@article{Lambden_1998, place={Ottawa, Ontario, Canada}, title={The Word "Baha": Quintessence of the Greatest Name of God}, volume={8}, url={https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/article/view/274}, DOI={10.31581/jbs-8.2.274(1998)}, abstractNote={<p><em>This article is a revised version of one previously published in the Baha’i Studies Review 3.1 (1993)</em></p> <p>This article is an attempt to explore some linguistic, historical, and theological aspects of the Arabic word <em>baha</em>, which is viewed by Baha’is as the quintessence of the greatest name of God, one form of which is the title Baha’u’llah. Considered alone, the word <em>baha</em>, is a verbal noun meaning, among other things, "beauty," "excellence," "goodliness," "divine majesty," radiant "glory," "splendor," "light," and "brilliancy." There exist a wide range of other nominal and verbal senses also. It was at the 1848 Babi conference of Badasht that Mirza Husayn-Ali Nuri (1817-1892), the Founder of the Baha’i Faith and a one-time leading Babi, bestowed a new name upon each of the 81 (=9x9) participants. He Himself, to quote <em>The Dawn-Breakers</em> (Tarikh-i-Zarandi), "was henceforth designated by the name of Baha" (293). Baha’u’llah thus, from very early on--while outwardly a leading Babi or Sufi dervish--sometimes used the word/title (Jinab-i) Baha as a personal designation or proper name. It shall be illustrated below that the word <em>baha</em> was a term of considerable importance in Islamic and Babi literatures. On occasion, it occurred in contexts that had, or came to be interpreted as having, prophetic and messianic import.</p>}, number={2}, journal={The Journal of Bahá’í Studies}, author={Lambden, Stephen}, year={1998}, month={Jun.}, pages={13–45} }