Bahá's mother)
7. Hands of the Cause (Martha Root as foremost raised by Bahá'u'lláh since `Abdu'l-Bahá's passing, at least as of 1944)
8. Other believers

The Báb and Bahá'u'lláh hold the highest stations, and although They are far higher in station than 'Abdu'l-Bahá, 'Abdu'l-Bahá is even farther above all the believers

"An attempt I strongly feel should now be made to clarify our minds regarding the station occupied by `Abdu'l-Bahá and the significance of His position in this holy Dispensation. It would be indeed difficult for us, who stand so close to such a tremendous figure and are drawn by the mysterious power of so magnetic a personality, to obtain a clear and exact understanding of the rôle and character of One Who, not only in the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh but in the entire field of religious history, fulfills a unique function. Though moving in a sphere of His own and holding a rank radically different from that of the Author and the Forerunner of the Bahá'í Revelation, He, by virtue of the station ordained for Him through the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, forms together with them what may be termed the Three Central Figures of a Faith that stands unapproached in the world's spiritual history. He towers, in conjunction with them, above the destinies of this infant Faith of God from a level to which no individual or body ministering to its needs after Him, and for no less a period than a full thousand years, can ever hope to rise. To degrade His lofty rank by identifying His station with or by regarding it as roughly equivalent to, the position of those on whom the mantle of His authority has fallen would be an act of impiety as grave as the no less heretical belief that inclines to exalt Him to a state of absolute equality with either the central Figure or Forerunner of our Faith. For wide as is the gulf that separates `Abdu'l-Bahá from Him Who is the Source of an independent Revelation, it can never be regarded as commensurate with the greater distance that stands between Him Who is the Center of the Covenant and His ministers who are to carry on His work, whatever be their name, their rank, their functions or their future achievements. Let those who have known `Abdu'l-Bahá, who through their contact with His magnetic personality have come to cherish for Him so fervent an admiration, reflect, in the light of this statement, on the greatness of One Who is so far above Him in station.

"That `Abdu'l-Bahá is not a Manifestation of God, that, though the successor of His Father, He does not occupy a cognate station, that no one else except the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh can ever lay claim to such a station before the expiration of a full thousand years-- are verities which lie embedded in the specific utterances of both the Founder of our Faith and the Interpreter of His teachings."

(Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 131-132)

Shoghi Effendi's role after the Master is and will remain in the coming centuries alone in the history of the Cause

"HOWEVER GREAT IS THE DISTANCE between the Guardianship and the unique station of the Centre of the Covenant, the role played by Shoghi Effendi after the Master's passing stands alone in the history of the Cause. It will continue to occupy this focal place in the life of the Faith throughout the coming centuries."

(Century of Light, sec. 7, p. 83)

The Greatest Holy Leaf, The Purest Branch, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's mother (along with the Founders of the Faith and its Exemplar) tower above the rank and file of the faithful

"...I felt impelled to pledge the sum of one thousand pounds in the memory of these two glorious souls [Purest Branch and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's mother] who, apart from the Founders of our Faith and its Exemplar, tower together with the Greatest Holy Leaf, above the rank and file of the faithful."

(Shoghi Effendi, This Decisive Hour, sec. 66.2, p. 51)

Martha Root as foremost Hand raised by Bahá'u'lláh since `Abdu'l-Bahá's passing

"To Martha Root, that archetype of Bahá'í itinerant teachers and the foremost Hand raised by Bahá'u'lláh since `Abdu'l-Bahá's passing, must be awarded, if her manifold services and the supreme act of her life are to be correctly appraised, the title of Leading Ambassadress of His Faith and Pride of Bahá'í teachers, whether men or women, in both the East and the West."

(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 386)

See also

• Relative rank of institutions