The Baha'i System of Transliteration
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The Bahá'í system of transliteration1

Bahá'í Studies Bulletin "##", %/"–(
pp. "+–%%

Moojan Momen

Source of the Bahá 'ı́ transliteration system.. .................................................................................... 78
Some problems of the Bahá 'ı́ transliteration system.. ................................................................. 7;
Some peculiarities of the Bahá 'ı́ transliteration system.. ............................................................ 7;
Addenda.. .......................................................................................................................................................... 7>

On @A March @CAD, Shoghi Effendi sent to the Bahá 'ı́s of America a listing of oriental terms and
phrases spelled according a standard system of transliteration. He asked them henceforward to keep
to this system in place of the previous arbitrary spellings that had been in use in Bahá 'ı́ publications.2
It was also sent to the British National Assembly in a letter dated AD April @CAN;3 and to the German
National Spiritual Assembly on N November @CAN.4 This listing appeared in the Bahá'í Year Book in
@CAR (see Addendum @5). The list as published in the Bahá'í Year Book is not, however, exactly the
present system as it contains no underlined pairs of letters (e.g. sh, ch, etc.) and no dots under any
letters. This was however, probably for typographical reasons, since books appearing as early as @CAD
did use the full system (see below). In Volume A of the Bahá'í World, @CAR-@CAX, all of the features are
present (see Addendum A6). The listing as given in Volume A of the Bahá'í World remains substantially
the same in every subsequent volume with the exception of a few words added to the list over the
years. Also from Bahá'í World, Volume A onwards, a statement appears on the reverse of the title page
to the effect that 'The spelling of Oriental words and proper names in this issue of The Bahá'í World is
according to the system of transliteration established at one of the International Oriental Congresses."
From the June @CAD issue of Star of the West, we see attempts being made to introduce the system
although these are at first very patchy. The first books that appear to be trying to put the system into
use are Esslemont's Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era and Herrick's Unity Triumphant (the latter not
entirely consistently), both published in @CAD.7 Although some books appearing in @CA_ did not follow
the system,8 from this time on, books and other printed material published under Bahá 'ı́ auspices have
followed this system.

Shoghi Effendi used a system of transcription, NOT transliteration.—M.W. Thomas (?@?A)
Bahá'í Administration, Bahá 'ı́ Publishing Trust, Wilmette, Ill., JKLM, p. NO; see also p. NM and p. AL, which seems to indicate
that the original list was later slightly amended.
Cited in Addendum Four below. See also letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, JJ November JK?A, Unfolding Destiny,
Bahá 'ı́ Publishing Trust, London, JKMJ, p. OK; there is also a note regarding accents on pp. NL–X.
The Light of Divine Guidance: the messages from the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith to the Bahá'ís of Germany and Austria,
Bahá 'ı́-Verlag, Hofheim-Langenhain, JKM?, p. ?X.
Bahá'í Year Book vol. J (April JK?A–April JK?L), Bahá 'ı́ Publishing Committee, New York, JK?L, p. JOJ.
Bahá'í World, vol. ? (JK?L–JK?M), Bahá 'ı́ Publishing Committee, New York, JK?L, p. JOJ.
J. E. Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era (George Allen and Unwin, London) and Elizabeth Herrick, Unity Triumphant:
the call of the Kingdom (Kegan Paul, Trench, Trü bner & Co, London). A pamphlet Bahá'í Manuscripts privately published
by Charles Mason Remey in JK?O also appears to be using the new system. However, Mohammed Ali Alkany, Lessons in
Religion (Boston: Tudor Press, JK?O) and Baha'i Scriptures (Brentano's, New York), both also published in JK?O, do not use
the system.
See for example The Wisdom of Abdul Baha, Baha'i Publishing Committee, New York.

!"
Source of the Bahá'í transliteration system
Although the statement that the system is one "established at one of the International Oriental
Congresses" has appeared in Bahá 'ı́ publications since @CAX, it was for a long time not clear exactly
which of the International Oriental Congresses was meant. It would appear that Shoghi Effendi, on
whose instructions the statement was inserted, never specified which Oriental Congress was being
referred to.
Recently, I made an exhaustive search of the proceedings of the International Oriental Congresses
and found what I presumed Shoghi Effendi must have been referring to. The Congress concerned was
the @bth International Congress of Orientalists held at Geneva in @XC_. The Royal Asiatic Society had
been giving attention to the question of a uniform transliteration system for some time. In May @XCb, a
committee of the Society had been set up to consider the matter. They looked at a number of the
systems then current:
@.    That used by F. Max Muller and the Oxford University Press for the Sacred Books of the East
series;
A.    That adopted by the Government of India on the recommendation of Sir W. W. Hunter;
D.    That suggested by Sir M. Monier-Williams and published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
in @XCb; also presented to the Berlin Congress of Orientalists;
_.    That adopted by the Socié té asiatique of France;
N.    That adopted by the Deutsche Morgenlä ndische Gesellschaft;
R.    That adopted by the Bengal Asiatic Society;
i.    That adopted by the Pali Text Society.
This committee presented its report to the Royal Asiatic Society and it was adopted by the Council
of the Society in May @XC_. It was published in an Addendum to the Society's Journal in July @XC_.
The Tenth International Congress of Orientalists was held September @XC_, at Geneva. During the
opening session of the Congress, on _ September, on the motion of Lord Reay, president of the Royal
Asiatic Society and acting on behalf of it, a representative commission was appointed to look at the
subject of transliteration.
The Commission consisted of a number of very eminent figures:
Professor Charles-Adrien-Casimir Barbier de Maynard, who had occupied the chair in Turkish at
the Ecole spé ciale des langues orientales; then the Professor of Persian at the Collè ge de France (@XiN–
@XXN); and was at this time occupying the chair in Arabic of the Collè ge de France as well as being
deputy administrator of the Ecole des langues orientales and President of the Socié té asiatique;
Professor Dr Georg Bü hler, a German specialist on Sanskrit and India at the University of Vienna;
Professor Michael Jan De Goeje, specialist in Arabic and Islam at the University of Leiden;
Professor Albert Socin, specialist in Arabic and Kurdish at the University of Leipzig; Professor Ernst
Windisch, Sanskrit and Pali scholar from the University of Leipzig;

!$
As well as a number of less eminent persons who had taken a special interest in the subject of
transliteration:
Emile Senart, a French orientalist with a special interest in India;
James Burgess, who had been Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India and who
had published a paper on the subject of transliteration of Indian languages;
Lt-Col. George T. Plunkett, Director of the Science and Art Institutions, Dublin, who had been
on the Royal Asiatic Society committee on transliteration.
H. Thomson Lyon, a member of the Royal Asiatic Society and the author of an article on
transliteration of Arabic in the Society's journal for 7pqr.
As much work had already been done on the subject of transliteration by the Royal Asiatic Society,
the system that this commission recommended was very similar to the system already devised by the
Society. The report of this commission was presented to the Congress at its final session on @A
September @XC_ and was adopted by the Congress.
An addendum to the proceedings of the Congress (published by E.J. Brill, Leiden, @XCi) contains the
report of the Committee on Transliteration. This report suggests a transliteration system for Arabic,
Sanskrit and Pali (see Addendum Three for the English translation of this report published in Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society, October @XCN, pp. XiC–XXA; the original is published in French; I have also
included the report of the sub-committee for the transliteration of the Arabic alphabet, pp. XXX–XXC).1
Although the system adopted by the @XC_ Congress is not identical to the Bahá 'ı́ system, there are
sufficient points of similarity to make it likely that this is the system to which Shoghi Effendi was
referring. Shoghi Effendi has evidently used the permissible alternatives in every case where they
recommend single letters (e.g. sh instead of s; except for j where the alternative dj is primarily for the
French). The only major ways in which Shoghi Effendi has deviated from this system is that it
recommends al- in all cases for the Arabic definite article whereas Shoghi Effendi uses the double
consonant in the case of the "Sun letters": as-, ash-, ar-, etc. Also Shoghi Effendi uses v instead of w for
the Persian letter vá v.
I sent a report of my finding to the Universal House of Justice and received a reply dated AA October
@CXi (see Addendum Four). About a year later, I received a further letter dated @R October @CXX,
enclosing a copy of a page from a notebook kept by Shoghi Effendi at Oxford (see Addendum Five).
This notebook clearly indicates that Shoghi Effendi had considered a number of alternatives in
formulating the Bahá 'ı́ system and also confirms that it is indeed the @XC_ International Congress of
Orientalists that he was referring to.
On this page from Shoghi Effendi's notebook, there is also reference to a Council meeting of the
Royal Asiatic Society in October @XCR. This refers to an addendum to the October @XCR issue of the
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society in which the system adopted by the @CX_ International Congress of
Orientalists is approved by the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society with a few minor emendations.
These emendations were principally to avoid any overlap between the Sanskrit and Arabic
transliteration systems (Addendum Six contains the system proposed by the Geneva Congress
together with the emendations suggested by the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society). It will be seen
that the emendations include allowing for the Persian letter váv.

For further information regarding the workings of the transliteration committee, see the report by G. T. Plunkett in
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, October JMKA, pp. MK@–K?.

!%
Some problems of the Bahá'í transliteration system
In @CiX, I entered into correspondence with the Universal House of Justice over some problems
relating to the Bahá 'ı́ System of Transliteration. These problems which will be familiar to those who
have ever tried to use the Bahá 'ı́ system extensively are outlined in the text of my letter dated @N
August @CiX. This and the reply of the Universal House of Justice dated Ab October @CiX is given in
Addendum Seven. This led on to a further interchange of correspondence with a letter of mine dated A
November @CiX and a reply dated X March @CiC (Addendum Eight).
A reading of this correspondence reveals that a number of useful principles and amendments are
approved:
there is no need to transliterate the names of well-known places;
the use of -a to indicate the Arabic final h;
the freedom to choose Arabic or Persian forms of words and names;
the freedom to choose flat accents if desired, etc.
Some peculiarities of the Bahá'í transliteration system
One of the peculiarities of the Bahá 'ı́ transliteration system which is briefly alluded to in my letter
of @N August @CiX is the propensity to use the short vowel i in many situations where the standard
Persian pronunciation would be a. Examples of this are: siyyid, Karbilá , Mazindará n, and As dhirbá yjá n
where the normal pronunciation would give sayyid, Karbalá , Má zarandá n, and As dharbá yjá n.
This matter continued to puzzle me until one day I heard the late Hand of the Cause Mr Dhikru'llah
Khadem say that Shoghi Effendi spoke Persian with an Iṣ fahá nı́ accent. This was the result of Munı́rih
Khá num's marriage to 'Abdu'l-Bahá . Munı́rih Khá num was from Isfahan. She had passed on her
Iṣ fahá nı́ accent to her four daughters and they to their children. And so presumably all of 'Abdu'l-
Bahá 's grandchildren, including Shoghi Effendi, spoke with Iṣ fahá nı́ accents. I later asked a number of
other Iranians who had met Shoghi Effendi, including Mr Abu'l-Qá sim Afná n and Mr 'Alı́ Nakhjavá nı́,
and they also confirmed that Shoghi Effendi had an Iṣ fahá nı́ accent. It struck me that this was the
answer to the puzzle over this particular peculiarity. The substitution of an i for an a in the above
examples would lead precisely to an Iṣ fahá nı́ accent. Shoghi Effendi had written these words exactly
as he spoke them.
A number of other peculiarities remain unexplained. For example the persistent use of -iyyi- in
such words as Bahiyyih, Bá biyyih, etc. The original Persian has a doubled y, whereas the
transliteration seems to indicate three ys: i y, y. Consistency would demand that either the accent on
the first for else one of the two ys should be omitted. A number of much-used words and phrases also
appear to be inconsistent: Allá h-u-Abhá , which should surely be Allá hu Abhá ; Shı́'ih which in this form
is a collective noun but is often used as though it were an adjective (which should really be Shı́'ı́). This
in fact accords with Iranian pronunciation although incorrect grammatically.

!&
Addenda

7. Transliteration system outlined in Bahá'í Year Book 7qvw–7qv;... ...................................................................... 7p
v. Transliteration system outlined in Bahá'í World, vol. v, 7qv;–7qvp.. ................................................................ .vr
x. Report of Committee on Transliteration of 7rth International Congress of Orientalists, Geneva in
7pq8....................................................................................................................................................................................................... vv
8. Universal House of Justice: Letter and Memorandum of Research Department, vv October 7qp>....... v>
Moojan Momen.. ............................................................................................................................................................... v>
The Universal House of Justice, vv October 7qp>.. ............................................................................................ vp
w. Universal House of Justice, enclosing a copy of a page from Shoghi Effendi's notebook, 7; October
7qpp....................................................................................................................................................................................................... xv
;. The Geneva Congress system as amended by the Royal Asiatic Society.. .......................................................... x8
>. First Interchange of correspondence with the Universal House of Justice on transliteration, vr
October 7q>p.. ................................................................................................................................................................................... 87
Moojan Momen, 7w August 7q>p.. ............................................................................................................................. 87
The Universal House of Justice, vr October 7q>p.. ............................................................................................ 8x
p. Second interchange of correspondence with the Universal House of Justice on transliteration, p
March 7q>q.. ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 8>
Moojan momen, v November, 7q>p.. ....................................................................................................................... 8>
The Universal House of Justice, p March 7q>q.. .................................................................................................. wr
q. 'Abdu'l-Bahá on transliteration.. .......................................................................................................................................... wx

!'
:.

Transliteration system outlined in Bahá'í Year Book :=>?–:=>A1
[@D@]
List of oriental terms frequently used in Bahá 'ı́ literature, with modern transliteration and
arranged alphabetically
'Abá dih                    Dhabı́h             Kitá b-i-Aqdas       Rahı́m
'Abbá s                     Duzdá b            Kurdistá n           Rahmá n
'Abdu'l-Bahá                Fará n             Lá hı́já n          Rahmat
'Abdu'l-Hamid                Fá rs              Lá r                 Rasht
'Abdul-Husayn                Firdawsı́           Lawh                  Rawhá nı́
'Abdu'llá h                 Ganjih              Luristá n            Ridvá n
Abu'l-Fadl                   Gı́lá n            Mahbú bu'sh-         Rú hu'llá h
Shuhadá
'Adası́yyih                  Gul                 Mahmú d              Sabzivá r
As dhirbá yjá n            Gulastá n          Maqá m               Sadratul-Muntahá
Afná n                      Habı́b              Má kú               Samarqand
Aghsá n                     Hadı́th             Malá yir             Sangsar
'Abd                         Há jı́             Mará ghih            Sá rı́
Ahmad                        Hamadá n           Marhabá              Shá h
Ahsá 'ı́                    Haydar 'Alı́        Marv                  Shahid
Ahvá z                      Haykal              Masá 'il             Shahmı́rzá d
'Akká                       Himmat-As bá d     Mashhad               Shá hrú d
'Alı́                        Husayn              Mashı́yyat            Sharaf
Allá h-u-Abhá              Huvaydar            Mashriqu'l-Adhká r   Shaykh
Alvá h                      Ibrá him           Má zindará n        Shı́'ih
Alvá h-i-Salá tı́n         'Ilm                Mihdı́                Shı́rá z
Amı́n                        Imá m              Mı́lá n              Shushtar
Amru'llá h                  Isqá n             Mı́rzá               Simná n
Anzalı́                      Isrá n             Mishkı́n-Qalam        Sı́sá n
As qá                       'Irá q             Muhammad              Sı́stá n
Aqdas                        'Irá q-i-'Ajam     Muhammarih            Siyyid
'Arabistá n                 Isfá há n         Mujtahid              Sú fı́
Asmá                        'Ishqá bá d       Mulk                  Sulaymá n
'Avá shiq                   'Ishrá qá t       Mullá                Sultá n
Ayá di                      Ishtihá rd         Munı́rih              Sultá n-As bá d
Azal                         Islá m             Mustaghá th          Sultá nu'sh-Shuhadá '
'Azamat                      Ismá 'ı́lı́yyih    Nabı́l                Sunnı́
'Azı́z                       Istará bá d       Najaf                 Sú ratu'l-Haykal
Bá b                        'Izzat              Najaf-As bá d        Tabrı́z
Bá bu'l-Bá b               Jalá l             Ná qidı́n            Tá hirih
Baghdá d                    Jamá l             Ná siru'd-Dı́n       Tajallı́yá t
Bahá                        Jamá l-i-Mubá rak Nawrú z              Takı́
Bahá 'ı́                    Já sb              Nayrı́z               Tá kur
Bahá 'u'llá h              Ka'bih              Nishá bú r          Tará zá t
Bahı́yyih                    Kalimá t           Nú r                 Tarbı́yat
Bahjı́                       Kamá l             Pahlavı́              Tá shkand
Balú chistá n              Karand              Qá dı́yá n          Tawhid
Bandar-'Abbá s              Karbilá            Qahqahih              Thurayyá
Bá rfurú sh                Ká shá n          Qá 'im               Tihrá n
Basrih                       Kaamu's-Sa'á yidih Qamsar                'Ulá

Bahá'í Year Book, JK?A–JK?L, p. JOJ.

!(
Bá tú m         Kawthar          Qasr-i-Shı́rı́n   'Ulamá
Bayá n           Ká zim          Qawl              Urú mı́yyih
Bayt              Ká zimayn       Qayyú m          Vahı́d
Bı́rjand          Kirmá n         Qazvı́n           Vá hid
Bismi'llá h      Kirmá nshá h   Qú chá n        Valı́
Bukhá rá        Khalkhá l       Quddú s          Varqá
Burú jird        Khá nigayn      Qudrat            Vazı́r
Bú shir          Khaylı́-Khú b   Qum               Yá -Bahá 'u'l-Abhá
Bushrú yih       Khurá sá n     Qur'á n          Yahyá
Bushrú 'ı́       Khuy             Qurratu'l-'Ayn    Yazd
Chihrı́q          Kitá b-i-'Ahd   Rafsinjá n       Zanjá n
Dawlat-As bá d                                      Zaynu'l-Muquarrabı́n

!)
>:

Transliteration system outlined in Bahá'í World, vol. >, :=>A–:=>E1
[A@D]

Transliteration of oriental terms frequently used in Bahá 'ı́ literature
Arranged alphabetically
As bá dih                   Balú chistá n             'Ilm                                    Lá hı́já n
'Abbá s                     Bandar-'Abbá s             Imá m                                  Lá r
'Abdu'l-Bahá                Bá rfurú sh               Isqá n                                 Lawḥ
'Abdu'l-Ḥamı́d              Baṣ rih                    Isrá n                                 Luristá n
'Abdu'l-Ḥusayn              Bá ṭúm                   'Irá q
'Abdu'llá h                 Bayá n                     'Irá q-i-'Ajam                         Maḥ bú bu'sh-Shuhadá '
Abu'l-Faḍ l                 Bayt                        Iṣ fahá n                             Maḥ mú d
'Adası́yyih                  Birjand                     'Ishqá bá d                           Maqá m
As dhirbá yjá n            Bismi'llá h                Ishrá qá t                            Má kú
Afná n                      Bukhá rá                  Ishtihá rd                             Malá yir
Aghṣ án                    Burú jird                  Islá m                                 Mará ghih
'Ahd                         Bú shir                    Ismá 'ı́lı́yyih                        Marḥ abá
Aḥ mad                      Bushrú yih                 Istará bá d                           Marv
Aḥ sá 'ı́                  Bushrú 'ı́                 'Izzat                                  Masá 'il
Ahvá z                                                                                          Mashhad
'Akká                       Chihrı́q                    Jalá l                                 Mashı́yyat
'Alı́                                                    Jamá l                                 Mashriqu'l-Adhká r
Allá h-u-Abhá              Dawlat-As bá d             Jamá l-i-Mubá rak                     Má zindará n
Alvá ḥ                     Dhabı́h                     Já sb                                  Mihdı́
Alvá ḥ -i-Salá ṭın
́       Duzdá b                                                            Mı́lá n
Amı́n                                                    Ka'bih                                  Mı́rzá
Amru'llá h                  Fá rá n                   Kalimá t                               Mishkı́n-Qalam
Anzalı́                      Fá rs                      Kamá l                                 Muḥ ammad
As qá                       Firdawsı́                   Karand                                  Muḥ ammarih
Aqdas                                                    Karbilá                                Mujtahid
'Arabistá n                 Ganjih                      Ká shá n                              Mulk
Asmá '                      Gı́lá n                    Kawmu'ṣ -Ṣ a'á yidih                 Mullá
'Avá shiq                   Gul                         Kawthar                                 Munı́rih
Ayá dı́                     Gulastá n                  Ká ẓ im                               Mustaghá th
Azal                                                     Ká ẓ imayn
'Aẓ amat                    Ḥabı́b                     Kirmá n                                Nabı́l
'Aziz                        Ḥadı́th                    Kirmá nshá h                          Najaf
Ḥá jı́                    Khalkhá l                              Najaf-As bá d
Bá b                        Hamadá n                   Khá niqayn                             Ná qiḍ ı́n
Bá bu'l-Bá b               Ḥaydar-'Alı́               Khaylı́-Khú b                          Ná ṣ iru'd-Dı́n
Baghdá d                    Haykal                      Khurá sá n                            Nawrú z
Bahá                        Himmat-As bá d             Khuy                                    Nayrı́z
Bahá 'ı́                    Ḥusayn                     Kitá b-i-'Ahd                          Nı́shá bú r
Bahá 'u'llá h              Huvaydar                    Kitá b-i-Aqdas                         Nú r
Bahı́yyih                                                Kurdistá n
Bahjı́                       Ibrá hı́m

The Bahá'í World: A Biennial International Record, vol. II, JK?L–JK?M, pp. ?JO–N. The spelling [often the Persian forms] of
the Oriental words and proper names used in this book and The Dawn-Breakers is as used by Shoghi Effendi.

*+
[A@_]
Pahlavı́                          Rasht                           Sı́sá n                        Thurayyá
Rawhá nı́                      Sı́stá n                       Ṭ ihrá n
Qá dı́yá n                      Riḍ vá n                      Siyyid
Qahqahih                          Rú ḥ u'llá h                 Ṣ ú fı́                       'Ulá
Qá 'im                                                           Sulaymá n                      'Ulamá
Qamsar                            Sabzivá r                      Sulṭán                        Urú mı́yyih
Qasr-i-Shı́rı́n                   Sadratu'l-Muntahá              Sulṭán-As bá d               Vaḥ ı́d
Qawl Qayyú m                     Samarqand                       Sulṭánu'sh-Shuhadá '         Vá ḥ id
Qazvı́n                           Sangsar                         Sunnı́                          Valı́
Qú chá n                        Sá rı́                         Sú ratu'l-Haykal               Varqá
Quddú s                          Shá h                                                          Vazı́r
Qudrat                            Shahı́d                         Tabrı́z
Qum                               Shahmı́rzá d                   Ṭ á hirih                     Yá -Bahá 'u'l-Abhá
Qur'á n                          Shá hrú d                     Tajallı́yá t                   Yaḥ yá
Qurratu'l-'Ayn                    Sharaf                          Tá kur                         Yazd
Shaykh                          Taqı́
Rafsinjá n                       Shı́'ih                         Ṭ ará zá t                   Zanjá n
Raḥ ı́m                          Shı́rá z                       Tarbı́yat                       Zaynu'l-Muqarrabı́n
Raḥ má n                        Shushtar                        Tá shkand
Raḥ mat                          Simná n                        Tawḥ ı́d

Guide to the transliteration and pronunciation of the Persian alphabet1

‫ا‬           á        ‫خ‬   kh   ‫ص‬           ṣ       ‫ك‬          k
‫ب‬          b          ‫د‬   d    ‫ض‬           ḍ       ‫گ‬          g
‫پ‬          p          ‫ذ‬   dh    ‫ط‬          ṭ       ‫ل‬          l
‫ت‬           t         ‫ر‬   r     ‫ظ‬          ẓ       ‫م‬         m
‫ث‬          th         ‫ز‬   z     ‫ع‬           '       ‫ن‬          n
‫ج‬           j         ‫ژ‬   zh    ‫غ‬         gh        ‫و‬         v/w
‫چ‬          ch         ‫س‬   s    ‫ف‬           f        ‫ي‬          y
'
‫ح‬          ḥ         ‫ش‬   sh    ‫ق‬          q        ‫ء‬
(Hamza)

th      pronounced as s                         a as     in account
dh      pronounced as z                         á as    in arm
zh      pronounced as j (French)                i  as e in best
ṣ      pronounced as s                         ı́ as ee in meet
ḍ      pronounced as z                         u as o in short
ṭ      pronounced as t                         ú as oo in moon
ẓ      pronounced as z                         aw as    in mown

See also The Dawn-Breakers, p. LXO.

*!
H:

Report of Committee on transliteration of
:Kth International Congress of Orientalists
held at Geneva in :E=O1
[XiC]
Tenth International Congress of Orientalists,
held at Geneva.
Report of the Transliteration Committee.
(Translation)
The Committee appointed by the Congress to select a system for the transliteration of the Sanskrit
and Arabic Alphabets has held several meetings. After having examined and discussed the systems
which have hitherto been used, and taken note of the various improvements which have been
suggested by members of the Congress and other savants, the Committee submit for the approval of
the Congress, and with a view to general adoption by Orientalists, the systems shown in the two
tabular forms annexed to this report.
They have taken as a basis for their work the report presented by a special committee appointed by
the Royal Asiatic Society of London, and the systems of transliteration usually adopted in France, in
Germany, and by the Bengal Asiatic Society. They do not pretend to have discovered a perfectly
scientific system; it was necessary to give weight to established usages, and also to take into
consideration the varying pronunciations which the letters of the Arabic alphabet have received in
different Muhammadan countries. This is one reason for the alternative modes of transliteration
proposed for certain letters, but the number
[Page XXb]
for which these alternative methods are suggested bas been kept as small as possible, and it is hoped
that the Orientalists of every country will endeavour to still further reduce this number by conforming
as much as possible to the system recommended by the Committee.
As regards the transliteration of Sanskrit, the differences of opinion have been much less, and only
in the case of a very small number of letters has any difficulty arisen. In these instances the
Committee have chosen from among the various equivalents proposed those which on the whole seem
best suited for practical use.
To obtain uniformity each country and each society must make some concessions, and the
Committee hope that the systems now proposed will be unanimously adopted and brought into
general use.

Barbier de Meynard,            G. T. Plunkett,
G. Bü hler,                   Emile Senart,
J. Burgess,                    Socin
M. J. de Goeje,                Windisch
H. Thompson Lyon,
Geneva, @b September, @XC_.

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, October JMKA, pp. MXK–MM@, MM? & MMM–K. The page with the Sanskrit and Pali alphabets
has been omitted.

**
[XXb]
Transliteration of the Sanskrit and Pali alphabets
…
[XX@]

*"
[XXA]
Transliteration of Arabic alphabet1

Recommended                                                 Recommended
‫ ا‬at beginning of word omit; hamza elsewhere '              ‫'ع‬
‫ب‬b                                                          ‫ غ‬g (D underdots) permissible gh
‫ت‬t                                                          ‫ف‬f
‫ ث‬t (D underdots) permissible th                            ‫ق‬q
‫ ج‬j permissible dj                                          ‫ک‬k
‫ح‬h                                                          ‫ل‬l
‫ خ‬t (D underdots) permissible kh                            ‫م‬m
‫د‬d                                                          ‫ن‬n
‫ ذ‬d (D underdots) permissible dh                            ‫و‬w
‫ر‬r                                                          ‫ه‬h
‫ز‬z
vowels a, i, u
‫س‬s
lengthened ‫ آ‬ā , ِ ‫ي‬, ı̄, ‫ ُو‬ú
‫ ش‬s (D underdots) permissible sh
diphthongs ‫ ﯾﺎ‬ay and ‫ وا‬aw
‫ ص‬ṣ
e and o may be used in place of ı̄ and ū
‫ ض‬ḍ
… ü and ö in Turkish
‫ ط‬t (A underdots) or ṭ
‫ ل‬of article ‫ ال‬to be always l.
‫ ظ‬z (A underdots) ẓ

Additional in Persian
‫پ‬p
‫ چ‬c (D underdots) permissible ch
‫ ژ‬z (D underdots) permissible zh
‫گ‬g
…

Only information regarding Arabic and Persian, and some Turkish, has been included.

*$
[XXX]
Proposals of the Sub-committee for
the transliteration of the Arabic alphabet
@.   The Committee agree upon the following:
‫ ب‬b — ‫ ت‬t — ‫ ح‬ḥ — ‫ د‬d — ‫ ر‬r —‫ ز‬z — ‫ س‬s — ‫ ص‬ṣ — ‫ ف‬f — ‫ ق‬q — ‫ ک‬k — ‫ ل‬l — ‫ م‬m — ‫ ن‬n — ‫ ه‬h — ‫ پ‬p
A. For ‫ ج‬they recommend j, but will allow dj to be used as a substitute,
D. For ‫ض‬ḍ , but allow ẓ in India.
_. For ‫ ط‬t̤ and for ‫ ظ‬z̤ . This is to avoid upsetting the Indian accepted system—elsewhere ṭ and ẓ will
suffice,
N. For ‫ ي‬y whenever ‫ ي‬is a consonant. Whilst fully appreciating the reasons why German
Orientalists have preferred j the Committee feel obliged to adopt the character accepted
throughout India and by English, French, and many other writers and scholars.
R. ‫ ا‬at the commencement of a word need not be transliterated, hamzah in the middle or at the end
of a word to be represented by ' above the line.
i. For ‫ ' ع‬above the line (a comma reversed).

*%
[XXC]

X.    For ‫چ ژ غ ش ذ خ ث‬
t h d s g z c (all with D underdots)
but agree that th kh dh sh gh zh ch may be used as substitutes for the above.
They consider that t, h, etc., (with D underdots) are better than [the same letters with D overdots],
or any others in which the mark is placed above the consonant, as in this position the mark may
be taken for the accent of a vowel, the cross of a t, etc.
…
C.    For ‫ و‬as a consonant w.
@b. For ‫ ك‬in Persian, Hindustani, and Turkish g.
That in Turkish books for beginners, if it be thought necessary to mark when the ‫ ک‬is to be
pronounced as y, the sign ᶄ should be used.
@@.   …
@A. …
@D. The ‫ ل‬of the article ‫ ال‬to be transliterated l.

@_. That the vowel-points be a, i, u
The Lengthened vowels ‫ آ‬ā , ِ ‫ي‬, ı̄, ‫ ُو‬ú . That e and o may be used in place of ı̄ and ū in these
languages in which it may be necessary. That ü and ö may be also used in Turkish, ….
That the so-called diphthongs ‫ ﯾﺎ‬ay and ‫ وا‬aw.

G. T. Plunket

*&
O:

Universal House of Justice:
Letter and memorandum of Research Department, >> October :=EV

Wixamtree, Sand Lane
Northill
Biggleswade
Beds. SG@X CAD
England
Dear Baha'i friends,
In @CiX, I conducted some correspondence with you regarding the question of the Bahá 'ı́ system of
transliteration. At that time I wrote to you that I had been unable to find which Congress of
Orientalists it was that Shoghi Effendi had been referring to when he stated that the Bahá 'ı́s should
use the system approved by the International Congress of Orientalists. As I had some time to spare in
the Library of the School of African and Oriental Languages recently, I had another look through the
reports of the various annual congresses and on this occasion. I went back further than I had done
previously. I believe I have now found the Congress to which Shoghi Effendi was referring.
The tenth International Congress of Orientalists was held in Geneva in @XC_. In the published
proceedings of this Congress, there is an addendum giving the result of the proceedings of a
Commission charged with finding a transcription system. The enclosed photocopies show their
recommendations. You will see that Shoghi Effendi has used this system utilising their permissible
alternatives in all cases where they recommend single letters. The only ways in which Shoghi Effendi
has deviated from this system is that it recommends "al-" in all cases for the Arabic definite article,
whereas Shoghi Effendi uses the doubled consonant in the case of the Sun letters—"as-", "ash-", "ar-",
etc., also Shoghi Effendi uses "v" instead of "w" for the Persian letter "vav". You will also note that the
recommendation, is for flat accents [macrons] rather than accute. Unfortunately, the brief description
on these pages gives no indication of what should be done with respect to the Persian idafa [iḍ á fa] and
other difficult situations which I highlighted in my previous correspondence. Shoghi Effendi
presumably devised his own solutions to these cases.
With warmest Baha'i greetings,
Dr Moojan Momen

*'
The Universal House of Justice
Bahá 'ı́ World Centre

Department of the Secretariat
AA October @CXi
Dr Moojan Momen
Wixamtree; Sand Lane
Northill,
Biggleswade
Beds. SG@X CAD
England

Dear Bahá 'ı́ Friend,
The Universal House of Justice read with great interest your letter of @C July @CXi about your
discovery of further information in connection with the Bahá 'ı́ system of transliteration, and referred
the matter to the Research Department. We are now directed to send you the enclosed copy of the
memorandum prepared by that Department in response.
The House of Justice hopes that the results of the research done at the World Centre will be of
assistance to you in your endeavours to solve the riddle of the source of the transliteration system on
which Shoghi Effendi based the method now in use in Bahá 'ı́ texts.

With loving Bahá 'ı́ greetings,
[signed Ethna Archibald]
For Department of the Secretariat
Enclosure

*(
Memorandum
[@]
To: The Universal House of Justice Date: AA October @CXi
From: The Research Department
The Bahá'í transliteration system
With his letter dated @C July @CXi, Dr Moojan Momen forwarded the report of a Commission
"charged by the [Tenth International] Congress of Orientalists] to adopt a system of transliteration for
the Sanskrit and Arabic languages", which includes a transliteration system for Arabic upon which
Shoghi Effendi may have based the method now used in Bahá 'ı́ texts.
The Research Department has compared the system proposed by the Transcription Commission
with that described in The Bahá'í World volumes and agrees with Dr Momen's observation that the
two systems are very similar. It is indeed possible that the beloved Guardian adapted the
Commission's proposal for his use. His secretary wrote in response to a query from an individual
believer:
As to the origin of the transliteration used by Shoghi Effendi, this was decided upon by an
international congress of orientalists and is now adhered to by the most eminent scholars. (@C
June @CD@)
The variations between the Commission's transliteration system and that used in Bahá 'ı́ texts could
be explained by postulating that, where the Commission permitted alternative transliterations, Shoghi
Effendi adopted the variant which was easiest to reproduce on the typewriters of the day, e.g., th
instead of t [D underdots] for ‫ث‬, j instead of dj for ‫ج‬, ṭ instead of t̤ for ‫ط‬.
With regard to the use of an acute accent (´) instead of a macron (¯) on long vowels, it is interesting
to note that carbon copies of early letters typewritten by Shoghi Effendi or on his behalf held in the
World Centre Archives show that the accent on long vowels was generally made by typing a straight
apostrophe above the letter in question. This involved only backspacing, rather than the backspacing
and movement of the platen required to place a dash above the letter. On AD April @CAN, the Guardian's
secretary wrote on his behalf to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles regarding the
revision of a folder as follows:
… Shoghi Effendi is desirous that the horizontal accents over the long vowels in the Persian and
Arabic transliterated words should be replaced by vertical or nearly vertical ones, if possible,
thus:
Bah ' or Bahá 'ı́ instead of Bahā 'ı̄

*)
[A]
and again, on AD January @CAR:
With regard to the accent on the letter a in the transliteration of Persian names and words and
the difficulty of the publishers in having a vertical mark, Shoghi Effendi feels that in case having
the regular vertical mark means too much trouble and expense it would be justified to replace it
by the horizontal dash on the a, but if the trouble and expense would not be much, for the sake
of uniformity throughout transliterations everywhere, it would be best to have the regular
vertical mark.
Other variations between Bahá 'ı́ transliteration and the system offered by the Commission occur,
as is pointed out by Dr Momen: whereas the Commission recommends that the Lám of the Arabic
definite article ‫ ال‬always be "l", the Guardian chose to assimilate the Lám of the definite article of the
following consonant, when this is one of the "sun" letters, resulting in a doubling of that consonant.
Furthermore, ‫ و‬is transliterated as w when it occurs as an element of a diphthong, as in "Naw-Rú z",
but generally as a v when it occurs as a consonant, e.g., "Riḍ vá n". Examples of consonantal vá vs
represented by w are rare, but do occur: "An-Nú ru'l-Abhá -Fı́-Mufá wadá t-i-'Abdu'l-Bahá " (The Bahá'í
World, vol. N (New York: Bahá 'ı́ Publishing Committee, @CDR), p. _i_) and "waqf property" (God Passes
By, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Bahá 'ı́ Publishing Trust, @CXi), p. DNi).
Shoghi Effendi enclosed a "list of the best known and most current Bahá 'ı́ terms, and other Oriental
names and expressions, all properly and accurately transliterated" with his letter to the Western
believers dated @A March @CAD. (The letter is published in Bahá'í Administration: Selected Messages
MNOO–MNQO, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Bahá 'ı́ Publishing Trust, @Ci_), pages D_–_D.) The "full code" mentioned
in the postscript to this letter was included with a letter dated C April @CAD addressed to the National
Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada. This indicates that the system upon which the
Bahá 'ı́ system is based existed prior to @CAD.
It is our understanding that, according to the proceedings of succeeding International Congresses,
the problem of transliteration was not discussed again until the Thirteenth Congress in Leyden, @CD@,
which was after the Bahá 'ı́ transliteration system had been promulgated.
In this connection, the choice of language in the note regarding transliteration on the verso of the
title page in The Bahá'í World: A Biennial International Record, vol. A, "April @CAR–April @CAX"(New
York, Bahá 'ı́ Publishing Committee, @CAX) is also of interest:
NOTE: The spelling of the Oriental words and proper names used in this issue of The Bahá'í
World is according to the system of transliteration established at one of the International
Oriental Congresses.
This note states that the system was "established" at one of the International Oriental Congresses,
not "adopted". As we have no record that the Transcription Commission's recommendation was
endorsed or adopted by the Tenth Congress, or by later Congresses, this may be an additional support
for the hypothesis that the transliteration system adopted by Shoghi Effendi is based on this
recommendation.

"+
[D]
In support of the above hypothesis, it would be of value to ascertain, if possible:
Whether the Tenth, or a later, International Congress dealt with the system put forward by the
Transcription Commission.
The membership of the Commission, since the universality and practicality of the system was
emphasized by the Guardian's secretaries.
______________________________________________

"!
?:

Universal House of Justice:
Enclosing a copy of a page from Shoghi Effendi's notebook

The Universal House of Justice
Bahá 'ı́ World Centre

Department of the Secretariat

@R October @CXX
Dr Moojan Momen
Wixamtree, Sand Lane
Northill, Biggleswade
Beds. SG@X CAD
England
Dear Bahá 'ı́ Friend,
We wrote to you on AA October @CXi on behalf of the Universal House of Justice concerning the
Bahá 'ı́ system of transliteration, and enclosed a memorandum from the Research Department on this
subject. We are now directed by the House of Justice to send you the enclosed copy of a page copied
from a notebook kept by Shoghi Effendi when he was at Oxford University.
As you will note, the annotation made by Shoghi Effendi confirms your own conclusion about the
International Congress of Orientalists of @XC_. Shoghi Effendi also makes reference to the Council of
the Royal Asiatic Society held in October @XCR.
With loving Bahá 'ı́ greetings,
[signed Ethna Archibald]
For Department of the Secretariat
Enclosure

"*
Handwritten copy of a page from Shoghi Effendi's notebook has been omitted.

""
A:

The Geneva Congress system
as amended by the Royal Asiatic Society
[N]
Table II
Transliteration of the Arabic alphabet
Adopted by the Geneva Congress.
[Notes in square brackets refer to pp. R, i.]
‫ ا‬at beginning of word omit; hamza elsewhere ' ['    ‫ غ‬g (D underdots) permissible gh
or, Note X]                                          ‫ف‬f
‫ب‬b                                                   ‫ق‬q
‫ت‬t                                                   ‫ک‬k
‫ ث‬t (D underdots) permissible th                     ‫ل‬l
‫ ج‬j permissible dj                                   ‫م‬m
‫ ح‬ḥ                                                 ‫ن‬n
‫ خ‬h (D underdots) kh                                 ‫و‬w
‫د‬d                                                   ‫ه‬h
‫ ز‬d (D underdots) dh                                 ‫ي‬y
‫ر‬r
‫ز‬z                                                   ‫ﻓﻘﮑﻠﻤﻦ‬
‫س‬s
vowels a, i, u
‫ ش‬s (D underdots) permissible sh
lengthened ‫ آ‬ā , ِ ‫ي‬, ı̄, ‫ ُو‬ú
‫ ص‬ṣ [see Note @]
diphthongs ‫ ﯾﺎ‬ay and ‫ وا‬aw
‫ ض‬d [see Note A]
e and o may be used in place of ı̄ and ū
‫ ذ‬ḍ
… ü and ö in Turkish
‫ ط‬t̤ or ṭ [only t̤, Note D]
‫ ل‬of article ‫ ال‬to be always l.
‫ ظ‬z̤ or ẓ
‫'ع‬

________________________

"$
Persian
[R]
Opening words of the Gulistā n:

Minnat ḣudā ı̄rā 'azza wa jalla kih t̤ū'ataṣ mū jili-i-qurbatast. Wa biṡ ukr andaraṡ mazı̄d-i-ni'mat. Har
nafa-i-kih farū mirā vad mumidd-i-ḣiyū tast. Wa ċ ūn bar niaya-i-mufarriq-i-ż āt. Pas dar har nafzaı̄ dū
ni'mat maujū da: Wa bar har ni'matı̄ ṡ ukrı̄ wā jib.1
(@@)
The Council would take this opportunity of suggesting the following scheme for the transliteration
of Hebrew.
…

Overdots used for O underdots.

"%
[R]
Additional in Persian, Hindi, and Pashtū
‫پ‬p
‫ چ‬c (D underdots) permissible ch
‫ ژ‬z (D underdots) permissible zh
‫گ‬g
…
The above scheme contains, it will be seen, two schemes: one for the transliteration of Sanskrit,
Pā li, and the allied alphabets, and one for the transliteration of Arabic and the allied alphabets. These
two tables are inconsistent with one another on several points. In applying the Congress scheme,
therefore, to the transliteration of Hindi *which is written both with Sanskrit and Arabic letters) the
same word would have to be transliterated differently aocordizilt to the alphabet before the
transliterator. These points are as follows
@.   The sound represented in English by sh is represented in the first table by s̜ , and in the second by
s (D underdots) (sh being permissible). On the other hand, the s̜ is used in the first table for the
Sanskrit (?) (sh) and in the second for ‫( ص‬z). The practical difficulties arising from this
discrepancy are, however, so small that the Council would merely point out the discrepancy.
A.   The sign ḍ is used in the Sanskrit table for (?), (the cerebral d), and in the Arabic table for ‫ض‬
(dad). This discrepancy could be avoided by selecting d̤ for the dā d,

"&
[i]
D.     The alternative transliteration ṭ allowed for ‫ ط‬in the second table clashes with the use of the same
sign in the first table. This alternative transliteration might be dropped out of Table II.
_.     The diphthongs ai and au in the first table are replaced by ay and aw in the second. It would be
better to adhere to the first table.
N.     The transliteration w for the ‫ و‬in the Arabic table clashes with that proposed for the ठ in the
Sanskrit table. Both v and w might be allowed for each of these letters.
R.     The sound represented by ch in the English orthography is transliterated c in the Sanskrit table,
and c (D unnderdots) (ch being permissible) in the second table. It would be more consistent to
adopt c throughout.
There are also one or two other matters which are worthy of notice.
i.     The signs z and ẓ, and ḍ and ẓ are each of them used in Table II as the transliteration of two
different letters.
X.     No sign has been suggested in the Arabic table for the transliteration of the waṣ la. The comma
above the line ' used in the table to represent the hamza might be used for the waṣ la, and either a
stroke or a circle above the line (' or °) might be used for the hamza.
C.     No sign has been suggested in the Arabic table for the silent t. The sign h̤ might be used to
represent this letter.
@b. A stroke beneath the line (thus k̩ or m̩) might be suggested to signify that a letter written in any
alphabet to be transliterated is not to be pronounced.

"'
[X]
Subject to the suggestions above made, which will, the Council hopes, meet with the approval of
Continental scholars, the following passages would illustrate the scheme as adopted by the Congress.
Sanskrit
…

"(
[C]
Pāli
…
Arabic
Opening chapter of the Qur'ā n:
‫ِ ٱﻟﱠﺮْﺣَﻤٰـِﻦ ٱﻟﱠﺮِﺣﯿِﻢ‬T‫ِﺑْﺴِﻢ ٱﱠ‬                                                                                          Bismi'llā hi'l-raḥ mā ni'l-raḥ ı̄mi
‫ب ٱْﻟﻌَٰـﻠَِﻤﯿَﻦ‬ِ ّ ‫ِ َر‬T‫ٱْﻟَﺤْﻤﺪُ ِ ﱠ‬                                                                                      al-ḥ amdu lillā hi rabbi-'l-'ā lamı̄n
‫ٱﻟﱠﺮْﺣَﻤٰـِﻦ ٱﻟﱠﺮِﺣﯿِﻢ‬                                                                                                      al-raḥ mā ni'l-raḥ ı̄mi
‫َﻣٰـِﻠِﻚ ﯾَْﻮِم ٱﻟ ِﺪّﯾِﻦ‬                                                                                                   mā liki yawmi'l-dı̄ni
‫ِإﯾﱠﺎَك ﻧَْﻌﺒُﺪُ َوِإﯾﱠﺎَك ﻧَْﺴﺘ َِﻌﯿُﻦ‬                                                                                     ı̄yyā ka na'budu wa-ı̄yā ka nasta'ı̄nu
‫ط ٱْﻟُﻤْﺴﺘ َِﻘﯿَﻢ‬َ ‫ﺼَٰﺮ‬ّ ِ ‫ٱْھِﺪﻧَﺎ ٱﻟ‬                                                                                      Ihdinā 'l-ṣ irā t̤a'l-mustaqı̄ma
‫ﻀﺎ ٓ ِﻟّﯿَﻦ‬
‫ب َﻋﻠَْﯿِﮭْﻢ َوَﻻ ٱﻟ ﱠ‬  ِ ‫ﻀﻮ‬ ُ ‫ﺖ َﻋﻠَْﯿِﮭْﻢ َﻏْﯿِﺮ ٱْﻟَﻤْﻐ‬
َ ‫ط ٱﻟﱠِﺬﯾَﻦ أ َْﻧﻌَْﻤ‬
َ ‫ﺻَٰﺮ‬
ِ                              ṣ irā t̤a'llaḍ ı̄na an'amta 'alaihim ghairi'l-maghd̤ ū bi
'alaihim wa lā 'l-d̤ ā lı̄na
Qur'ā n C:@
‫ﺳﻮِﻟ ِٓۦﮫ ِإﻟَﻰ ٱﻟﱠِﺬﯾَﻦ َﻋٰـَﮭﺪﺗ ﱡﻢ ِّﻣَﻦ ٱْﻟُﻤْﺸِﺮِﻛﯿَﻦ‬
ُ ‫ِ َوَر‬T‫ﺑََﺮآَءة ٌ ِّﻣَﻦ ٱﱠ‬                                       Barā 'atun mina'llahi wa rasū lihi ilā alladhı̄na
'ā hadtum mina 'l-mush'rikı̄n
Qur'ā n @b:i_1
ِ ‫ﺳًﻼ ِإﻟَٰﻰ ﻗَ ۡﻮِﻣِﮭۡﻢ ﻓََﺠۤﺎُءوُھﻢ ِﺑﭑۡﻟﺒَ ِﯿّﻨَٰـ‬
‫ﺖ ﻓََﻤﺎ َﻛﺎﻧُﻮ۟ا ِﻟﯿُۡﺆِﻣﻨُﻮ۟ا‬                                                   ُ ‫ﺛ ُﱠﻢ ﺑَﻌَۡﺜﻨَﺎ ِﻣۢﻦ ﺑَۡﻌِﺪِهۦ ُر‬        thumma ba'athnā min ba'dihi rusulan ilā
Û¡
‫ب ٱﻟُﻤۡﻌﺘ َِﺪﯾَﻦ‬                          ۡ              ۚ                ۟
ِ ‫ِﺑَﻤﺎ َﻛﺬﱠﺑُﻮا ِﺑ ِۦﮫ ِﻣﻦ ﻗَۡﺒُﻞ َﻛﺬَ ِٰﻟَﻚ ﻧَﻄﺒَُﻊ َﻋﻠَٰﻰ ﻗُﻠُﻮ‬                                         qawmihim fajā 'ū hum bi'l-bayinā ti famā kā nū
liyu'minū bimā kadhabū bihi min qablu kadhā lika
naṭba'u 'alā qulū bi l-muʿtadı̄n2
[@b]
Notes:
Hamza at the beginning of a word is omitted, as prescribed on p. N. Only the vowel is written. Ex.
asad, a lion; plural usad. Insān, a humen being.
Hamza elsewhere = a stroke ' or circle °.
Waṣ la is represented by an apostrophe. See Note X, p. i. The diphthongs have been written ai and
au, not ay and aw. See Note _, p. i.

The Arabic quoted text appeared to contain errors and the source is not Qur'á n J@:JN. Only Qur'á n X:J@J and J@:XN
resembled the quoted text.—M.W.T.
Transliteration may not match the original.—M.W.T.

")
[Repeat of page DX]

$+
V:

First interchange of correspondence with the
Universal House of Justice on transliteration

The Universal House of Justice
P.O. Box @NN
Haifa, Israel                                   @N August @CiX
Dear Bahá 'ı́ Friends,
I am in the process of editing a book to be published by George Ronald. This will be a collection of
essays by Prof. F. Kazemzadeh, Denis MacEoin, Peter Smith and myself, and is provisionally entitled
Studies in Bábí and Bahá'í History. It is hoped that it will stimulate some interest in the academic
community and the essays are being written with this in mind.
In connection with this book, a problem has arisen over the matter of transliteration. As you are no
doubt aware, the system of transliteration at present in general use in the academic community is
somewhat different to that used in Bahá 'ı́ books. No system of transliteration is completely
satisfactory but the present Bahá 'ı́ system suffers from great inconsistencies and it is these
inconsistencies which have been the principle cause of criticism such as that levelled by Elwell-Sutton
at Balyuzi's Muḥammad and the Course of Islám in a recent issue of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society (a copy is enclosed for your information). The Bahá 'ı́ system is said to be based on a system
worked out at one of the Congress of Orientalists. However I have been unable to find any such
system in the Proceedings of these Congresses. In any case, it is not so much in the basic system as in
its application that inconsistencies arise in present Bahá 'ı́ usage.
The principal problems are as follows:
@.    The system ought to be consistent as to whether it is a system of transcription of pronunciation
(i.e. it conveys the information of how a word sounds) or a system of transliteration (i.e. it
conveys the information of how a word is written). The main problem of the Bahá 'ı́ system lies in
the fact that it has taken a system that was designed for the transliteration of Arabic words and
has applied it to the transcription of Persian pronunciation. In making this transformation, the
Bahá 'ı́ system has fallen between the two stools and is at present neither entirely a system of
transliteration (thus you have Abu'l-Qasim and Dhi'l-Ḥijjih rather than Abú 'l-Qá sim and Dhú 'l-
HÌ£ijjih) nor a system of transcription of the Persian pronunciation (thus the letters

$!
d, dh, and th have no resemblance to the Persian pronunciation which is z, z and s respectively;
Mazindará n is pronounced Mazandará n etc.).
A.   The Bahá 'ı́ system uses Persian pronunciation and usage even in Arabic expressions and the
names of Arabs and Arabic books. Thus Ibnu'l-'Arabı́ wrote al-Futuḥátu'l-Makkíya and not
Futúḥat-i-Makkíyyih as it appears in Bahá 'ı́ books. Similarly Shaykh Aḥ mad was an Arab and
should be called al-Aḥ sá 'i and not i-Aḥ sá 'ı́. But there are inconsistencies even in this usage in
Bahá 'ı́ books; thus we have Kitá b-i-Aqdas but Kitá bu'r-Rú ḥ (both of which are Arabic books).
D.   In the Persian iḍáfa construction after a word ending in -ih or the long vowels, -ú , -á , -ı́, the yi
sound follows the ending and is not a part of it; thus rı́shiy-i-dirakht implies that rı́shih has had an
h changed to a y, whereas the h has gone and the buffer sound yi has been added. Rı́shi-yi-dirakht
conveys the structure of this construct better. Similarly, one would have 'Alı́-yi-Basṭámı́.
_.   Normal Bahá 'ı́ usage is inconsistent as regards the use of final hamza; thus we have Qayyú mu'l-
Asmá ' and Siyyidu'sh-Shuhadá ' but 'Abdu'l-Bahá and 'Ulamá (with no final hamza indicated).
N.   The Bahá 'ı́ system looks somewhat strange and antiquated with oblique accent marks instead of
flat ones which are almost universal now, e.g. Bá b instead of Bā b.
Thus the present Bahá 'ı́ system has many inconsistencies, and while this is acceptable in the corpus
of books that exist at present, it presents great problems and confusion to a writer who wishes to
transliterate a word that has not previously been transliterated in a Bahá 'ı́ publication. Thus this
system which was originally introduced in order to eliminate variation and confusion in
transliteration in Bahá 'ı́ books may in fact in the long run itself create variation and confusion. This is
not to say however that the Bahá 'ı́ system does not have some advantages over the system currently
in use among orientalists; thus, for example, the use of underlining sh, dh, etc., is more scientific than
omitting this as orientalists do and of course the Bahá 'ı́ system is a better guide to Persian
pronunciation than the system used by orientalists.
If it is desired, however, to have a system that transcribes Persian pronunciation, there is in
existence a much better, more consistent system,

$*
see H. Busse's History of Persia under Qajar Rule. On the other hand it would involve fewer changes in
the present system and be more in keeping with the present trend among orientalists if the Bahá 'ı́
system were to be altered so as to become consistently a system of transliteration.
Consequently, for the book that I am now editing, and for any future books aimed at the non-Bahá 'ı́
academic community, I would like to propose using the present Bahá 'ı́ system but with the following
alterations made so as to make it a system of transliteration, to eliminate inconsistencies, and to bring
it more into line with the system currently in use as far as the format is concerned.
@.   To standardize all names and expressions using the Arabic iḍ á fa construction so that they are
connected by u (which is what the Arabic grammatical form requires). This would only affect a
very few names such as Ná ṣ iru'd-Dı́n (instead of Ná ṣ iri'd-Dı́n).
A.   To transliterate all Arabic names and expressions according to Arabic usage and grammar and
not Persian, e.g. Shaykh Aḥ mad al-Aḥ sá 'ı́, Yá Ṣ á hiba'z-Zamá n (instead of Ṣ á hibu'z-Zamá n).
D.   In words and names derived from Arabic which end in o in Arabic and o in Persian, to be
transliterated -a where an Arabic name or expression is intended (e.g. Madina) and -ih for Persian
names (e.g. Rú zbih).
_.   To keep more closely to grammatical form in Arabic names and expressions, e.g. Mu'tamadu'd-
Dawlih (instead of Mu'tamidu'd-Dawlih), Abu-Badı́' (instead of Aba-Badı́').
N.   To use flat accents [macrons] instead of acute, e.g. Bā b instead of Bá b.
R.   To separate more clearly the components of a Persian iḍ á fa construction in which the first
component ends in -ih, -á , -ú , -ı́. e.g. 'Alı́-yi-Kanı́ rather than 'Alı́y-i-Kanı́.
i.   To eliminate certain usages such as Mazandará n (rather than Mazindará n).
X.   Common place-names such as Baghdad and Shiraz require no transliteration.

$"
C.    To drop the final hamza in all cases, e.g. Qayyú mu'l-Asmá .
@b. To use w for the silent ‫و‬, e.g. Khwá razm.
This seems a very large list of alterations but in practical terms, the effects that it will have on
Bahá 'ı́ texts would be very slight. The suggested change in accenting would not alter the appearance
of the text greatly and the other changes occur relatively infrequently. Thus for example, I counted
only AN changes (other than accenting) in the Prologue and first three chapters (NC pages) of Balyuzi's
The Báb.
Thus with comparatively minor changes in form, one can remove most of the problems and
inconsistencies in the present Bahá 'ı́ system and bring the system more into line with that followed by
most other publications in this field. This is particularly important in a work of the nature of that
which I am editing since it is our intention to send the book to a number of learned journals for review
and it would be regrettable if this and other books published were to be met with the same sort of
criticism as that which has been levelled by Ellwell-Sutton.
If you desire any clarification of the points raised in this letter, I will be in Haifa during the summer,
Warmest Bahá 'ı́ greetings,
M. Momen

$*b
The Universal House of Justice
Bahá 'ı́ World Centre

Department of the Secretariat
Ab October @CiX

Dr Moojan Momen
@_/@N Shelby Row
Cambridge
England
Dear Bahá 'ı́ Friend,
Your letter of @N August @CiX making various recommendations about the transliteration of Arabic
and Persian terms into the Roman alphabet was referred by the Universal House of Justice to an ad
hoc committee.
The report of that committee has now been presented and the Universal House of Justice has
instructed us to send you the enclosed copy for your comments, which it will be glad to receive.
For Department of the Secretariat
Enclosure
With loving Bahá 'ı́ greetings,
[signed Loraine Kerfoot]

$"
Memorandum

To: The Universal House of Justice           Date: @D October @CiX

From: Ad hoc Committee

Subject: Transliteration—Dr Moojan Momen's letter of @N August @CiX
There is no doubt that a number of inconsistencies and anomalies have crept into the practice of
Bahá 'ı́s in transliteration [of] Arabic and Persian terms. We feel Dr Momen's letter presents a very
helpful approach to overcoming these, although we differ with him in a number of his specific
recommendations. We shall make a few general observations first on the matter of transliteration and
shall then comment on the recommendations listed on page D of his letter.
@.   It is of great practical value to Bahá 'ı́s to have a system that can transliterate both Arabic and
Persian. Our Holy Writings are in both languages and thus the same term sometimes appears in
Persian and sometimes in Arabic. While, therefore, the system is basically one of transliteration,
we feel that it is an advantage rather than otherwise for it to be able to indicate in various minor
ways the difference between Persian and Arabic usages, especially in the pronunciation of vowels.
A.   It must be remembered that the system is for use not merely for English publications, but for
publications in all those languages using the Roman alphabet, except for Turkish. If, therefore, we
are to consider the current usage of orientalists, we should consider that of orientalists writing in
German, French, Spanish, Italian, etc., as well as those writing in English.
D.   The primary purpose, however, is not for scholarly works, but to provide a system which can be
used by all Bahá 'ı́s writing in the Roman alphabet. In other words, while it should be possible for
scholars to know immediately from the transliterated form how a word was written in the
original text, the system is primarily intended for use by laymen. This influences our views in a
number of ways, which will be apparent in our specific comments below. It is for this reason, for
example, that we favour showing the assimilation of the Arabic definite article in the spelling, as
the present system does, although this is a departure from strict "transliteration".
_.   An important factor is continuity. The present system is now well known to those Bahá 'ı́s who
use the Roman alphabet, therefore any changes should be minimal.
N.   On Dr Momen's ten specific recommendations we have the following comments.
w.7   We do not see the virtue in standardising the spelling of names as suggested. This is one of
the instances where we value the ability of the present system to indicate the Persian
pronunciation of what is otherwise an Arabic word. The Persians say "Ná ṣ iri'd-Dı́n" and we
prefer it to be spelt that way.

$$
[Memorandum: Dr Momen's letter @N.X.iX, Page A]
w.v Here again, the same applies, as Persians generally, when pronouncing Arabic words, do
not normally observe Arabic grammatical rules.
w.x We agree with this recommendation: to use the ending -a when the word is in an Arabic
context and -ih when it is in a Persian one.
w.8 Our comment is the same as in w.7 above.
w.w Here we refer to our point x above. The system is intended for day-to-day use by ordinary
Bahá 'ı́s, and only secondarily by orientalists. Far more typewriters use the acute accent
than the flat accent [macron]. Although the acute accents may look strange and antiquated
to orientalists, they are much more familiar and natural to the average reader. Here,
however, since the purpose of the accent is merely to indicate a long vowel, we see no
objection to permitting Bahá 'ı́ orientalists to use the horizontal accent [macron] (or indeed
a circumflex or any other accent) in their scholarly works if they so wish, although, as
stated above, we prefer the acute accent and this should be retained for general Bahá 'ı́
usage.
w.; We do not agree with this recommendation, but perhaps Dr Momen would like to discuss it
with his publishers. We feel that the effect on the average reader of spelling 'Alı́y-i-Kanı́ as
'Alı́-yi-Kanı́ might be to cause him to stress the 'yi' unconsciously.
w.> We see no reason to eliminate certain usages in transliterating place-names, as some are
pronounced in two ways and both are good usage. A similar case in English is the alternate
spellings 'farther' and 'further'.
w.p The Guardian himself left untransliterated place-names such as Mecca which have a well-
established English usage. Others, such as Baghdá d, Shı́rá z and 'Akká he did transliterate.
We feel this is a matter of judgement that must be left to the author and publisher and may
well vary from country to country, or even from book to book depending upon the context
and the audience for which it is written.
w.q The hamza is dropped in Persian but not in Arabic. Thus, Qayyú m'l-Asmá ', being an Arabic
form, needs a hamza at the end, but the Persian form, Qayyú m-i-Asmá does not require it.
In quotations from the Writings one should use the Arabic or Persian forms of such names
in accordance with the original. If the original uses Arabic, one should transliterate
accordingly, and so with Persian. In original writing an author, we feel, should be free to
use either as he wishes, as both are current in Bahá 'ı́ literature. Thus, although the Most
Holy Book is written in Arabic, it is much more common to refer to it in other places by the
Persian variant of its name, the Kitá b-i-Aqdas, and this, we feel, is entirely permissible.

$%
[Memorandum: Dr Momen's letter @N.X.iX, Page D]
w.7r As such silent letters are very rare we feel it can be left to the decision of individual authors
and publishers whether or not they should be transliterated. Our preference h to omit
them.
____________________________

$&
E: Second interchange of correspondence
with the Universal House of Justice on transliteration

NX Birdwood
Road
Cambridge
CB@ DSU
A November
@CiX
Universal House of Justice
P.O. Box @NN Haifa
Israel
Dear Bahá 'ı́ Friends,
Thank you for your letter of Abth October @CiX forwarding the report of the ad hoc committee on
transliteration.
It is somewhat difficult for me to comment on this report since the whole of the report is based on
premises which differ from those of my original letter. My primary consideration in drafting this
letter was to eliminate the inconsistencies which arise from the fact that the present Bahá 'ı́ system is
neither wholly a system of transliteration of the written word nor wholly a system of transcription of
pronunciation; it is perched somewhere between the two stools and must inevitably fall between
them on occasion (as is pointed out, in the review by Elwell-Sutton of Mr Balyuzi's book Muḥammad
and the Course of Islám). I feel that as there is unquestionably going to be a great growth in the
volume of literature produced by Bahá 'ı́ scholars and as this will involve increasing use of names and
terms borrowed from Persian and Arabic sources, it is important to eliminate inconsistencies at this
stage rather than have to do it later.
The ad hoc committee, on the other hand, seems to regard the ability of the present system to
include elements of Persian pronunciation as being of greater importance despite the inconsistencies
that such a flexibility entails. The ad hoc committee also considers that the present system aids the
layman although I must admit that when the inconsistencies of the present system allow for example
both Futú ḥ á t-i-Makkı́vvih (God Passes By, p. @AA) and Futú ḥ á ta'l-Makkı́yyah (Balyuzi, Muḥammad and
the Course of Islám, p. AXb) and even Mará ghihı́ and Maraghi'ı́ in the same book (The Dawn-Breakers,
Wilmette @CRA, pp. ARb, _A_, _D@ and RXN), I wonder whether the present system is being of service
even to the layman.
Having made these general comments, I will now pass on to consider the specific points made by
the committee.
@.    See above.
A.    The systems in general use among French and German orientalists are even further removed
from the Bahá 'ı́ system than the system used by English-speaking orientalists. The proposals of
my original letter would tend to close the gap a little.

$'
D.     I have made no objection to showing the assimilation of the Arabic definite article since the
correct form in the Arabic is to place a shadda over the first letter of the word the definite article
of which is to be assimilated, in my opinion both al-Shams and ash-Shams are correct
transliterations of ‫ اﻟﺸﻤﺲ‬and since the Bahá 'ı́ system has favoured the latter, I see no objection to
continuing it.
_.     I have borne in mind the factor of continuity in putting forward these proposals, in that I have
kept them to the minimum necessary to ensure consistency. Otherwise there would have been a
large number of other points I would like to have raised: for example, I doubt whether there is
any benefit in indicating the iḍáfa in Persian names. Why not just Mullá Ḥusayn Bushrú 'ı́? After
all you do not write Ṭ ará ẓ u'llá h-yi-Samandarı́, although this is how Persians would pronounce the
name.
N.@ In fact neither i nor u correctly transcribes the sound made by Persians in the middle of Ná ṣ iru'd-
Dı́n. Most Persians elide this vowel into a very short indistinguishable sound. The point is made
clear by referring to a title that has not previously been transliterated. If one were to take the
title ‫ﺻﺎرم اﻟﺪوﻟﺔ‬, Persians would disagree as to whether this should be transliterated Ṣ á rimu'd-
Dawlih or Ṣ á rimi'd-Daulih. Whereas the truth is that the connecting vowel is an intermediate
sound and either u or i would do. Thus inconsistencies will inevitably arise and both forms may
turn up in different writers' works. Lastly, may I point out that the voluminous encyclopaedic
dictionary 'Alı́ Akbar Dihkhudá 's Lughat Náma1 points this word thus: Ná ṣ iru'd-Dı́n, in over @bb
entries under this name including Ná ṣ iru'd-Dı́n Shá h (Volume for pp. @NX-@RR).
N.A The committee's comment on this point was: "Here again, the same applies, as Persians generally,
when pronouncing Arabic words, do not normally observe Arabic grammatical rules." I would
ask the question why when transliterating a word from Arabic into Latin characters for an English
book we are obliged to approach the matter from the point of view of how a Persian would have
pronounced the Arabic word. I realise that the Bahá 'ı́ Faith originated in Persia but I wonder to
what extent we are justified in Persianising everything. Shaykh Aḥ mad was an Arab and
undoubtedly called himself Shaykh Aḥ mad al-Aḥ sá 'ı́. Similarly we have Persianised Turkish
names. Thus I doubt whether Kibrisi Mehmed Paşa knew any Persian at all but his name has been
Persianised to Muḥ ammad Pá shá y-i-Qibrisı́. The logical extension of this would be to have Luvá y-
i-Gitsingir and Hippulı́t-i-Dirayfú s. Moreover I wonder how Arabs and Turks feel about this
Persianisation of their language and their names.
If the aim is to bring everything to the way Persians would pronounce it, why not adopt a system
designed particularly for that. There is in existence a very good system which transliterates ḍ as ż , i as
e, u as o, etc., much closer to the Persian pronunciation than the present Bahá 'ı́ system.

‫ﻟﻐﺎت ﻧﺎﻣﮫ ﻋﻠﯽ اﮐﺒﺮ دھﺨﺪا‬, "Dictionary of 'Alı́ Akbar Dihkhudá ".

$(
N.N I query the statement that "Far more typewriters use the acute accent than the flat accent".
Typewriters in England and America are certainly not sold with an acute accent mark, whereas all
typewriters have a hyphen mark which can be moved up to form a horizontal accent.
N.R This point is fully explained in point D on page A of my previous letter. Despite the committee's
comment, I feel that the greater clarity of Mullá 'Alı́-yi-Kanı́ overrides the advantages of Mullá
'Alı́y-i-Kanı́. For example I wonder how many lay Bahá 'ı́s will, immediately recognize that the
first component of, Qibliy-i-'As lam is the word Qiblih with which they are probably familiar.
N.i I would accept the committee's point that both usages occur. But once again some degree of
definition and consistency is required. A useful standard would be Dikhudá 's Lughat-Náma
(despite its incompleteness) or for geographical names Farhang-i-Jugráfiyá'i-yi-Írán (published
by the Geographical Committee of the Iranian Army General Staff). The latter work gives
Mazandaran incidentally.
In conclusion, I can only repeat the point made at the beginning of this letter: the principal point is
whether we are interested in eliminating inconsistencies or maintaining some degree of flexibility
with regard to pronunciation. I think the point regarding Persianisation is also worth further
consideration as it affects other areas also.
With loving Bahá 'ı́ greetings
M. Momen
______________________________________________

$)
The Universal House of Justice
Bahá 'ı́ World Centre

Department of the Secretariat
X March @CiC

Dr Moojan Momen
@_@N Shelby Row
Cambridge
England
Dear Bahá 'ı́ Friend,
Consideration of your letter of A November @CiX was delayed due to pressures of the work load at
the World Centre, but the Universal House of Justice now instructs us to send you the enclosed copy of
the report of the ad hoc committee.
With loving Bahá 'ı́ greetings,
[signed Loraine Kerfoot]
For Department of the Secretariat
Enclosure

%+
Memorandum

To: The Universal House of Justice Date: Ai February @CiC

From: Ad Hoc Committee

Subject: Transliteration—Dr Moojan Momen's letter of A November @CiX
The committee found it helpful to receive Dr Momen's further comments and agrees that our
earlier report, being based on premises different from those on which his letter of @N August @CiX was
based, brings us to different conclusions which we hope we set out clearly in our report of @D October.
It is our feeling, however, that we are not too far apart in our thinking and that the .results to which
our premises necessarily lead offer a considerable amount of leeway to scholars.
With respect to obvious errors, such as the erroneous transliteration of Mará ghihı́ in the third
paragraph of Dr Momen's letter of A November @CiX, these require correction and it would be very,
useful if Dr Momen would draw to the attention of the World Centre any such errors which appear in
basic Bahá 'ı́ works.
We wish to comment on a few of the numbered points in Dr Momen's letter:
No. _:      We feel that Dr Momen has illustrated perfectly the type of flexibility which the Committee
regards as desirable and which the Universal House of Justice has permitted; e.g.
- Place names and other words that have a current form in a western language do not have to
be transliterated—for instance, Mecca, Islam, etc.
- In many cases we use personal names as the individuals transliterate them; e.g. Zikru'llá h
Khá dem, Jalá l Khá zeh, etc.
- It is useful to leave the iḍ á fa in such cases as Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bushrú 'ı́, where the iḍ á fa
designates the geographical area from which he came. In the second example Dr Momen
gives, the iḍ á fa may be dropped, since "Samandarı́" is not merely a descriptive word but is Mr
Samandarı́'s surname.
No. N.@: The standardization of "u" rather than "i", as in the examples given by Dr Momen, could be
recommended to the Universal House of Justice as it is admittedly inconsistent in Bahá 'ı́
books at present. In all such cases the Committee recommends following the vowel pointing
used in some reasonably authoritative Persian dictionary such as Dihkhudá 's Lughat-Náma.
No. N.A: The Committee's recommendation was, not to Persianize indiscriminately, but to leave
Bahá 'ı́s free to use either the Arabic or Persian form as they prefer and, in translations, to use
whatever is the form used in the original. The original Writings of the Faith, in Persian, are
permeated with Arabic to the point where the two languages at times seem inter-laced.

%!
To: The Universal House of Justice February Ai, @CiC
Page A
No. N.A (cont'd.):
Turkish, of course, presents a special case, as that language now has its own official Romanized
spelling.
As to the transliteration of the Persian form of western names, this would not be relevant in
cases where the correct western name is known beyond doubt, but it might be an excellent
safeguard in the many instances where it is uncertain. In instances of ambiguity perhaps the
transliteration of the original could be given in a footnote if not set out in the body of the text.
No. N.N: The Committee referred not only to English and American usage but to usage of all western
languages having the Roman alphabet. It is felt that to acquire in English-speaking countries a
typewriter with an acute accent does not present a real difficulty.
No. N.i: The Committee gratefully acknowledges Dr Momen's recommendation concerning reference
works to establish standards and increase consistency.
________________________________________________________

%*
=: 'Abdu'l-Bahá on transliteration

I am grateful to Stephen Lambden for drawing my attention to an important preliminary to the
development of the Bahá 'ı́ transliteration system. This was a statement by 'Abdu'l-Bahá regarding the
spelling of the name of "Bahá 'u'llá h" and of "Mashriqu'l-Adhká r". This was published in the Star of the
West shortly before 'Abdu'l-Bahá 's passing (George Ronald reprint, vol. i), Star of the West, XII:@b, X
September @CA@, pp. @RX–@ib).
STAR OF THE WEST
Tablet from Abdul-Baha regarding spelling of Sacred Name
To the maid-servant of God, Miss Jean Masson (Chicago)—Unto her be the Glory of God, the Most
Glorious!—Care of his honor, Mr. Roy Wilhelm (New York):
He is God!
O thou harbinger of the Kingdom!
Thy letter has been received. Its contents indicate that thou art occupied in writing a book in
answer to the one who has written against the Truth. Thou asked as to how ye should spell in English
the blessed name of His Holiness, BAHA 'ULLAH and also Mashreq 'Ul-Azkar. Ye should spell them
thus: BAHA 'ULLAH and Mashreq 'Ul-Azkar.
It is my hope that in writing this book thou wilt be confirmed. The language, however, must be
very lenient and mild. Thou shouldst write it with the utmost politeness. Thou shouldst not look at
the expressions of that hostile person, because he was a man full of prejudice and very impolite.
Anybody who is endowed with a slight sense of fairness understands that what this person has
written is based on the utmost self-interestedness and enmity. This very fact is a sufficient proof
showing his fallacy.
Unto thee be the Glory of Abha!
(Signed) ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS
(Translated by Aziz 'Ullah Khan S. Bahadur, Haifa, Palestine, April AC, @CA@.)
__________________
Haifa,
Palestine,
May @i, @CA@.
Miss Jean Masson,
My dear Bahai sister:
I am sorry your letter to the Master was kept so long unanswered. It was due partly to the sickness
of the Beloved and partly to his thousand-sided occupation. However, I am glad at last there offered
some opportunity when your letter was presented and a Tablet was revealed.

%"
[Star of the West, p. @RC]
As to the spelling of the two names, BAHA 'ULLAH and Mashreq 'Ul-Azkar, the standard is given by
the Master in this same Tablet of yours. The explanation is that BAHA 'ULLAH is composed of two
words, Baha and Allah (Glory and God). BAHA 'ULLAH means the Glory of God. Now the U signifies of.
This vowel, when introduced between these two words, joins them together, but in pronunciation the
A of Allah is dropped and replaced by the same U-vowel. We put an apostrophe between the two
words in order to show that a letter, i.e., A, is dropped and we capitalize the U because it replaces the A
of Allah which is in capital.
Mashreq 'Ul-Azkar is also composed of two words, Mashreq and El-Azkar (Mashreq—dawning
place; El—the; Azkar—mentions or prayers or communes). Again U signifies of. When we put these
two words together the E of El is dropped in pronunciation and so that U-vowel takes its place. We
put an apostrophe to show that the letter E is dropped and we capitalize the U-vowel because it
replaces the E of El which is in capital.
I had the pleasure of reading your pamphlet on the Mashreq 'Ul-Azkar. I admired the style of your
writing and the tactfulness you have exhibited in it. It is sanctioned by the Master. You will kindly
send us many copies for distribution. It is written in a way that will not arouse jealousy in the outside
readers.
Will you kindly remember me to our revered sisters, Mrs True, Arna True, Dr Appel and Mrs
Houser? Also to our dear brother, Dr Bagdadi.
With Bahai love and greeting, I remain,
Your brother in the Covenant of God,
Aziz 'Ullah S. Bahadur.
_______________________________
The Tablet above concerning the spelling of the sacred name, BAHA 'ULLAH, and of Mashreq 'Ul-
Azkar, settles conclusively a matter that has long created among American believers a friendly
divergence of opinion.
The original spelling of the name of the Blessed Perfection, as given to Americans, was, as we know,
BAHA ULLAH, sometimes BEHA ULLAH. Some of us, in the early days of the Cause in the West, found
difficulty in its correct pronunciation. We did not seem to understand, some of us, that 'a' and 'u' have
other sounds in the English language besides long 'a' and long 'u', hence that most sacred name was
often, out of our ignorance, pronounced incorrectly and sometimes irreligiously.
If there is one name that is the perfection of the beautiful, the musical, pronounced, enunciated
correctly and sacredly, it is BAHA 'ULLAH. Pronounced incorrectly, irreverently, it is sacrilegious. So
to aid us in our ignorance, our difficulty in the enunciation of Arabic letters, one of the friends, Mr Roy
Wilhelm, I believe, supplicated Abdul-Baha to settle the difficulty, suggesting that the letter 'o' instead
of `u' would aid Americans in arriving at the correct pronunciation.
Abdul-Baha responded to the effect that the name of the Blessed Beauty should be spelled
BAHA'O'LLAH. This Command has been adhered to religiously by most of the friends in America,
though some have always regarded the original spelling, BAHA ULLAH, with deepest reverence and
longing.
European Bahais seem never to have adopted the American spelling, nor have European scholars
outside the Bahai ranks. Manifestly the new spelling was given only to Americans to aid us in our
immaturity, our Bahai childhood. Today, however, we have passed beyond the period of our infancy
in the Bahai Cause. Persian and Arabic terms and words have grown singularly and beautifully
familiar to us. And many of us have felt for long that we have

%$
[Star of the West, p. @ib]
matured sufficiently to be given the correct spelling, at least of BAHA 'ULLAH. We have felt also that a
unified spelling of the sacred names throughout the Bahai world would make for the universal
unification, which is one of the basic principles of the Bahai Cause. We have felt, also, not only that
there should be a standardized spelling in all Bahai literature, but that Bahai literature should be the
most perfect literature in the world, so elevating it above all criticism by scholars and the unfriendly.
Being engaged upon a most important work in the interest of the Bahai Cause, a work which, when
completed, must compete scholastically, as well as historically, with all literature inimical to the Cause,
I supplicated Abdul-Baha for the correct spelling of BAHA 'ULLAH and Mashreq 'Ul-Azkar. Mashreq
'Ul-Azkar has also passed through various etymological changes in our American terminology in our
effort to arrive at its correct spelling.
In response to this supplication came the Tablet above, with the very clear letter of explanation by
Aziz 'Ullah S. Bahadur, stating explicitly the correct spelling of both words.
"Ye should spell them thus: BAHA 'ULLAH and Mashreq 'Ul-Azkar."
The Star of the West, standing as it does for the pure Teachings, the pure creative Word, is the
logical medium for the dissemination throughout the Bahai world of this explicit instruction as to the
spelling of the two names. It is vastly important that we should have a standardized spelling of all
oriental Bahai terminologies and at some future date, through this same medium, a list will be given
with the correct spelling from the pen of the supreme Authority, Abdul-Baha.
As to the pronunciation of BAHA 'ULLAH and Mashreq 'Ul-Azkar, not much need be said. But let us
remind ourselves that by accenting the final syllables of the words we express in our voice somewhat
of the reverence that is in our hearts.
Let us remind ourselves also that the first 'a' in Baha corresponds in sound most closely to the 'a' in
'ask', and the 'U' in 'Ullah to the 'u' in `full'.
Divided into syllables, then, we have:
BA-HA' 'UL-LAH'.
Mash-req' 'Ul-Az-kar'.
I am sure it is as deep a satisfaction to every American Bahai, as to myself, to have revealed the
authorized spelling of these two names, that of the Manifestation of God and the great Bahai
Institution.
Jean Masson

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-- The Baha'i System of Transliteration (Used by permission of the curator)