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This statement highlights the Islamic affirmation of the supreme power of the Mightiest Name of God
The radiant Divine Glory motif the Greatest Name: Some intimations and Baha’i Interpretations of pre-islamic Scripture The Arabic word bahā' is not directly or fully contained in pre-Bābī sacred scripture; not in the Hebrew Bible (tawrat), Greek [Aramaic] Gospel[s] (injīl) or Arabic Qur'ān. As noted, the noun bahā' is composed of three or four letters -: [1] "B", [2] "H", [3] "A" and, counting the final letter hamza, [4] = `. The numerical (abjad) value of bahā' is nine: 2+5+1+1 = 9; a "sacred number" symbolic of perfection as the highest numerical integer {6} and corresponding to the "First Man", Adam ( "A" = 1 + "D" = 4 + "M" = 40: total = 45 = 1 + 2+ 3+ 4+ 5+ 6+ 7+ 8+ 9). Similarly, the Bāb corresponds to the "First Woman", "Eve". These observations seem to have first been made by Bahā' al-Din al-`Amili (d. Isfahan 1031/1622), known as Shaykh Bahā'i in his Khulasat al-Hisab ("The Quintessence of Calculations") over 400 years ago, was adapted by `Abd al-Bahā' in his explanation of the deeper, numerological senses of the words Bāb and Bahā'. According to certain Tablets of `Abdu'l-Bahā, most notably his well-known Tablet in explanation of the Greatest Name symbol (which was very probably designed by `Abdu'l-Bahā himself) addressed to a Bahā'ī resident in Paris (see Ma'idah, 2:100-103), Bahā’-Allāh and the Bāb may be considered the new "Adam" and "Eve" (respectively). The word Bāb has a numerical (abjad) value of 5. The sum of its integers is 15 : 1+2+3+4+5 = 15. Fifteen is also the numerical (abjad) value of "Eve" (Arabic, ḥawā). These numerical statements then, echo those made by Bahā' al-Bahā' al-Dīn al-`Āmilī, Shaykh Bahā'ī (d. Isfahan 1031/1622) in his famous mathematical treatise Khulāṣat al-ḥisāb [al-Bahā'iyya] ("Summa of Arithmetic") which includes some gnostic or esoteric type material (cf. Bausani, 1981: ADD). The twin Manifestations of God in this eschatological age are viewed as the "parents" of a new spiritual humanity. In certain Tablets Bahā’-Allāh indicated His "Self" by means of the first two letters of the greatest name, Bahā'; that is, "B" and "H". In the colophon at the close of the Kitāb-i-Īqān, for example, we read, "Thus hath it been revealed aforetime.. Revealed by the "Bā" and the "Hā" (trans. Shoghi Effendi, 164). While the earlier Tablet of the Disconnected Letters also contains such a self-designation when it refers to this writing as a "Book" from "B" before "H" (Mā'idih 4:52), the fourth line of the Lawḥ-i nāqūs ("Tablet of the Bell", 1863 CE) allludes to it when there is a command to the "Angel of Light" (malak al-nūr) to blow in the eschatological "Trumpet" (al-ṭūr) in view of the new theophany in which the letter "H" rides upon a mighty pre-existent letter "B". Bahā’-Allāh has stated that various portions or "letters" of the word Bahā' as the greatest name are contained in pre-Bābī Holy Books. In past religious dispensations there was a progressive disclosure of "letters" of various forms or conceptions of the greatest name. Certain traditions attributed to the Shī`ī Imāms (rooted in Jewish notions) allocate "letters" of a 73 letter greatest name to past sages, prophets or Manifestations of God -- reckoning that one of the "letters" remained hidden (73-1=72). In some lists, Adam received 25 letters, Noah 25, Abraham 8, Moses 4 and Jesus 2 (Majlisī, Biḥār.. 11:68). Certain writings of the Bāb and Bahā’-Allāh reflect such traditions. Drawing on Qur'ān 21:78f and (probably also) those Shī`ī traditions (aḥadīth) which reckon that certain of the Israelite prophets received a few letters of knowledge or of the greatest name of God the Bāb, in Qayyūm al-asmā' LIX explains how David and Solomon were inspired with two letters of the "greatest word" (kalimat al-akbar) adding that Dhu'l- Nun (= Jonah), Idris (= Enoch), Ishmael and Dhu'l-Kifl (Job or Ezekiel?) were in darkness until they testified to the truth of the "point of the Gate" (nuqtat al-bāb) or the Bab. In his Tafsīr laylat al-qadr ("Commentary on the Sūra of the `Night of Power'", Qur'ān 97) the Bāb refers to 3, 4, and 5 portions of one of the forms of the greatest name existing in the Pentateuch (tawrat), Gospel[s] (injīl) and Qur'ān (respectively; see INBMC 69:17). Similarly, in a Tablet commenting on the basmala {8} and first verse of the Qur'ānic Sūra of the Pen (Sūra 68), Bahā’-Allāh mentions that God divulged something (a "letter"/ "word" harf an) of the "Greatest Name" Bahā' in every dispensation. In the Islamic dispensation, He states, it is alluded to through the letter "B" (bā'; the first letter of the basmala see below) and in the Gospels (injīl) through the word Ab (= "Father") -- which, in the Arabic Bible, contains two of the letters of Bahā' ("A" & "B"). Bahā' is clearly intimated in Bābī Scripture, the Bayān. It is representative of the Self (nafs) of God in this, the Bahā'ī dispensation (see INBMC 56:25). In a Persian Tablet Bahā’-Allāh states that in past ages the greatest name (Bahā') was hidden in the "knowledge of God" but recorded or intimated in the scrolls of past Messengers of God (suhuf al-mursalīn see Iqtidārāt, 275). In one of the Hidden Words (Kalimāt-i maknūnih, Persian No.77; revealed some five years prior to his declaration in 1863) Bahā’-Allāh mystically intimated the manifestation and power of the greatest name, Bahā', (see below) through the disclosure of its first two letters! (i.e. "Bā" and "Hā"). {9} In hundreds of subsequent Tablets the power and importance of the word Bahā' is spelled out. Intimations of بهاء Bahā’ in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)The word bahā' seems to have no precise equivalent or cognate in Biblical Hebrew. Theologically, it is represented by the Hebrew word kabôd = `radiant glory'. Translated into Biblical Hebrew the title بهاء الله = Bahā’-Allāh would be כְּבוד יְהוָה = (Heb.) Kabôd YHWH [`Adonai]. Bahā'-Allāh himself and several early Bahā’ī apologists found intimations of this title in several verses in the book of Isaiah. They were thought to predict the manifestation of the person of Bahā’-Allāh as a theophanic incarnation of the radiance of the divine "glory". This "gloty" was also thought to be evident in the believing Bahā'ī follower. There follows the Hebrew (MT), Arabic (Van Dyck) and English translations (AV = KJV) of Isaiah 40:5 then Isaiah 60:1,2b and 5 which are cited by Bahā'-Allah himself in this connection: וְנִגְלָ֖ה כְּבֹ֣וד יְהוָ֑ה וְרָא֤וּ כָל־בָּשָׂר֙ יַחְדָּ֔ו כִּ֛י פִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר׃ فيعلن مجد الرب ويراه كل بشر جميعا لان فم الرب تكلم
Many other Biblical texts contain references to the kabôd ("glory") or kabôd YHWH ("Glory of the Lord"). Probably alluding to Bahā’-Allāh, Ezekiel described the "Glory of God" in the form of a man (Ezek 1:26; see also Ezekiel chapters 1, Ch 10 & 43:1ff cf. Daniel 7). [10] Israel Abrahams (1858-1924), Reader in Rabbinic and Talmudic Literature at Cambridge University, in the second of his three lectures on The Glory of God (entitled `Messianic' and delivered in the U.S.A. in the spring of 1924), among other interesting observations, wrote,
That kabôd ("glory") is of paramount eschatological (`latter day') importance in the Hebrew Bible prompted Arthur M. Ramsey (1906-1988; Archbishop of Canterbury, 1961-74, and one-time (regius) professor of Divinity at Cambridge (and Durham, UK) to write,
The theophanic secrets of the Divine Glory (kabôd) have been, and are, a matter of central importance in Jewish mysticism. So too the mysteries of the tetragrammaton (`four lettered word', which occurs some 6,823 times in the Hebrew Bible), = YHWH (trans. "Lord"; also loosely transliterated, "Yahweh", "Jehovah"). It is the personal name of the Biblical God of Moses. Bahā’-Allāh claimed to be a manifestation of the God, the Lord Who is YHWH (see Lambden, Sinaitic Mysteries 154f); the very radiance of His Presence, His divine "Glory". Qabbalistically speaking or in the light of Jewish mysticism, the first two letters of the divine name YHWH (the "Y" and the "H") correspond to the first two letters of the word Bahā' ( the "B" and the "H"). Quite frequent in the Hebrew Bible is a short form of YHWH composed of its first two consonants Y and H read Yāh. The well-known exclamation Hallelujah (Heb. Hallelûyāh) meaning `Praised be Yāh [God]' uses this abbreviated form of the Divine Designation. The two letter abbreviated form of Bahā' and this two letter form of the Hebrew name of God coincide. According to various mystics the first of their two letters ("Y and "B") were considered the "Primal Point" from which certain dimensions of existence sprang forth. [11] Jewish traditions have it that in the "last days" the radiant eschatological "glory" of the (symbolic) "First Man" or `first couple' would be regained (cf. Gen 3:21). The new humanity will, it is predicted in numerous texts, be "clothed" in the primordial "glory" . This, symbolically speaking, the `first couple' lost at the time of the "fall". A variety of religious traditions reckon that primordial conditions will again be experienced in the new, messianic age of paradise. For Bahá'ís the emergent "new heaven and earth" is radiant with the "glory" of the divine presence reflected in the renewed status of the first couple in the new Eden of the age of Paradise (cf. Lambden, `From Fig-Leaves to Fingernails'). Intimations of Bahā’ in the New Testament and Christian literatures.. The Arabic word bahā' obviously does not occur directly in the Greek New Testament. Its theological equivalent is the Greek word doxa = radiant "glory" which translates the Hebrew kabôd (in one sense also, radiant "glory"). [12] Some millennial or more old (early medieval, probably pre-9th century CE?) Christian uses of the word bahā' can be found in various medieval (or earlier, perhaps pre-Islamic) Arabic writings. In, for example, Arabic recensions of an originally Syriac work, The Book of the Cave of Treasures (Me'ârath Gazzê, original Syriac c. 4th cent. CE?; see Bezold, Die Schatzöhle), ; namely, in the "Book of the Rolls" (Kitāb al-majāll). [13] This work includes an account of the story of Adam and Eve. Reference is made to the First Man's pre-fall "mighty glory" (bahā' al-aīm, Bezold Vol. 2:14); his "wondrous glory" (al-bahā' al-`ajīb, Gibson, Apocrypha, 6). According to the "Book of the Rolls" the first couple were both clothed in glory and "splendour" (bahā')" (Gibson, 7). [14] The Arabic word bahā' is, however, found at certain points in Arabic versions of the New Testament and in other Arabic writings. A good example occurs in Revelation 21:23 where John of Patmos predicts,
In one of his Tablets to a Jewish Bahā'ī, Bahā’-Allāh cites this verse in Arabic exactly as it was printed in the London 1858 (1671) edition of the William Watts Arabic Bible for the Eastern Churches. It has been noted that Bahā’-Allāh associated the word "Father" with the "greatest name". Several verses of the Gospels speak of the return of Christ "in the glory of his Father" (Matt. 16:27 Mark 8:38 cf. Luke 9:26). Both the words "glory" (Greek doxa) and "Father" (Greek patār, Hebrew Bible 'Ab, Arabic Bible Āb) could be regarded as alluding to the "Greatest Name" Bahā'. In the New Testament the word "Father" occurs over 200 times -- as opposed to around 15 times (as 'Ab) for "God" in the Hebrew Bible. It is found in the two versions of the so-called `Lord's Prayer' (see Luke 11:3-4 & Matt. 6:9-13). This prayer begins: "Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come..". The "Father" referred to here is primarily the Godhead but could also be understood to refer to Bahā’-Allāh Who has ever existed (in his pre-existent Reality) in the "heaven" of the Will of God. The "hallowed be thy name" verse might be understood to be an allusion to the "glory" of the "Greatest Name" Bahā'; to One whose kingdom has been long awaited by Christians expecting the return of Christ in the glory of the "Father". Numerous Christians have written volumes upon the subject of the multi-faceted Biblical concept of the "Glory"/ the "Glory of God". Christ's return "in the glory of the Father" has been meditated upon, prayed for, and variously interpreted for many centuries. Some have focused upon the mystery of the Biblical "glory" (kabôd / doxa) or related expressions of the Divine splendour. A somewhat eccentric Protestant Christian example of this, is the Rev. H. A. Edwards' pamphlet, The Glory of the Lord, An Investigation into the significance of the Shekinah [= "Glorious Dwelling"] Presence, the Reasons for its Withdrawal and the Prophecies Concerning its Future Return. More recent and much more important volumes have been written which contain valuable information about the glorious Divine Presence in history and eschatology; about the Kabôd and the Doxa. Details cannot be gone into here. It must suffice to quote a few sentences from the entry DOXA ("Glory") in Rahner and Vorgrimler's (Catholic) Concise Theological Dictionary, The Arabic word majd, which can also be translated by (radiant) "glory", is the word which renders doxa ("glory") in certain Arabic translations of the New Testament. In the Kitáb-i Íqán and in other Tablets, Bahá'u'lláh quotes those New Testament verses which predict the return of Christ in "glory" (doxa) (see Mark 13:26, Matthew 24:30, Luke 21:27 cf. Mark 8:38; Matthew 16:27; Luke 9:26). Here (Greek) doxa ("glory") is usually rendered in Arabic Bibles by majd ("glory"). It is thus the case that many references in Bahá'u'lláh's Tablets to his coming with great "glory" (majd) allude to his being the return of Christ "in the glory (majd = doxa) of the Father" (For some details see Lambden, `In the glory of the Father', unpublished essay). 2.0 The Word بهاء , Bahā’ in select Islamic religious and other literary textsThe linguistic history, semantic field and multifarious occurrences of the word bahā' in Arabic and Persian Islamic literatures have yet to be systematically researched. It is a word which does not occur in the Qur'ān and is not among the traditional ninety nine "most beautiful names" of God (al-asmā' al-ḥusnā ; see Qur'ān 7:179). It is thus considered "hidden". The Arabic word بهاء, bahā' was not unknown prior to the advent of Bahā’-Allāh. The explicit identification of بهاء as the "Greatest Name", however, despite Islāmic traditions which indicate this, was not widely recognized. As the secret of the hundredth name of God, Bahā' is often alluded to in Bahā’-Allāh's Tablets as the "Hidden Name" and the "Greatest Name". Du`ā al-Jawshan al-kabir of the Prophet Muhammad Tradition, furthermore, has it that the "Greatest Name" was said to be contained in the Prophet Muhammad's Du`ā al-Jawshan al-kabār ("Greater Supplication of Jawshan"). In this prayer God is addressed as One possessed of Bahā’ ("Glory" ) (see Qummi Mafātih, 131ff) . It is likewise reckoned that Imam Ja`far al-Ṣādiq stated that the "Greatest Name" is contained in the so-called Du`ā umm Dawud ("Supplication of the Mother of David") towards the beginning of which we read, "Unto Thee [God] be Bahā’ ("Glory").." (Qummi , Mafātih, 199).
An interesting occurrence of the word bahā’ in association with the rose is to be found in a prophetic hadith ("tradition") attributed to Muhammad as cited by the outstanding love-mystic and gnostic, Shaykh Rūzbihān Baqlī Shirazi (d.1209). In his مشرب الارواح Mashrab al-arwāḥ ("The Tavern of Souls") and elsewhere (e.g. Sharḥ-i shaṭṭḥiyyāt = "Commentary upon the Ecstatic Locutions") the Prophet Muhammad reckons the gul-i surkh ("red rose") a manifestation of the bahā’-i khudā, "The Glory-Beauty of God" a phrase could be seen as a Persian translation of Bahā'-Allāh :كسى را در عشق مونس خود قرار دهد ، انوار بهاء جمال خودرا به او مى نما ياند تا به تمام بسنديده ها عاشق شود . پیامبرعليه ا لسلام فرمود : گل سرخ از بهاء خدا است، هركه می خواهد بهاء خدا نظرکند بايد به گل سرخ بنگرد عارف گفت : ديدن بهاء جا يگاه انس وانبساط است * "Whenever the One True God (ḥaqq) wishes to adopt someone as his loving intimate, He shows that person the lights of the Glory of His Own Beauty (anwār-i bahā'-i jamāl-i khūd-rā), so that the person is enraptured with everything beautiful. The Prophet [Muhammad] said,"The red rose (gul-i surkh) is [a token] of God's Glory-Beauty (az bahā’-i khudā). Whoever wishes to contemplate the Glory-Beauty of God (bahā'-i khudā), let him behold the Rose (gul-i surkh)." The mystic knower (`ārif) said: "The vision of the Glory-Beauty [of God] (bahā') takes place through intimacy (uns) and interior openness [delight] (inbisāṭ)" (trans. Lambden from Mashrab al-arwāḥ, 262; see also Henri Corbin,See Rūzbihān Baqlī, Mashrab al-arwāḥ ( ed. Nazif M. Hoca Istanbul, 1974) p.262, Cf. English trans. Nurbaksh, Sufi Symbolism 4:19. See also Rūzbihān Baqlī (ed. and trans. Henri Corbin), Commentaire.. (Sharḥ-i Shaṭṭḥāt), paragraph 265.Commenting on this tradition in her Mystical Dimensions of Islam.. Annemarie Schimmel, writes, "It was Rūzbihān Baqlī who highlighted the prophetic tradition according to which Muhammad declared the red rose to be the manifestation of God's glory ([bahā’'] B 265). He thus gave the rose loved by poets throughout the world the sanction of religious experience; his vision of God is a vision of clouds of roses, the divine presence fulgent as a marvelous red rose. Since this flower reveals divine beauty and glory most perfectly, the nightingale, symbol of the longing soul, is once and forever bound to love it and the numberless roses and nightingales in Persian and Turkish poetry take on, wittingly or unwittingly, this metaphysical connotation of soul-bird and divine rose." (p.299).
The Du`a al-ḥujub ("The Supplication of the Veils") cited in the Muhaj al-da`wāt.. ("Lifeblood of the Supplications") of Ibn Tāwūs(d. 1266 CE) The Muhaj al-da`wāt.. ("Lifeblood of the Supplications...") is a compilation of prayers attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and the Twelver Imams compiled by Radi al-Din ibn Tāwūs (1193-1266 CE). Within it is an Arabic prayer attributed to the Prophet Muhammad which came to be entitled Du`a al-ḥujub ("The Supplication of the Veils"). It contains the following line which associates the word bahā’ with the Sinaitic theophany من بهاء العظمة خرت الجبال متدكدكة لعظمتك و جلالك و هيبتك و خوفا من سطوتك راهبة منك فلا اله إلا انت فلا اله إلا انت فلا اله إلا انت * "I beseech Thee [God] by the Names (al-asmā') through which Thou didst manifest Thy glory (tajallayta) before the Speaker (al-kalām, Moses) upon the mighty mountain [Sinai]. So when radiant beams were generated from the Light of the Veils [of Light hiding the Divinity] through the Bahā’ ("Splendour") of the Divine Grandeur (al-`azimat) the mountain was levelled in pieces, before, that is, Thy Grandeur, Thy Magnitude (jalāl) and Thy Awesome Tremendum (haiba). And such was out of fear before Thy Gravitas (saṭwat) which exudes dreadful terror from Thee. There is indeed no God save Thee. Indeed there is no God save Thee. Indeed there is no God save Thee." (cf. Qur'ān 7:143).Bahā’u'llāh, it will be recalled, mystically identified himself with the Divine Being Who conversed with Moses on the Sinai of inner realization. Relative to Bābī-Bahā’ī scripture the use of the word Bahā’ ("splendour/glory") here for the divine theophany upon Sinai, is prophetically significant (see below). It is of interest that in one of his writings the Bāb identified the "Greatest Name" with the Divine Reality which appeared to Moses on Sinai (INBA. MS 6003C 173-188). Indeed, in his Qayyum all-asmā sura 77 he also reckoned the vehicle of this Divine manifestation the "Light of Bahā’" (cf. below).
2.1 The word Bahā’
in select traditions of the twelver Shi`i Imams. ADD HERE The Khuṭba al-ṭutuniyīya (The Sermon of the Gulf) ascribed to Imam `Ali (40/661).A variety of Bābī and Bahā'ī scriptural sources have been influenced by an Arabic oration attributed to Imām `Alī (d.656) which is said to have been delivered between Kufah and Medina and is known as Khutba al-ṭutuniyīya [taṭanjiya] (loosely, "The Sermon of the Gulf") (cf Lambden, Sinaitic 84-5, 160). It was very highly regarded and quite frequently cited or alluded to by the first two Shaykhī leaders and by the Bāb and Bahā’-Allāh. Towards the end of this Khutba reference is made to the latter-day sign of the miraculous transformation of the pebbles [gravel] of Najaf (near Kūfa in Iraq; the site of the shrine of Imām `Alī) into precious jewels (jawhar an). These treasures, which God will scatter under the feet of the true believers, will render other precious stones relatively valueless. This unparalleled sign is associated with the radiant, confirmatory manifestation of the Divine ḍiyā' ("splendour") and bahā ("glory") (Bursī, Mashāriq, 169).See Further: http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/03-Biblical-islam-BBst/TTNJ.HTM Supplication of Imam Ḥusayn on the 9th Day of `Arafa... In the concluding section of a Du`a ("Supplication") of Imam Ḥusayn (d.61/680) uttered on the pilgrimage `Day of `Arafa' (9th of Dhu'l‑Hijja (see Tehrani, al‑Dharia 4:193) as recorded in (an apparently unique recension) in the Kitāb al‑bilad al‑amin ("The Book of the Secure Land") of al‑Kaf`ami we read:
The Divine theophany is here realized bi‑kamāl bahā'ihi. It takes place through the "perfection" or fullness of His bahā' " ("Splendor-Beauty"). Perhaps it is the Sinaitic theophany which is realized through the perfection of the His divine Bahā' as is also the case in various scriptural writings of the Bab amd Bahā'-Allah. The Siniatic theophany is associated with a manifestation of the Bahā' of God.
The Du`ā al-bahā' ("The Supplication of Glory-Beauty") or Ramadan Dawn Prayer (Du`ā al-saḥar ). The traditions of the Twelver Shi`i Imams are viewed positively and often cited by the Bāb and Bahā’u'llāh. Among the most important occurrences of the word bahā’ in Shi`i Islāmic literatures is in an Arabic invocatory prayer attributed to Imam Muhammad al-Bāqir (677-732 CE) the fifth of the Twelver Shi`i Imams. The eighth Shi`i Imam, `Ali al-Riḍā' (d. 818 CE.), who transmitted this prayer, reckoned that it contained the "Greatest Name" of God (al-ism al-a`zam). It is a prayer to be recited at dawn (Du`ā Sahar), during Ramadan the Muslim month of fasting. The word bahā or a derivative of the same root occurs five times within it's opening lines; دُعاء البَهَاء اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ بَهَائِكَ بِأَبْهَاهُ وَكُلُّ بَهَائِكَ بَهِيٌّ، اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ بِبَهَائِكَ كُلِّهِ O my God! I beseech Thee by Thy Bahā' (Splendor) at its most Splendid (abhā') for all Thy Splendor (bahā') is truly resplendent (bahiyy). I, verily, O my God! beseech Thee by the fullness of Thy Splendor (bahā').
"O my God! I beseech Thee by thy Bahā ' in its supreme splendour (abhā') for all Thy bahā ' is truly luminous (bahīyy). I, verily, O my God, beseech Thee by the fullness of Thy bahā!" The first line of the Dawn Prayer of Muhammad al-Baqir (text and trans above) contains no less than five forms derived from the same triliteral root from which the verbal noun bahā' and the superlative abhā (All-Glorious) are derived. Bahā'-Allāh drew attention to this in one of his Tablets. This alliterative Arabic prayer continues in like manner, substituting the word bahā' and its derivatives with all the other of the 19 divine Attributes utilized by the Bāb in the Bābī-Bahā'ī calendar -- first set forth in the (Bāb's) Kitāb al-asmā' ("Book of Names" c.1849) and later ratified by Bahā'u'll āh in the Kitāb-i-Aqdas ("Most Holy Book" c. 1873). The scheme of names within it, directly or indirectly, lies behind a good many Bābī-Bahā'ī scriptural uses of bahā' -- frequently, for example, in the Bāb's Kitāb-i-panj sha'n ("The Book of the Five Grades"). It is quoted in the (Persian) Dalā'il-i-Sab`a ("The Seven Proofs" c. 1848/9?) where its first five lines are regarded as an allusion to the Prophet Muhammad and the other "people of the cloak" (ahl al-kisā' see Qur'ā n 33:32; namely,`Ali, Fātima, Hasan and Ḥusayn; see pp. 58-9). The following passage from the Bāb's writings is closely related to the above quoted Dawn Prayer and to the Bābī messiah Man yuzhiruhu'llāh ("Him Whom God shall make manifest" = Bahā’-Allāh);
There exists an Arabic prayer of Bahā’-Allāh -- headed "In the name of God, the All-Glorious (al-Abhā)" -- which opens with reference to the Shī`ī Dawn Prayer, the first line of which it subsequently quotes. By means of this Dawn Prayer, God had been supplicated, Bahā’-Allāh meditates, by the tongue of His Messengers (rusul), beseeched through the "tongues of those who are nigh unto God". All, in fact, were commanded to recite it at dawntimes for it contains the "Greatest Name" and is a protection against being veiled from that Name (Bahā') which is the "ornament" of God's "Self". (see AQA, Majmū`a-yi munājāt 45-46). [22]
بسمي الذي به اشرق نور البيان من أفق الامكان يا أيها الناظر الى الوجه والمذكور لدى العرش ا مروز لسان برهان درملكوت البيان باين كلمهء مباركهء عليا، ،اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ بَهَائِكَ بِأَبْهَاهُ وَكُلُّ بَهَائِكَ بَهِيٌّ هذا اسم الله الاعظم الذي اخبر به حجة الله و برهانه ، لعمري ما ظهر ذكر ولا بيان اصرح من ذلك طوبى، للمنصفين، هدا اسم ارتعدت منه فرائص المشركين واطمئنت به افئدة المقربين، أقبل وقل الملك والملكوت فى فبضة قدرة الله و رب العالمين الذي لم تمنعه الصفوف ولا اقوى جنود العالم يفعل ما يشاء ويحكم ما يريد وهو العزيز الحميد.
The above cited and translated scriptural Tablet of Baha'-Allah clearly identified the words baha' in the Dawn Prayer with the Mightiest or Greatest Name of God (ism Allāh al-a`ẓam). ADD HERE In many of his Arabic and Persian scriptural Tablets (alwāḥ) Bahā’-Allāh cites or partially cites the opening lines of the Ramadan Du`a al-Sahar often utilizing its terminology in benedictions upon Babi-Bahā'i persons. In an untitled Persian Tablet headed `He is the Powerful, the Transcendent, the Sanctified, the Exalted, the All-Glorious, a benediction is uttered upon the young Bahā'i martyr Āqā Buzūrg-i Khurasānī (executed 1871 CE) who was entitled Badī` ("Wonderful") in which the slightly modified phrase (the 2nd person suffix and the bi are omitted) `alay-hu min kull bahā' abha-hu ("upon him be all the Bahā' at its Most Splendid (abhā) هو المقتدر المتعالی المقدس العلی الابهی و اينكه مرقوم داشته بوديد كه در محبت اللّه انفاق جان محبوبتراست يا ذكر حق بحكمت و بيان لعمراللّه ان الثانی لخير چه كه بعد از شهادت جناب بديع عليه من كل بهاء ابهاه كل را بحكمت امر فرمودند Certain passages within his Tablets addressed to the key Bahā'i entitled Samandar , for example, quote sections of the first line of the Dawn Prayer Referring to Samandar Baha’u’llah states, if the substance of this letter were sent to the beloved of the inmost heart of his eminence Samandar, may the fire of divine love be upon him, through all of the Bahā' (Glory) at its Most Splendid (abhā-hu) ... (Ayat-i bayyinat, No. 152 pp.[318-9], 319) Tablet to Mīrzā `Abbās of Astarābād In a Persian Tablet to Mīrzā `Abbās of Astarābād sometimes referred to as the Lawḥ ism-i-a`ẓam ("Tablet of the Greatest Name") Bahā’-Allāh quotes from the beginning of the above quoted Dawn Prayer and observes that the "people of al-Furqān" (= Muslims) have not heeded the fact that the "greatest name" was said to be contained within it; indeed, at its very beginning! (refer Mā'idah, 4: 22-23 cf. ibid, 7:97). For details see: http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/BAHA'-ALLAH/l-%60Abbas%20Astarabadi.htm Lawḥ-i ibn-i-Dhi'b ("The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf", c. 1891 CE) In his last major work the Lawḥ-i ibn-i-Dhi'b ("The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf" c. 1891 CE) Bahā’-Allāh refers to the Dawn Prayer. He exhorts Shaykh Muhammad Taqī Najafī (d.1914), should he enter the "Crimson Ark" (become a Bahā'ī), to face the "Kaaba of God" (Bahā’-Allāh) and recite the opening line of the Shī'ī Dawn Prayer (cited above). Were this to be carried out, He promises, even the "doors of the Kingdom" would be "flung wide" open before the face of the "son of the Wolf". This anti-Bahā'ī cleric did not read this prayer as directed; he never became a Bahā'ī. Commentaries on the Dawn Prayer for Ramadan Among those Muslims who wrote a commentary on this Dawn Prayer but remained both anti-Bābī/Bahā'ī was the third head of the Kirmānī Shaykhis, Ḥājjī Mīrzā Muhammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī (d. 1288 AH/1871 CE). In his Arabic Treatise in Commentary upon the Dawn Prayer (written 1274 AH/1857 CE) he records the tradition that it contained the "Greatest Name". [23] Karīm Khān equates bahā' in its opening line with the synonym ḥusn (= `beauty, excellence, etc) and goes on to explain that "the bahā' of God (bahā' Allāh) signifies the first of the HERE CORRECT Khān regarded the Bahā' of God as the primordial cosmological Reality. He was aware of the exegetical traditions and of their linguistic and theological import but remained heedless and antagonistic towards the Bābī and Bahā'ī religions until he passed away in 1871 CE. See further :http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/03-Biblical-islam-BBst/dawnP.htm
The following paragraph introduces the Du'a al-saḥār in Kitāb Zad al-ma'ād: ("Knapsack for the Eschaton") of Muhammad Baqir Majlisī' (d. 1111/1699-1700)
The prayer translated above is ascribed to the fifth Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (d. c.126/743). It exists in several versions. and is recited by Shi`i Muslims at dawn times during the fasting month of Ramadan. This Du'a al-saḥār was very precious to the Bāb who quoted or re-revealed it numerous times in his Kitab-i Panj Sha`n (Book of the Five Grades) and Kitab al-asmā’ (Book of Names). His naming of the months of the Babi-Bahā'ī year is closely related to the divine attributes found within this and related versions of the Dawn Prayer or Du`a yawm al-mubahilah (Supplication for the Day of Mutual Execration) which begins in an identical fashion. Bahā'-Allāh several times commented upon the Du'a al-saḥār and frequently alluded to it. Certain passages within his Tablets addressed to Samandar (e.g. Ayat-i bayyinat, No. 152 see below), for example, quote sections of the first line of this prayer . Referring to Samandar in one Tablet Baha’u’llah says,
The Du`ā' yawm al-mubāhala ("Supplication for the Day of Mutual Execration"). The Du`ā' yawm al-mubāhala ("Supplication for the Day of Mutual Execration") is a devotional supplication paralleling and closely related to the Du`ā' al-saḥar (Dawn supplication) of Imam Muhammad al-Bāqir (transmitted by Imām Ridā'; see Mafātīḥ 351). Their opening lines are identical. A version of it is contained in al-Qummī's Mafātīḥ al-jinān ( 351-355). Therein it is stated that it was transmitted from Ja`far al-Ṣādiq (marwiyā `an al-Ṣādiq; ibid). The original transcript mss. (naskh) of this supplication contains numerous textual variants; the naskh ("version") of the Shaykh (al-Ṭā'ifa, Muhammad b. Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī, d.460/1067) differing from that of the Sayyid as it exists in his 'Ad`iya asār Ramaḍān (p.237). The version printed in al-Qummī follows that of the al-Ṭūsī in his al-Miṣbāḥ : (p.351). اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ بَهَائِكَ بِأَبْهَاهُ وَكُلُّ بَهَائِكَ بَهِيٌّ، اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ بِبَهَائِكَ كُلِّهِ O my God! I beseech Thee by Thy Bahā' ("Beauty-Splendor") in its utmost Glory (abhā') for all Thy Beauty (bahā') is truly brilliant (bahiyy); I, verily, O my God! beseech Thee by the fullness of Thy splendor (bahā'). See further: http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/03-Biblical-islam-BBst/mubahala.htm
Raḍī al-Dīn ibn Ṭāwūs (1193-1266 CE). The The Muhaj al-da`wāt.. ("Lifeblood of the Supplications...") is a compilation of prayers attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and the Twelver Imāms compiled by Raḍī al-Dīn ibn Ṭāwūs (1193-1266 CE). Within it is an Arabic prayer attributed to the Prophet Muhammad which came to be entitled Du`a al-ḥujub ("The Supplication of the Veils"). [18] This `Prayer of the Veils' has been transmitted in various recensions by, among others, Muhammad Bāqir Majlisī the compiler of the Shī`ī encyclopedia The Ocean of Lights (Bihār al-Anwār) and Bahā’ al-Din al-`Amili, Shaykh Bahā’ī (see below) who includes it in his Kashkūl or ("The Begging Bowl"). Some Muslim scholars have doubted its authenticity. The fourth leader of the Shaykhis, Hajī Zayn al-`Abidīn Khān Kirmānī (1859-1941 CE) wrote an over 300 page commentary on it in which its authenticity is discussed (see his Sharḥ du`a al-ḥujub, p.6ff.). The Du`a al-ḥujub contains the following line which associates the word بهاء bahā' with the Sinaitic theophany [19]:
Bahā’u'llāh, it will be recalled, mystically identified himself with the Divine Being Who conversed with Moses on the Sinai of inner realization. Relative to Bābī-Bahā’ī scripture the use of the word Bahā’ ("splendour/glory") here for the divine theophany upon Sinai, is prophetically significant (see below). It is of interest that in one of his writings the Bāb identified the "Greatest Name" with the Divine Reality which appeared to Moses on Sinai (INBA. MS 6003C 173-188). Indeed, in his Qayyum all-asmā sura 77 he also reckoned the vehicle of this Divine manifestation the "Light of Bahā’" (cf. below). [20] Bahā’-Allāh, it will be recalled, mystically identified himself with the Divine Being Who conversed with Moses on the Sinai of inner realization. Relative to Bābī-Bahā'ī scripture the use of the word bahā' ("splendour/glory") here for the divine theophany upon Sinai, is prophetically significant (see below). It is of interest that in one of his writings the Bāb identified the "Greatest Name" with the Divine Reality which appeared to Moses on Sinai (INBA. MS 6003C 173-188). Indeed, in his Qayyūm al-asmā sūra LXXVII (77) he also reckoned the vehicle of this Divine manifestation the "Light of Bahā'" (cf. below). Tradition, furthermore, has it that Imām Ḥusayn related that the "Greatest Name" was said to be contained in the Prophet Muhammad's Du`ā al-Jawshan al-kabīr ("Greater Supplication of Jawshan"). In this prayer God is addressed as One possessed of bahā' ("Glory"; see Qummī Mafātīh, 131ff) -- it is likewise reckoned that Imām Ja`far al-Ṣādiq had it that the "Greatest Name" is contained in the so-called Du`ā Umm Dawūd ("Supplication of the Mother of David") near the beginning of which we read, "Unto Thee [God] be Bahā' ("Glory").." (Qummī , Mafātīh 199). The Ramadan Supplication of the Celestial Pavilions Possibly based on and echoing the Dawn Prayer of Ramadan is the following spontaneous supererogatory supplication for the month of Ramadan transmitted by Abī `Abd Allāh (Imām Ja`far al-Ṣādiq, d. ADD) as cited in Majlisi's Biḥār al-anwār from al-Iqbāl of Sayyid Raḍī al-Dīn ibn Tāwūs (589/1193-664/1266),"O my God! I verily, ask Thee by Thy Name which is inscribed in the pavilion of Glory (surādiq al-majd) and I beseech Thee by Thy Name which is inscribed in the pavilion of Splendour (surādiq al-bahā'). I verily, ask Thee by Thy Name which is inscribed in the pavilion of Grandeur (surādiq al-`azamat) and I beseech Thee by Thy Name which is inscribed in the pavilion of radiance (surādiq al-jalāl). I verily, ask Thee by Thy Name which is inscribed in the pavilion of Might (surādiq al-`izzat) and I beseech Thee by Thy Name which is inscribed in the pavilion of Secrets (surādiq al-sarā'ir) which is Foremost (al-sābībq), Paramount (al-fā'iq), Beauteous (al-ḥusn), and Splendid (al-nayyīr). And by the Lord of the Eight Archangels (al-malā'ikat al-thamāniyyat) and the Lord of the Mighty Celestial Throne (rabb al-`arsh al-`aẓīm)." (Cited Majlisī, Bihar al-anwar 2nd ed. 58:43). Six celestial pavilions surrounding the Divine are spoken about in this supplication relative to specific Divine attributes. They are occasionally mentioned in Bābī-Bahā'ī scripture. SOME USES OF THE WORD بهاء IN ISLAMIC SOURCES. 01. Islamic book titles incorporating the word bahā' or its derivetives. Abū Zakariyya' Yaḥyā ibn Ziyād al-Farrā' (d.207/822) and others.See Sezgin GAS VIII 123-5; Tehrani, Dharī`a IV 298; Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, Ibn Ṭāwūs and his Library (Leiden: Brill, 1992); Carter, CHAL:123ff. The word bahā', as well as derivatives from the same Arabic root, are also found in the titles of certain Islāmic books and treatises. There existed, for example, a work about language called Kitāb al-Bahā' ("The Book of Bahā' = Glory-Beauty-Splendour") by the celebrated grammarian Abū Zakariyyā' Yayḥā ibn Ziyād [al-Aqa` al-Daylamī], known as al-Farrā' (d. 207/822). On al-Farrā' see for example, Carter, `Arabic Grammar' which is chapter 8 in the Cambridge History of Arabic Literature (CHAL:123ff.). The Kitāb al-Bahā' is listed in the massive Shī`ī bibliography of Āghā Buzurg al-Tehrānī, al-Dharī`a .. (see vol. 3:157 No. 550). According to the Amal al-āmil fi 'ulamā' Jabal 'Âmil, (ed. al-Sayyid Ahmad al-Husaynî, Baghdad: Maktabat al-Andalus, 1385/1965, 2 vols) of Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ḥurr al-`Āmilī (d. 1104/1694) another Kitāb al-Bahā' was written by a certain Shaykh al-Khalīl ibn Zafr ibn al-Khalīl al-Assadī (ADD/ADD) (vol. 2:111 No. 313). The Kitāb al-Bahā' of al-Farrā' is listed in the massive Shī`ī bibliography of Āghā Buzurg al-Tehrānī, al-Dharī`a .. (Vol. 3:157 No. 550) as are a number of others works whose titles are of interest; including three works entitled Risāla al-bahiyya ("The Luminous Treatise")(see ibid, Nos 587f.). Several Shī`ī writers composed books entitled, al-Anwār al-bahīyya ("The Glorious Lights") (for some details see ibid 3:420-1 Nos. 1661-1662 cf. also ). Examples of the Islamic use of bahīyya ("luminous") are numerous. The al-Dharī`a of Aqa Buzurg Tehrānī also lists a number of others works whose titles are of interest; including, three works entitled Risāla al-bahīyya ("The Luminous Treatise"). They deal with various subjects (Nos 587f.) as works of Shaykh Ḥusām al-Dīn ibn Jamāl al-Dīn al-Tarīkhī (17th Century CE; on the Islamic Daily Obligatory Prayer); Sayyid Fatīḥ Mīr Muhammad `Abbās and Shaykh Abī `Alī Muhammad Ismā`īl al-Hā'irī al-Sīnā'ī (d. 1216/1801-2) (al-Dharī`a 3:165-6). Several Shī`ī writers composed books entitled, The Glorious Lights (al-Anwār al-bahīyya (for some details see ibid 3:420-1 Nos. 1661-1662). Bahā al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Mukhtārī al-Nā'īnī (d. ca. 1140/1727) wrote a commentary on a grammatical work of Shaykh Bahā'ī (see below) entitled, al-Farā'id al-bahīyya fī Sharḥ al-Fawā'id al-Ṣamadiyya ("The luminous gems in exposition of the `Perpetual Benefits'). Examples of the Islamic use of bahīyya ("luminous") could be greatly multiplied. It can also be noted here that the great Sunni Qur'an commentator philosopher and theologian Muhammad ibn `Umar, Abū al-Su`ud Muhammad ibn, Muhammad Fakhr al-Dīn (d. 606/1209 ) -- author of the Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb al-mushtahir bi'l-Tafsīr al-kabīr wrote an Arabic work entitled al-Barāhin al-Baha'iyya ("The Bahāī-Glorious-Proofs). Bahā’ al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Muhammad Naqshband (718-791 AH = 1318-1391 CE), the founder of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi order, or one of his disciples composed a litany named after him entitled Awrād-i Bahā'iyya (see art. Algar EI2 VII: 934). The Shi`i writer Ḥasan ibn `Alī ibn Muhammad ibn Ḥasan al-Ṭabarī al-Māzandarānī (d. ADD/ADD) wrote a book on kalām ("theology") entitled Kāmil-i Bahā'ī which might be translated "The Glorious Perfection" or "Radiant Fulfillment"... (Khuda Baksh Lib. 14. No. 1298).
Abū al-Ḥasan `Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qummī (d. c. 307/919) Another early medieval Shi`i Qur'an Commentator Abū al-Ḥasan `Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qummī (d. c. 307/919) cited in his Tafsir a tradition in which ther word bahā' if found.
Avicenna (d. 1087 CE) and Yaḥyā Suhrawardī (d.1192 CE) A Persian work entitled Mi`rāj namah ("The Celestial Ascent") is attributed to both Avicenna (d. 1087 CE) and Yaḥyā Suhrawardī (d.1192 CE), the founder of the Illuminationist (Ishrāqī) school. Within it the Arabic word bahā is associated with the Persian farr (which may also signify radiant "glory"). It is stated that the Prophet Muhammad in a pre-visionary state, "between waking and sleep", recounted that "Suddenly Gabriel the Archangel descended in his own form, of such beauty [bahā], of such sacred glory [farr], of such majesty that all my dwelling was illuminated." The same association of bahā and farr occurs in an angelogical context in a subsequent line towards the end of this account of, and mystical commentary upon, the ascent (mi`rāj) of the Arabian Prophet, "Over against the valley, I saw an angel in meditation, perfect in Majesty, Glory [farr], and Beauty [bahā]."
This
angel is stated to have been named Michael, "the greatest of the
Angels." (See Corbin, Avicenna.. Ch.IV: 165ff., esp. p.171 + fn.13 and
p.175 + fn.25.)See
Henri Corbin, Avicenna and the Visionary Recital, Ch.IV "The Recital of
the Bird" 14. The Celestial Ascent (Mi`rāj-Nāmah) 165ff esp. p.171 +
fn.13 and p.175 + fn.25.
Abū Ḥāmid
Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Ţusî, al-Ghazālī ( d. 555 /1111).
In his al-Maqṣad al-Asnā, fi Sharḥ asmā' Allāh al-ḥusnā ("Commentary upon the Most Beautiful Names of God") the philosopher, theologian and mystic Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazali commenting at one point upon the Divine attribute al-Jalāl (No.42) states
Rashīd al-Dīn Maybudī (d. after 520/1126) and his early Persian Tafsīr work the Kashf al-asrār. In his lengthy, ten volume (in the classic printing of the 1950s>) commentary entitled Kashf al-Asrār, Rashīd al-Dīn Maybudī explains Qur'ānic verses in terms of their (1) literal meaning, (2) historical and doctrinal background and (3) spiritual signifīcance often exposing Sufī teachings as reflecting the opinions of `Abd-Allāh al-Anṣārī of Herat (396- 1006-1089 CE). His comments on the spiritual senses of the basmala of the Sūrat al-Fatiha includes some interesting statements oriented around the (above cited) hadith in which Jesus interprets the "B" of the basnala as signifying the word Bahā'.
`Alī ibn Ahmad (Muḥyī al-Dīn) al-Būnī (d. 632/ 1225 CE) A stunning, and for some Bahā'īs prophetic, occurrence of the word bahā' in a mystical text, is its use in the work Shams al-ma`ānī ("The Sun of Mystic Meaning") of `Alī ibn Ahmad al-Būnī (d.1225 CE) where some words about a Divine theophany associated with Acre in Palestine are commenting in connection with "the name Bahā' ("Glory/Splendour"). This passage has been cited and translated into Persian by `Abd al-Hamid Ishraq Khavari from the Istidlaliyya text entitled Dala'il al-`Irfan of the learned Baha'i apologist Hajji Mirza Haydar `Ali Isfahani (d. Acre 1921):از جمله شيخ بونی در فصل يازده كتاب شمس المعانی در ذيل شرح اسم بهاء ميفرمايد :... سوف يشرق الله اشراقا من الوجه البهی الابهی باسم البهاء فی اليوم المطلق و يدخل مرج عكا و يتحد علی من علی الارض كلّها
Much better known than al-Būnī's Shams al-ma`ānī is his Kitāb Shams al-ma`ārif wa laṭā'if al-awārif ("The Sun of Gnosis and the Subtleties of the ..") which exists in various recensions and has several times been printed. Another work of al-Būnī is his his quite lengthy (over 220pp) volume entitled Sharḥ al-jululūtiyya al-kubrā ("Commentary upon the Greatest Reverberating Soundl" [?]) which is printed in the volume Manba` uṣūl al-ḥikma' ("The Fountainhead of the Foundations of Wisdom"; pp. 91-322). This work includes many magic squares and talismans and much on a complex magico-occult level. This text incorporates several graphical and other forms of the Mightiest Name of God associated with Solomon and Imam `Ali (d. 40/661). At one point there is an incantatory text incorporating a "mighty mystery" (al-sirr al-`azīm). It takes the form of a rythmic poetical line in which the word بهاء occurs twice possibly with the meaning "Beauty-Majesty-Glory" causing the bewilderment or astonishment of the poeple. This text which a loose translated reads as follows: * وأبهتت كل العالمين ببهتت بهاء بهاء الهيبت الناس وأبهتت *
Exactly how بهاء بهاء is to be understood in this magical formula and the wider context is uncertain. One is reminded of Zulaykha's astonishmet at the stunning beauty of Joseph (cf. Q. 12: ADD). It is stated by al-Būnī that after knocking upon his gate or door the above line should be repeated three times by someone who desires to enter into the presence of a Ruling Sovereign (ḥākim). Similar incantatory formulas are given for other specified tasks or to actualize other ends. `Abu `Abd-Allah Muhammad Ibn al-'Arabī (d. 638/1240) , Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-`Arabī.The Great Shaykh, Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-`Arabī (1140-1240), in his magnum opus, the lengthy al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya ("Meccan Revelations (Openings") which was partially orally commented upon by Bahā’-Allāh during his two year sojourn in Sulaymāniyya (1854-56) (see GPB: 122), occasionally uses the word bahā' or a related derivative of the same Arabic root. In, for example, Futūḥāt chapter 65, on the `Gnosis of Paradise', there is reference to the appearance of God unto certain inmates of Paradise. In the course of a Divine colloquy, mention is made of such as are angelically clothed with or whose "faces" are radiant with, bahā' ("glory"), jamāl ("beauty") and nūr ("light"). ADD Mi`raj rooted references…
`Abd al-Qadir Jīlānī (d.1165 CE), In a lengthy prayer (salāt al-kubrā) contained in the volume entitled Fuyūḍāt al-Rabbānī ("Lordly Graces") ascribed to `Abd al-Qadir Jīlānī (d.1165 CE)the founder of the Qadirī Sufi order, the Prophet Muhammad is called al-nūr al-bahīyy ("the luminous or glorious light") (Jīlānī, Fuyūḍāt.. 148).al-Miqdād ibn `Abdu'llāh al-Ḥillī (d.826/1422-3), The word bahā' is furthermore, sometimes contained in numerous Islāmic theological, mystical and other literatures. al-Miqdād ibn `Abdu'llāh al-Ḥillī (d.826/1422-3), for example, in the course of discussing the impossibility of an anthropopathic Essence of Divinity -- God's having such emotions as joy and anguish -- in his Irshād al-ṭālibīn ilā nahj al-mustarshidīn ("The Guidance of Seekers unto the Path of Travellers") writes that the "Necessarily Existent" (wājib al-wujūd = God) by virtue of His being "the origin of every perfection and the cause of all bahā' ("glory") and jamāl ("beauty") has the perfection of perfections and the bahā' al-ajmal ("most beauteous glory")." Furthermore, "all bahā' ("glory"), jamāl ("beauty") perfection (kamāl) and rational good are God's, for He is the Beloved One and the One Adored... the Necessarily Existent is He Who is in the acme of kamāl ("perfection"), jamāl ("beauty" ).`Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (d.c. 832/1428) The Shī'ī te Sufi `Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (d.c. 832/1428) in the prolegomenon to his important al-Insān al-kāmil.. ("The Perfect Man..") refers to God as being clothed in both "glory and splendour" (al-majd wa'l-bahā) (see al-Insan vol. 1:4).Muhammad ibn Ḥusayn al-Āmilī = Bahā' al-Dīn al-Āmilī (b. Baalbeck c.1547, d. Isfāhān 1622 CE).
Perhaps the most famous Bahā' al-Dīn was the Safavid
theologian, mystagogue and man of letters, Bahā' al-Dīn Muhammad ibn
Ḥusayn al-Āmilī author of around 100 works including a
well-known anthology entitled Kashkūl ("Begging-Bowl"). A one time
Shaykh al-Islām of Isfāhān appointed by Shāh `Abbās the Great, he
adopted the takhalluṣ (pen-name) Shaykh Bahā'ī. [25]
Further miscellaneous examples of the use of the word Bahā' An example of a non-religious, geographical usage, it may be noted that the noun Bahá' indicates "one of the hamlets of the [minor] district of Shahriyār which is an administrative division of Tehran which one had a population of 194" (Dehkhoda, Lughat Námih, entry Bahá' (p.395 drawing upon a Persian Geographical Dictionary). The word Bahā' in early Shaykhism (al-Shaykhiyya): Treatises on the significance of the "Greatest Name" are also found in the writings of Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsā'ī (d. 1243/1826 CE) and Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī (1259/1843). Regarded as the two most important Muslim harbingers of the Bābī-Bahā'ī Faiths (see GPB:97) Bahā'is find statements propetic of the Babi and Bahā'i religions in their writings and here and there find allusions to the importance of the word bahā' or the person of Bahā'-Allah. The fountainhead of al-Shaykhiyya (Shaykhism), of the Shaykhi school of Shi`i Islam (see further below), Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsā'ī (d. 1826) is believed by Bahā'is to have alluded to the date of the advent of Bahā'Allah in a cryptic use of the qur'anic phrase "after a while" (ba`d al-hin). This in that the abjad numerical value of this (hin) is sixty-eight: H= 8 + Y= 10+ N = 60 totals 68 and after 68 is 69 which is seen as an an allusion to the year 1269 AH. This year corresponds to 1852-3 which is the year in which Bahā'-Allah received his prophetic call in the Siyah Chal ("Black Pit") dungeon in Tehran. In the writings of Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Ahsa'i (d. 1243/1826) TO BE ADDED In his Tafsīr sūrat al-tawhīd (Commentary on the Sūra of the Divine Unity) as noted above, Shaykh Ahmad quotes Imām Ja`far al-Ṣādiq in exposition of the letters of the basmala by the child Jesus. He adds an alternative explanation for its third letter "M" aside from the usual mulk (="Dominion"). It is again said to be something indicative of a radiant phenomenon like Bahā' (splendour) and sana' (Brillliance), namely majd (Radiance). al-Ahsa'i also continues to comment on the relationship between Bahā' and Ḍiyā' in the Light of the Logos-Self of God and the Genesis of Reality through the Divine Will:
Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti (d. 1259/1843) 19th centrury lithograph edition of the Sharḥ al-qaṣīda al-lāmiyya of `Abd al-Baqi Afandi [Mawsuli]...
Sharḥ al-qaṣīda al-lāmiyya `Abd al-Bāqī Effendi [Mawsuli] Sayyid Kāẓim is reckoned by Bahā'īs to have prophetically alluded to the mystery of the word bahā' in the opening cosmological sentence of his recondite commentary on a poem of `Abd al-Bāqī Afandī al-Mawsulī (d. 1278/1861), the Sharḥ al-qaṣīda al-lāmīya ("Commentary on the Ode Rhyming in the Letter "L")(cf. Lawson, "Remembrance", 43 fn.6.) The Shaykhi bibliographer and leader Kirmānī in his Fihrist (= No. 149 p. 293) states that the original, 16,000 verse mss. is lost but refers to the old lithograph printing which is presumably the very rare ([Tabriz] n. p., 1270/1853). Sayyid Kazim Rashti, in somewhat cryptic fashion, also mentions the "Point" -- which on one level indicates the essence of the hidden letter "B" (cf. the dot of the Arabic/Persian letter "B") -- is related to the letters "H" and "A". For Bahā'īs these letters, in conjunction, indicate or spell the proper noun and greatest name Bahā'. These opening words in the Qasida al-lamiyya have been referred to, for example, by Bahā’-Allāh in a Tablet to Mullā `Ali Bajistānī (see Mā'ida 8:139) This work commences (cf the scan above) as follows: Loosely translated the opening words might be loosely translated,
At a much later section of the Sharḥ al-qaṣīda (unpaginated) Sayyid Kāẓim, commenting on the exalted status of Mūsā al-Kāẓim (d.799, the seventh Imām) in connection with the divine "Light" mentioned in the Medinan Qur'ānic `Light Verse'(24:35), explains that this "Light" is (on one level) synonymous with the "Radiance" (al-ḍiyā') and the "Glory" (al-bahā). At one point he writes, "the Bahā' ("glory") is al-Diyā' ("Radiance")." In reality it is the "Primordial Light" and the "Greatest, Greatest Name" (al-ism al-a`ẓam al-a`ẓam) through which God created the "heavens and the earth" and whatsoever is therein.
Sayyid Kāẓim on some terms in the al-Khuṭba al-ṭutunjīya ("The Sermon of the Gulf").
Also worth noting here
is the fact that Sayyid Kāẓim, commenting on a phrase containing the
word "splendour" (Diyā') in al-Khuṭba al-ṭutunjīya ("The Sermon of the
Gulf"), attributed to Imām `Alī, identified it with bahā'
("radiant glory") and wrote, "it is the light of lights, the very Light
which illuminates the lights". This was alluded to in Jesus' words
related by Imām Ja`far al-Ṣādiq, "the "B" (bā') of `In the Name of God
the Merciful the Compassionate' (Bismi'llāh al-Ramān al-Rahīm) which is
Bahā’-Allāh (see above). This is the bahā', Sayyid Kāẓim adds, which is
mentioned in the opening line of the Shī`ī Dawn Prayer (cited above;
refer, Sayyid Kāẓim, Sharḥ
Some notes on later Shaykhi leaders and thinkers
Kirmānī, Ḥājjī Mīrzā Muhammad Karīm Khān. (d. 1288/ 1871)
This Treatise has been twice printed. Firstly in 1317/ 1899-1900 and secondly in 1351/1932-3. See Kirmānī, Fihirist p.367, No.323. Among those Muslims who wrote a commentary on this Dawn Prayer but remained both anti-Bābī/Bahā' ī, was the third head of the Kirmānī Shaykhis, Ḥājjī Mīrzā Muhammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī (d. 1288 AH/1871 CE). In his Arabic Treatise in Commentary upon the Dawn Prayer (written 1274 AH/1857 CE) he records the tradition that it contained the "Greatest Name". Karīm Khān equates bahā' in its opening line with the synonym ḥusn (= `beauty, excellence..') and goes on to explain that "the bahā' of God (bahā' Allāh) signifies the first of the tajalliyāt Allāh ("effulgences of God").. higher than which there is nothing else". It is the cause of the emergence of everything other than itself and is "the Essence of Essences". It was by virtue of it that all existence originated for "it is the station of the [first letter] "B" (Bā') of Bismi'llāh.." (Commentary,19). Though antagonistic to the person of Bahā’-Allāh, Karīm Khān regarded the Bahā' of God as the primordial cosmological Reality. He was aware of the exegetical traditions and of their linguistic and theological import, but reMa’idihined heedless and antagonistic towards the Bābī and Bahā'ī religions.
Kirmānī, Ḥājjī Zayn al-`Abidīn Khān Kirmānī, [5h Kirmani Shaykhi leader] (1276-1360/1859-1942). Sharḥ du`a al-ḥujub. Kirmān: al-Sa`āda, n.d.
Kirmānī, (Shaykh) Āqā Ḥajjī `Abu'l-Qāsim b. Zayn al-`Ābidīn Khān, [6th Kirmani Shaykhī leader] (1314-1389/1896-1969).
APPENDIX 1
Gold coin of Bahā' al-Dawlah, Būyid "king in Rayy". Here it may be noted that the word the word baha’ has occurred hundreds of times throughout the Islāmic centuries as a component of Islāmic honorific titles applied to eminent Muslims. Hundreds of Muslims have been designated "Bahā’ al-Dīn", the "glory/splendour of religion". [24] Bahā’ al-Dīn Walad of Balkh (d. 1230 CE), meaning "the splendour-glory of religion from Balkh" is the designation, for example, of the father of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207-1273 CE), famed author of the `Persian Qur'ān/ Bible', the Mathnawī. The founder of the Naqshbandiyyah Sufi order was Bahā’ al-Dīn Muhammad Naqshband (d.1391 CE ). Perhaps the most famous Bahā’ al-Dīn was the Safavid theologian, mathematician, Sufi mystagogue and man of letters, Bahā’ al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Ḥusayn al-Āmilī (b. Baalbeck c.1547, d. Isfāhān 1622 CE), author of around 100 works including a well-known anthology entitled Kashkūl ("Begging-Bowl"). A one time Shaykh al-Islām of Isfāhān appointed by Shāh `Abbās the Great, he adopted the pen-name (takhallus) Shaykh Bahā’ī. [25] There exists a Persian mathnawi mystical poem attributed to him which celebrates and highlights the mystery of the "greatest name". He, for example, has it that the "greatest name" is the Name, by virtue of a sunburst of which, Moses experienced the luminous Sinaitic theophany. By reciting it Jesus resurrected the dead. Indeed, it enshrines the "treasures of the Names" (kunāz-i-asmā') For details see Lambden at URL: http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/BIBLIOGRAPHY-HYP/15-SAFAVID/Shaykh%20Bahā'i.htm According to Ishrāq Khāvarī, Shaykh-i-Bahā'ī adopted this pen-name in the light of the traditions of the Imāms about the Greatest Name and the occurrence of the word Bahā in both the Dawn Prayer of Muhammad Bāqir (see above) and the Supplication of the Mother of David (Du`a-yi Umm Dawúd) -- in which the sixth Imām Ṣādiq said the Greatest Name was contained (see Ishrāq Khāvarī, Jannāt-i Na'īm 1:469; cf. Noghabai,149). A Chronological Listing of Select Persons accorded the title Bahā' al-Dīn in Islamic history. The following are a few examples of the many persons whose titles or names included the word bahā' in the form of the title Bahā' al-Dīn; some very well known others not so famous:. See also Tunukabūnī, Qisas al-'ulama' ed. 2004, p. 531. Da'irat al-ma`arif 13:62-63; Add [2] Bahā’ al-Dīn Karaki = Abu Bakht Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abu Be'r Kharaqi (Marvaze) (d. 533/1138-39). According to Pingree he "was born in a village named K¨araq near the city of Marv, where he apparently spent his professional life and where he died in 533/1138-39. His name is sometimes given as Abū Moḥammad `Abd-al-Jabbār b. `Abd-al-Jabbār b. Moḥammad; and he is sometimes identified with Bahā’-al-Dīn Abū Moḥammad K¨araqī, a philosopher and expert on the mathematical sciences of whom a biography is given by Bayhaqī (Wiedemann, pp. 72-73 [Aufsätze I, pp. 654-55]) " from D. Pingree EIr. art. ; See also Brockelmann, GAL Supp. I, (Leiden, 1937), X. [ 3] Bahā’ al-Dīn Muhammad Walad ibn Husayn ibn Ahmad Katib Balkhi (546-628 AH = 1151-1231 CE), father of the famous poet Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207-1273 CE). See art. H. Algar, EIr. ADD , "In his lifetime he was generally known as Bahā’-e Walad, and often referred to in addition by the title solṭān al-`ulamā’ (king of the scholars)".[ 4] Bahā' al-Dīn Zakariyyā, known as Bahā' al-Ḥaqq, ("the glory of the True One") a Suhrawardī saint (c.1182-3-1262 CE).[5] Malik Bahā' al-Dīn Tugrul (late12th-early 13th cent CE), Indian slave born architect associated with the Sultans of Delhi. See Abū 'Umar Minhaj al-Din 'Uthman ibn Siraj al-Din al-Awzjani, known as Minhaj-i Siraj, Tabaqāt-i Nāṣirī (Calcutta, 1864), pp. 144-46; H. G. Raverty's notes on Baha alDin Tughrul in his translation of the Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī (London, 1881), vol. 2, pp. 554-57; Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah, Tārfkh-i Firishata, vol. 1 (Lucknow, 1864), p. 59; Mehrdad and Natalie H. Shokoohy, The Architecture of Baha al-Din Tughrul in the Region of Bayana, Rajasthan' 1987 In Muqarnas IV: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture. Oleg Grabar (ed.). Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1987. http://archnet.org/library/documents/one-document.tcl?document_id=3589. [ 6] Bahā’ al-Dīn Juwaynī, Muhammad ibn Shams al-Din, the father of the 13th century CE. historian.[7] Bahā' al-Dīn Baghdādī or Baghdādakī = Muhammad ibn Mu`ayyad Baghdādī (Baghdādakī) Khwārazmī (d. after 688/1289). He was a "master of the art of Persian letter-writing (tarassol) in the 6th/12th century...from Baghdādak, a place in Khwārazm...His rise to fame began when he took charge of the dīvān-e enÞā' (chancellery) of the Kúarazmshah `Alā' al-Dīn TekeÞ b. Èl Arslān (r. 568/1172-596/1200). In the Haft eqlīm (I, p. 106) he is said to have also been the secretary of the next K¨úarazmÞah, Sultan Mohammad (596/1199-617/1220), but this is hard to verify" ( Z. Safar EIr. vol. ADD ). [8] Bahā' al-Dīn Zuhayr = Abu'l-Faḍl Muhammad al-Muhallabī al-Azdī, a celebrated courtier and official Arab poet of the Ayyūbids (581-616 AH = 1186-1258 CE). He is several times cited by Shaykh Baha'i in his Kashkul (e.g. ed. Beirut: al-A`lami,1420/1999, vol.3:32-3, 289-90).His Diwan has been published (Brockelmann, GAL I:307-8 +Supp. I:465-6; J. Rikabi art. in EI2 1:912-3). [ 9] Baha al-Dīn Aslam ( d. ADD/ADD), a Mamluk who rose to the rank of silahdar (sword bearer) in Cairo during the reign of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ( ). See Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. 1989. Islamic Architecture in Cairo. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Williams, Caroline. 2002. Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press: 93-94. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/silhdarmosque.htm[10] Bahā’ al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Muhammad Naqshband (718-791 AH = 1318-1391 CE ). The founder of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi order "Bahā' al-Dīn left behind no writings (with the possible exception of a litany named after him , Awrād-i Bahā'iyya)" (VII: 934). See art. Algar, EI2 VII: 93 -934; cf. idem, EI2 VII Nakshbandiyya, VII:934-939 and idem., EIr. `Bahā' al-Din Naqshband ADD. [10] Bahā' al-Dīn Yusuf Ibn Rafi Ibn Shaddad (d. ADDD / ADDD) author of a history of Salah al-Din (Saladdin). See H. A. R. Gibb, The Life of Saladin: From the Works of Imad ad-Din and Baha ad-Din. Clarendon Press, 1973. More recently published as `The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin' by Baha Al-Din Yusuf Ibn Rafi Ibn Shaddad and trans. Donald S. Richards. Ashgate Pub Ltd ,2001) ISBN-10: 0754601439. [11] Bahā' al-Dawlah, Muhammad Ḥusaynī Nūrbakshī (d.c.1507 CE) an outstanding physician of the Safavid era. He received the title Bahā' al-Dawlah from the then Shāh. [XX] Shaykh Bahā' al-Din al-`Āmilī ( ??) Tunukabūnī, Qisas al-'ulama' ed. 2004, pp. 267,317, 324, 351, 371-2, 380, 425, 603. [13] Bahā' al-Din al-`Āmilī = Shaykh Bahā'i = Muhammad ibn Ḥusayn al-Āmilī (b. Baalbeck c.1547, d. Isfāhān 1622 CE) (see above).See http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/BIBLIOGRAPHY-HYP/15-SAFAVID/Shaykh%20Baha'i.htm [XX] Bahā' al-Din Jubba`i (d. ADD/ADD). [ 14] Bahā' al-Din al-Nabāṭī son of `Ali Āmilī (d. Addd/Addd) See Aqa Buzurg Tehrani, Tabaqat 5:88.[15] Bahā' al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Hasan Isfahani, Fāḍil Hindī (1062-1134 AH =1652-1722). See Add ; Henry Corbin, 1976 [Anthologie des Philisophes Iraniens: XVIII] 29-33; Tunukabūnī, Qisas al-'ulama' ed. 2004, No. 74 pp. 404-416. [17] Bahā' al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Khwajah Shams al-Din Muhammad... Tunikabūnī, Qisas al-'ulama' ed. 2004, pp. 493-4. ____________________ On the origins and relationship of names including _____al-Dīn (i.e. Bahā’ al-Dīn) see J. Kramers, `Les noms musulmans composés avec Dîn', Acta Orientalia V (1926) 63-67. See further J. Kramers, `Les noms musulmans composés avec Dîn', Acta Orientalia V (1926) 63-67. See also Dehkhodā, Lughat-Nāmih, Bahā' al-Dawlih/ Bahā' al-Dīn..(397f); Bustani, Da'irat al-Ma`raf ADD HERE.See also Dehkhodā, Lughat Nāmih, Bahā’ al-Dawlih/ Bahā’ al-Dīn..(397f); Butrus al-Bustani, Da'irat al-Ma`arif, `Bahā'' vol. 5: 633-5.___________________
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS `Abd al-Bahā’, (`Abbas Effendi eldest son of Baha’-Allah) (d. 1921 CE).
Abrahams, Israel.
Albee Mathews, Loulie.
`Andalib Editorial Board of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahā'īs of Canada.
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Haykal al-dīn n.p. n.d.
Selections from the Writngs of
the Bāb. [=SWB] Haifa: Bahā’ī World Centre, 1976.
Bahā' Prayers
BSB =
Bosworth, C.E.,
al-Bursī, Rajab. (d. ).
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Corbin, Henri.
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Fananapazir, Khazeh & Lambden, S.
Garrida, Gertrude
INBMC.
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al-Kaf‘amī[al-‘Āmilī], ShaykhTaqī al-Dīn.
Lewisohn, L.
Majlisī, Muhammad Bāqir. (d. 1111/1699-70)
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H. M. Munje.
Anon
Noghabai,H. Bisharát-i-Kutub-i-Ásmání.. n.p.n.d. Nurbakhsh, Javad. Sufi Symbolism. Vol. 4, London/New York: Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications, 1990. al-Qummí, Shaykh `Abbas.
Ramsey, Arthur M.
Rahner, K. and Vorgrimler, H.
Rashtī, Sayyid Kāẓim (d.1259/1243).
Rúzbihán Baqlí.
Steingass, F.,
al-Ṭabarī , Abū Ja`far Muhamnmad ibn Jarīr (d. 923)
Tehranī, Shaykh Muhammad Muḥsin, (1293/1876-1380/1970) = Āqā Buzūrg ("Grandfather").
Universal House of Justice/Research Dept. (comp.).
Zaehner, R.C.
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