PART THREE -SECTION THREE

[III]

بهاء

 

THE WORD BAHĀ' AS THE QUINTESSENCE OF THE GREATEST NAME OF GOD

THE WRITINGS OF BAHĀ'-ALLĀH AND HIS SUCCESSORS AND FOLLOWERS.

 

الاسم الأعظم

Stephen Lambden   [August 1992].

 

 

BEING REVISED AND UPDATED 2007-8

    “O Peoples of the world!  He Who is the Most Great Name (al-ism al-a`ẓam) is come, on the part of the Ancient King” 

    (Bahā'-Allāh, ESW:128)

“Let your joy be the joy born of My Most Great Name (ismī al-a`ẓam),  a Name that bringeth rapture to the heart, and filleth with ecstasy the minds of all who have drawn nigh unto God”   (Bahā'-Allāh , Aqdas 38, para. 31)

 

1.0 Introduction

            This paper is an attempt to explore some linguistic, historical and theological aspects of the Arabic word بهاء bahā'   which is  viewed by Bahā'īs as the quintessence of the  الاسم الأعظم  (al-ism al-a`ẓam = the Mightiest [Greatest] Name [of God]) or       اسم الله الاعظم ( ism Allāh al-a`ẓam =  "the Greatest [Mightiest] Name of God),  one form of which they regard as the (Arabic)  title  بهاء الله    = Bahā’-Allāh (= Bahā’u’llāh) which could be correctly translated in several different ways; e,g, the Glory-Splendour-Radiance-Beauty of God though modern Bahā’īs, following the preference of `Abd al-Bahā’ and Shoghi Effendi, translate `the Glory of God’ where ‘glory’ is expressive of the divine radiance and splendor personified in the person of Mīrzā Ḥusayn `Alī Nṭūr
ī  (b. Tehran [Iran] 1817, d. Acre [Palestine] 1892 CE) who adopted the title Bahā’-Allāh. This title Bahā’-Allāh thus basically indicates a radiant divine theophany, a Divine Manifestation attended and personified as a supernatural radiance, emanating Light, Splendour and Beauty.

 

 

 The word بهاء    Bahā’ as the Greatest Name in the Bahā’ī  religion.

 

         For Bahā'īs, theologically speaking, the word Bahā' as the "Greatest Name" is a sacred  "word",  a "mantra" of great magnitude. [36]

As the "Greatest Name", it is belived that the word Bahā' stands at the centre of the Names of God.  Bahā’-Allāh has stated that all the Divine Names, relative to both the seen and the unseen spheres, are dependent upon it (Mā'idih 8:24). For Bahā’īs the use of the "Greatest Name" as Bahā' is in a sense, the alpha and the omega of Bahā'ī existence.

        In thousands of Baha'-Allah’s Persian and Arabic writings many specific  apocalyptic events are demythologized or deemed to have taken place "spiritually". Sometimes such events are interpreted relative to the future or given timeless inner allegorical senses. In, for example, that Tablet referred to as one about the ahl-i batin or "People of the Inward [Path]" very probably indicative of various Sufi devotees of an esoteric bent,  Baha'-Allah seems to associate identification with and recitation of the al‑ism al‑a`ẓam (the Mightiest Name of God)" (as Baha')  as  the repetition of the word bahā’ (radiant "glory‑beauty‑splendour), representative of the Logos‑like locus of his Being. Such, it is suggested, as contrasted with Sufi Dhikr (ecstatic recitation) is the definitive acme of piety and devotional spirituality. This powerful evocation is such that it  causes `apocalyptic catastrophes’ to be symbolically realized. The contextual implication would appear to be that the awesome power of God’s Greatest Name is indicative of the redundancy of any elitist or exclusivist Sufi claims compared to the theophany of Baha'-Allah as the personification of the this Greatest Name:

"The foundation of  pious actions (riḍā’‑ i afāl) and the diadem of goodly deeds (iklīl-i a`māl)  hath ever been the Dhikr   ("utterance-recitation") of the Greatest Name (ism-i a`ẓam)  whether [this be] outwardly or inwardly (zāhir va bāṭin). It is assuredly the Logos-Word (kalimat)  by virtue of which

            every particular [worthwhile?] (Sufi?) faction (hizb) hath been differentiated;

            every "mountain" leveled to dust;

            every "star" made to fall;

            every "sun" suffered eclipse;

            every "moon" eclipsed;

            every "heaven" split asunder;

            every "earth" rent in twain and

            every "ocean" made to boil away" (Text in Ma'idih IV:32 )

 

            It is often the case that the word Bahā' and other related or theologically weighty terms, like a string of pearls, head most of Bahā’-Allāh's and `Abdu'l-Bahā's Tablets,  replacing the Islāmic equivalents such as the basmala.  [37]  One might read for example, bismi'llāh al-bahiyy al-abhā  (In the name of God, the Luminous, the All-Glorious")  at the commencement of a Tablet of Bahā’-Allāh.  While in Islam and in fact before many Bahā'ī prayers and alwah (Tablets) the formula هوالله   huwa Allāh (He is God) is common, in Bahā'ī  sources one not infrequently finds such new forms as,    هوالابهى huwa al-abhā (He is the all-glorious). The Kalimat-i maknunih (The Hidden words) are headed with the line    هوالبهىالابهى huwa al-bahiyy al-abhā  or in Shoghi Effendi's translation, “He is the Glory of Glories” but literally  "He is the Luminous, the All-Glorious").  Certain litany-type Tablets contain refrains which include the "greatest name" or forms of it. The opening Arabic half of the Lawḥ-i mallāḥ al-quds (Tablet of the Holy Mariner) for example, includes the oft-repeated refrain, fa-subān Allāh al-abhā ("Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious"; see Bahā'ī Prayers  51f; Mā'idah  4:335f).

            There are thousands of occurrences of the word bahā'  in Bahā'ī sacred scripture. Only a few selected occurrences can be registered here. Bahā’-Allāh most likely alludes to himself as the expected Bābī Messiah, the new, `True Joseph' or return of Imām Ḥusayn, when he writes in the Chāhar Vādī  (Four Valleys, c. 1858),

 

ADD TEXT

 "Methinks I catch the fragrance of musk from the garments of [the letter] "H" (qumuṣ al-hā' ) (= Bābīs?)

wafting from the Joseph of Bahā' (yūsif al-bahā' ) (= man yuẓhiru-hu Allāh  = Bahā’-Allāh)" [40]

 

     In the Kitāb-i īqān  written a few years later (1862), he refers to himself as "the immortal Bird of Heaven" warbling upon the Sidrih [`Lote-Tree'] of Bahā  (KI:50). [40]

      It was during the latter part of the Adrianople period of his ministry (c.1867 CE) that the greeting  الابهى , Allāh al-Abhā  ("God is All-Glorious") superseded the Islamic salutation     اكبر الله , Allāh al-Akbar ("God is Great ) (refer GPB:176) and became widely adopted in the middle east -- and subsequently elsewhere. It was also during the Adrianople period of his ministry that Bahā'-Allāh named a Tablet in honour of Khātūn Jān, the eldest daughter of Ḥajjī `Abd-Allāh Farhādī of Qazvīn, The Tablet of Glory (Lawḥ-i Bahā’').

 

Acre-Haifa/ West-Galilean Period (1868-1892)

     Hundreds of Tablets of the `Akkā’ (West-Galilean) period of Bahā'-Allāh's ministry contain interesting usages of Bahā’ and its derivatives. Theological statements about the "greatest Name" are numerous. In his Tablet to the Templer leader George David Hardegg (1812-1879) (to be dated c. late 1871?) Bahā’u'llāh, in cryptic fashion, spelled out both the letters of the "Comforter" (Gk.)  parakletos  =   (Arabic)   mu`azzī   promised in John's Gospel (Jn. 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7) and the Greatest Name, Bahā’'. In the opening Arabic section of Bahā'-Allāh's Tablet of Medicine (Lawḥ-i ṭibb) it is recommended that eating commence with the utterance of the superlative form (of the word Bahā’) al-Abhā (= the All-Glorious; "My Most Glorious Name" [bismi'l-abhā'] see MAM:223; Fananapazir & Lambden, ..Tablet of Medicine..).  The utterance of the word bahā’ is intimately related to both physical and spiritual health. In one of his Tablets Bahā'-Allāh  says, "Well is it with the physician who cureth ailments in My hallowed and dearly cherished Name." (From a Tablet of Bahā'-Allāh , cited UHJ:1970). `Abd al-Bahā’ taught, "That the Most Great Name [= Bahā’'/ Bahā'-Allāh] exerciseth influence over both physical and spiritual matters is sure and certain" (UHJ:1984, p.2) In another Tablet  he writes,

"O maidservant of God! Continue in healing hearts and bodies and seek healing for sick persons by turning unto the Supreme Kingdom and by setting the heart upon obtaining healing through the power of the Greatest Name and by the spirit of the love of God." (TAB III:629)      

 

     In his "Most Holy Book" Bahā'-Allāh  recommended the recitation of the "greatest name" 95 times each day (see Aqdas, 26 para. 18; 180 n. 33 -- Shoghi Effendi explained that this was not "absolutely binding" (LG:905). It, or certain Arabic phrases containing it (or its derivatives), came to be clearly identified in Bahā’ī scripture as the long secreted "Greatest Name" (al-ism al-a`ẓam) of God. Shoghi Effendi identified the Bābī formula and later Bahā’ī invocation / greeting Allāh-u-Abhā  (= allāh al-abhā, “God is All-Glorious”) 2 as well as the vocative exclamation Yā Bahā’ al-abhā (= O Glory of the All-Glorious, also a title of Bahā'-Allāh), as forms of the "greatest name". Nine repetitions (3X3) of the "greatest name" are part of the recitation of the Bahā’ī  daily `Long Obligatory Prayer' (P&M No 183). In one of his Tablets `Abdu'l-Bahā’ advised that in order to "seek immunity from the sway of the [negative/ "evil"] forces of the contingent world", the sign of the "Most Great Name" should be hung in the dwelling and the ring of the "Greatest Name" (which spells the word Bahā’ in four directions) worn on the [little finger] of the right hand (see LG2:1769 and TAB).

     The "greatest name" informs the life of the Bahā’ī and is recited six times during Bahā'-Allāh's communal Prayer for the Dead (P&M No. 167). It is too sacred to be used on gravestones.(LG2:656).

 

     In this centenary year it is fitting that it be recollected that when Bahā'-Allāh  passed away, one hundred years ago, his eldest son, `Abd al-Bahā’, the "Mystery of God" (sirr Allāh),  sent a cable to `Abdu'l-Ḥamīd II, the Sultan of Turkey (r. 1876-1909),  which read, "The Sun of Bahā’ has set". Today however, the "Sun" of the Greatest Name continues to illumine all the horizons of the world with a deathless splendour. Its frequent repetition by the "people of Bahā’" (Bahā’īs) reverberates throughout universes seen and unseen. 

 

SECTION 3:2  `Abd al-Baha’ and the Mightiest Name of God

 

"The Greatest Name [as Bahā’-Allāh] should be found upon the lips in the first awakening moment of early dawn.It should be fed upon by constant use in daily invocations, in trouble, under opposition, and should be the last word breathed when the head rests upon the pillow at night. It is the name of comfort, protection, happiness, illumination, love and unity...The use of the Greatest Name and dependence upon it cause the soul to strip itself of the husks of mortality and to step forth free, reborn, a new creature..." (`Abd al-Bahā' cited, Lights, 892). 

 

 

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

 

 

 

SECTION 3:3  Shoghi Effendi and Baha’I writers on the Mightiest Name of God.

 

 

The Baha'i  Guardian Shoghi Effendi Rabbani's viewpoint regarding the centrality of the symbol of the "greatest name" is expressed in the words, "The Greatest Name is a distinctive mark of the Cause and a symbol of our Faith" (LG:895). `Abdu'l-Bahā’ had indicated that the nameless, "indirect" presentation of the Bahā’ā teachings, abstracted from the "greatest name" is limited,

 

"As to his question about the permissibility of promulgating the divine teachings without relating them to the Most Great Name, you should answer: `This blessed Name hath an effect on the reality of things. If these teachings are spread without identifying them with his holy Name, they will fail to exert an abiding influence in the world. The teachings are like the body, and this holy Name is like the spirit. It imparteth life to the body. It causeth the people of the world to be aroused from their slumber.'" (cited, The Gift of Teaching BPT., 13)

 

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

 

SECTION 3:4 :  Baha’i writers and the Greatest Name of God in the Bahā’ī community.

 

4.1

4.2

4.3 Oriental Baha'i Apologists

4.4 `Abu'l-Qasim Faydi...

4.5 Ibrahim Kheiralla, Thornton Chase and other early American Baha'is

4.6 Western Baha'is notion of the Greatest Name Baha'

 

 

___________________________

APPENDIX  0   BAHA’I APOLOGETIC AND THE GREATEST NAME BAHA’ AS A "GLORY" MOTIF IN ASIAN RELIGIOUS SCRIPTURES

          The Arabic word bahā' and its derivitives obviously do not occur directly in the Sanskrit, Gāthīc, Avestan, Pali, Chinese, Japanese and other scared texts of the non-Semitic Bahā'ī-recognized Asian religions (Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism). Words of identical or similar meaning are, however, found in eschatological contexts or texts which Bahā'īs have found prophetically significant. A Sanskrit root B-H-Ā signifies `to shine'. Related Sanskrit, Pali and other words (i.e. ābhāti = `shines towards'; ābhā = `lustre, splendour'), though etymologically/linguistically unrelated, remind one of derivatives of the Arabic verbal root B-H-A /W -- including bahā' and abhā. Various stanzas of the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gāta  -- such as the use of bhā (= `Light', `Glory') in 11:12 -- detailing the "glory" of the transfigured Krishna have, by certain Bahā'īs, been seen to be prophetic (i.e. Munje, ..World, 50-51 on Gīta 11:30). [28]

         Such Messianic figures as  Kalki, the tenth Avatār of Vishnu or the "reincarnation of Krishna", expected by some Hindus, the  Zoroastrian Shāh Bahrām [Vahrām, Verethraghna // Saošyant] are all pictured as manifesting some kind of aura of glory; a supernatural splendour comparable to the bahā'  ("radiant glory") of Bahā’-Allāh.  The Zoroastrian saviour, for example, incarnates the Khvarenah (Avestan; Pahlavi khwarr, New Persian  khurrah /  ADD arr)  or supernatural "splendour".

         The name of the centrally important Mahāyāna Buddha Amitābha, the ruler of the western paradise of Sukhāvatī, in Sanskrit signifies "Boundless Light". While then, the word bahā'   has no linguistic cognate in the languages of the Asian religions, there are a number of theological motifs that are for Bahā’īs suggestive of the messianic splendour of the "greatest name" as  bahā'.

 

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