How Baha'i scholars understand the claims of divinity of the Bab and Baha'u'llah

In his Qayyum al-asma’ and innumerable other writings of his last years, the Bab frequently and in various contexts uttered the words, “I, verily, am God, no God is there except Me” (or the like). It was his conviction that the eschatological ‘‘Day of God” had come to realization and that he was a manifestation of Divinity.

As, furthermore, “Divinity” and “Lordship” were conferred by the Bab on certain of his major disciples, they too made exalted claims. The Babi cycle came to be seen as the cycle of the manifestation of Divinity in the person of the Bab and the leading Babis. The eschatological ”encounter with God” (liqa’ Allah) mentioned in the Qur’an found fulfillment through the Bab and the “pleroma of Divinity” manifested by his exalted disciples on the “Day of God.” It is in this context, and in view of the Bab’s assertion that the Babi messiah, “Him whom God shall make manifest” (man yuzhiruhu’llah), shall utter the words “I, verily, am God, no God is there except Me.” that certain of Baha’u’llah’s exalted claims are to be understood. Both the Bab and Baha’u’llah claimed divinity by uttering adapted versions of the Sinaitic declaration of divinity, though they did not thereby claim identity with the absolute Godhead. They saw themselves as pure mirrors reflecting the divinity of the transcendent and unknowable Lord and as manifestations of the eschatological advent of Divinity.

(Stephen Lambden in "Studies in the Babi and Baha’i Religions (formerly Studies in Babi and Baha’i History) Volume Five)