Note 158

158. It is unlawful to enter into marriage save with a believer in the &Bayan. Should only one party to a marriage embrace this Cause, his or her possessions will become unlawful to the other # 139

The passage of the &Bayan which &Baha'u'llah here quotes draws the attention of the believers to the imminence of the coming of "Him Whom God will make manifest". Its prohibition of marriage with a &non-Babi and its provision that the property of a husband or wife who embraced the Faith could not lawfully pass to the &non-Babi spouse were explicitly held in abeyance by the &Bab, and were subsequently annulled by &Baha'u'llah before they could come into effect. &Baha'u'llah, in quoting this law, points to the fact that, in revealing it, the &Bab had clearly anticipated the possibility that the Cause of &Baha'u'llah would rise to prominence before that of the &Bab Himself.

In God Passes By Shoghi Effendi points out that the &Bayan "should be regarded primarily as a eulogy of the Promised One rather than a code of laws and ordinances designed to be a permanent guide to future generations". "Designedly severe in the rules and regulations it imposed," he continues, "revolutionizing in the principles it instilled, calculated to awaken from their age-long torpor the clergy and the people, and to administer a sudden and fatal blow to obsolete and corrupt institutions, it proclaimed, through its drastic provisions, the advent of the anticipated Day, the Day when `the Summoner shall summon to a stern business', when He will `demolish whatever hath been before Him, even as the Apostle of God demolished the ways of those that preceded Him'" (see also note 109).