whole world" is the claim and challenge of His Message, and the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas is the Charter of the future world civilization that
Bahá’u’lláh has come to raise up. Its provisions rest squarely on the
foundation established by past religions, for, in the words of
Bahá’u’lláh, "This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past,
eternal in the future." In this Revelation the concepts of the past are
brought to a new level of understanding, and the social laws, changed to
suit the age now dawning, are designed to carry humanity forward into a
world civilization the splendours of which can as yet be scarcely
imagined.

In its affirmation of the validity of the great religions of the past, the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas reiterates those eternal truths enunciated by all the Divine
Messengers: the unity of God, love of one’s neighbour, and the moral
purpose of earthly life. At the same time it removes those elements of
past religious codes that now constitute obstacles to the emerging
unification of the world and the reconstruction of human society.

The Law of God for this Dispensation addresses the needs of the entire
human family. There are laws in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas which are directed
primarily to the members of a specific section of humanity and can be
immediately understood by them but which, at first reading, may be obscure
to people of a different culture. Such, for example, is the law
prohibiting the confession of sins to a fellow human being which, though
understandable by those of Christian background, may puzzle others. Many
laws relate to those of past Dispensations, especially the two most recent
ones, those of Muḥammad and the Báb embodied in the Qur’án and the Bayán.
Nevertheless, although certain ordinances of the Aqdas have such a focused
reference, they also have universal implications. Through His Law,
Bahá’u’lláh gradually unveils the significance of the new levels of