# Greatest Name, The (al-Ism al-A'zam)

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Stephen Lambden, Greatest Name, The (al-Ism al-A'zam), bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Greatest Name, The (al-Ism al-A`zam)
> 
> Stephen Lambden
> 
> 1995
> 
> "O Peoples of the world! He Who is the Most Great Name (al-ism al a`am) is
> come, on the part of the Ancient King." (ESW:128)
> 
> "Let your joy be the joy born of My Most Great Name (ismi al-a`zam), a Name
> that bringeth rapture to the heart, and filleth with ecstasy the minds of all
> who have drawn nigh unto God." (Aqdas 38, para.31)
> 
> That God has a hidden, secret, supremely powerful or "greatest name"
> (Arabic al-ism al-a`zam; Persian ism-i-a`zam) is a doctrine, rooted in
> Judaeo-Christian and Islamic religious literatures. Through its identification
> within Bahá'í sacred literatures as the Arabic verbal noun Baha' (= "[radiant]
> glory," "splendour", "light," "beauty", etc.,) and related Arabic / Persian
> phrases (see below) it has an important significance for Bahá'ís. The Founder
> of the Bahá'í Faith, Mirza Husayn `Ali Nuri assumed the title Jinab-i-Baha (=
> "His Holiness Baha"; subsequently Bahá'u'lláh [= Baha'+ Allah]) at the Babi
> conference of Badasht in 1848 -- the application of this title to him was
> ratified by the Bab (GPB:32). He subsequently identified the Arabic word Baha
> as the "Greatest Name" [=GN] and claimed to be its personification.
> 
> For Bahá'ís the "Greatest Name of God" is the name or title Bahá'u'lláh (= "the glory of God"). Responding to a question about the Greatest Name Shoghi
> Effendi pointed out that "...By Greatest Name is meant that Bahá'u'lláh has
> appeared in God's Greatest Name, in other words, that He is the Supreme
> Manifestation of God" (cited DG No. 896). The term GN is also applied by
> Bahá'ís to various derivatives of Baha (i.e. the superlative, Abha,
> "All-Glorious") and phrases containing Baha; such as Allah-u-Abha ("God is
> All-Glorious" -- among other things, a Bahá'í greeting) and "Ya Baha'u'l-Abha"
> = "O Glory of the All-Glorious" (in Mishkin Qalam's design used as a sacred
> wall-hanging). The Arabic word Baha is composed of four consonants or letters
> which have a numerical (abjad) value of nine; a sacred number symbolic of
> perfection as the highest numerical integer.
> 
> Drawing upon and interpreting Islamic traditions (see, for example, Majlisi,
> Bihar. 11:68) about the GN both the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh spoke of "letters" or
> forms of it being communicated by past Manifestations of God in previous
> religious dispensations. In his Commentary on the Sura of the "Night of Power"
> (Tafsir laylat al-qadr; Qur'an 97) the Bab refers to 3, 4, and 5 portions of
> one of the forms of the "Greatest Name", existing in the Pentateuch (tawrat),
> Gospel[s] (injil) and Qur'an (respectively; see INBAMC 69:17). Similarly, in a
> Tablet commenting on the Qur'anic Sura of the Pen (Sura 68), Bahá'u'lláh
> mentions that God divulged something (a "letter"/ "word" harf an) of the
> "Greatest Name" Baha' in every dispensation. In the Islamic dispensation, He
> states, it is alluded to through the letter "B" (ba'; the first letter of the
> basmala see below) and in the Gospels (injil) through the word Ab (=
> "Father") -- which, in the Arabic Bible, contains two of the letters of Baha
> ("A" & "B"). Baha is clearly intimated in Babi Scripture, the Bayan. It is
> representative of the Self (nafs) of God in this, the Bahá'í dispensation (see
> INBAMC 56:25).
> 
> The word Baha does not occur in the Qur'an and is not among the traditional
> ninety-nine "most beautiful names" of God (al-asma' al-husna; see Qur'an
> 7:179); it is thus considered "secret" or "hidden" though it was not totally
> unknown prior to the advent of Bahá'u'lláh. It's explicit identification with
> the "Greatest Name" however, despite Islamic traditions to this effect, was not
> widely recognized.
> 
> There are a great number of traditions about the "Greatest Name" in Islamic
> literatures. A few, deriving from the Twelver Imams, notably Imam Ja`far (d.765
> CE) and Imam Rida (d. 818 CE.), clearly point to Baha being the "Greatest
> Name". Among the most important occurrences of the word Baha' in Shi`i Islamic
> prayers is that of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (677--732 CE) the fifth of the
> Twelver Shi`i Imams. It is a prayer to be recited at dawn during Ramadan (Du`a
> Sahar), the Muslim month of fasting. The word baha or a derivative of the same
> root is contained some five times within its opening words: "O my God! I
> beseech Thee by thy baha' ("glory") in its supreme splendour (bi abha'hu), for
> all Thy baha' ("glory") is truly luminous (al-bahiyy). I verily, O my God,
> beseech Thee by the fullness of Thy baha ("glory") (baha'ika)!" (Qummi,
> Mafatih, 238-9)
> 
> Partly as a result of this opening line, a certain Safavid theologian and
> mystagogue, Baha' al-Din Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al- Amili (b. Baalbeck c,. 1547
> d. Isfahan 1622 CE), adopted the pen-name (takhallus) Shaykh-i-Bahá'í.
> 
> Both the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh frequently quote or allude to this prayer.
> Bahá'u'lláh reckoned it a protection against being veiled from that Name
> (Baha') which is the "ornament" of God's "Self". (see AQA, Majmu`a-yi munajat
> pp.45-46). In a Persian Tablet to Mirza `Abbas of Astarabad, sometimes
> referred to as the "Tablet of the Greatest Name" (Lawh ism-i-a`zam),
> Bahá'u'lláh quotes from the beginning of this prayer and observes that the
> "people of al-furqan" (= Muslims) have not heeded the fact that the "greatest
> name" was said to be contained within it; indeed, at its very beginning! (refer
> MA 4:22-23)
> 
> The Bab used the word Baha or its derivatives quite frequently in his
> writings. From his Qayyumu'l-Asma (mid. 1844; the word Baha occurs here about
> 14 times) until his very late Haykalu'l-Din (summer 1850) it occurs in a
> variety of contexts. A number of these scriptural texts are related to "Him
> Whom God will make manifest" or are viewed as prophetic of Bahá'u'lláh. i.e.
> "All the Baha of the Bayan is man yuhiruhu'llah" (Per. Bayan III:14). In the
> Kitab-i Panj Sha'an, ("Book of the Five Grades"), a section of which is
> dedicated to Bahá'u'lláh, the Bab several times uses the phrase Bahá'u'lláh as
> well as various derivatives of Baha (cf. GPB:28).
> 
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Nabil-i-Zarandi and other Bahá'í historians, have recorded
> that the Bab, before his departure from Chihriq to Tabriz and subsequent
> martyrdom (1850), penned 360 derivatives of the word baha in fine shikastih
> ("broken script"), in the form of a calligraphic pentacle. This he arranged to
> be delivered to Bahá'u'lláh (see DB: 370+fn. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Traveller's
> Narrative, 26).
> 
> It was during the latter part of the Adrianople period of his ministry
> (c.1867 CE) that the greeting Allah-u-Abha ("God is All-Glorious") superseded
> the Islamic salutation Allah-u-Akbar ("God is Great; refer GPB:176) and
> devotees of Bahá'u'lláh became widely internally known as "the people of Baha"
> -- a phrase used by the Bab in his Qayyumu'l-Asma (LVII; cited ESW:139). There
> are thousands of occurrences of the word Baha' in Bahá'í sacred scripture and
> many theologically weighty statements about the GN. Bahá'u'lláh has stated that
> all the Divine Names, relative to both the seen and the unseen spheres, are
> dependent upon the GN Baha (see MA 8:24). The use of the GN is, in a sense,
> the alpha and the omega of Bahá'í existence. It is nine times repeated in the
> Bahá'í "Long Obligatory Prayer", can be recited at the commencement of meals
> (Law-i-Tibb), has a healing and protective potency, and is recited six times
> during Bahá'u'lláh's communal Prayer for the Dead (P&M No. 167).
> 
> In his Most Holy Book (Kitab-i-Aqdas) Bahá'u'lláh made the repetition of the
> "Greatest Name" ninety five times (95 = 5 X 19) each day, a regenerating
> religious activity -- Shoghi Effendi interpreted this directive as a matter of
> individual choice rather than an obligatory duty (see Aqdas para. 26;
> LG:905).
> 
> `Abdu'l-Bahá often gloried in the majesty of the "greatest name" (Baha)
> of his Divine Father. He designed (?) a theologically significant calligraphic
> representation of it consisting of two Letter "B"'s and 4 letter "H"'s -- which
> spell the word Baha in four directions -- flanked by two five-pointed stars
> representing the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh. (For details see MA 2:100-103, summarized
> in Faizi, 13ff). Too sacred to be used on gravestones, this and other
> calligraphic representations of the GN are hung in Bahá'í homes or engraved on
> ringstones. The Guardian'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).
> 
> Bibliography
> 
> `Abdu'l-Bahá. A Traveller's Narrative. (Translated by E.G. Browne, A New and
> Corrected Edition) Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980;
> Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, (Albert R. Windust [Comp.] = TAB) Vol. III
> Chicago: Bahai Publishing Society, 1919.
> 
> The Bab. Bayan-i farsi n.p. n.d.; al-Bayan al-`arabi n.p. n.d.; Kitab-i
> panj sha'n n.p.n.d. Haykal al-din n.p. n.d.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh. Athar-i-Qalam-i-A`la [= AQA] Majmu`a-yi Munajat n.p. [Tehran]:
> BPT., 128 Badi`; The Kitab-i-Aqdas, Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1993; Epistle
> to the Son of the Wolf (trans Shoghi Effendi), Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1971 [= ESW] Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh revealed after the
> Kitab-i-Aqdas, Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1978.
> 
> BSB = Stephen Lambden ed., Bahá'í Studies Bulletin, Newcastle upon Tyne,
> 1982>
> 
> The Dawnbreakers [Tarikh-i Zarandi Pt.1 ] [= DB, Shoghi Effendi trans.]
> London:BPT., 1953.
> 
> Fananapazir, Khazeh & Lambden, S. The Tablet of Medicine (Law-i Tibb) of
> Baha'u'll h: A Provisional Translation with Occasional Notes, BSB 6:4-7:2
> pp.18-65.
> 
> Fayzi, Symbol of the Greatest Name, New Delhi: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, n.d.
> 
> Garrida, Gertrude (Comp.). Directives from the Guardian. [=DG] New Delhi:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust,1973.
> 
> Hornby, H. (Comp.). Lights of Guidance, A Bahá'í Reference File 2 [=LG] New
> Delhi, India: BPT, 1988.
> 
> Khadim, Zikrullah. Bahá'u'lláh and His Most Holy Shrine in Bahá'í News, No 540
> (March 1976) pp.1-16 n.p. [Wilmette, Illinois]: NSA of the Bahá'ís of the
> United States, 1976.
> 
> INBMC = Iran National Bahá'í Archives Manuscript Collection.
> 
> `Ishraq Khavari (ed.). Ma'ida-yi Asmani 10 Vols Tehran:BPT 129 Badi` /
> 1972-3 CE.
> 
> Lambden, Stephen, `The word Baha, Quintessence of the Greatest Name of God' in
> Bahá'í Studies Review 3:1 (1993) 19-42; `The Arabic word Baha' and the
> Mysteries of the Greatest Name of God (al-ism al-a`zam)' BSB 8:1-2
> (forthcoming).
> 
> Majlisi, Muammad Baqir. Bihar al-Anwar 2 [110 Vols] Beirut: Mu'assat
> al-Wafa', 1403/1983. Qummi, Shaykh `Abbas. Mafati al-Jannan 3 Beirut: Dar
> al-Awa', 1409 AH/ 1989 CE.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. God Passes By [=GPB] Wilmette, Illinois: BPT, 1974.
> 
> METADATA
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> Views38505 views since posted 1999; last edit 2024-04-03 02:46 UTC;
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> previous at archive.org.../lambden_encyclopedia_greatest_name;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *Greatest Name, The (al-Ism al-A'zam) (Used by permission of the curator)*