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"NO VEILING SAVE LIGHT" : SOME ASPECTS OF BĀBĪ-BAHĀ'Ī THEOLOGICAL AESTHETICS

Stephen Lambden (1996 rev. 2005-6)

THIS IS NOW UNDER REVISION AND CORRECTION

"His [God's] beauty (jamāl) hath no veiling (ḥijāb) save light (al-năr);

His Face (wajh) no covering (niqāb) save theophany [revelation] (al- ẓuhūr)." [1]

(cited, , Baha'-Allah, Seven Valleys, AQA 3:132; trans.39 [adapted])

Introduction : the theological-aesthetic background

Many aspects of Bābī-Bahā'ī theological aesthetics have a background in the history of religions; in Islamic and other pre-Bahā'ī philosophical, poetic and religious motifs, theologies and notions of "beauty". A basic introductory word about aesthetics will first be given here before a consideration of select relevant background materials.

0.1. Aesthetics

An immense amount of literature exists in the `field' of aesthetics (= lit. `perciptibles'; from the Greek aisthētikos = `perceptive') which originally meant relating to perception by the senses or, more generally, to the `sense of beauty' and `love of art', themselves born out of a sense of `good taste'). In the west the term "aesthetics" gained currency in the 18th century being coined by a certain Alexander Baumgarten (1714-1762) and modified and utilized by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804):

"Although aesthetics was initially tied to the notion of a science of sensory knowledge and taste, it soon came to be understood more broadly as theoretical reflection on matters pertaining to the arts, beauty, and whatever else attracts attention by virtue of formal, sensory and expressive qualities." (Brown, 1992: [NHCT] 17)

Theological-philosophical aesthetics has key roots in the speculations of ancient Greek philosophers. Plato (c. 429-347) in his dialogue the Symposium relates the ascent of the soul to the vision of the "Good" by means of the allure of the "Beautiful". For him "The Beautiful is the chief propaedeutic [preliminary aspect] to the Good, which is the Form of Forms, the end, also of the religious quest" (Enc. Rel. 1:40). Plotinus (205-270 CE), the founder of Neoplatonism, extended these ideas in his Enneads (`Nines') and influenced Jewish, Christian and Islamic mystical and other concepts of beauty. ADD

0.2. Bahā'ī Aesthetics

A Bahā'ī theological aesthetic of beauty might be regarded as the theology and mysticism of the divine Beauty about which much is divulged in Bābī-Bahā'ī scripture. It could be considered to have to do with theological and extra-theological concepts of "beauty"; not only as they pertain directly or indirectly to the divine, to God and His Messengers pictured in both masculine and feminine forms, but also to humankind. This could include aesthetically moving manifestations of human spirituality and art. Then there are the multifarious aspects of the beauty of God in the panorama of creation. Depending on one's definition, aesthetic ("beauty-related") factors may be said to pertain to numerous aspects of life and to many theological and human constructs in various academic and non-academic fields of thought. A vast multi-faceted aesthetic tradition and literature has existed for several millennia. Recently published by Oxford University Press is their noteworthy, massive1998 four volume Encyclopedia of Aesthetics which contains hundreds of articles and bibliographies, including, for example, a useful section `Islamic Aesthetics' (vol. 2: 537-541). The paragraphs to follow will only attempt to provide a preliminary survey of the thousands of relevant Abrahamic and Bābī-Bahā'ī scriptural and other materials of interest to out theme.

1.0 The background in Abrahamic religion

The Bābī-Bahā'ī theology of beauty has its background in the sacred scriptures, traditions and philosophies of past ages. It must suffice to briefly survey something of the myriad aspects of beauty registered in the Holy Books and writings of the Abrahamic religions -- primarily Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Weight in this paper will be given to the Islamic theological and mystical (Sufi) aesthetical tradition as background material. This is the backdrop out of which much Babi-Bahā' material developed and can be best understood.

The beauty of God and of such celestial beings as are traditionally held to surround Him exist in his "court" (e.g. the [Arch] angels) or (for one reason or another) inhabit Paradise, is celebrated in the sacred books (the Bible and the Qur'ān) and traditions of the Judaeo-Christian religions. Paradise itself is pictured as a beautiful place inhabited by beautiful angelic and other beings. It is also, of course, the case that the natural and supernatural world[s] of creation and their inhabitants are, in one way or another, reckoned the beautiful creations of the beautiful divine Architect.

Both masculine and feminine aspects of the divine Beauty are registered in past sacred writ. Diverse gender specific terms are used to denote the Divinity and notions of the Divine Beauty -- also reflected in various graphic/iconographic representations of the divine. Occurring, for example, some 2570 times in the Hebrew Bible, the first word for God therein is `Elohim the name of the "God" Who "in the beginning" created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). Grammatically this designation of "God" is a feminine plural though used with singular meaning. Why it occurs as a plural has not been satisfactorily explained according to a recent authoritative entry (by Ringgren) in the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (1:272). One possibility is that the plural form is an `intensification'(?; lit. emphatically "God"/"Goddesses") implying "totally God".

The Islamic equivalent of (the Hebrew) `El =` Eloah = `Elohim is the personal name for God Allāh which is singular in form though again grammatically feminine. In a recently published, al-Azhar approved, essay by Lella Badawi (summing up an Islamic perspective) it is stated that,

"The word for God in Arabic is Allāh, which has a grammatically feminine ending, although it is treated as grammatically masculine. The effect is to suggest a vision of God that transcends the masculine and feminine." (Badawi, 1994:84).

However the gender or genderlessness of God is expressed, He / She / It is considered in one way or another "beautiful" in a multitude of sacred and authoritative scriptural texts gleaned from major world religions be they Abrahamic or "Asian"/ non-Semitic.

For Bahā'īs the Essence God (the ultimate dhāt Allāh = dhāt al-dhāt) is transcendent; a `Wholly Other' neither male nor female. One cannot really predicate such gender specific pronouns as `He', `She' or even `It' to an ultimately sexless and Unfathomable Divinity. The vehicles through which communication with humankind is made possible, however, are human beings -- who are either women or men. These mediatory male or female persons have been considered concrete manifestations of the divine Beauty. So too the more ethereal, metaphorically described spiritual channels through which God communicates with His earthly representatives and with humankind -- such, for example, as the manifestations of the "Holy Spirit" and of the Angelic hosts. Prophet figures mirror an indirect or hypostatic Divine Beauty which cannot be directly experienced or conceived. From the Bahā'ī point of view the "Beauty" of the Ultimate Godhead can only be indirectly known and experienced.

The divine Beauty as the reality of Bahā'-Allāh is personified and pictured in Bābī-Bahā'ī scripture in images of both female and male beauty. Such personifications include the (Ar.) huriyya (= houri) "Maiden" and the fatā or ghulām (="Youth"). In certain Bahā'ī scriptural texts these images coalesce so as to suggest their being essentially synonymous metaphorical depictions of the Ultimate Divine "Logos-Self" (nafs), the Spiritual Reality of Bahā'-Allāh and other Manifestations of God. In Bābī-Bahā'ī scripture there is something of a transcendendental equality of gender-defined images of the Divine as well as suggestions of an ultimately super-androgenous Divinity.

1.0 Judaism & Christianity

The Hebrew Bible has a rich and diverse vocabulary of "beauty". Important are derivatives from the root Y-F[P]-H = "to be fair, beautiful", yāpeh ("beauty"; cf. Arabic wafā') which often indicates both male and female (human) beauty; including, for example, that of Sarah wife of Abraham (Genesis 12:11), Abishag the Shunammite (1 Kings 1:3f), Joseph son of Jacob (Genesis 39:6; see below), the young David (1 Sam. 16:12) and the lovers in the Song of Songs (see below and Henton Davies IDB 1:371-2; Ringgren, TDOT VI:218). Another key Hebrew root is P-`-R = "to beautify, glorify" from which derives the word Tiperet meaning (like the Arabic bahā') both "beauty" and radiant "glory" including that of God Himself (YHWH see 1 Chron 29:11 cf. Gikatilla, 1994:225). Within the Judaeo-Christian tradition there are numerous religious, mystical and philosophical writings that indicate the eternal and eschatological beauty of God.

Within Judaism the Deity is sometimes pictured anthropomorphically. He is a handsome man or humanoid clothed in beautiful garments; one who radiates a beauteous and majestic splendour; a radiant glory. According to Ezekiel 1:26 God had "the likeness as it were of a human form". One profoundly, divinely beautiful or handsome could thus be visioned by the enraptured mystic. For Ezekiel such a vision was that of the "Glory of the Lord" (Heb. kabod YHWH); "such was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of the Lord (kabod YHWH)".

Closely related to the Merkavah ("Chariot") vision[s] of Ezekiel (1 & 10, etc) are the various Hekhalot, the "Heavenly Palaces [Celestial Halls]") Jewish mystical literatures (early centuries CE ?); including the Hekhalot Rabbati ("the Greater Palaces") and the Hekhalot Zuṭarti ("the Lesser Palaces") as well as the third (III) or Hebrew Book of Enoch. Therein God is envisioned as a mighty King enthroned upon a "throne of glory" (Jer. 14:21, 17:12) with an appearance and countenance (panīm) of splendid, overwhelming beauty. In summing up the doctrine of God in these texts Schafar writes:

"First, God is overwhelmingly beautiful. This is valid for most of the Hekhalot texts and has flowed into the formula derived from Isaiah 33:17, that the Merkavah mystic desires "to behold the king in his beauty" (lir`ot et ha-melekh be-yofyo)." (Schafer 1992:16).

Illustrating this he cites the following lines from the Hekhalot Rabbati:

"Lovely countenance,

adorned countenance

countenance of beauty

countenance of flame[s]

is the countenance of the Lord, the God of Israel,

when he sits upon the throne of glory...

His beauty is more lovely

than the beauty of the gevurot ["powers"];

his embellishment is more exquisite

than the embellishment of the bridegroom and bride

in the house of their wedding." (Sect. 159 cited ibid, 16)

Present in the Merkavah Rabbah ( "the Great Chariot"; 2nd-5th cent. CE?) and developed in later texts is the ancient Jewish esoteric doctrine of (Heb.) the Shi`ur Qomah. This relates to the contemplation of the measurements-dimensions of the "form" or "body" of the Deity. It was an anthropomorphically oriented esoteric tradition; a branch of mysticism relating to cosmic proportions, the majestic and beautiful appearance and quasi-bodily "form" of God. Partly rooted in the Song of Solomon (see below) images and motifs of Divine beauty and majesty are central to it (see Scholem EJ 14:1417f)

Numerous (arch) angelic figures who represent or are manifestations of the Godhead within esoteric Judaism are possessed of divine traits expressive of "beauty" and "glory". According the Hebrew book of Enoch (III Enoch), for example, God, the Holy One, so glorified Meṭaṭron -- who for some is the celestial Enoch, the "Prince of the Countenance" and the "Great Glory" (Ziwā' Rabbā') -- that "There was no sort of splendour, brilliance, brightness or beauty in the luminaries of the world that he [God] failed to fix in me [Meṭaṭron = Enoch]" (9:4 trans. Alexander in Charlesworth, 1983:263). [2]

Possibly having ancient Mesepotamian roots (Weinfeld, 1996) is the classical kabbalistic ("received") Jewish mystical scheme or "Tree" of the ten Sephirot ("Countings", "Spheres"), the emanated divine Powers. The sixth [seventh] emanated power is Tipheret ("Beauty","Glory"; cf. Talmud ḥagigah fol. 12a). It occupies a central position in a largely `masculine', sometimes anthropomorphically conceived decad believed by pious Jewish mystagogues to have been important in the act[s] of creation and the divine manifestation. The tenth Sephirot known as Malchut ("Kingdom") conceived as the Shechinah (loosely, Divine "dwelling", "presence") has, in this connection, been considered the feminine aspect of the Deity.

The "beauty" (Heb. yāpeh) of both "lover" and "beloved" are celebrated in the Biblical Song of Songs (Heb. Shīr ha-shīrīm) -- traditionally though seldom today ascribed to King Solomon (10th cent. BCE?). This work was variously non-literally (e.g. mystically, allegorically, typologically) interpreted within Judaism and Christianity. Some representatives of the former religion understood it in terms of Israelite history or the relationship between "God" (= the Lover) and "Israel" (= the beloved") and derived from it such arcane mystical insights as are found in those Jewish texts representative of the Shi`ur Qomah tradition (see below; Scholem, 1960 [65]).

Within Christianity the Song of Songs has been interpreted of the "beauty" and relationship between Christ and the Church (+ the individual soul). This is exemplified in the (partly extant) commentary (dating from the early 240s CE) and homilies of the learned exegete Origen (185-254 CE). His primarily allegorical approach was variously developed in the patristic, medieval and later periods. e.g. by Gregory of Nyssa (d.c.395) and Gregory the Great (d. 605 CE) (see further Littedale, 1869:xxxiiff; Pope 1977 [83]:112ff).

The Canticles ("Song of Songs") have had a very significant place in the history of both Jewish and Christian mysticism. Rabbi Akiba (fl. mid-1st cent. CE), an influential figure in formative Rabbinic Judaism, had seen this work as of stunning magnitude; "for the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy, the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies" (Mishnah, Yadaim 3,5) In one way or another many Christian and Jewish commentators have confirmed this viewpoint. -- on one occasion `Abdu'l-Bahā mentioned its allegorical level of interpretation (000).

Motifs and traits of fair, fine or comely "beauty" figure prominently in the rich tapestry of the Songs of Songs. A complex work of unknown date and authorship[s], the Song has taxed exegetical ingenuity, furthered eisegetical contemplation and inspired mystical ecstasy. The import of the powerful female assertion of identity, for example, this beloved one's being very dark, swarthy or black (`radiant'? Heb. sh^e^ḥorah; Arab. sawd`) and [but?] fair, beautiful and "comely" (Heb. n'wah; Arab. jamīlat) (Song 1:5), has led to numerous different interpretations (see Pope 1977:307ff; Landy 1983:150ff; Falk, 1982:110-111). Well-known and somewhat clearer are the words of the male lover, "How beautiful [Heb. ypah; Arab. jamīlat] you are, my love, ah, how beautiful (Heb. ypah; Arab. jamīlat) your eyes like doves" echoed in the response of his female beloved, "How beautiful (Heb. ypeh; Arab. Jamāl) you are, my love, and how handsome! (Heb. na`īm Arab. ḥulw) [3] (1:16a trans Munro, 1995:22; see also Song 5:10ff 6:4, 7:7; etc) [4]

Lundy, in the insightful and perceptive volume Paradoxes of Paradise, has asserted that "Beauty in the Song is an all-pervasive quality, that one cannot separate from the love of the lovers, the world they inhabit, or the language in which the poem is written (Landy 1983:138; see further chapter 3 `Beauty and the Enigma' [137-179]).

The prophet Isaiah predicted that in eschatological times God himself would be made manifest bedecked with bahā' ("glory" [+ "beauty"]) and Jamāl (also "beauty"). "In that day shall the Lord of hosts (YHWH Sabaot = Arab. rabb al-junūd) be for a crown of glory (Heb. `ateret tzevi = Arab. iklīl jamāl), and for a diadem of beauty (Heb. tzepirat tifarah = Arab. tāj bahā'), unto the residue of his people." (Isa. 28:5).[5]

It will not be irrelevant to note at this point that this text is understood of the messiah in the Aramaic Isaiah Targum: "At that time the Anointed One (or Messiah) of the Lord of hosts shall be for a diadem of joy and for a crown of glory unto the residue of his people" (Stenning 1949:86-87).

As mentioned, Isaiah 33:17 contains the line "Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty (Heb. melek b^e-yafyo = Arab. al-malik bi-bahā'ihi; 33:17a). These words have been understood to refer to an expected messianic King. Hence the expository rendering of the Isaiah Targum, "The glory of the Shekinah of the everlasting king in his beauty shall thine eyes see..." (Stenning 1949:108-9). The promised Jewish messiah is to appear as a radiant and beautiful King - note the use of bahā' (= "beauty") in the (Eli Smith) Cornelius Van Dyck Arabic translation (1860s ->), a version cited by and beloved of `Abdu'l-Bahā.

It will not be out of place to note here that an Arabic version [6] of the opening few verses of Psalm 50 have been applied to Bahā'-Allāh by the Baha'i poet Mirza Muhammad Sidihi, Na'im (c. 1856- c. 19XX) in one of his Istidlaliyya ("Testimonia") writings (Haifa mss., 68). Bahā'u'llāh is viewed as the predicted manifestation of the (Arab.) kamāl al-Jamāl Allāh ("the perfection of the beauty of God") to appear from Zion (cf. Bahā'u'llāh's Lawḥ-i Karmīl ("Tablet of Carmel").

A theology of the "beauty" (Greek kalos, translates the Heb. yapeh in the LXX) of Jesus Christ is not much in evidence in the New Testament (cf. Heb. 1:3; Rev 1:16). Despite the influence of the Isaiah 53 understood to be a prophecy of Christ the "suffering servant" in whom is ".. no form nor comeliness...no beauty" (53:1), a concept of the beautiful Christ did surface among certain of the Church Fathers. This was partly due to the influence of various texts within the Greek Bible (LXX see Bertram, `kalos' TDNT III:553f). Important also was the messianic, Christologically oriented exegesis by Origen (d. 254 CE), Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236 CE), Gregory of Nyssa (d.395 CE) and many subsequent Christian writers of such passages within the Song of Songs as have been mentioned above (1:16;5:10-16).

Like other Fathers, the aforementioned Cappodician Gregory of Nyssa made many important philosophical-theological-aesthetical statements. He spoke of spiritual beauty and the unfathomable Archetypal Beauty of the Divine Beloved. A few relevant passages from his early treatise On Virginity must suffice to illustrate this;

So it is with the study of beauty. The man of imperfect intelligence, when he sees an object marked by external beauty, draws the inference that the object is also beautiful within because it happens to exercise a pleasurable attraction on his senses. He does not penetrate any deeper into the matter. But another person, whose mind's eye has been purified, when he sees such phenomena, despises them: they are merely the material on which the archetype of beauty operates. And he uses what he sees merely as a step towards the vision of that spiritual beauty whose communication is the ultimate reason why all other things are rightly called beautiful....

... For God is not dependent on anything for His beauty; His beauty is not limited to certain times or aspects; but He is beautiful by Himself, through Himself, and in Himself. He is eternal Beauty─not changing from one moment to the next─constantly the same beyond all change or alteration, increase or addition." (On Virginity, 46.364A..; trans. Musurillo, 1979:107,111).

Space forbids any consideration of countless other relevant writings with the pre- and post-Islamic Christian literatures.

Numerous Islamic sources have a bearing upon the myriad dimensions of general, philosophical, theological, poetical, mystical and other aspects of `ilm al-jamāl ("aesthetics"). Important expressions of the Islamic sense of `beauty' are found, for example, in Arabic and Persian poetry written in the ghazal form and touched upon in numerous Sufī theological, poetical and theosophical writings. According to Kahwaji "Islam enlarged the idea of beauty by inviting its adherents to contemplate universal beauty". From `Abbāsid times beauty was a "favourite subject of adab" (= "humanitas"). While Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d.1037) expressed the "sensory character of the beautiful" and distinguished "the act of the good and the useful", al-Ghazālī (d.505/1111) explained "the attraction of the beautiful by the pleasure which it gives and the repulsiveness of the ugliness by the pain which it causes" though "spiritual beauty perceived through reason is nobler than the beauty of images perceived through sight" (Iḥyā', IV, 296ff cited Kahwaji, EI²:1134f; see further below).

The word Jamāl ("beauty") occurs only once in the Qur'ān as a term descriptive not of beautiful human or supernatural beings, but of "cattle" (al-an`ām) "wherein is beauty" (fīhā jamāl) for such as "bring them home to rest and... drive the forth abroad to pasture" (trans, Arberry, Q. 16:6). As a Name or Attribute of God Jamāl ("Beauty") is not found in the Qur'ān. It is not (directly) listed as one of the ninety-nine "most beautiful Names" (al-asmā' al- ḥusnā) mentioned in the Qur'ān (7:180;17:110; 20:8; 59:24) and listed in various prophetic and other traditions (see Bihār ² 4:184ff;208f; Mishkat, 2:707-8; Robson, I:483-4).

Quite common in the Qur'ān are derivatives from another Arabic root ḥ -S-N including a verbal noun, ḥasan meaning `goodness', `fairness', `beauty' or `excellence' (see Kassis, 552f). From this root is derived the Arabic word ḥusn which may, among other things, signify "beauty" and various associated qualities such as "handsomeness, prettiness, loveliness, excellence, superiority, perfection" (Wehr, 1979:208). [7]

Beauty is also a key sense of the Arabic word bahā' -- for Bahā'īs the "Greatest Name" (al-ism al-a` ḥam) in its sense of "splendour" or radiant "glory" (for some details see Lambden, 1993 and 1997 [forthcoming]). Additionally there are, of course Persian words for "beauty" which -- apart from these Arabic [loan] words -- are used in Sufi theosophical and poetical writings. e.g. zīb (`ornament,' `elegance,' beauty) / zībā ("beautiful") zībā'ī ("Beauty", "Gracefulness") naghz ("Beauty", "Gracefulness"...; cf. Māzandarānī, AA 3:21; Nurbaksh, SS II:29f).

Despite its relative unimportance in the Qur'ān, there are important hadīth (traditions) in which concepts of Jamāl ("beauty") / jamīl ("beautiful") (and synonyms) are theologically and in other ways significant (see Wensinck, 1992 I-II:372f). A key utterance is the following statement of the Prophet Muḥammad recorded in the authoritative (Sunnī) compendium of hadīth, the ṣaḥīḥ ("sound") of (Abu'l- ḥusayn) Muslim (d. 261/875) -- as well as the Musnād of Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal (d.241/855) and the Sunan of Ibn Mājah (d. 273/886; see Wensinck, ibid I:373);

In his al-Futuḥāt al-makkiyya ("Meccan Intimation/ Openings/ Revelations]") Ibn al-`Arabī cites and refers to this ḥadīth as an ḥadīth thābit ("established hadīth" (II:114 = 73, Q.118). It became a key foundational text in the Islamic articulation of mystical theologies of Beauty.

Important in Sufism were various other traditions ascribed to the Arabian Prophet in which the divine Beauty figures including one in which the Prophet is reported to have said "I saw my Lord (rabbī) in the most beautiful of forms (aḥsan sūratin)" (cf. Ernst, 1996:104.fn. 54). There also exists an anthropomorphically inclined hadīth of considerable importance (yet somewhat questionable authenticity) which highlights the divine Beauty by likening the "form" of the Deity to, "a beardless youth [amrad], wearing a cloak of gold, upon his head a crown of gold, and upon his feet sandals of gold" (from Ikrima, cited Chittick, 1989:396 fn.3; see further Corbin, 1969[81]:272+376fn1). [9] Muhammad is, furthermore, said to have seen Gabriel in the form of the handsome contemporary Meccan Daḥyā al-Kalbī (Aḥmad, al-Musnad, II:107...) and visioned his Lord as a "handsome youth with cap awry (kaj-kulāh)" (000).

A prophetic tradition in which the word bahā' occurs with the sense of "Beauty" or "Glory" was cited by various Sufis; most notably by Rūzbihān Baqlī Shīrāzī (see below) who, at one point in his Mashrab al-arwāḥ states,

It is evident from various writings that Răzbuhān struggled "to conceptualize his overwhelming vision of the divine beauty in the theophany of the red rose." (Ernst, 1996:37).

In Islamic theology the divine Beauty is intimately associated with the divine Identity or Essence and with various divine Names and Attributes referred to in the Qur'ān and traditions. Both Sunnī and Shī`ī traditions reckon them to be ninety-nine in number and to be expressive of the al-asmā' al-ḥusnā' ("Most Beautiful Names") -- ḥusnā' is a feminine superlative form of the masculine al-a ḥ ḥan ("most beautiful"). It came about that Muslim mystics and thinkers, through their inner experiences [10] and theosophical reflections, divided the divine Attributes ( ṣifāt Allāh) into two basic categories; those of jalāl ("Majesty", "Power"... ) and those of Jamāl ("Beauty", "Kindness"...) expressing the dual aspects of the divine "Wrath"/ "Power" (qahr) and "Grace"/ "Benevolence" (lu ḥf) (see Ernst, 1996:44-45). Rooted in such juxtapositions of pairs of `opposite', polarised concepts -- in the widely attested syzygy of the divine attributes Jamāl ("Beauty...") and jalāl ("Majesty...") -- are many passages in Sufi literatures (cf. Laylī and Majnăn) as well as in diverse ethico-spiritual texts and mystical-theosophical passages within the writings of both the Bāb and -Bahā'u'llāh (see below).

Of central importance to a consideration of Bābī-Bahā'ī scriptural concepts of beauty is the occurrence of Jamāl ("Beauty") along with jalāl ("Majesty") and bahā' ("Radiant Beauty", "Splendour", "Glory") as divine Names/ Attributes in various Shī`ī hadīth. A key text is the Du`a al-sahar, a Shī`ī Dawn supplication for the month of Ramadan which exists in various versions or recensions -- one going back to the Twelver Imām Mu ḥammad al-Bāqir (d.c. 126/743 ?), the Du`a al-sahar ("Dawn Supplication") and another to Imām Ja`far al- ḥādiq (d.c.148/765?), the Du`a yawn mubāhila ("Prayer for the Day of Mutual Execration"; for trans. see Lambden, 1997b). A not inconsiderable number of the Bābī-Bahā'ī occurrences of the words Jamāl ("Beauty") and Bahā' ("Beauty", radiant "Splendour") as Divine Names / Attributes are rooted in this supplication[s]. The aesthetic cascade of the opening lines -- line [1] regarded by Bahā'u'llāh indicative of his person -- are most relevant:

at its most Splendid (abhā') for all Thy Splendour (bahā') is truly Resplendent (bahiyy);

I, verily, O my God! beseech Thee by the totality of Thy Glory (jalāl)." (see further, Lambden, 1997b [forthcoming]).

The significance of Jamāl ("Beauty") finds a place (among other Divine Attributes) alongside jalāl ("Majesty") and kamāl ("Perfection") in the important treatise al-Insān al-kāmil.. ("The Perfect Man.." see I.13) of `Abd al-Karīm ibn Ibrāhīm al-Jīlī (d.c. 832/1428). His treatment of Jamāl ("Beauty") opens as follows:

The Divine Names and Attributes are primary indications of the Jamāl Allāh ("Beauty of God"). In his Fawā'id the important Sunnī Ḥanbalite author Ibn Qayyīm al-Jawzīya (d.751/1350) considered God's beauty to be fourfold and to relate to the comprehension of His [1] Essence [dhāt]; [2] Attributes; [3] Names and [4] Acts. Love of the Divine Beauty expressed in the Names and Attributes of God is high in the hierarchy of the human appreciation of the Beautiful Divinity (see Bell, 1979:120f)

The concept exists in Islam of the eschatological, beatific vision of the Beauty of God (ru'yat Jamāl Allāh) -- though its manner or mode were much disputed. In the hereafter (the `world to come' al-ākhira) or in the new eschatological era in other words, the vision of God is sometimes pictured as a vision of Beauty. `Abd al-Qādir al-Jilānī (561/1166; eponymous founder of the Qadirī Sufi order) for example, wrote in his Sirr al-asrār ("The Secret of Secrets"):

No full survey of Sufī poetical and prose writings reflecting or dealing with "beauty" can possibly be attempted here. What follows is but a selective trajectory of notes bearing upon this theme.

In his al‑Maqṣad al‑asnā fī sharḥ ma`ānī asmā' Allāh al‑ ḥusnā ("The ninety‑nine beautiful names of God..") al‑Ghazālī comments at some length upon the Name of God al‑Jalīl ("the Majestic"; No. 42). It indicated God as "the one qualified by the attributes of majesty (jalāl)"; including "might (al-`izz), dominion (al-mulk), sanctification (al-taqdīs), knowledge (l-`ilm), wealth (al-ghanī)" and "power" (al-qudrat). God is thus One "absolutely majestic" (al-jalīl al-mu ḥṭlaq). His attribute "the Great" (al-kabīr) indicates "the perfection of essence" (kamāl al-dhāt) while "the Majestic" (al-jalīl) implies His "perfection of attributes (kamāl al- ṣifāt )" (see al-Ghazālī, 1986:126; 1992:112).

When, al-Ghazālī continues, "the attributes of majesty (ṣifāt val-jalāl) are related to the intellectual perception apprehending them, they are called beauty (jamāl), and the one qualified by them is called beautiful (jamīl)." (ibid).

The term `beautiful' (jamīl) was "posited initially for the external form apprehended by sight.." [11] then "later transferred to the interior form which is apprehended by insight, so that one could say: `good and beautiful comportment' or `beautiful disposition'-- and that is perceived by the insight rather than by sight .." (ibid.,112).

Al-Ghazālī continues to underscore the supremacy of the Divine Beauty. He reckons that God alone is absolutely beautiful:

"For the absolute and truly beautiful one (al-jamīl al- ḥaqq al-mu ḥlaq) is God alone may He be praised and exalted ‑‑ since all the beauty (jamāl)perfection (kamāl), splendour (bahā'), and attractiveness (ḥusn) in the world comes from the lights of His essence (anwār dhātihi) and the traces of His attributes (āthār ṣifātihi). There is no existing thing in the world except Him which has absolute perfection with no competitor, be it actual or potential. For that reason the one who knows Him or contemplates His beauty (jamāl) experiences such delight, happiness, pleasure and joy that he disdains the delight of paradise as well as the beauty of sensible forms. Indeed, there is no comparison between the beauty of external forms and the beauty of interior meaning apprehended by intellectual perception." (1986:127; 1992:113)

Having said this al-Ghazālī notes that he has clarified this matter in the Kitāb al-muḥabbat ("Book of Love") (XXXVI) in his Iḥyā `ulūm al-dīn ("The Revival of the Religious Sciences"; IV:36) and states

At this point it may be appropriate to underline the close relationship between expressions of spiritual love and beauty. The writings of the celebrated Persian love-mystic (al‑`ārif al‑`āshiq) and fountainhead of shaṭṭḥiyyāt ("ecstatic utterances"), Rūzbihān Baqlī Shīrāzī (d.1209) are seminal. Many of his Arabic and Persian works are intimately concerned with theological and mystical senses of beauty; the unfolding and experience of the pre-eternal Divine Beauty ( ḥusn-i azal) enshrined in all things. Related to Abū al-Ḥasan al-Daylamī's early treatise on mystical love and beauty, the `Alif al-alif al-ma'lūf.. ("[The Book of) the Inclination of the Tamed Alif.."; Takeshita, 1987), his celebrated Kitāb `abhar al‑`āshiqīn (= [Corbin) "Jasmin des fidčles d'amour") successively deals, with "theophany in beauty, the prophet of beauty, the prophetic sense of beauty" as well as "the pre‑eternal source of love" and "the esoteric tawhīd" (so Corbin, `Abhar al‑`āšeqīn' EIr. III:215). A passage from his Arabic treatise on 1,001 aḥwāl ("spiritual states") entitled Mashrab al-arwāḥ ("The Tavern of Souls") must suffice to illustrate the centrality that he, like many other Sufi mystics, gave to the enraptured soul's experience of the Beauty of God, the true Beloved One. "Beauty" ( ḥusn, jamāl) is an eternal attribute of God such that

"When God wishes to steal the heart of his devotee, he projects the lights of his beauty into the devotee's heart, and through His beauty pours the wine of `loving‑kindness' and `love' therein. Love is increased as the viewing of beauty is increased for `love' and `loving‑kindness' are closely related to the seeing of the Eternal Beauty." (Mashrab 132, trans. Nurbaksh SS II:30)

For Răzbihān the "beauty of God" is alluded to in the qur'ānic beatitude, "So blessed be God, the finest [`most beautiful'] of creators (aḥsan al-khāliqīn)" (Qur'ān 23:14). Aḥsan is the superlative of H-S-N from which Arabic root ḥusn = "beauty" is derived. The manifestation of the Divine Beauty in the sphere of creation is indicated. That the Prophet Muhammad had a vision of the Divine Beauty is, furthermore, indicated in the prophetic saying, "I saw my Lord in the most beautiful (aḥsan) of forms." Such a vision of God in the "raiment of beauty" is only possible when the devotee "becomes accepted by the Eternal Beauty" through sanctity and detachment from transitory things (hawādith). On attaining this vision a one may become "mirror of God's beauty in the world". The principle sources of beauty were those graced with the "pre‑eternal beauty (ḥusn azal), including such Prophet figures as Adam, Joseph, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. They were manifestations of the divine Beauty, the "finest demonstrations of God's Beauty in the world".

`Beauty' is one of the characteristics of love in the lover, which God reveals to him only at the end of his journey towards Him. As his journey becomes completed in love, he sees nothing praiseworthy except by virtue of God's beauty within it. This is why the lover prefers `virtuous beauty' (hosn) over all other forms of beauty in the realm of being" (Mashrab, 132, trans. Nurbaksh ibid). [13]

The Great Shaykh, Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-`Arabī in his Istillāḥāt al-Sufīyya ("Sufi Lexicon"; begun around 1218 CE) defined (spiritual) haybah ("Awe") as "the effect of the witnessing-visioning, the contemplation (mashāhidat) of the Majesty of God (jalāl Allāh) in the heart (fī al-qalb)." He clarifies this by stating that it may also arise through that Jamāl ("Beauty") which is the Beauty of the jalāl Allāh (Jamāl jalāl Allāh = "the Beauty of the Majesty of God"; text Rasā'il, 5 = Jurjānī, 287). The closely related Divine Jamāl ("Beauty") and jalāl ("Majesty") also feature in the definition of uns ("Intimacy"):

The subsequent definition of Jamāl ("Beauty") follows that of Jalāl ("Majesty"):

The close relationship between the Jalāl ("Majesty") and Jamāl ("Beauty") of God is more than evident in Ibn`Arabī's treatise on this very subject, his Kitāb al-jalāl wa'l-Jamāl ("The Book of Majesty and Beauty"; Rasā'il, 3-17) which -- after the basmalah and the statement, "In Him [God] is the Strength ( ḥawl) and the Power (quwwat)" -- begins,

"Praised be to God, the Mighty. Relative to being Manifest (li-ẓuhūr) His jalāl ("Majesty") is His Jamāl ("Beauty")".

For Ibn `Arabī it is the individual's intense Love of the Divine, Absolute "Beauty" which leads to the attainment of true tawḥīd ("Union [with God]"). Speaking of beauty and God in his al-Futūḥāt al Makkiyya ("Meccan Illuminations") the Great Shaykh states that "He [God] is beautiful, while beauty is intrinsically loveable; hence all the world loves God." It is the love of beauty which underlies the human love of God. Everyone has the capacity for this (see Ibn `Arabī, Futūḥāt, 114.8 trans. Chittick, Ibn `Arabī, 1988:97).

The Shī`īte Sufi `Abd al-Razzāq al-Kashānī in his Istilāḥāt al- Sufiyya ("Sufi Lexicon") under the letter "J" (Jīm) includes an entry Jamāl ("Beauty"; no. 56). His initial definition is that Jamāl ("Beauty") is "His [God's] theophany (`Self manifestation', tajallī) by means of His Face-Identity (bi-wajhihi) before [unto] His Ultimate Essence (li-dhātihi)." As a disclosure of His "Beauty" which is "Absolute" (al-mu ḥlaq) the Divine Majesty (jalāl) is evident. All in consequence experience His theophany (tajallī) as an expression of His Stunning Power (qahhāriyyatihi cf. above on Ibn `Arabī's definition of jamāl). His awesome Power is "the Sublimity" or "Loftiness of the [Divine] Beauty" (`ulūww al-jamāl). Kashānī quotes the poet and lexicographer Abū `Amr al-Shaybānī (d.c.213/828?)

For Kashānī these lines indicate that Jamāl ("Beauty") is essentially synonymous with, a veiled form of that majestic grandeur which is the divine jalāl ("Majesty","Splendour"). The theosophical extent of the interrelationship of this syzygy of divine attributes is brilliantly spelled out by al-Kashānī as follows:

The significance of Jamāl ("Beauty") also finds a place (among other Divine Attributes) alongside jalāl ("Majesty") and kamāl ("Perfection") -- three terms used to classify the Divine Names and Attributes (al-Jīlī, I:92) -- in the important treatise al-Insān al-kāmil.. ("The Perfect Man.." (see I.13) of `Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (832/1428). His treatment begins,

Other Divine Attributes are listed which are fundamental to or synonymous with Jamāl ("Beauty"); including, ra ḥmat ("Mercy"), `ilm ("Knowledge"), luṭf ("Delicacy","Kindness", "Grace"...), na`im ("Excellence, Comfort...") and jūd ("Bounty") etc. (I:89). al-Jīlī further invites his reader understand, to "Know .. that Jamāl ["Beauty"] is al- ḥaqq = the "True One", "Divine Reality", the "Truth"... . He also closely associates Jamāl ("Beauty") with jalāl ("Majesty"..).

3.6 Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Ṣadr al-Din Shirazi, Mullā Ṣadrā (d. 1050/1641)

In the fifth chapter of his Persian Partow Namih ("Book of Radiance") Mullā Ṣadrā has a fifth chapter entitled "On the Essence of the Necessary Being and Its Attributes" which developd a close association of jamal ("Beauty") with the wājib al-wujūd ("Necessary Being") or Godhead:

"Whoever becomes intimate with God becomes intimate with all beautiful things and handsome faces" (words of Dhū'l‑Nūn, cited Takeshita. 1987:129).

Anthropomorphic-theomorphic traditions about the Beauty of God as visioned by the Prophet Muhammad in human form have been cited above (2.2). They were especially influential in Persian and Indian Sufism from around the time of Fārid al-Dīn `Aṭṭār (d.618/1221; see ibid; Schimmel, 1978:290-291). Noteworthy is the fact that they led some Sufis to practise nazar ("envisioning"), "the contemplation of a beautiful young man, considered a witness (shāhid) to the beauty of God" (Malamud, 1996:99). In this respect one is reminded of the many testimonies to the handsome "beauty" of Joseph in Islamic mysticism (see below). Also worth recalling is the spiritually ecstatic adoration of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d.672/1273) for the mysterious Shams al-Dīn of Tabrīz (Per. Shams-i Tabrīzī; "The Sun of Tabrīz")While various anti-Sufi Muslim writers reckoned the celebration of an human tajallī ("theophany") of beauty to be tantamount to heretical ḥulūl ("anthropomorphic indwelling"), it yet became a tremendous force towards spirituality.

For such Sufis as Ahmad Ghazālī (520/1126), `Ayn al‑Qudāt al‑Hamadāni (d.525/1131) Ibn al `Arabī (d. 638/1240), Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Fakhr al-Dīn `Iraqī (d.c. 688/1289) Hāfiz Shīrāzī (d.791[2]/1389[90]) and Nūr al-Dīn `Abd al-Rahman Jāmī (d. 898/1492) being enraptured with any form of "beauty" in "real love" (`ishq-i haqīqī) is a ladder to the love of the Absolute Beauty. It was not infrequently considered that human beauty,

"is the most direct manifestation of Divine Beauty, for, according to the famous hadith, "God created man in his own image". The theomorphic nature of man is the metaphysical basis for the central role that human beauty plays in certain forms of spiritual contemplation.." (see Nasr `Preface' to `Iraqi, 1982:xiii).

It will be appropriate to illustrate aspects of this theme with a section from `Flash VII' *[14* of the Lamahāt ("Divine Flashes") of Fakhr al-Dīn `Iraqī;

But beauty and goodness alike are hidden behind the veils of intermediate causes, behind the faces of those we love. Majnun may gaze at Layla's beauty, but this Layla is only a mirror. Therefore the Prophet said, "Whoso has loved, remained chaste, kept the secret and died, dies a martyr." Majnun's contemplation of her loveliness is aimed at a beauty beside which all else is ugliness. He may not know that "God is beautiful" [Hadīth] ‑ but who else is worthy of possessing beauty?

And also, "God loves beauty,"[hadīth cntd/] for beauty by its very nature is made to be loved. God with Majnun's eye looks upon His own beauty in Layla, and through Majnun He loves Himself.

Let no censorious pen scratch out the name of a Majoun who views in the mirror of his loved one the Absolute Beauty Itself...

All that exists is the mirror of His Beauty; so everything is beautiful, and He loves everything. Or to be precise, He loves Himself. In fact, any lover you see loves only himself, for seeing but his own face in the mirror of his beloved, he must needs come to self‑amorousness The Prophet said, "The believer is the mirror of the believer"..."(`Iraqi, 1982:85-6). [15]*

A similar theomorphic, mystical aesthetic is presupposed in `Flash V' of the Lawā'ih ("Sparks of Inspiration") of the aforementioned Jāmī of Herat (d. 898/1492),

"The Absolutely Beautiful (jamīl `alī al-mutlāq = God) is the Fountainhead (`Lord') of Divine Majesty (dhū'l-jalāl) and Abounding Graces (al-ifdāl). Every beauty and perfection (jamāl va kamāl) manifested in the theatre of the various grades of [created] being is but a sign [`mark', `stamp'] of His Beauty (simat-i jamāl) and a token (`attribute',`mode') of His Perfection (sifat-i kamāl) reflected therein.." (trans. Whinfield+ Kazvīnī [1906] 1978:6f [adapted]).

While the patriarch Joseph is a human-angelic paradigm of male "beauty", the celestial houri ("maiden") is a superhuman-divine locus of female "beauty": ".. beautiful pictures.. He painted Joseph and fair-formed houris" (Rūmī, Mathnavī II:1237-8 trans. Nicholson, 1977:352). The following notes (4.1-2) will set the scene for a consideration of their role as archetypes of the divine Beautry in Bābī-Bahā'ī scripture.

Like the `immortal heroines' of ages past (Sarah, Asiyih, Mary, Fātima) Joseph is pictured as a pious patriarch of great handsomeness or beauty. This in both the Bible and the Qur'ān. Genesis 39:7 reads, "Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking (Heb. yefeh toar wi yefeh mareh)". These words were the subject of comment in many Rabbinic and later Jewish literatures. An example from antiquity is furnished within the Hellenistic Jewish romance, the Story of Joseph and Aseneth (1st Cent. CE?) where we at one point read "For who among men will give birth to such beauty and such great wisdom and virtue and power as (owned by) the all-beautiful Joseph?.." (13:14, trans. Burchard in OTP2:224). Not only Jews but Christians and Muslims have all made much of the motif of the handsome beauty of Joseph.

Following Gen 39:7 is the narrative of the attempt of Potiphar's wife's failed attempt to seduce Joseph; an episode which led to his being cast into prison (see Gen. 39:6ff). The somewhat unique qur'ānic version in which Potiphar's wife -- Zulaykhā in Islamic legend -- has her female associates (critical of her uncontrolled love and failed seduction of Joseph) experience the angelic nature of her unrequited Israelite love:

It was partly on the basis of Qur'ān 12:30ff Joseph is pictured as the paragon of handsome beauty in numerous Islamic Qisas al-anbīyā' ("Tales of the Prophets"), Sufi poetical and other literatures. The section about Joseph in the Ta'rīkh al‑rusul wa'l‑muluk ("The History of Messengers and Kings") of Abū Ja`far al-Ṭabarī (d.923) is introduced as follows: "Jacob's son Joseph had, like his mother [Rachael] more beauty than any other human being." (trans. Brinner, 1987:148). It reflects a prophetic tradition -- "Unto Joseph and his mother were given a half share [of all] beauty" (shatr al- ḥusn)" -- recorded along with other testimonies to the beauty of Joseph in the well-known Qisas al-anbyā' of Tha`labi (see Tha`labi, Qisas, 108).

A striking legendary example of the ethereal beauty of this Israelite patriarch is registered in al-Ghazālī's Ihyā `ulūm al-dīn ("Revival of Religious Sciences") where it is recorded that a certain `Abū Amr and Mu ḥammad ibn al-Ash`ath said that "The people of Egypt stayed without food for four months save for gazing upon the countenance of the righteous Joseph (wajh yūsuf)." Awed before the beauty (jamāl) of Joseph their hunger was dissipated. The qur'ānic story is here held to be even more marvellous than this in that it records that women cut off their hands on witnessing "the unparalleled (ahsan) beauty (jamāl) of Joseph" (al-Ghazalī, Ihyā IV:348).

Among numerous testimonies from Muslim saints and sages to the beauty of Joseph are those within the corpus of the poetical and prose writings of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d.672/1273). It must suffice to cite a hemistitch highlighting the beauty of God and making Joseph its worldly paragon:

An aspect of the handsome beauty of Jospeh is also related to his being a "youth" which is one of the senses of ghulām ("youth" cf.Q 15:53; 19:60, Kassis 467) and fatī ("page", "youth"). Ghulām occurs in Qur'ān 12:19 where the abandoned Joseph, cast into a well, is found by marauding Midianites one of whom exclaims, "Good news (Bushrā)!.. Here is a young man (ghulām)." Fatī is a word used several times of Joseph in Sura 12 of the Qur'ān (Q.12:30).*[17]*

As will be illustrated, these terms and Joseph-Beauty-Youth motifs are numerous within Bābī-Bahā'ī scripture where they are sometimes given new theological dimensions.

Houris (Ar. huriyya/hawrā' [pl. hūr ] trans. `maiden', `damsel'...) are the stunningly beautiful virgins who, according to the Qur'ān (44:54; 52:20; 55:72; 56:22/3), are the companions of the blessed in Paradise. *[18]* Taken literally Q. 52:20 has it that one of the delights of Paradise for the pious male is to be wed to "wide-eyed houris" (Q.52:20). It is recorded in Bukhārī and Muslim that Abū Huraira reported that the Prophet Muhammad said,

The numerous motifs associated with the beauty of the houri in the Qur'ān, hadīth and expository writings are foundational to the images of female beauty in Persian Sufi mystical poetry and other esoteric writings.

Numerous Muslim mystics have celebrated the Beauty of the divine Beloved by incorporating into their poems and treatises celebrations of the beauty of women. Not usually meant to be erotic in the sense of sexually stimulating such images serve as metaphorical, "spiritual" means of highlighting the attractiveness of the Divine Beauty. The Persian Sufi poet Hāfiz (d.c. 1389/90) expressed this well:

Though then, there exist both Islamic and Bahā'ī texts which play down or negate an undue focus upon female physical beauty (see Appendix one) many other scriptural texts (as indicated above, 4.0f) and related writings utilize images of female beauty as a means of highlighting the divine Beauty.

An interesting hadīth ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad recorded in the (Sunnī) collection of al-Nasā'ī (d.303/915). The Prophet speaks of three things beloved to him; "Three things have been made beloved to me in this world of yours: [1] women (al-nisā'), [2] perfume (`aroma', `fragrance'; tīb) and [3] prayer (salāt)" (al-Nasā'ī, Sunan XXXVI,1; Fusūs, [214] 325, trans. Austin, 1980:269).

This tradition is commented upon in detail by Ibn `Arabī (see above) in the last chapter of his Fusus al-hikam ("Bezels of Wisdom"). At one point he writes, ".. the Apostle loved women by reason [of the possibility of] perfect contemplation of the Reality [al-haqq] in them.." (Fusūs, 217, trans. Austin, 1980:275). Since God is unknowable, he argues, some "support" is necessary for the contemplation of God. The most fitting "image" for the contemplation of the divine/God is the female "image", the "woman." Ibn al-`Arabī himself certainly saw the divine in spiritually beautiful women.

In his Tarjumān al-ashwāq ("Interpreter of Yearning Loves") Ibn al-`Arabī celebrates the radiant physical and spiritual beauty of woman of Persian, Isfāhānī descent named Nizām and entitled `Ayn al-Shams wa'l-Bahā' ("The Essence of the Sun and the Radiant Beauty [Splendour]") whom he had met in Mecca around 598/1202 (Nicholson 1911/78:3). She was a preacher and an a woman given to asceticism. It was perhaps his encounter which her which inclined the Great Shaykh (Ibn `Arabī) to "perceive the divine through the medium of female beauty" (Schimmel, 1978:431). Such mystical respect and awe, such spiritual "love" for the divine, feminine "beauty" is far from any form of base carnality.

Motifs expressive of the feminine "beauty" of the Divine Beloved are frequent in (Persian) Sufī poetry and mysticism. The following are a few examples; *[19]* REWRITE AND REPLACE THIS

Such motifs of feminine beauty and charm are given diverse mystical-theosophical senses in Islamic literatures. Details cannot be spelled out here.

References to and images of beauty permeate Bābī and Bahā'ī scripture. This is partly due to the influence of Sufi vocabulary and concepts including the mystical aesthetics of `irfanī Sufism aspects of which have been outlined.

Unlike the Qur'ān, the word Jamāl ("Beauty") is quite common in the writings of the Bāb. Many occurrences are rooted in his creative interpretations and re-writings of the Shī`ī dawn supplication of Muḥammad Bāqir or Ja`far al- Ṣādiq (the Du`ā' al-sa ḥar and Du`ā' yawm al-mubāhala, see al-Qummī, Mafātīḥ, 228-9+351-355; Lambden, 1997 forthcoming and 2.3 above). Only a few examples can be given here.

The third bāb ("gate") of the 5th wāḥid ("unity") of the Persian Bayān (late 1847-1848) of the Bāb is "In Exposition of the Gnosis of the Years and the months" (Bayān-i farsī, 152-3). [21] The names of the months of the new (badī`) Bābī calendar are based upon the divine Names within the Shī`ī Dawn Prayer[s] and thus include an interesting use of Jamāl ("Beauty"). The first month is named Bahā' ([1] "Splendour", also "Beauty"), the second Jalāl ([2] "Glory", "Majesty") and the third Jamāl ("Beauty") (see Lambden 1996b). [22]

The names of the first two days of the week also echo the same supplication(s) and other theologically oriented writings. The first day, Saturday, is named Jalāl ("Glory") and the second, Sunday, is again named Jamāl ("Beauty") (see Zarandī, Bahá'í World XVIII:598-9).

The same Shī`ī prayer[s] probably lie behind certain of the preferred personal names suggested by the Bāb in Persian Bayān V:4 ("On the use of Personal Names"). He reckons that the best of personal names are those which are linked (in pre-genitive relationship) with the personal name of God (= Allāh) or the members of the "people of the cloak" (ahl al-kisā' = Muhammad, Fātima,`Alī, Ḥasan and Ḥusayn). The first examples given as personal names are [1] Bahā'-Allāh ("Splendour of God"); [2] Jalāl-Allāh ("Majesty of God") and [3] Jamāl-Allāh ("Beauty of God") again reflecting the aforementioned prayers.[23]

Towards the beginning of the Kitāb-i panj sha`n ("The Book of the Five Grades" 1266/1850 CE) communicated a few months before his martyrdom, there exists a messianic (partial) rewriting of the Shī`ī Dawn Prayer in which the Bāb counsels,

For Bahā'īs the Bābī messiah man yuzhiruhu'lláh ("Him Whom God shall make manifest") is Bahá'u'lláh. A section from another of the Bāb's messianic rewritings of the Du`a al-sahar ("Dawn Supplication") again accords Jamāl ("Beauty") to the promised one and reads,

Various basically untranslatable neologisms formed from the root J-M-L are found in the Bāb's writings. The VIIIth section of the Kitāb-i panj sha`n dedicated to the prominent Bābī Mullā Shaykh `Alī Turshizī (= al-`Azīm al-akbar) contains many examples. An inadequate rendering (with full, speculative transliteration omitted ) of the opening lines might be as follows;

"In the name of God, the Most Beautiful (al-ajmal), the Most Beautiful (al-ajmal)!

In the name of God, the `Beauty' (al-jamāl), the One possessed of Twofold Beauty (dhū'l-jamālayn).

In the name of God, the `Beauty' (al-jml), the One Possessed of Beauteousness (dhă'l-jumlā'?).

In God is God, the `Beauty' (al-jml), the One possessed of Twofold Beauty (dhū'l-jamālayn).

In the name of God, the `Beauty' (al-jml), the One Possessed of Beauteousness (dhă'l-jumlā'?).

In God is God the `Beauty' (al-jml), the One Possessed of Beauteousness (dhă'l-jumlā'?).

In God is God, the `Beauty' (al-jml), the One possessed of many Beauties (dhă'l-jmlāt).

In the name of God, the most Beautiful (al-ajmal), the Most Beautiful (al-ajmal).

[32] And belonging to God is the Beautiful (al-jamīl); the two aspects of the beauty of the heavens and of the earth and what lieth between them... [34] Unto God belongeth the rulership of the Sovereignty of the Beauty (jamāl) of the heavens and of the earth and what lieth between them. [35] And God is the Beauty (al-jamāl), the Beauty Dispensing (al-jāmil), the Beautiful (jamīl). [36] Say: God is the Most Beautiful (al-ajmal) far beyond all possessed of Beauteousness (or `Everything' dhă'l-ijmāl)..." (Panj sha`n, VIII/1:252).

This lengthy passages continues for many more verses incorporating derivatives of the root J-M-L.

Thou assuredly art the most Beautiful (al-ajmal) of those possessed of superlative beauty (al-ajmalayn)

for Thou art the One Who bestoweth Beauty (al-jamāl) upon whomsoever Thou willeth and conferrest Beauty (al-jamāl) upon whomsoever Thou desireth... Thou verily, art the Beauty (al-jamāl), the Beauty Dispensing (al-jāmil) and the One Beautiful (jamīl).

Thou art assuredly the dual Beauty of the heavens and of the earth and what lieth between them

for everything deriveth illumination from the splendour of Thy Beauty (diyā' jamālika).

Thou indeed art the twofold Beauty of all possessed of Beauty (jamālān al-jamālayn)

for Thou dost empower through the Tree of Affirmation (shajarat al-ithbāt) the very hearts of such as have believed in God and in His signs"

Examples of such theologically significant uses of Jamāl ("Beauty") in the massive corpus of the Bāb's Persian and Arabic writings could be greatly multiplied.

Various references to houris are found scattered throughout the writings of the Bāb. In the semi-legalistic 49th săra (on Q. 12:48) of his first major work (1260/mid 1844 CE), the fairly lengthy Arabic Qayyăm al-asmā' [= QA], the Bāb, echoing the rewards promised the righteous male in the Qur'ān (see 4.2) writes,

"O thou believers! Marry not unbelievers until they come to faith. And if thou art astonished at their beauty ( ḥusn) then know that God hath assuredly promised you greater than they in Paradise. So pray earnestly for the greatest Ridwān of God for God is He Who is Exalted, Mighty."

In the late Book of Names (Kitāb al-asmā'), drawing upon the Qur'ān (see Q. 56:22-23), the Bāb refers to "houris like hidden pearls" (INBMC 29:90).

For Bahā'īs the celestial persona of the beautiful heavenly Maiden has its most immediate and central roots in the writings of the Bāb. It was from the very dawn of his prophetic mission in the Surat al-huriyya ("Săra of the Maiden" sura XXIX) of his Sufi influenced Qayyūm al-asmā', that the Bāb pictures a celestial houri in images of great beauty. Speaking with the voice of God, he addresses the people of the earth and proclaims, "..I am the Maid of Heaven (al- ḥărīya) begotten by [the Spirit of] Bahá (al-bahā'; lit. "Splendour", "Beauty"; QA XXIX trans. SWB:54). Bahā'u'llāh applied this reference to himself in his Sărat al-Bayān and other writings and thus claimed to be a manifestation of the heavenly Maiden spoken about by the Bāb. The following words are also found in the same săra of the Qayyăm al-asmā',

"O Qurrat al-`Ayn [= the Bab]! Summon the Maid of Paradise (huriyya al-firdaws) bedecked in beautiful attire and veiled in the most comely of silk (al-harir al-ahsan). Then authorize her emergence from her Mansion (`palace; qasr) in the form of a Maiden (al-hura') unique upon the earth. And enable her to become aware of an aspect of the breezes of Thy sanctity (nafahat al-quds) about the couches of the Throne and Thy heavenly spheres (or `stars', al-aflak). This perchance the people of stupefaction (ahl al-sakr) among the inhabitants of the earth might be awakened to Thy Cause (amrika) through [sight of] but a strand of hair (ra'is al-sha`rat) which God hath assuredly located at the back of her tresses. And God is certainly aware of all things." (QA XXIX)

Here the Bāb seems to be called upon to authorize the beautiful and unique heavenly maiden (hurriya) to emerge from her celestial palace or mansion (qasr) and appear on earth. This to the end that drunken or negligent human beings might be awakened and transformed by the mere sight of but one of the hairs located at the back of her locks. The spiritual Cause the Maiden personifies -- the Bāb; emergent Bābism; the Bābī messiah ( for Bahā'īs = Bahā'-Allāh) -- is of such beauty that a mere intimation of it would suffice to resurrect the wayward. The Bāb only gradually unveiled the wonders and potentialities of his religion.

"O Qurrat al-`Ayn! Authorize the Maiden to divest herself of her garments and put on her robe in her house (bayt). At this did the inhabitants of heaven gasp stupefied at her braided tresses (sha`r al-malfufa) enwraped beneath her veil." (QA XXIX).

The Maiden is to put on a new garment in her own house. At the sight of her plaited locks heavenly beings were astonished. This may signify that a new religion or garment of faith is to be donned by a Maiden possessed of astonishing but veiled spiritual beauty possibly expressive of a new messenger of God (= the Bāb/ the Bābī messiah figure?). [24]

In a number of Shī`ī eschatological traditions Joseph is a "type" (prefigurement) of the expected messiah or Qā'im. Thus, in the Săra ḥ usayn (V on Q. 12:4f; cf. QA XXXII., XXXIV and XC) of the Qayyăm al-asmā' the Bāb, in his role as the "gate" (bāb) to the hidden Imām, equates Joseph with Imām ḥ usayn whose imminent eschatological "return" (raj`a) was expected. Subsequent to his transference to }dhirbayjān he claimed to be both the Mahdī-Qā'im and the Divine-Joseph (qayyum-yusuf abjad Joseph = Abjad Qayyūm ["Self-Subsisting"] = 156). Towards the end of his ministry, the Bāb furthermore, came to see Joseph as a "type" of the Bābī messiah man yu ḥhiruhu'llāh ("He whom God will make manifest"). Chronologically successive, typologically oriented interpretations of the Joseph story can thus be found in the Bāb's writings. Joseph is the Bāb himself as the imprisoned Qā'im and man yuzḥhiruhu'llāh the Bābī messiah figure -- in one sense of returned Imām Husayn -- "Jacob" being the Bābīs who long to attain his presence.

These various messiah figures identified with Joseph also became manifestations of his "youth" (fatā) and "beauty" (jamāl). Both the Bāb and the Bābī messiah ("Him Whom God will make manifest") become the beautiful Joseph-like "Youth" (ghulām/fatā). The Bāb often refers to himself in the Qayyăm al-asmā' as a fatā ("Youth") or al-fatā al-`Arabī ("Arabian Youth") -- so also Bahā'u'llāh in, for example, his Law ḥ-i mallā ḥ al-quds ("Tablet of the Holy Mariner") and Arabic Tablet of A ḥmad.

The Bāb's interpretation of Qur'ān 12:31 -- Joseph's appearance in angelic beauty at Zulaykhā's banquet (see 4.1) -- in Qayyăm al-asmā, XXXII is too complex to set down here. It must suffice to note that it (on one level) relates to God's bidding the messianic Dhikr (eschatological "Remembrance") appear unto creation with an infinitesimal amount of the "Beauty" (jamāl) of his Lord causing those witnessing it to greatly magnify him and attain detachment from limitations. In the following săra of the Qayyăm al-asmā' (XXXIII on Q.12:32) it is the ladies of the "city of oneness" (madinat al-wā ḥidīya) who cut their hands "in the way of the Bāb (fī sabīl al-bāb)."

It is in his late Kitāb al-Asmā' (c. 1849?) that the Bāb saw Joseph as a type of man yuzhiruhu'llāh whom he refers to as "all-glorious [most beautiful] Joseph" (yăsuf al-bahā'). [25] It should be noted at this point (see also below) that in many of his Tablets Bahā'u'llāh refers to the Bāb as the incarnation of jamāl, the divine Beauty. Thus, in the Law ḥ-i `Ayyăb ("Sura of Job", 1863) Bahā'u'llāh records that on one occasion Sayyid Ya ḥyā Darābī, Va ḥīd had announced the advent of the Bāb proclaiming, "... O people! The Jamāl ("Beauty") hath shone forth from the horizon of holiness.. Be not veiled from the Beauty of God (Jamāl Allāh)" (Mā'idih 4:297-8). [26]

Passages within the Bāb's writings in which Jamāl figures as well as references to the Beauty of Joseph and the divine Maiden are among the foundation stones of the Bahā'ī theological aesthetic.

6.0 Some titles of Bahā'-Allāh (1817-1892 CE) and aspects of theology of "Beauty".

"The Feast of the Birthday [of Bahā'u'llāh] hath come about and the Jamāl Allāh ("Beauty of God") hath mounted the heavenly Throne... This is the Dawn in which the Jamāl al-qidam ("Ancient Beauty") hath established himself upon the Throne of his Mighty Name.." (From two Tablets of Bahā'u'llāh printed in Ayyām-i ṭis`ah, 45, 50).

Both the parentally bestowed name, Ḥusayn and the title of the founder of the Bahā'ī Faith are indicative of "Beauty". From the Arabic root ḥ -S-N (see 2.1) is derived the words and personal names ḥ asan ("beautiful", "handsome", "lovely" etc) and ḥusayn, an Arabic diminutive form also signifying "beautiful", "elegant", etc. [27] That in the Kitāb-i īqān (see below) Bahā'u'llāh refers to Imam ḥ usayn as "that eternal Beauty (jamāl-i azalī), Ḥusayn, son of `Alī.." KI:130/107) is not far from being a paraphrase.

It will be recalled that the title adopted by Mīrzā ḥ usayn `Alī Nurī at the Bābī conference of Badasht (1848) -- Bahā'u'llāh -- can be understood to mean the "Beauty of God" as well as the radiant "Splendour" or "Glory of God". In one sense Bahā'u'llāh and Jamāl-Allāh are synonymous.

A highly selective focus on titles and motifs of beauty as found in Bahā'ī scripture will now be undertaken. Special attention will again be payed to the spiritual Reality (nafs, divine "Self") of Bahā'u'llāh pictured as the new Joseph-like "Youth" and the celestial Maiden. It will be seen that it is the case in certain of Bahā'u'llāh's mystical writings that the beauty of the male Joseph and of the female Maiden merge into each other. The persons -- the Bāb and Bahā'u'llāh -- or divine realities they symbolize are essentially one. From the 1860s (if not 1850s or earlier?) Bahā'u'llāh regarded himself as one with or the spiritual "return" of the "Beauty" of the Bāb.

It will hopefully become clear that the frequent attribution or association of Bahā'u'llāh with epithets and images of celestial, divine Beauty perhaps account for his being frequently referred to by his son and successor and by Bahā'īs generally as the (Persian) Jamāl-i Mubarak or "Blessed Beauty" -- `Abdu'l-Bahā' (d. 1921) opens the discourse upon his father contained in his Mufawā ḥt ("Some Answered Questions") by referring to him as Jamāl-i mubārak ("The Blessed Beauty") (refer Mufawādat = SAQ IX:27). [28]

In a very large number of his writings Bahā'u'llāh adopted titles which explicitly highlight his divine jamāl, ḥusn... "Beauty". A highly selective chronological survey must suffice to illustrate something of this theophanologically potent aesthetic material.

Q 6.1 Select motifs of beauty in writings of the Iran-Iraq Period (1852-1863 CE.)

It may first be noted that Bahā'u'llāh refers to himself as naghz-i ḥadīth, possibly "new Beauty", in the second hemistich of the ninth line of his earliest extant poem, the nineteen couplet Rashḥ-i `amā' ("The Sprinkling of the Divine Cloud" 1852/3 CE). In this exquisite Persian poem he is (among other things) the ḥal`at-i lāhătī ("Deified Countenance") and the ḥărī-yi hāhătī ("God-like Maiden"; line 14a) with beautiful vermilion or ruby lips (la`l-i bahā'; line 8b see Mā'idih IV:185) -- there are other features of the celestial houri also (see esp. lines 2,11,15). The few other early pre-Kurdistan writings including the Arabic Lawḥ-i kull al- ṭa`ām ("Tablet of all Food" c. 1270/1853-4 cf. Mā'idih IV:268, 276, see below) and the Sărat al-kifāya ("Sura of the Sufficiency; c. 1854??) do not directly highlight the "Beauty" of Bahā'u'llāh. Either the Bāb or Bahā'u'llāh are, however, alluded to in the Lawḥ-i kull al- ṭa`ām as the yūsuf al-Jamāl ("Beauteous Joseph") (Mā'idih IV:268) an essentially synonymous phrase being found in such later writings as the fourth of Bahā'u'llāh's Four Valleys:

From the Sulaymaniyya [Iraq] years (1854-1856) there are abundant references to and images-personifications of Beauty; especially in terms of the beautiful houri and youthful Joseph -- of importance in earlier Bābī scripture (see 5.1f). The figure of the houri ("Maiden") is particularly frequent in Bahā'ī scriptural texts of the Iraq period (1852/3-1863). [29]

The stunning "Light" (năr) of the "Beauty" ( ḥusn) of that Divine Maiden who seems to personify the divine "Reality" of Bahā'u'llāh himself is celebrated right at the beginning (line 2a) and throughout the text of the Arabic Qā ḥida`izz waqā'iyya ("Ode of the Dove" c. 1855/6; Mā'idih IV:197). It is implied in line 7b that her "Beauty" was so great that a mere glance from her sufficed to give solace to the very "eye [essence] of Beauty" (`ayn al-jamāl) itself (ibid 196). In his Persian commentary on this latter phrase Bahā'u'llāh himself interpreted "solace" in the sense of răshan ("illumination", ibid.). Such was the brilliance of her illuminating glance that it even made the "Eye of the Beauty of Reality" (chashm-i jamāl- ḥaqīqī) more resplendent. Bahā'u'llāh named certain of his post-Kurdistan Iraq Tablets after the female beings, the houris ("maidens") who figure prominently within them -- this is true of some post-Iraq (1863-92 CE) Tablets also e.g. the Law ḥ-i ru'yā ("Tablet of the Vision", 1873). Dating from the Iraq period are the ḥăr-i `ujāb ("The Wondrous Maiden" c.1858?), Law ḥ-i ḥ urīyya ("Tablet of the Maiden") and the Munājāt-i ḥ ăriyya ("Prayer of the Heavenly Maiden") Tablets. Houris also figure prominently in other Tablets of this period, including the Halih, Halih, Halih Yā' Bisharāt (Hallelujah... O Glad Tidings!") and the Law ḥ-i mallā ḥ al-quds ("Tablet of the Holy Mariner", 1863). Motifs and attributes of beauty inform the appearance and celestial domain of these symbolic beauties.

In the much-loved Haft-vādī ("Seven Valleys" c. 1858?) of Bahā'u'llāh as well as the Chahar vādī ("Four Valleys") Joseph imagery and motifs are present. Particularly relevant to this paper is the fact that in the Seven Valleys the goal of the seeker's quest for God is said to be "the beauty of the Friend [the Messenger of God]" (jamāl-i dust), the "beauty of the Loved One" (jamāl-i ma ḥbăb; SV in AQA III:96,99 trans. 5,7). In the "Valley of Love" (vādī-yi `ishq) the goal is also identified as "the Joseph of the Beauty of the Friend (yăsuf-i jamāl-i dust)." [30]

At various stages the mystic wayfarer may witness of "beauty of the friend" (jamāl-i dust) in everything or be "struck dumb with the beauty of the All Glorious" (Jamāl dhă'l-jalāl; ibid., AQA III:123-4 trans. 31-2).

Fatā ("Youth") occurs in the Kitāb-i īqān (see below) and other writings of the Iraq and later periods as a title of Bahā'u'llāh. In the "Book of Certitude" its author refers to himself as a fatā-i nāriyy ("flame-like Youth" ; KI:114/94).

The Bāb and secondarily Bahā'u'llāh as his "return" are both the ghulām ("Youth") in the Law ḥ-i Ghulām al-Khuld ("Tablet of the Youth of Paradise" c. 1863) of Bahā'u'llāh -- an Arabic Tablet with a Persian appendix in celebration of "what was disclosed in the year sixty" (= 1260 AH = 1844 CE), the time of the declaration of the Bāb (text in Ayyām-i tisa` 92-99). This work may be seen as an ecstatic poem in celebration of the Bāb's declaration incorporating a claim on the part of Bahā'u'llāh to be his spiritual "return" as the "Youth of Paradise" and Divine Maiden. It is especially in this Tablet that the Jamāl ("Beauty") of the Divine Maiden is also that of the celestial Youth who both seem to symbolize the spiritual Reality (nafs) of the Bāb and Bahā'u'llāh.

Partly rooted in the Joseph story the constant refrain (30+ times) in this Tablet begins, like Qur'ān 12:19b (see above), with the imperative exclamation Bushrā ("Good News!"). There is a celebration of both the Jamāl ("Beauty") of the "Maiden" as well as that of the paradisiacal houri-like "Youth". Though the beauteous Divine Self of Bahā'u'llāh is fundamentally beyond gender it is symbolically androgenous -- both male and female; "youth"and "houri"; both the Bāb and Bahā'u'llāh! The beautiful Youth comes to be pictured in the persona of a beautiful Maiden expressive of the spiritual oneness of the Bāb and Bahā'u'llāh.

The ghulām al-khuld ("Youth of Paradise") is also initially mentioned as a "Sanctified Youth" (ghălam al-quds) pictured in motifs associated with Moses. Like the face of Moses which was veiled on account of its radiant intensity so too was that of the "Youth". He appeared with a "mighty Name" and a "mighty" and "wondrous" (Bābī-Bahā'ī) Cause" wearing a "crown of beauty" (tāj al-jamāl) (cf. 1.0) upon his head which was a radiant "light" (isti ḥā') which illumined the denizens of the heavens and the earth. Like a heavenly maiden locks or "tresses of spirit" (ghadā'[ī]r al-ră ḥ) hung upon his shoulders -- locks like "the blackness of musk upon white, luminous pearls." (Ayyām, 92-3).

Upon the finger of the right hand of the "Youth" was an engraved pearl ring. The words engraved upon it are derived from the exclamation of the Egyptian ladies on gazing with Zulaykhā upon the angelic beauty of Joseph: "By God! this is naught but a noble angel! (malak al-karīm)" (see Qur'ān 12:31b). Upon his right cheek is a "mole" (khāl) understood to signify the "Point" (nuq ḥa = the Bāb + Bahā' locus of Prophethood) which is the source of all knowledge (ibid, 93).

The lines which follow focus upon the Jamāl ("Beauty") of the ghulām al-khuld ("Youth of Paradise"). He descended from the God encircling surādiq al-Jamāl ("pavilions of Beauty") appearing like the midmost heavenly sun, one "wondrous and incomparable in Beauty (jamāl)." In this light the refrain celebrates his coming with exceeding gladness for he was like the a heavenly "noonday Sun" shining "at the axis of beauty (jamāl)" bearing a "Mighty Name" (ism `a ḥīm). Following this the refrain exclaims, "Rejoice! This is the Beauty of the Unseen (Jamāl al-ghayb) come with a mighty spirit (ră ḥ `a ḥīm)." (ibid, 94).

Next are lines which hint at another parousia (line 13ff). The gates of heaven are opened again in celebration of the appearance of the ghulām al-khuld ("Youth of Paradise") with a "mighty name" (ism `a ḥīm) this time as the most luminous "Maiden of Beauty ( ḥuriyya al-jamāl)" probably symbolizing the Reality of Bahā'u'llāh for it is specifically stated in the refrain,

"Rejoice! This is the Maiden of Bahā' ( ḥuriyya al-bahā') come with mighty Beauty (Jamāl `a ḥīm)" (ibid). The messianic secret is that the ghulām al-khuld ("Youth of Paradise" = the Bāb) has been transfigured into the stunningly beautiful ḥuriyya al-khuld ("Maiden of Paradise"): "Rejoice! This is the Maiden of Paradise ( ḥuriyya al-khuld) .. Rejoice! This is the Beauty of Paradise (Jamāl al-khuld)..." (= Bahā'u'llāh; Ayyām, 94). The imagery in which maiden is subsequently portrayed reflects statements of the Bāb in the Sărat al- ḥuriyya (XXIX) of the Qayyăm al-asmā' (see 5.1). Some key references to Jamāl ("Beauty") are also found in the Persian section of this Tablet (Ayyām, 97-99). At one point Bābīs or other persons addressed are referred to as "enraptured lovers of the Beauty of the Source of Beauty (`āshiqān-i Jamāl dhu'l-Jamāl = Bahā'u'llāh? ibid, 98).

The Hidden Words (Per. Kalimāt-i maknănih c. 1858 CE) provide evidence of the multi-faceted implications and central importance of a Bahā'ī theological aesthetic. Note firstly the use of the phrase "revealed to thee [human beings] My [God's] beauty (jamāl)" in the 3rd of the Arabic Hidden Words,

Echoing Genesis 1:6a this Hidden Word has protological implications. Arabic Hidden Word 36 has eschatological implications. God revealed His Jamāl ("beauty") to his creatures "in the beginning" and man must be spiritually blissful in order to be worthy of the beatific vision, the liqā'-Allāh, the "encounter with God" through His manifestation in eschatological times:

A cursory consideration of the theological aesthetics of the Hidden Words suggests that Jamāl as the divine "beauty" was a pivotal reality in human beginnings. It should likewise be central to the goal of human life; the attaining of the "Presence of God" -- for Bahā'īs coming to the Blessed Beauty (Bahā'u'llāh) and experiencing true faith. The theological implications of Jamāl ("beauty") form part of the alpha and the omega of the human purpose.

The influence of the juxtaposition of Jalāl ("Majesty") and Jamāl ("Beauty") in the writings of Bahā'u'llāh is furthermore, well evidenced, in the Hidden Words. In, for example, the 22nd Persian Hidden word;

Possibly alluding to himself or to the Bāb, Bahā'u'llāh, in Persian Hidden Word 46, states that, "... The essence of beauty (sirf-i jamāl) is within the peerless pavilion, set upon the throne of glory (`arsh-i jalāl).." (MAM:387).

The Kitāb-i ¦qan ("Book of Certitude" c. 1862) contains quite a number of theologically significant uses of Jamāl ("Beauty") including a reference to Muhammad as jamāl-i sulḥān-i jalāl

("the Beauty of the King of Glory [Sovereign of Majesty]" (KI:21/ [trans.] 18). He is jamāl-i Mu ḥammadī, the Mu ḥammadan Beauty ("Beauty of Muhammad"; KI:105/87), Jamāl bī-mithāl ("the peerless Beauty" KI:115/95), jamāl-i azalī ("immortal Beauty") and jamāl-i ilāhī ("divine Beauty, KI: 126/104). Jesus (KI:15/17), Muhammad (KI: 86/74; 126/104), Imam Ḥusayn (KI:130/107) and the Bāb (KI:147/179; 182/149) are all accorded the title jamāl-i azalī, the eternal, peerless or "immoral Beauty". The Bāb is likewise referred to as the jamāl-i ilāhī, the Divine Beauty or "Beauty of God" (KI:196/161 cf. 197/162). One reference to jamāl-i qudsī, the sanctified or "blessed Beauty" may allude to the Bāb or to Bahā'u'llāh himself as a leading Bābī and future Bābī messiah man yu ḥhiruhu'llāh ("Him Whom God will make manifest"; KI:158/192).

The Jamāl ("Beauty") of the Manifestations of God is a result of the Jamāl ("Beauty") of God Himself (KI:75/65; jamāl- ḥaqq 166/137; cf. 120/145)). They are maẓḥāhir jamāl-i ū ("Manifestations of His Beauty" KI:130/107). From their Jamāl ("Beauty") does the Jamāl Allāh ("Beauty of God") become evident (KI:114/138 cf. 140/116).

Among the theologically significant references to Jamāl ("beauty") in the later Iraq Tablets is the allusion to the theophanic claim of Bahā'u'llāh in the Law ḥ-i mallā ḥ al-quds ("Tablet of the Holy Mariner") where mention is made of the new Sinaitic "theophany of God" (tajallī Allāh) through the "Flame of His Beauty" (bi-nār al-jamāl = Bahā'u'llāh) in the "Lote-Tree of Eternity", "Deathless Tree" (sidrat al-baqā' ;see Mā'idih 4:230; Bahā'ī Prayers, 52).

6. 2 Beauty in select writings of the Edirne [Adrianople] Period (1863-1868 CE.)

Attention here will be focused upon a key aspect of the claims of Bahā'u'llāh of this period; to be a new manifestation of the Bāb as the primal and stunning Jamāl Allāh ("Beauty of God"). Dating to the mid. Adrianople period is the well-known Arabic Tablet of Aḥmad (c. 1865 CE) addressed to a Bābī from Yazd. Intimating his theophanic claim Bahā'u'llāh refers to himself as "this Beauty" (jamāl) rejection of whom is tantamount to rejection of all past Messengers of God (TT:218;trans. Bahā'ī Prayers, 49).[32]

Probably addressed to Ismu'llāh al-A ḥdaq (d. c.18XX?) a little later than the circulation of the Arabic Tablet of A ḥmad, the Sărat al-ism ("The Sura of the Name") contains a bold assertion of Bahā'u'llāh's being the "return" of the Bāb,

Many similar statements are made in writings of the early-mid Adrianople period. In the Sūrat al-qamṣ ("Săra of the Robe" c. 1865?), for example, Bahá'u'lláh dwells on the stunning results of his Siniatic type theophany. He speaks of his advent as a theophany of the Jamāl Allh ("Beauty of God") before which all souls in the dominion of God were thunderstruck, fell into a swoon. Allusion is made to Qur'ān 7:143 and to Qayyūm al‑asmā săra XXVIII,

"Say: By God! The Primal Beauty ( al‑úlá = the Bāb) hath once again been made manifest and hath shed the glory of but an infinitesimal glimmer of a light (nūr) of the lights of His Face upon such as inhabit the heavens and the earth. And, lo, before this effulgent and transcendent Beauty (al‑jamál; Bahā'u'llāh) the inhabitants of the Mount (al‑ ṭūriyyūn) swooned away upon the Elevated Mount (al‑ṭūr) after We had announced this Cause unto them in mighty, preserved Tablets. So recite thou all that which hath been revealed by Our Primal Beauty [the Báb] in the Qayyăm al‑asmā' [Sura 28] that thou mayest comprehend the secret of the Cause regarding this Mystery which was veiled behind many mysteries." (AQA 4:50 see Lambden, Sinaitic Mysteries.. I3I)

At yet another point in the Sura of the Robe, Bahā'u'llāh bids the Bābīs "purify the mirrors of thine hearts" that the theophany of the lights of his Beauty (al‑jamál = Bahā'u'llāh) may be realized, for (cf. Moses on Sinai) many Bābīs have unresponsively swooned away before the theophany of Bahā'u'llāh (see Qur'ān 7:143):

"Say: By God! The inhabitants of the Mount (al‑tăriyyăn = Bābīs) have fallen into a swoon on the Sinai of the Cause. The denizens of the heavenly Kingdom (al‑`amā'iyyăn) have taken flight before this Divine Lion [cf. Qur'an 74:51]...." (AQA 4:56 see Lambden, Sinaitic Mysteries.. I32)

Perhaps dating from this period is the so-called "Tablet of My Hair" (see Sinaitic Mysteries, 128-9+172-3fn.178) wherein Bahā'u'llāh as a celestial Beauty likens his "Hair" ("locks", "ringlets"; sha`ra cf. zulf) his divine Attributes, to bright Sinaitic flames which express the theophany of his Beauty and Divinity. One section opens,

Other significant references to the "Beauty" of Bahā'u'llāh are contained in this proclaimatory Tablet.

Among the titles contained in many Tablets of this (and the earlier) period is Jamāl al-qidam ("The Ancient Beauty"). It is an epithet consonant with the belief that as a Divine Beauty Bahā'u'llāh is pre-existent; has existed for all eternity. [33] In the `Tablets to the Kings' and elsewhere, for example, Bahā'u'llāh claims to be this Jamāl al-qidam ("Ancient Beauty"). In the Tablet to Pope Pius IX (c. 1869) he proclaims "The Ancient Beauty (Jamāl al-qidam) hath come in his most great Name (bi-ismihi al-a`ẓam).." (AQAK:85). Among the thousands of other references to the title Jamāl al-qidam (Per. jamāl-i qidam) -- translated by Shoghi Effendi as "The Ancient Beauty" -- is the following line from a Tablet to Mu ḥammad Ridā';

The Kitāb-i aqdas (c. 1873 CE) is the semi-legalistic "Most Holy Book" of the Bahā'ī community. It intimates the central ethical importance of love and beauty for the Bahā'ī life in the following words:

In para 68 dealing with divorce and remarriage there is something of a juxtaposition of Jamāl and jalāl as well as reference to Bahā'u'llāh as the ma ḥla` al-Jamāl ("Dawning-place of Beauty"), "Thus hath the decree been inscribed in a glorious Tablet (fī law ḥ al-jalāl bi'l-ijlāl = Aqdas) by Him [Bahā'u'llāh] Who is the Dawning-place of Beauty (ma ḥla` al-jamāl)" (Ar.65 trans. 44).

For the mystics "Beauty" ( ḥusn, jamāl) applies pre-eminently to God from whom all true spiritual, ever-enrapturing Beauty originates. As the manifestation of Divinity Bahā'u'llāh claimed to be the fountainhead of mystic Beauty. He counselled his followers to relate to this Beauty and to experience its magnitude in his person and in his writings. The Beauty of God should also, he counselled in the Hidden Words and elsewhere, be as experienced in the peoples of the world. This without distinction of appearance, personality, status, ethnicity, religion or anything else. It is in the Hidden Words that Bahā'u'llāh calls Bahā'īs to selflessness by a kind of "envisioning" (na ḥar) of his beautiful "Face" in all humankind: "for his face is My face" (HWA 30).

The Divine spiritual Beauty is ever-renewed and ever-renewing; ever-captivating. Bahā'u'llāh, the radiant Beauty or Glory of God claimed to be both the eternal and pre-existent jamāl-i qidam ("Ancient Beauty") who has been manifested in these eschatological times. Coming to faith in him is, from the Bahā'ī perspective is the experience of the beatific vision, the interior theophany of the Divine Beauty.

As has been illustrated Bahā'u'llāh appears as a stunningly beautiful female houri ( ḥuriyya) "Maiden" and an angelic Joseph in quite a number of Bābī-Bahā'ī scriptural Tablets of the Iraq and later periods. These images are often transcendentalized personifications of the Divine "Self" of Bahā'u'llāh. As is well- known the contemplation of the beauty of these images can be spiritually uplifting.

The appreciation of the multifarious modes of inner and outer beauty is an important path to spirituality. The Bahā'ī scriptures imply that the "Face" (wajh) of the jamāl-i mubārak ("Blessed Beauty") can be visioned in all things. The allure of the divine Beauty in the "horizons" of sacred Scripture and in the "selves" of humanity can be considered a path to spiritual renewal, transformation and fulfilment.

Bahā'ī sacred scripture is profound and beautiful. Its multi-faceted meanings are a kaleidoscope of spiritual beauty. Contemplation of it can be an experience of the Divine Beauty; an experience of the beauty of Bahā'u'llāh who is both the radiant "Glory of God" the stunning "Beauty of God". His "Beauty" is His Word which is the "Beauty of God". The "houris" ("maidens") of the inner meaning of the Bahā'ī sacred scripture are the spiritual brides of the enraptured soul. The love of the beauty of the Divine Word is an experience of the love of God.

It has been mentioned above (p.00) there exist Islamic and Bābī-Bahā'ī scriptural texts which play down or negate the importance of female physical beauty in the light of its being a distraction from the spiritually pure, primary and absolute beauty of God.

Various prophetic hadīth advise against giving to great a weight to female beauty. A prophetic hadīth related on the authority of (Sunnī) the traditionalists Bukharī and Muslim, for example, indicates that outer female beauty should not be uppermost in the mind of the male who seeks a marriage partner. The Arabian Prophet said that "A woman may be married for four reasons, [1] for her property, [2] her rank, [3] her beauty and [4] her religion". The advice is then given, "so get the one who is religious and prosper" (Tabrīzī, Mishkat ???? trans. Robson, I:658).

Bābī-Bahā'ī celestial maiden imagery not meant to be erotic though the imagery sometimes has an erotic background in Sufi poetry and Islamic theosophy. The Islamic depiction of the houris (huriyya; "Maids") of Paradise has distinctly erotic aspects but is understood as being spiritually evocative by numerous poets and mystics.

In his Lawḥ-i Saḥāb ("Tablet of the Cloud") -- partly trans. by SE in GWB (cf. AA 1:152-3) Bahā'u'llāh distances himself from lustful souls who might be seduced by outer female "beauty" or attractiveness. He describes the nature of the true "people of Bahā'"

[1] Arabic = lā li-jamālihi hijāb suwa al-năr wa lā li-wajhihi niqāb ilā ḥ uhăr. There are a number of Islamic traditions which echo these words. In various ways God is pictured as surrounded or `veiled' by a myriad stunningly bright lights. A well-known prophetic tradition -- existing in various versions -- reckons there to be 7 or 70 thousand veils of "light" and "darkness" surrounding the Deity: "God has seventy [or, 70,000] veils of light and darkness; were they to be removed, the Glories of His Face would burn away everything perceived by the sight of the creatures." (trans. Chittick, 1989:401.fn.19). In his Futuḥ ḥāt al-Makkiyya and elsewhere Ibn `Arabī summarily cites a prophetic tradition which reads, "His veil is Light" ( ḥijābihi al-năr)" (Futu ḥāt, III:369 cf. ibid).

[2] Sometimes known as the archangel Yaho'el (loosely "the Deity of God") and the "lesser YHWH"

[3] The Authorized version reads, "Behold, thou art fair ("beautiful") my love; behold, thou art fair ("beautiful"); thou hast dove's eyes" (1:15); "Behold, thou art fair ("beautiful") my beloved, yea pleasant..".

[4] In the Authorized version, "My beloved is all radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand. His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven... (5:10f)

"Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem," (6:4).

[5] Bahā'ī apologists -- Mīrzā Nā'im Isfahānī (?) -- may have applied (an Arabic version) of this text to the theophany of Bahā'u'llāh who appeared wearing a tāj ("dervish headdress") as one adorned with a tāj bahā' ("a crown of beauty").

[6] The Hebrew (poetical) syntax indicates that it is the beauty of Zion that is referred to here Hence, for example, the Authorized (King James) version, "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."

[7] From the same Arabic root come the words/ personal names ḥasan ("beautiful", "handsome", "lovely" etc) and ḥusayn (its diminutive form; also = "beautiful", "elegant"... ) the names of the second and third Twelver Imāms as well as that of Mīrzā ḥ usayn `Alī Nărī, Bahā'u'llāh and many other persons (e.g. Mullā ḥ usayn).

[8] Arabic innā Allāhu ta`ālī jamīlun yu ḥibbu'l-jamāla. The context of this Prophetic hadīt ḥ is "..When God's Messenger said, "He in whose heart there is as much as a grain of pride will not enter paradise," a man remarked, "A man likes his garment to be beautiful and his sandals to be beautiful." He [Muh ḥammad] replied, "God, exalted be He, is Beautiful [al-jamīl] and loveth Beauty [al-jamāl]; pride is disdaining what is true and despising people." (Muslim, ḥa ḥī ḥ, Imān 147 cited Mishkat, Kitāb al-}dāb XX (al-gha ḥab wa'l-kibr ["Anger & Pride"] / Arabic 3:1412 trans. Robson, Mishkat II:1058 [adapted]).

[9] cf. the form cited in Jīlānī, 1994:53 "I have seen my Lord in the shape of a beautiful [beardless] youth."

[10] The early Sufi poet and theorist Dhu'l-Năn al-Mi ḥrī (d. 861?) sometimes dwelt upon the relationship between the suffering and enraptured love of the spiritual wayfarer;

Fear made me ill, and longing burnt me,

And love fettered me, and God revived me

(cited Schimmel, 1983:26).

[11] al-Ghazālī continues that this is "to the extent that it was adapted to sight and suited it, and later transferred to the interior form which is apprehended by insight, so that one could say: `good and beautiful comportment' or `beautiful disposition'‑‑ and that is perceived by insight rather than by sight. When an interior form is perfect, properly proportioned, and combines all of the [113] perfection appropriate to it, as befits it and in the proper manner, then it is beautiful in relation to the interior insight apprehending it, and adapted to it in a way that whoever beholds it will experience far more pleasure, joy, and excitement than the observer who views the beautiful form with external sight only." (1992:112-113)

[12] A wise counsel concludes al-Ghazālī's consideration of the Name of God al-jalīl ("the Majestic"). The truly majestic (al-jalīl) and beautiful (al-jamīl) for the spiritually discerning is what is characterized by attractive "interior (bā ḥin) attributes ( ṣifāt ); exterior beauty (jamāl al- ḥāhir) being of less moment (al-Ghazālī, 1982:127; 1992:112-113).

[13] See further the various works of Carl Ernst including his article on Răzbihān in EI² VIII:651-2.

*[14]* `On the Self‑Manifestation of Love through Its Nondelimitation in all the loci‑of‑manifestation and Its appearance in the clothing of Belovedness for all kinds of perception and cognitionon'.

*[15]* For similar sentiments in the writings of Rūmī see Chittick 1983:200ff.

*[16]* Note also among similar Persian poetical testimonies the beauty of Joseph the following verse from Hakīm Sanā'ī of Ghazna (d.c. 1131/40?) in which the beloved's beauty is made even superior than that of Joseph;

That which the Sufis call the mystery‑of‑beauty is you,

You who are the object of God's attention.

Like your Sufis, I call you the mystery‑of‑beauty;

But no! You are the very King of the mystery‑of‑beauty.

You are finer than Joseph, for you

Possess mystery‑of‑beauty, and he does not.

(trans. Nurbaksh, cited SS II:32)

*[17]* Fatā can signify, "young man", "youth", "page"; "Certain women in the city said, "The Governor's [Potiphar's] wife has been soliciting her page ("youth" [Joseph] fatā); he smote her heart with love.." (Q. 12:30; trans. Arberry, 229; cf. Q. 12:36, 62). In the Qur'ān fatā also refers, for example, to Khidr as the "page/youth" of Moses (18:60, 62) and the youthful "companions of the Cave" (18:10,13; cf also Q. 21:60).

*[18]* Beauty is one the characteristics of paradise itself as well as its angelic male and female inhabitants. An Islamic tradition recorded in the Sunnī hadīth collection, the Sahīh ("Sound") of (Abu'l-Husayn) Muslim has it that Anas held that the Prophet Muhammad said, "In paradise (jannat) there is a market (sawq) to which they will come every Friday. The north wind will blow and will scatter [fragrance] on their faces and their clothing, and they will be increased in beauty (husn) and loveliness (jamāl) They will then return to their families, having been increased in beauty and loveliness, and their families will say to them, `We swear by God that you have been increased in beauty (husn) and loveliness (jamāl) since leaving us,' to which they will reply, `You also, we swear by God, have been increased in beauty (husn) and loveliness (jamāl) since we left you'." (cited Tabrīzī, Mishkat, III:1563; trans. Robson [XXVI/XIII] II:1197).

*[19]* These are among the examples given by Nurbaksh in SS. Those marked with an asterisk are found in the writings of the Bāb and/or Bahā'-Allāh.

[14] `On the Self‑Manifestation of Love through Its Nondelimitation in all the loci‑of‑manifestation and Its appearance in the clothing of Belovedness for all kinds of perception and cognitionon'

[15] For similar sentiments in the writings of Rămī see Chittick 1983:200ff.

[16] Note also among similar Persian poetical testimonies the beauty of Joseph the following verse from ḥ akīm Sanā'ī of Ghazna (d.c. 1131/40?) in which the beloved's beauty is made even superior than that of Joseph;

That which the Sufis call the mystery‑of‑beauty is you,

You who are the object of God's attention.

Like your Sufis, I call you the mystery‑of‑beauty;

But no! You are the very King of the mystery‑of‑beauty.

You are finer than Joseph, for you

Possess mystery‑of‑beauty, and he does not.

(trans. Nurbaksh, cited SS II:32)

[17] Fatā can signify, "young man", "youth", "page..."; "Certain women in the city said, "The Governor's [Potiphar's] wife has been soliciting her page ("youth" [Joseph] fatā); he smote her heart with love.." (Q. 12:30; trans. Arberry, 229; cf. Q. 12:36, 62). In the Qur'ān fatā also refers, for example, to Khidr as the "page/youth" of Moses (18:60, 62) and the youthful "companions of the Cave" (18:10,13; cf also Q. 21:60).

[18] Beauty is one the characteristics of paradise itself as well as its angelic male and female inhabitants. An Islamic tradition recorded in the Sunnī hadīth collection, the ḥa ḥī ḥ ("Sound") of (Abu'l- ḥusayn) Muslim has it that Anas held that the Prophet Mu ḥammad said, "In paradise (jannat) there is a market (sawq) to which they will come every Friday. The north wind will blow and will scatter [fragrance ] on their faces and their clothing, and they will be increased in beauty ( ḥusn) and loveliness (jamāl) They will then return to their families, having been increased in beauty and loveliness, and their families will say to them, `We swear by God that you have been increased in beauty ( ḥusn) and loveliness (jamāl) since leaving us,' to which they will reply, `You also, we swear by God, have been increased in beauty ( ḥusn) and loveliness (jamāl) since we left you'." (cited Tabrīzī, Mishkat, III:1563; trans. Robson [XXVI/XIII] II:1197).

[19] These are among the examples given by Nurbaksh in SS. Those marked with an asterisk are found in the writings of the Bāb and/or Bahā'u'llāh.

[20] An example from Sanā'ī, "I lay my breast beside her bosom silvery and lily‑white; My lips upon her lips sweet as milk and honey ..." (Sanâ'i, cited Nurbaksh SS II:00). The "breasts" of the Divine Maiden feature in certain of the Tablets of Bahā'u'llāh.

[21] The new 19 month 19 day Bābī calendral teaching seems to have been first fully set forth by the Bāb in the Persian Bayān and Kitāb al-asmā' (mss. differ widely "Book of Names" c. 1849?) and ratified by Bahā'u'llāh some twenty five years later in his al-Kitāb al-Aqdas ("Most Holy Book" c. 1873).

[22] The names of the months of the Bābī-Bahā'ī calendar adopted by the Bāb are ultimately derived from these aforementioned ( see 2.3) supplications. At a few points the order of divine Names -- ultimately "months" -- differs slightly from that of the original Shī`ī supplication(s). In the Shī`ī Du`ā' al-sa ḥar, Jamāl ("Beauty") occurs as a divine name in line 2 (not 3) and Jalāl ("Glory") is the third (not the second). Other divine Names / names of months are also inverted.

[23] In addition the Bāb mentions as Năr-Allāh ("Light of God"); Fa ḥl-Allāh ("Grace of God") and Jăd-Allāh ("Bounty of God"); `Abd-Allāh ("Servant of God") and Dhikr-Allāh ("Remembrance of God") (Bayān-i Fārsī V:4; 154ff).

[24] This paragraph is followed by reference to a vision (al-ru'yā') though it is not clear if it has anything to do with the Maiden sections in QA XXIX. It may indicate the incapacity of the people to comprehend the theophany of the maiden, "And God did not make the vision within Thy vision (al-ru'yā' fī ru'yā'ika) aught except a test (fitna) for the people". (QA XXIX).

[25] Refer, Kitāb al-asmā' cited in Ishrāq Khavarī, Qāmăs 4:1875 and Māzandarānī, Asrār 5:328f. cf. also, Ishrāq Khavarī, Rahīq 2:668-9.

[26] In the Surat al-`Ayyăb there are paragraphs addressed to the jamāl al-quds ("Beauty of Holiness") and other interesting uses of jamāl (see Mā'idih 4:309f).

[27] Note the names of the second and third Twelver Imāms, ḥ asan and ḥ usayn both sons of `Alī ibn Abi Ṭālib (d.661 CE), as well as that of Mīrzā ḥusayn `Alī Nărī, Bahā'u'llāh (cf. Mullā Husayn (GPB:XX).

[28] It is a designation common in `Abdu'l-Bahā's Persian and Arabic writings as well as in those of Shoghi Effendi and other Bahā'ī writers.

[29] There scattered post-1863 references also (see AA 3:133f). In Bahā'ī scripture the Maiden is interpreted symbolically. In the Kitāb-i-Iqān, Bahá'u'lláh makes it clear that the "houris" (hărīs) who are the companions of the blessed are essentially the deep, inner meanings -- "hărīs of inner meaning" -- the mysteries of the Divine Word which will be unveiled in the promised age (KI:54 [text]/45-6 [tr.]). Taken at face value the sometimes erotically charged aspects of the celestial houris of the Qur'ān are transformed into symbols and motifs indicative of the beauty of the "Reality" (nafs) and "Word" of Bahā'u'llāh as the entrancing Divine Beloved. Shoghi Effendi frequently translated ḥăriyya ("houris") with the English word "maiden". He wrote that symbolically speaking it was the "Most Great Spirit" in the form of a "Heavenly Maiden" ( ḥăriyya) which informed Bahá'u'lláh of his mission (GPB:101 see ESW:11, 21-2 cf. SAQ XVI:85).

[30] "O My Brother! Until thou enter the Egypt of love (miṣr-i `ishq), then thou shalt never come to the Joseph of the Beauty of the Friend (yūsuf-i jamāl-i dust); and until like Jacob, thou forsake thine outward eyes (cheshm-i ẓāhirī), thou shalt never open the eye of thine inner being (cheshm-i bāṭin); and until thou burn with the fire of love (nār-i `ishq), thou shalt never commune with the Lover of Longing (yār-i shawq)" (AQA 3:100; trans. Seven Valleys, 9)

[31] Cf. Persian Hidden Word 28 "O Son of Dust! All that is in heaven and on earth have I ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I have made the habitation of My beauty and glory (ma ḥall-i tajallī-yi jamāl va ijalāl).." Ijalāl ("glory") here is the verbal noun of the IVth form of theroot J-L-L from which jalāl ("majesty", "glory"...) is formed.

[32] The other references to Bahā'u'llāh as the "resplendent Beauty" and "Most Great Beauty" (Bahá'í Prayers, 47 lit. ) in this Tablet are not in the original Arabic -- but were added by Shoghi Effendi in his (sometimes non-literal) translation.

[33] It is a Shī`ī Islamic, Bābī and Bahā'ī belief that the Reality of the Manifestation of God is Pre-Existent.

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al-Tabrīzī, Muhammad ibn `Abd Allāh al-Khaṭḥīb.

1405/1985 Mishkāt al-maṣābīḥ. Vol.3 Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islāmī.
1975 trans. J. Robson (2 Vols.). Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf.

Takeshita, Masataka

1987 Continuity and Change in the Tradition of Shirazi Love Mysticism ─ A Comparison between Daylamī's `A ḥf al‑Alif and Răzbihān Baqlī's `Abhar al‑`Āshiqīn─. Orient XXIII (1987)113-131.

Thackston Jr. W. M.,

1978 The Tales of the Prophets of al-Kisa'i. Boston: Twayne Publishers.

Valiuddin,Mir.

1972The Love of God, A Sufi Approach. Farnham: Sufi Publishing Company Ltd.

Bābī-Bahā'ī

`Abbas Effendi, `Abdu'l-Bahā'

ADD

Sayyid `Alī Mu ḥammad Shīrāzī. The Bāb.

Bayān-i farsī n.p. n.d.;
al-Bayán al-`arabí n.p. n.d.;
Kitáb-i panj sha'n n.p. n.d.;
Haykal al-dín n.p. n.d.

Bahā'-Allāh.

Āthār-i-Qalam-i-a`lā, Majmă`a-yi Munājāt n.p. [Tehran]: BPT., 128 Badī`
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1993 [= Aqdas Tr.].
ESW* Lawh-i mubāraka khitab bih Shaykh Muhammad Taqi. Cairo, n.d.
ESW Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (trans Shoghi Effendi), Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1971.
GWB* Múntakhabátí az áthár-i- ḥa ḥrát-i-Bahá'u'lláh [Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh], Hofheim-Langenhain: Bahá'í-Verlag, 1984
GWB Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, London:BPT., 1949.
The Hidden Words London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1975
Kalimāt-i maknunih in MAM: 17-32 (Pt.1 Arabic) + 373-398 (Pt. 2 Persian).
IQ Iqtidárát va chand law ḥ-i dígár ["Powers and a selection of other Tablets"] n.p. [Bombay] 1310 A.H./1892-3 CE.
KI* Kitáb‑i Íqán, Egypt, 1934,; Rep. Hofheim-Langenhain: Bahá'í-Verlag, 1980 / 136 Badí`.
KI Kitáb-i-Iqán: The Book of Certitude (trans. Shoghi Effendi). London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1961.
MAM Majmă`a-yi alwāh-i mubāraka ḥ a ḥrat-i Bahā'u'llāh Cairo: 1338 A.H. / [1919-] 1920 CE. Rep. Wilmette, Illinois, 1982.
P&M Prayers and Meditations of Bahá'u'lláh [trans. Shoghi Effendi] London: BPT., 1957.
Munājāt, Majmă`a adhkār wa ad`iya min āthār ha ḥrat Bahā' Allāh. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Bahai-Brasil, 138 BE/1981 CE [= Arab. & Per. text of P&M above].
Tablet to `Alí Muhammad Sarráj in MA 7:4-118.
SV The Seven Valleys and The Four Valleys, Trans. by `Alí Kuli Khan
assisted by Marzieh Gail Wilmette; 5th ed. Wilmette Illin.: BPT 1978.
TB Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre,

Shoghi Effendi.

GPB= God Passes By. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahā'ī Publishing Trust, 1974.

Bahā'ī Prayers,

Ishrāq Khavārī, `Abd al- Ḥamīd.

1981 (ed.) Risāla-yi Ayyām-i tisa`. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press.
Tasbih = comp. Risālih-yi Tasbīḥ wa Tahlīl. comp. Ishrāq Khavārī. New Delhi:BPT. 1982.