The Line That Guards Against Schism

Where earlier religions divided into rival churches after their founders departed, the Baha'i Faith sought to forestall that by a written Covenant. Baha'is distinguish two senses of the word. The Greater Covenant is the standing promise, expressed through progressive revelation, that God will never leave humanity without guidance and will always send Manifestations.

The Lesser Covenant is the concrete instrument by which Baha'u'llah, in his own hand, named his eldest son Abdu'l-Baha as the sole authorized interpreter of his writings and the head of the faith after him; authority then passed, as provided, to the Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi and to the elected Universal House of Justice. The point of the arrangement is to make the seat of legitimate interpretation unmistakable and so protect the community's unity. Fidelity to the Covenant is therefore treated as a cardinal Baha'i virtue, and the deliberate effort to usurp or splinter that authority is the community's gravest breach.