Since the dawn of history, people have claimed divine inspiration. From Moses to Muhammad, from Paul to Joseph Smith, scripture has been presented as a channel for God’s voice. Christians believe the Bible was written through divine inspiration. But since its final words were penned, has anyone else truly written as God’s mouthpiece?
My search took me through the backdoor to the Bahá’í Faith — to the figure of the Báb (“the Gate”). In the 1840s, this young Persian mystic wrote with a force and clarity that I believe to be genuinely divine. His writings pulse with anticipation, hope, and the promise of a future figure, “Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest” — a Christ-like arrival yet to come. The Báb declared himself a forerunner, not the fulfillment. Like John the Baptist, he pointed forward.
Baha’u’llah, a contemporary of the Báb, claimed to be that very Manifestation. Today his followers see him as the fulfillment of the Báb’s prophecy. Yet in my own study and conversations with Bahá’ís, I’ve noticed a troubling shift: the Báb is often forgotten, his texts sidelined, while Baha’u’llah is exalted. The movement that began with a Gate became a throne.
To me, Baha’u’llah’s writings, while brilliant, don’t carry the same unmistakable spark. If the Báb’s words are bright gold, Baha’u’llah’s are a pale brass-yellow — inspired perhaps by conviction, but not by God. Whether he consciously hijacked the movement or simply stepped into a role too early, the result is the same: a community fixated on the messenger rather than the promised Manifestation.
That leaves us here, still waiting. Waiting for the one foretold — the true “Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest.” Waiting for a figure who will bring unity, peace, and divine guidance. In that sense, the Báb remains not only the last genuine prophet of the Bahá’í Faith, but perhaps the last true scriptural voice of God since the Bible. His 600,000 lines of immaculate text deserve revival, not as a historical curiosity, but as a living well of divine anticipation.
I’m not against reading Baha’u’llah. But he is not the Gate. The Gate still stands. And the world is still waiting for the One to pass through it.