Glossary

GLOSSARY &Abdu'l-Baha

The "Servant of &Baha", &Abbas Effendi (1844-1921), the eldest son and appointed Successor of &Baha'u'llah, and the

Centre of His Covenant. Abjad

The ancient Arabic system of allocating a numerical value to letters of the alphabet, so that numbers may be represented by letters and vice versa. Thus every word has both a literal meaning and a numerical value. &Bab, The

Literally the "Gate", the title assumed by &Mirza &Ali-Muhammad

(1819-1850) after the Declaration of His

Mission in &Shiraz in May 1844. He was the Founder of the &Babi Faith and the Herald of &Baha'u'llah. &Baha &Baha means Glory. It is the Greatest Name of God and a title by which &Baha'u'llah is designated. Also, the name of the first month of the &Baha'i year and of the first day of each &Baha'i month. &Baha'u'llah

The "Glory of God", title of &Mirza &Husayn-'Ali (1817-1892), the Founder of the &Baha'i Faith. &Bayan

The &Bayan ("Exposition") is the title given by the &Bab to

His Book of Laws, and it is also applied to the entire body of His Writings. The Persian &Bayan is the major doctrinal work and principal repository of the laws ordained by the &Bab. The Arabic &Bayan is parallel in content but smaller +P253 and less weighty. References in the annotations to subjects found in both the Persian &Bayan and the Arabic &Bayan are identified by use of the term "&Bayan" without further qualification. &Huququ'llah

The "Right of God". Instituted in the &Kitab-i-Aqdas, it is an offering made by the &Baha'is through the Head of the

Faith for the purposes specified in the &Baha'i Writings. &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar

Literally "the Dawning-place of the praise of God", the designation of the &Baha'i House of Worship and its dependencies. &Mithqal

A unit of weight, equivalent to a little over 3 1/2 grammes, used in the &Kitab-i-Aqdas with reference to quantities of gold or silver for various purposes, usually in amounts of 9,

19 or 95 &mithqals. The equivalents of these in the metric system and in troy ounces (which are used in the measurement of precious metals), are as follows:

9 &mithqals = 32.775 grammes = 1.05374 troy ounces

19 &mithqals = 69.192 grammes = 2.22456 troy ounces

95 &mithqals = 345.958 grammes = 11.12282 troy ounces

This computation is based on the guidance of Shoghi

Effendi, conveyed in a letter written on his behalf, which states "one &mithqal consists of nineteen &nakhuds. The weight of twenty-four &nakhuds equals four and three-fifths grammes. Calculations may be made on this basis." The &mithqal traditionally used in the Middle East had consisted of 24 &nakhuds but in the &Bayan this was changed to 19 &nakhuds and &Baha'u'llah confirmed this as the size of the &mithqal referred to in the &Baha'i laws (Q and A 23). &Nakhud

A unit of weight. See "&mithqal". &Qayyumu'l-Asma'

The &Bab's commentary on the &Surih of Joseph in the +P254 &Qur'an. Revealed in 1844, this work is characterized by &Baha'u'llah as "the first, the greatest, and mightiest of all books" in the &Babi Dispensation. Shoghi Effendi

Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957), Guardian of the &Baha'i Faith from 1921-1957. He was the eldest grandson of &Abdu'l-Baha and was appointed by Him as the Head of the Faith. &Siyah-Chal

Literally "the Black Pit". The dark, foul-smelling, subterranean dungeon in &Tihran where &Baha'u'llah was imprisoned for four months in 1852.