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.

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-- Greatest Name, The (al-Ism al-A'zam) (Used by permission of the curator)