Bahá’í glossary of Arabic & Fársí transliteration Contents

Shrine of the Báb..

Shoghi Effendi referred to the Shrine of the Báb as the “Throne of the Lord” and to the Casket of the Báb also as the “Throne”. He stated “… the Báb is the eighth Manifestation of those religions whose followers still exist.”¹ Hence, the reason that the number eight is incorporated into many details of the Shrine (e.g. there are eight columns on each of the four sides, there are eight pinnacles, one at each corner of the octagon) and the ornamental flower-beds around the Shrine have eight-pointed star shapes.

“The mosque of Medina has seven minarets, the one of Sulṭán Aḥmad in Constantinople has six, but the Qur’án mentions eight.”² A Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá interprets the throne in Qur’án 69:17 as “… the temple or body of the Manifestation of God, and that the Manifestation is symbolized by the number one. And according to abjad reckoning—the numerical value of the component letters, used everywhere by Persian and Arabic scholars—‘Bahá’’ is eight plus one. (‘B’ in the abjad is two, the short vowel is not written in, the ‘h’ is five, the long vowel is one, and the symbol called a hamza, represented by the apostrophe, is also one.) The verse thus means: on that day Bahá will bear up the throne (the body) of thy Lord.”³

Nine doors

Tombs A: The Báb B: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá First story octagon door Named by Shoghi Effendi Báb-i-Ioas (on SW side)

Ground floor colonnade doors a) Named by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá 1. Báb-i-Amín 2. Báb-i-Faḍl 3. Báb-i-Ashraf 4. Báb-i-Karím 5. Báb-i-Bálá b) Added & named by Shoghi Effendi 6. Báb-i-Qaṣṣábchí 7. Báb-i-Maxwell 8. Báb-i-Giachery

Umayyad Caliphs..

1	Mu‘áwíyah I (Mu‘áwíyah Ibn Abí-Sufyán) (661–80)	8	‘Umar (‘Umar Ibn ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz Ibn Marwán) (717–20)
2	Yazíd I (Yazíd Ibn Abí-Sufyán) (680–83)	9	Yazíd II (720–24)
3	Mu‘áwíyah II (683–84)	10	Hishám (Hishám Ibn ‘Abdu’l-Malik) (724–43)
4	Marwán I (Marwán Ibn al-Ḥakam) (684–85)	11	Al-Walíd II (son of Yazíd II) (743–44)
5	‘Abdu’l-Malik (‘Abdu’l-Malik Ibn Marwán) (685–705)	12	Yazíd III (son of Al-Walíd I) (744)
6	Al-Walíd I (Al-Walíd Ibn ‘Abdu’l-Malik) (705-15)	13	Ibráhím (son of Al-Walíd I) (744)
7	Sulaymán (715–17)	14	Marwán II (Marwán al-Ḥimár) (744–50)

Word macros..

‘Ayn Word macro

Use the following Word macro to insert a left curly apostrophe:

Sub Ayn()

' Ayn Macro

Selection.InsertSymbol CharacterNumber:=8216, Unicode:= _

True

End Sub

Acute letters

A Word macro to replace a letter with its accented form:

Public Sub Acute()

' Acute macro

'

A_ChrSetAcuteUnicode = Array(65, 97, 67, 99, 69, 101, 71, 103, 73, 105, 75, 107, 76, 108, 77, 109, 78, 110, 79, 111, 80, 112, 82, 114, 83, 115, 85, 117, 87, 119, 89, 121, 90, 122)

A_ChrSetUnicode = Array(193, 225, 262, 263, 201, 233, 500, 501, 205, 237, 7728, 7729, 313, 314, 7742, 7743, 323, 324, 211, 243, 7764, 7765, 340, 341, 346, 347, 218, 250, 7810, 7811, 221, 253, 377, 378)

Call S_ChangeCharacterUnicode(A_ChrSetAcuteUnicode, A_ChrSetUnicode)

End Sub

Underdot Word macro

A Word macro to replace a letter with its equivalent underdotted form:

Public Sub Underdot()

' Underdot macro

W_ChrSetUnderdotUnicode = Array(65, 97, 66, 98, 68, 100, 69, 101, 72, 104, 73, 105, 75, 107, 76, 108, 77, 109, 78, 110, 79, 111, 82, 114, 83, 115, 84, 116, 85, 117, 86, 118, 87, 119, 89, 121, 90, 122)

W_ChrSetUnicode = Array(7840, 7841, 7684, 7685, 7692, 7693, 7864, 7865, 7716, 7717, 7882, 7883, 7730, 7731, 7734, 7735, 7746, 7747, 7750, 7751, 7884, 7885, 7770, 7771, 7778, 7779, 7788, 7789, 7908, 7909, 7806, 7807, 7816, 7817, 7924, 7925, 7826, 7827)
Call S_ChangeCharacterUnicode(W_ChrSetUnderdotUnicode, W_ChrSetUnicode)

End Sub

Subrountines called by the above macros

Sub S_ChangeCharacterUnicode(A_ChrSet1, A_ChrSet2, Optional V_StringLength, Optional Vb_NoChangeMade)

' Exchange character from CharacterSet1 with equivalent character from CharacterSet2.

' Process characters as Unicode.

'

If IsMissing(V_StringLength) Then V_StringLength = 1

If Selection.Type = wdSelectionIP Then Selection.MoveLeft Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=V_StringLength, Extend:=wdExtend

V_ToBeChanged = Selection()

'

Vb_NoChangeMade = True

'

Call S_CheckAndReplace1Chr(A_ChrSet1, A_ChrSet2, V_ToBeChanged, Vb_NoChangeMade)

If Vb_NoChangeMade = True Then Call S_CheckAndReplace1Chr(A_ChrSet2, A_ChrSet1, V_ToBeChanged, Vb_NoChangeMade)

Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1

End Sub
Sub S_CheckAndReplace1Chr(A_ChrCodeSet1, A_ChrCodeSet2, V_ToBeChanged, Vb_NoChangeMade)

' If "ToBeChanged" is found in "ChrCodeSet1", replace selected character with equivalent defined in "ChrCodeSet2",

' expected that "ToBeChanged" is identical with selected character.

'

V_StToBeChanged = Selection.Style()

boolVb_Bold = False

If Selection.Font.Bold = True Then boolVb_Bold = True

boolVb_Italic = False

If Selection.Font.Italic = True Then boolVb_Italic = True

Vb_Size = Selection.Font.Size

Vn_Counter = 0

For Each V_Code In A_ChrCodeSet1

If V_Code = AscW(V_ToBeChanged) And Vb_NoChangeMade = True Then

tmpOutput = A_ChrCodeSet2(Vn_Counter)

V_Changed = ChrW(A_ChrCodeSet2(Vn_Counter))

Selection.Delete

Selection.Text = V_Changed

Selection.Style = V_StToBeChanged

Selection.Font.Size = Vb_Size

Selection.Font.Bold = boolVb_Bold

Selection.Font.Italic = boolVb_Italic

Vb_NoChangeMade = False

End If

Vn_Counter = Vn_Counter + 1

Next V_Code

End Sub

*^* Persian: “-yi-” (“of” in English), Ághá “of” Karand, after a vowel instead of “-i-” as in Káẓim-i-Zanjání. Ághá-yi-Karand (formal) and Ághá Karand (informal).

1^ From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of Panama, 16 July 1979

2^ The Universal House of Justice, 21 July 1998, Current Guidance on Baha’i Publishing

*^* This section should be revised using https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/382588/ocean2.0/Audio/prounounce.html

*^* God Passes By uses an ‘Ayn: Kitáb-i-Panj-Sha‘n

1^ Muḥammad: Prophet of Islám born Mecca 570 or 571, Mission 610, public declaration 612, fled to Medina 622–632. Five names: Muḥammad; Aḥmad; Al-Maḥi (“Effacing”, “Eraser”), by means of which God effaces infidelity; Al-Ḥáshir (“Gatherer”), who will gather people; and Al-‘Áqib (“Final”), that is to say, the last of the Prophets.

Muḥammad has an h underdot, except when an English suffix is added. Accepted exception appears to be “Muḥammad’s”. Muhammadan implies a follower of Muḥammad instead of a “follower of God” (Muslim). Muhammadanism implies that the religion is the “religion of Muḥammad” instead of the “religion of God” (i.e Islám)—this is offensive to Muslims.

*^* Follow Ben Ami to Shlom ha-Galil St, and continue along the track at the end.

1^ Ian Semple, Interpretation and the Guardianship, 18 February 1984.

1^ “While suffering death on the pathway of God is the highest attainment, still, that dying which continues on throughout life, giving life to other souls, is the station of ‘living martyrdom’. The death of a martyr means the immediate end to all his afflictions and tests: martyrdom is the easiest way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But those who rise up to serve the Cause, to bear afflictions and undergo tribulations and trials in order to draw souls into the holy Faith—those are living martyrs, their labour goes on and on, and their noble work, the regeneration of all humankind, will win them the highest of rewards, for ever and ever. My prayer for you … is that you will reach that goal, the goal of the living martyrs.” Summon up remembrance, pp. 135–6.

*^* The next two entries are additional plurals with different meanings.

1^ The verses were written at a time when kings asked poets to praise them in prose and poems. Sometimes there was competition between the poets of different kingdoms. Ḥáfiẓ was requested by one of the rulers of India to finish a poem that he (the ruler) had written, but neither he nor the poets of his court could finish to make a nice “ghazál”.

In Persia the only known parrots (ṭúṭí) were those from India, and they were considered to be like the nightingale of Persia, a symbol of meaning, eloquence and mysticism. Persians believed parrots were very fond of lumps of sugar. Also a parrot is able to learn and imitate words or short phrases. So it is a speaking bird. “Shikkar Shikan” (literally “sugar breaker”) is a reference to the lumps of sugar being broken by a parrot’s beak! Allegorically, it means “sweet speaking” or having a pleasant disposition or talent. Hafiz wants to convey that his poetry is so sweet that can make the parrots in India sweet speaking birds! Briefly, Shikar Shikan means the sweet voice, or poems of Bengal, is broken (shikan) by the sweet melody from Shíráz. So Hafez says to them that Bengal is no more the centre of prose and poems (once a famous seat for Persian language and literature) and Shíráz has exceeded Bengal. In the meantime prophesizes that the Divine voice is going to be raised in Shíráz. In this Tablet Bahá’u’lláh refers to His station as the Divine melody and the Voice that was heard on Mount Sinai by Moses.

*^* Note: the Arabic letters are right-to-left text.

*^* Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 281–282.

*^* 30 days in leap years

*^* The tests faced by the women who emigrated to Medina.

1^ Shoghi Effendi in Ugo Giachery, Shoghi Effendi: Recollections, p. 84.

2^ ibid. p. 96. Qur’án 69:17: “And the angels will be on its sides, and eight will, that Day, bear the Throne of thy Lord above them.”

3^ Summon Up Remembrance, p. 128