Form and Style
The text of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas consists of several hundred verses, which have been grouped in 189 numbered paragraphs in the English translation most of which are just a few sentences. The style combines elements of both poetry (shi'r) and rhymed prose (saj') and the text contains instances of literary devices like alliteration, assonance, repetition, onomatopoeia, juxtaposition and antithesis, metaphors, alternation of person and personification. Many of these can be only imperfectly reproduced in English. Regardless, the delivery results in brief and clear statements even if the meanings can be complex. Rules and principles are interspersed and guide interpretation, and authority and limits for authorized interpretation are also specified. On the one hand defining there is a Bahá'í Administration as part of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh and then there is speaking to the individual reader, as there are no clergy in the religion to rely on for guidance. The text also moves between statements said to be plain and statements suggesting the key to understanding the book is to look at the text for clues to itself. Some statements reflect on the teachings in the religion on various themes and underscores a relationship of the Aqdas as a 'motherhood' in relation to all the other scriptural works and they to it. It also relates to scriptures of other religions by abrogation, explanation, affirming or reformation - an example of progressive revelation as a principle of the religion. While it is the core text on laws of the religion, it is not the exclusive source of laws in the religion, nor of Bahá'u'lláh's own writings, and complimentarily the reader is told explicitly to not view the text as a "mere code of laws".
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