Baha’u’llah’s Dispensation

…a Dispensation which, as the Author of the Faith has Himself categorically asserted, must extend over a period of no less than one thousand years, and which will constitute the first stage in a series of Dispensations, to be established by future Manifestations, all deriving their inspiration from the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation, and destined to last, in their aggregate, no less than five thousand centuries.... 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 5 June 1947’; ‘Citadel of Faith: Messages to America 1947-1957’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, The Significance of the Formative Age of Our Faith)