Basmala - Huwa - Huwiyya ...

“Huwa-Hiya" / "He–She-It is”, the Huwiyya (Divine Ipseity) and some aspects of re-created Basmalas within Babi-Baha’i Literary Commencements.

^{Stephen Lambden, UC-Merced.}

In Progress - Last updated and still being substantially rewritten 11-06-2021. 

This is NOT yet finalized.

ABSTRACT

The Islamic  and Babi-Baha'i Basmalas

بسملة‎

“In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate”

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

“In the Name of God, the Inaccessible, the Most Holy”

بِسْمِ اللهِ الامنع الاقدس

“In the Name of God,   the Glorious, the All-Glorious”

بِسْمِ اللهِ بهي الابهى

“The Greatest verse of the Qur’an is the basmala ” (Ibn `Abbas relayed in al-Suyuti, al-Itqan, 91)

“The Basmala is closer to the Greatest Name (al-ism al-a`zam) than the black of the eye is to its white” (words attributed to the 8th Imam `Ali al-Rida’ [c. 148/765- d. 203/818] as narrated in the `Uyun al-akhbar and the Tafsir al-`Ayyashi, etc).

For the theologically minded, every sacred text has a deeply significant literary commencement. This often means a meaningful opening, sacred phrase, oath or text incorporating a Name or Names of God. Various Islamic traditions have it that no qur’anic verse is of greater magnitude than the Basmala (which is cited above). This Arabic Islamic term indicates the five or so word, nineteen letter Arabic invocatory Qur’anic verse, “Bi-smi’llah al-Rahman al-Rahim” which is often translated, “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” Islamic tradition also views the basmala as the sacred Fatiḥa (“Opening”). This phrase, invocation or verse opens most of the surahs (chapters) of the the Qur’an and, according to a prophetic tradition, all past Abrahamic sacred books such as the Torah and Gospels (al-Alusi, Tafsir 1:41 referring to al-Suyuti, Itqan etc). It is generally agreed among Islamic experts and western academics that the key roots of the basmala are to be found in Abrahamic (Jewish, Christian and related traditions), biblical or post-biblical literatures.

Over a more than 1,000 year period, hundreds if not thousands of learned Muslims have written commentaries on the opening basmala within the first Surah of the Qur’an and other places within this over 6,000 verses sacred text. Babi-Baha’i alwah (sacred Tablets) or Books and other expressions of wahy (divine inspiration) open in such ways though there is no standard literary commencement.The central figures of the Baha’i religion all commented on the Islamic Basmala and recreated it in new forms as a prefix to thousands of their sacred writings. The basmala was renewed in hundreds of different, creative ways in Babi-Baha’i literatures both Arabic and in Persian and sometimes in a mixture of these two languages. The intimately related sometimes neo-Shi`i, Babi and Baha’i religions have an extensive sacred literature within which a post- or meta-Islamic basmala is of great moment. The Bab (1819-1850 CE) and Baha’-Allah (1817-1892 CE)  frequently refashioned, recreated and reinterpreted this sacred literary  commencement in line with their new post-Islamic theology, theophanology and  addresses to a host of individual devotees.  

In this summary paper dimensions of the evolving Babi-Baha’i basmala recreations and select related huwa (“Ipseity related” = “He-She-It is”) incipits, will be commented upon and analyzed from a number of vantage points. It will be seen that the Bab explicitly recreated the Islamic basmala on apophatic (“God beyond all”) lines and that Baha’-Allah further utilized it in new ways so as to underline his elevated claims and global religious outreach. 

♦

 هوية

^{Huwiyya (The Divine Ipseity, “Selfness”)}

“Huwa-Hiya" / "He–She-It is”, the Huwiyya (Divine Ipseity), and some aspects of re-created Basmalas within Babi-Baha’i Literary Commencements.

Stephen Lambden 2014.

What follows is work in progress rooted in a summary powerpoint presentation with extracts from related papers on the Babi-Baha'i basmala recreations. Something of the Islamic and Babi-Baha'i theology of the (Arabic) huwa ("He is") and huwiyya ("The Divine Ipseity") will be the centre of attention. This recreated paper, in other words, will be concerned with aspects of the Huwa   هو  "He is", Hiya   هى  She-It is”, the  هوية Huwiyya (Divine Ipseity = “Selfness”), and various re-created basmala  formulations in Babi-Baha’i sacred literary commencements regarded by Baha'is as divine revelations (wahy).

For the religiously minded every sacred text has a deeply significant literary commencement. This often means a meaningful opening sacred phrase, oath or text incorporating a Name or Names of God, something to indicate the sanctity of the Deity and actualize His-Her-Its beatitude. Babi- Baha’i alwah (sacred Tablets) or Books and other expressions of wahy (divine inspiration) open in such ways though there is not always a fixed or standard sacred literary commencement. There are thousands of varieties of the Abrahamic, Islamic and Babi neo basmala. Other pronouns, words or phrases also have their place in Babi-Baha'i literary commencements of a revealed (wahy) or sacred nature. 

An interesting example of multiple sacred commencements is seen at the beginning of the Arabic Surat al-kifaya (pre-1855?) of Baha'-Allah which opens as follows :

[1]

This is the Sūrat al-kifāya  (Sura of the Sufficiency).

It was assuredly sent down on the part of the True One (min al-ḥaqq) regarding the question of knowledge  (fī jawāb al-`ilm).

[2]
In the Name of God, who, no God is there except Him.

[3]

And He is God who was Powerful over all things.
 
[4]
O people of the letter "H" (al-hā')!

Hearken unto the melody of the Crimson Leaf  (waraqat al-ḥamrā')  in the Paradise of the Divine Cloud (jannat al-`amā')  for He, verily, is the Light  [of] the Radiant Temple [Sinaitic] (haykal al-sa[i]nā') Who acteth on behalf of God, as a Manifest Light unto the worlds  (nūr an mubīn ^an).

This early writing of Baha'-Allah  exhibits the following multiple commencements : (1) the title identification expressive of a revealed text (Surah, cf. the Qur'an) and its content (cf. Qur'anic Surah titles), (2) a partial basmala with an indication of the oneness or singularity of God, (3) A Huwa phrase expressive of the overarching Power of God and (4) a direct though symbolic address and the commencement proper. 

This may be compared with the beginning of the Lawḥ-i Riḍvān al-`adl (`The Tablet of the Riḍwān of Justice’, Edirne c.1867), though there is no Huwa at the commencement here (cf. other mss.?).

[Prescript]

This is the [Tablet of the] Riḍwān of Justice! It was indeed made manifest through the Divine Bounty (al-faḍl) and by virtue of the Ornamentation of God (zayyinat Allāh), an expression of  Mighty and Transcendent (`izz wa munī`) scriptural traces (al-āthār).

[I]

In the Name of God,  

the Promoter of Justice (al-`ādil), the All-Wise (al-ḥakīm).

[II]

 [1] This is a Tablet (lawḥ) in which God raised up His Name, the Promoter of Justice (al-`Ādil).  [2] Therefrom did He breath forth the Spirit of Justice (rūḥ al-`adl) within the temples of the totality of created things (hayākil al-khalā’iq). [3] This to the end that all might assuredly rise up for the sake of pure Justice (al-`adl al-khāliṣ) and might, of their own selves, decree the same as well as [decree it] for the selves of the servants [of God]. [4] Such persons should in no wise fear this [just decree] even to the extent of the pit of a date-stone (naqīr ^an qiṭmīr ^an).

Once again then, we have a prescript identifying the name and theological implications of the scriptural Tablet followed by a neo-basmala formula closely related to the main theme of this Tablet. Though there are numerous variations, similar literary commencements open a good many of the thousands of alwah ("Tablets") of Baha'-Allah. Babi-Baha'i sacred and related writings usually commence with or are headed by the oft-repeated  هو huwa ("He is") with or without an attached Divine Attribute or by a recreated basmala usually commencing in standard Qur'anic-Islamic fashion, "In the Name of...". This initial, semi-basmala oath commencement in Babi-Baha'i sources, is often followed by a succession of Divine Attributes especially such as are listed among the ninety-nine "Most Beautiful" Names of God (al-asma' al-husna)  rooted in a prophetic hadith found in Sunni and other Imami Shi`i hadith and related sources - a version of the 99 Names list is attrinuted to the first Imam `Ali (d. 40/661). One such tradition commences:

 God, the Most High, has ninety-nine names. He who retains them in his memory will enter paradise. He is [1] God [Allāh] than whom there is no God, [2] the Compassionate (al-Rahman), [3] the Merciful (al-Raḥim), [4] the King (al-Mālik), [5] the Holy (al-Quddūs), [6] the source of Peace [the Flawless] (al-Salām), [7] the Preserver of security [the Faithful] (al-Mu'min), [8] the Protector [Guardian] (al-Muhaymin), [9] the Mighty (al-'Azīz)…

References to the al-asma’ al-husna (Most Beautiful Names) and to various of the ninety-nine Names of God they include, are common the Babi-Baha'i sacred writings. In his Arabic Seven Proofs, for example, the Bab at one point refers to:

 

 

… God, Lord of the worlds. With Him are the al-asma’ al-husna (Most Beautiful Names) [both] from the past and in subsequent times. All are but servants before Him, and those before Him are in a state of servitude ...

Similarly, towards the beginning of the abovementioned Lawḥ-i Riḍvān al-`adl, Baha'-Allah addresses the Name of God al-`adl/-`ādil (the Just One) as follows : 

O this Name (al-ism)!  

We made thee to be a Sun among the Suns of Our Most Beautiful Names (asmā’inā al-ḥusnā) betwixt earth and heaven. Shed then illumination upon all things (al-ashyā’) such as were created at the genesis of creation (al-inshā’) through Thy Mighty (al-`azīz) Wondrous (al-badi`) Lights (al-anwār)." (Athar-i Qalam-i A`la vol. 4: 300).

It is often the case, however, that Babi-Baha'i primary sources introduce neo-basmala adjurations inclusive of Divine Names or Attributes which are either non-Qur'anic or not  included among the standard lists of God's allegedly ninety-nine Names. An example of such a neo-basmala within the writings of the Bab is his Bismi’llah al-ajmal al-ajmal (In the Name of God, the Most Beautiful, the Most Beautiful) found in the  late Kitab-i Panj Sha’n VII.5 (Persian section). In fact this work, `The Book of the Five Modes' commences with a neo-basmala in which the superlative of Allah occurs several times :

"In the Name of God, the Deity Most Divine (al-a'lah), the Supreme Deity (al-a'lah).  Through God is God (bi-Allāh Allāh), the Deity Most Divine (al-a'lah), the Supreme Godhead (al-a'lah) (Kitab-i Panj Sha’n 1:1).

It is well known that the Bab altered the standard quranic or Islamic basmala on high theophanological, apophatic lines. The divine transcendence was made ultra-transcendent, God is the `wholly other'. The move in this direction was given impetus when the Bab, in his Persian and Arabic Bayans ("Expositions", mid. 1840s) instructed that :

“That which constitutes this [initial] verse (al-āyat) [of the Bayan, stands] in [replacement of] the [standard qur'anic] al-basmala [namely] بسم الله الامنع الاقدس  Bism Allāh al-amna` al-aqdas ("In the Name of God, the Most Inaccessible, the Most Holy")."

The Bab adds, 

“The substance of this section (bab) is that all of the articulated letters [of the basmala/the alphabet] (huruf-i lafziyya) are generated from the Point (Nuqta) [of the letter B]” (Persian Bayan III.11). 

The Arabic Bayan succinctly states much the same thing :

ما نزل فيها في الآية الاولى
بسم الله الامنع الاقدس ،
 انتم الى حروف الواحد تنظرون

"This  [section concerns] whatsoever was revealed therein [the Bayān] and concerns its initial verse [of the Bayān] (al-āyat al-awwalī), namely [that it should be],  بسم الله الامنع الاقدس  Bism Allāh al-amna` al-aqdas ("In the Name of God, the Most Inaccessible, the Most Holy"). Thou should thus direct thy gaze towards the [19] `Letters of the Unity' (ḥurūf al-wāḥid)." (Arabic Bayan III:11).

What is meant here by the   حروف الواحد the `Letters of the Unity' (ḥurūf al-wāḥid) is not immediately obvious. It may indicate the persons who make up the nineteen strong  Bābī Wāḥid (Unity), the Bāb and the eighteen `Letters of the Living'. They, as may further be indicated, could be viewed as loci of the (as in the qur'anic basmala of 19 letters) nineteen letters of the new basmala. Alternatively, if the ḥurūf al-wāḥid, `Letters of the Unity' has some other sense deeper than they being loci of the new, doubly apophatic, nineteen letter basmala (spelled out in Arabic Bayān  III:11= بسم الله الامنع الاقدس ), then the matter become more complicated and cannot be speculated about here.

The early writings of the Bab often commence with the standard Islamic basmala. In his Qayyum al-asma' (mid. 1844), for example, he includes the Islamic basmala as the first verse within each of the forty-two verses of its 111 chapters or Surahs. In his later writings did not always begin with his new apophatic basmala  but utilized numerous other neo-basmala versions. Though a follower of the Bab from 1844 CE., Baha'-Allah did not always commence his own sacred writings with the new apophatic basmala of the Bab. He occasionally did this in his post-1852 writings but more often utilized hundreds, if not thousands, of neo-basmala adjurations of his own creation and expressing his oun claims and concerns.

As in Islam Babi-Baha'i piety gives great importance to recreated basmala commencements. An example of this would be that in the Lawh-i tibb (Tablet on Medicine) of the early 1870s, Baha'-Allah exhorts his followers to echo the Islamic recitation of the basmala at the commencement of a meal in the following manner,

"When thou wouldst commence eating, start by mentioning My Most Glorious Name (al-abha) and finish it with the Name of Thy Lord, the Possessor of the Throne above and of the earth below" (L-Tibb in MAM: xx).

To some degree the following theological notes have to do with sanctification;  the mention of God and / or His Attributes as they are set forth at the commencement or in the course of Babi and Baha’i sacred writings.  Dimensions of the evolving Babi-Baha’i basmala  recreations and select related huwa (“Ipseity related” = “He-She-It is”) incipits, will be commented upon and analyzed from a number of vantage points. It will be seen that the Bab explicitly recreated the Islamic basmala on apophatic (“God beyond all”) lines and that Baha’-Allah further utilized it in new ways so as to underline his elevated claims and global religious outreach. To date, little Attention has been paid to this subject, to Babi-Baha’i Literary Commencements. At this stage neo-basmala formulas are not even not always printed or translated in Baha'i publications. This is misleading or over selective since such commencements are often key cornerstones to what follows. They can set the theological tone for the content to follow and may give clues to the dating of the scriptural, tablet, prayer or whatever. Though Babi-Baha'i basmala are often short statements these often seemingly simple phrases can be replete with deep meanings.

It may at this point be noted by way of introduction that, though there is no fixed or standard formula, Babi-Baha'i sacred or literary commencements often make initial direct or indirect mention of God by means of the huwa (He is) or varieties of an address to the Deity such as Ya Allah (O God!). Such openings may or may not be followed by one or more of such Divine Attributes (e.g. al-`azim "the Might", al-hakim, "the Wise", al-aqdas, "the Most Holy") as make up the al-asma al-husna (the Most Beautiful Names", a qur'anic phrase) of God. Non-qur'anic Divine Names such as al-Jamil ("the Beautiful") and al-Mustaghath ("the One Invoked for Help") may also be used singly or more often in a list of two, three, four or more Divine Names (al-asma') or Attributes (al-sifat).

Scriptural alwah (Tablets) furthermore, often have more than one preliminary commencement including ciphers and names indictaive or allusive of the recipient. There may be a few preliminary verses indetifying the name of the revealed verses to follow; such as hadha surat al-Bayan (`This is the Surah of the Bayan') with further words indicative of the content or purpose of the text to be setforth. Next may follow an opening neo-basmala then the main text to be disclosed.

 

The two Arabic letters of هو  -Huwa : "H" and "W" and the name of God Allah.

In the Abrahamic religious scriptures and  traditions, the sound, pronoun "He is" [he/It was] (Hebrew    =  ) or a related address to the Godhead lies behind certain key Names of God in the Hebrew Bible such as the tetragrammation Y-H-W-H (יהוה). Such similar and probably related names like "Yahu" (),  have long had deep invocatory and theophanic connotations. The well-known biblical Hallelujah would constitute a good example. The independent name of God Yah (יָהּ ), perhaps an abbreviated, truncated form of YHWH, occurs twenty-three times within three books (Psalms x 18; Exodus x 2  and Isaiah x 3) of the Hebrew Bible. Some have argued that a two letter invocation commencing H-W is related to this shortened, abbreviated form of the Tetragrammation or additionally (?) to  the three letter variant (of YHWH) הוה (h-w-h) and other similar names of God.

That the  Arabic huwa "He is" is made up of two Arabic letters, the letter ه  "h" followed by the letter  و "w" is a matter of some significance in Islamic mysticism and numerology. The "h" has an abjad numerical value of five and has been viewed as a the symbol of pentadic ideal humanity or of the five pointed star or pentagram. H is also the fourth or final letter of the personal Name of the God of the Qur'an-Islam, namely Allah (cf. Eloah, Elohim,  אֱלֹהִים etc of the Hebrew Bible). The word Bab has a numerical value of five (b+a+b = 2+1+2 =5).

Commenting upon Qur'an 97:1

“We sent it [the Qur'an = Letter ha’ “h”] down on the Night of Destiny (laylat al-qadr)",

Baha'-Allah has written a commentary in which the letters "h" and "w" are associated and related to his main title :

The Most Ancient [Pre-Existent] (al-aqdam), the Most Great (al-a`zam), the Most Transcendent (al-a`la)

We indeed did ornament the Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny [Power]) with the Letter "H" (al-ha' =  abjad 5)  to the end that the people of Baha' might be certain about this Greatest, Mighty Name (al-ism al-a`zam al-`azim) [= Baha' = "[The] Splendor [of God]"). With it the al-Furqan (= Qur'an) was ornamented aforetime (see Q. 97:1ff). When it was  complemented with the letter "w" (al-waw) the [number] six [= the abjad numerical value of the  letter "W", waw) was made manifest [as is evident] if you should be numbered among the mystic knowers (al-`arifin). Blessed be unto such as have taken firm hold of thereof, detatched from all the worlds. Such is assuredly the Concealed Mystery (sirr al-mastur) with which the  sacred books of God (kutub Allah), the Powerful, the Help in Peril, the Mighty, the Noble,  have been ornamented. Wherefore hath He stipulated the measures of all things (kulli shay') in the Scriptural Tablets (al-alwah) and hath differentiated every Wise Decree [Command] (al-amr) .  Arabic text in La'ali al-hikma, vol. 1 No. 31. p. 76-77). 

While the above cited text, Qur'an 97:1, is traditionally associated with the descent of the Qur'an (indicated by the "h") during the sacred month of Ramadan, the founder of the Baha'i religion sees a connection between this Arabic letter "h" (of Q. 97:1) and the letter "w" which he then goes on to link with his main title Baha' [Allah] (abjad 9) viewed as the al-ism al-a`zam (the Greatest Name of God).

The "w" has an abjad numerical value of six and is accorded many different senses including representing the biblical-qur'anic initial six "days" of creation, of an initial, primary or inaugerative era which may have extend for 6,000 or more years, sometimes thought to be the time span between the time of the first man-prophet Adam and the time of the advent of the "last" prophet Muhammad. For Baha'is and others this 6,000 years is the era from Adam until the new millennial era inaugurated by the Bab in 1260 /May 22[3] 1844 when he pronounced or declared his mission before his first disciple Mulla Husayn Bushru'i (d. 1849). When, as in the huwa, the five of "h" is linked or added to six of "w", the total numerical value of these two letters adds up to eleven. The eleven has been viewed as being made up of two identical number ones (1+1).

The Lawh-i Halih, Halih, Halih, Ya Bisharat

Earlier than the abovementioned scriptural Tablet is the Lawh-i Halih, Halih, Halih, Ya Bisharat or `Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! O Glad-Tidings!. which commences as follows: 

He is the Beloved One.

هوالمحموب

The Maid of Eternity came from the Exalted Paradise!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! O Glad Tidings!

هَلِه    هَلِه    هَلِه  يَا بِشَارَت

Its ninth poetical verse reads :

With the allurement of fidelity, with the protection of Bahā'!

She [the heavenly Maiden] came from the Dawning-Place of [the Arabic letter [ه]  "H".

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! O Glad Tidings!

Probably symbolizing the person of Baha'-Allah, the Divine maiden is pictured as coming from the Dawning-Place of  ه  "H". Exactly what he "H" here signifies is not clear though it might be indicative of the word Baha' (as the greatest Name of God) seen as originating through the point of the letter "b" indicative of the Bab (abjad 5 = H) which leads on to the central letter "h" of  Baha (B+H+A [omitting the hamza]) which leads further on to the letter "a" (the hamza not being registered). The "H" in other words, like the person of the Bab ( = abjad 5) is the locus of Baha' as its central letter and point of theophanic genesis. It might also be that the dawning-place of [the letter] "H" (ha')" as the locale from which the Maiden came, expresses the fact that she came from the most elevated divine realm or from God represented by "H" (al-ha')  which is the first letter of huwa (Allah) ("He is [God]) and Huwiyya ("He-ness"; the Divine Ipseity) as well as Hahut, the realm of the huwiyya, or  the utterly transcendent Divinity, the domain of One wholly other.

The Surat al-Dhikr (The Surah of the Remembrance").

In various of his Arabic and Persian alwah Baha'-Allah dwells upon the relationship between the Arabic letters "H", "W" and other letters of the Arabic alphabet. An example is found in his Edirne period Surat al-Dhikr (The Surah of the Remembrance") where we read a few paragraphs in :

"Say: But for Him [Baha'-Allah] the letter "H" would not have been set within the letter "B"  and but for Him the the Temple of the letter "H" (haykal al-ha') would not have been established upon the [throne of] the letter "W" ( و ="W", al-waw) and nothing would have been brought into being of what hath been or what is as would be evident were thou to be numbered among such as are truly informed" (Athar-i qalam-i a`la 4:237).

The text here implies that in Baha'-Allah is the secret of Divine Love (hubb) since the "B" and the (hard, dotted letter) "H" have been associated through the two consonants which form the word hubb (B+H) meaning "love". Additionally, the (soft) letter "H" stands majestically enthroned upon the letter "W"       forming the Huwa, the "He-She-It is" of the Divine personal pronoun suggestive of the fact that "He is God". The conjuction of these latter two letters constitutes the genesis of the reality of past and present creation through the theophany of Divinity, a station claimed by Baha'-Allah. Similar statements are to be found in the Lawh-i Qina' and elsewhere

The Lawh-i Qina' (`Tablet of the Veil', c. 1869-72).

At this point it may be noted that in his important, quite lengthy Arabic and Persian Tablet addressed to the Kirmani Shaykhi leader, Hajji Mirza Muhammad Karim Khan Kirmani (d. c. 1871), Baha'-Allah speaks of himself as the Most Great Remembrance of God (dhikr Allah al-a`zam) enthroned in the `arsh al-zuhur, the 'Throne of Theophany' as as the letter "H" can be said to be enthroned upon the letter "W" spelling the Huwa or the "He is [God]":

... Say: With My Lord are the Treasuries of Knowledge (khaza'in al-`ulum) and the knowledge of all of the creatures (`ilm al-khala'iq ajami`in). Lift up thine head from the couch of heedlessness in order that thou might bear witness to the Most Great Remembrance of God (dhikr Allah al-a`zam) enthroned upon the Throne of the Theophany [Manifestation] ( `arsh al-zuhur) just as the enthronement of the letter ه     (= "H", al-ha') upon the letter   و  (="W", al-waw) [forming the Huwa, "He is [God]"]. So rise ye up from the  slumber of base passion then follow thy Lord, the  Elevated, the Most Transcendent (al-`aliyy al-a`la). (Lambden trans. from MAM:70).

Hiya (She-It is) and Huwa (He is") and sanctifying commencements in Babi-Baha'i scripture.

Arabic has a specifically masculine and a feminine person pronoun; they are Hiya  (fem.) and Huwa  (masc.) as spelled out above. While the Arabic word for God, Allah is grammatically masculine (He is God) the word for His Divine Essence, al-dhat is feminine (hiya al-dhat). Feminine gender also applies to the Arabic word meaning divine attributes (al-sifat) as well as to  abstract Arabic nouns referring to God. Ibn al-`Arabi and members of his school made important and interesting theological observations grounded in these gender differences and interelationships. This has been well summed up by  Sa'diyya Shaikh in her Sufi Narratives of Intimacy : Ibn Arabi Gender, and Sexuality  (Chapel Hill: Univ of North Carolina Press, 2012),

"Given that Arabic is a gendered language, Ibn `Arabi suggests that gendered grammar signifies aspects of ontology. Accordingly, he notes that not only is the Arabic term for the divine essence, al-dhat, feminine, but so too are other significant terms indicating, for example, a divine attribute (sifa) or divine power (qudra). For him, the grammatically feminine forms describing God indicate the predominance and priority of the feminine dimensions of God in the processes of creation" (Sufi Narratives, 2012, p. 175).

An interesting theologically suggestive use of the feminine hiya (She/It is) relating to the Divine Essence (al-dhat) is found in the Kitāb sharḥ Manāzil al-sāʼirīn, `The Book of the Commentary on `The Stations of the Wayfafers' of Khwajah `Abd Allāh al-Anṣārī of Herāt ( d. 481/1088), by the Persian Sufi Kamal al-Din `Abd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī [al-Qāshānī] (d. c. 730/1330), a leading exponent of the thought of Ibn al-`Arabi (see below). Towards the beginning of his lengthy Arabic commentary (on the  Manāzil al-sāʼirīn)  there are a few exegetical notes upon the qur'anic phrase "Praise be to God (al-hamd li'llah), the Unique (al-wahid) the One (al-ahad)". After commenting on the tahmid, Kashani continues by stating that the name of God Allah is "the (personal) Name of the [Divine] Essence (al-dhat) since al-dhat is hiya hiya (She/It is [what] She/It is); independently of any relationship with Divine Attributes (al-sifat) and in an absolute sense (mutlaq ^an) (Kashani, Sharh Manazil, ed. Muhsin Bidarfar, Qum : 2,000, p.88).  

The feminine personal pronoun seems not to figure as a sacred opening  in place of the standard Islamic "He". It is yet occasionally creatively used by the Bab as in his preamble or khutba ("sermon") prefacing his pre-declaration, early 1844 CE., Tafsir Surat al-Baqara (Commentary on the Surah oif the Cow, Q. II) :

 [1] Praised be to God Who manifested himself (tajalla) unto the spheres of existent Being (al‑mumkināt) through the ornament of the disengaged Point (bi‑ṭaraz al‑nuqṭat al‑mumfaṣilat) sprung out of the Abyss of Origination (lujjat al‑ibdā’) unto, in and  towards Existent Being...  [3] Through it He created Dual modality (zawjiyya) and He created "I‑ness" [Individuality] (al‑aniyya). [4] And the Divine Will (al‑mashiyya) was mentioned through the Dhikr of the Eternal [Cosmic] alphabet, (bi‑dhikr al‑handasah al‑azaliyya) which is other than God. [5] And it, it is indeed (fa‑hiya hiya) the Primordial Eternity (al‑azaliyya al‑awwaliyya) without termination of eternality. [6] Nay rather! It, it is [indeed] the Dawning Place of the Sun of the Divine Oneness  ( shams al‑ahadiyya) glistening forth from the Eternal Perpetuity (al‑ṣamadāniyya al‑bāqiyya) through the Eternity of the Divine Ipseity (bi‑baqā’ al‑huwiyya) [which is] of the Empyreal domain (al‑jabarūtiyya).

Here the feminine hiya of the Divine Will (al‑mashiyya) expressed as the messianic Dhikr of the "Eternal [Cosmic]  Alphabet, comes to be seen to glisten forth from the Eternal Perpetuity (al‑ṣamadāniyya al‑bāqiyya) by virtue of the Eternity of the Divine Huwiyya, the Ipseity (bi‑baqā’ al‑huwiyya). Hiya ("She-It is") and Huwa ("He is") are correlated through the extended Huwa, the  Huwiyya.

The masculine pronoun Huwa as a theological locus of sanctifying commencement. 

This  above Arabic heading Huwa, literally translated "He is” (or occasionally in the Q.  “that is”) indicates the Godhead. Huwa is the third person masculine pronoun  هُوَ  meaning "He is"  and precedes its often assumed object اللَّهُ  Allāh, the  Islamic proper Name of God. This phrase is very common in Islamic literatures and occurs about 484 times in 429 verses of the Qur`an. As we shall see, It is also often prefixed to thousands of Persian and Arabic Tablets of the Bab, Bahā-`Allāh, `Abd al-Bahā' and others. After a few Qur’anic examples, we shall give a few Babi-Baha’i ones :

 

“He is God Who, no God is there except He/Him” (Q. 59:23a)

"He is God; there is no god but He. He is the King, the All-holy, the All-peaceable, the All-faithful, the All-preserver, the All-mighty, the All-compeller, the All-sublime. Glory be to God, above that they associate!" (Arberry trans.).

“Every day He is occupied with some matter [in some other fashion]”

(kull yawm huwa fi sha`n)” (Q. 55:29b).

The above frequently cited qur'anic phrase has been quoted in many theologically profound contexts. It is a key qur'anic statement about the divine identity and "His" frequently active divine providence. In pre-Babi-Baha'i Islamic writings Q. 55:29b was sometimes cited as a literary commencement highlighting the greatness of the Deity.  Note, for example, the occurence of  a preliminary  "He is God, exalted be His mode(s) of operating" (huwa Allah ta`ala sha'n[ihi] in a lithograph, printed edition of Baha' al-Din al-Amili's poem Nan va Halva :

It may also be noted here that the above cited qur'anic phrase plays a significant part in Babi-Baha'i literary commencements. Following occurences of Huwa (He is God), we sometimes find the words "exalted be His sha`n (pl. shu`un; `mode(s) of operating'). The plural shu`un is used in both the writings of the Bab and Baha'-Allah to express the modes, grades or divisions of their literary output. The Bab (abjad, numerical value = 5) identified five categories of  his "revelation" (wahy) : (1) Āyāt  = Qur’anic style verses;  (2) Munājāt (Devotional pieces); prayers, supplications; (3) Khuṭbah (Literary Sermons, Orations, Homilies) / or alternatively,  Suwar-i `ilmiyya ("Surahs expressive of divine knowledge”); (4) Tafāsīr [sing. Tafsīr] (“Commentaries”) and (5) Fārsī  (Persian language revelations) (See Per. Bayan III:17;  VI:1 and IX:2). In this connection the important and very late (1266/March 1850>) Kitab-i panj sha`n should be called to mind, a work and related writings and compilations which are sometimes referred to by the slightly abbreviated Persian equivalent Shu'ūn-i khamsa  (= “Five Modes”).

For Baha'-Allah ( Baha' = abjad, numerical value, 9) there were nine categories, modes or grades of his revelations though he seems not to have explicitly spelled out what these nine divisions were. It will now be appropriate to note the following Q. 55:29b related literary commencement found in one of the scriptural Tablets or letters addressed by Baha'-Allah to his apostle Shaykh Kazim Samandar :

"He is God, Exalted be His concern(s) (sha`n-ihi), One Mighty (al-Aziz).

Similarly, for example, in the mid. Edirne period Tablet to Shaykh Salman, the Lawh-i Salman (Tablet of Salman) I  of Baha'-Allah, we have the following extended huwa  prescript echoing Q. 55:29 : 

He is God, exalted be His Elevated Modes of Being

(sha`nu-hu al-kubriya').

The Huwa in the writings of the Bab and his disciples.

 In many of his letters and sacred writings the Bab opens with a huwa [Hu] ("He is"). His first major writing, the Qayyum al-asma’ (henceforth = QA) includes a forthy-sixth chapter or Surah entitled Surat Huwa (The Sura of "He is" = QA XLVI [46]). This illustrates how important this numerologically, imamologically and theologically significant Arabic pronoun was for the Bab. A good many of his numerological speculations have to do with the two letter Huwa ("He is") and the Islamic twelve, yet three different letter shahada ("La ilaha illa Allah =  nade up of combinations of the three letters L+A+H).

In the fifth Surah entitled Surat Yusuf (The Surah of Joseph) or Surah of Husayn of his weighty and lengthy Arabic Tafsir Surat Yusuf (Commentary on the Surah of Joseph, Q. 12) or Qayyum al-asma' (the Self-Subsisting [Deity] of the Divine Names), the Bab has occasion to comment upon

"Behold, Joseph said to his father:

`O my father! I saw eleven stars, and  the sun and the moon, I saw them bowing down before me!' "  (= Qur'ān 12:4)

and upon the reference to "eleven", the abjad numerical value of Huwa. In verse 8 of this QA surah, the Bab sets down the following exegetical principle :

"By the mention of Joseph (in Q. sura 12) the All-Merciful certainly intended the Logos-Self of the Messenger (nafs al-rasūl  = Muhammad) and the  fruit of the [womb of the] Virgin (thamarat al-batūl = Fāṭimah), manifestly, that is, (Imam) Ḥusayn son of `Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661)." 

In verse thirteen and following we read : "Praise be to God Who hath interpreted the vision (ru`yat)  of Ḥusayn  as something, in very truth witnessed within the land of the  inmost Heart  (arḍ al-fū'ād)  about the precincts of the True One. [14]  And God,  verily, reckoned his [Ḥusayn's] martyrdom [testimony] (shahāda) the  very testimony of the Divine Unity (shahādat al-tawḥīd), approved, in very truth, by His own Logos-Self (nafs) on the basis of His Logos-Self (nafs)."  Verses siventeen to twenty-two read as follows, making explicit reference to "the letters of the Divine Ipseity (ḥurūf al-huwiyya)":

"[17] The stars of the heavenly Throne (nujum al-`arsh), in very truth according to the Book of   God, prostrated at the killing of Ḥusayn  (li-qaṭl al-Ḥusayn), their  number being eleven in the Archetypal [Mother] Book (umm al-kitāb). [18] He is God, Who deposited  [tokens of] the Divine Unity (al-tawḥīd) in the realities of things (ḥaqā'iq al-ashyā'), through, in very truth, radiant beams (ashi``a), covetous  and under compulsion (raghbat wa kurhan <sup>an</sup> ). [19] He is indeed the One Who, in very   truth, created the letters [of the alphabet] (al-ḥurūf) after the Archetypal image of  His own Logos-Self  (bi-nafsihi `ala al-ḥaqq bi'l-ḥaqq mithāl an ). [20] He is indeed the One Who, according to the Most Great Truth, decreed that the letters of the Divine Ipseity (ḥurūf al-huwiyya) ( = the  "H" and "W" of huwa  =  هو  "He is [God])  be expressive of His Oneness (aḥadiyya) and compute at eleven  (abjad  ﻫ + و = "h" +"w" = 5 + 6 = 11). [21] He is indeed the One Who made the [twelve] Imams to be an expression of  His  Word of the Divine Unity (kalimatihi al-tawḥīd = lā ilāha illa Allāh,  "There is no God but God" [consisting of 12 Arabic letters]  inscribed in  the Divine Record (al-raqūm). [22] He is indeed the One Who decreed the prostration of the sun, the moon and the stars according to the decree of the Book inscribed in the Archetypal Book (umm al-kitāb)." 

Matters are more clearly allegorically expounded in Qayyum al-asma' 12: 24 "By the   mention of the "sun", God intended Fāṭima, by the "moon" Muhammad, and   by the "stars" the [eleven or twelve] Imams of the True One, as is confirmed in the Archetypal Book (umm al-kitāb).  It may be that here the Bab counts eleven Imams he himself being the representative of the occulted twelfth Imam, the messianic Imam of the end of days. For the Bab, the eschatological "return" of the third, martyred Imam Husayn is closely related to the Divine Ipseity huwa and to the shahdad as the twelve letter testimony to the Divine Unity (tawhid), the letters of which have imamological potecdy or significance. These typological, imamological correspondencies are further developed on numerological and alphabetical ("qabbalistic") lines elsewhere in the QA and other writings of the Bab. 

An example of the Bab['s initial use of huwa, followed by a neo-basmala, as an item of sacred commencement, occurs in the following epistle to his major disciple Muhammad `Ali Barfurushi entitled Quddus ("The Most Holy"): 

Talismanic examples

There exist numerous pentadic and circular talismans within the massive literary heritage of Babi writ, a good many in the handwriting of the Bab himself. Many contain interesting uses of the huwa and creative forms of the Islamic basmala. In the following example of a combined five pointed human, male talisman (haykal) with a female, circular talisman (dhari`a),  we find five Huwa statements (in divisions within the upper pentalpha) followed by vocative addresses, then the nineteen letter Islamic basmala  within the fifth segment of  the lower circular talisman (cf. Persian Bayan IV:4-5; V:10, 166) : 

Here we find one divine and five supplementary imamological or ahl al-kisa (people of the cloak [of the Shi`i holy family])  Huwa  theological phrases, within the six segements of the upper five pointed star. They are, reading clockwise from the top apex, the first God centered sacred division, 

• Apex Top = Huwa Allah  + Ya Allah (God), O God! [al-] Fard (The Peerless), [Shadid] al-Awsa (the Most-Outstretched).
• 1. Pentadic Centre - Huwa  [Allah],  Ya  al-Hayy  ( O Living One) : [The Prophet] Muhammad.
• 2. Right Triangle - Huwa [Allah Ya] al-Qayyum (O Self-Subsisting One) : [Imam] `Ali 
• 3. Lower Right Triangle - Huwa  [Allah Ya] al-`Adl (O Just One) : [Imam] Hasan  
• 4. Lower Left Triangle - Huwa [Allah Ya] al-Quddus (O Most Holy One) : [Imam] Husayn 
• 5. Upper Left Triangle- Huwa [Allah Ya] al-Hukm (O Divine Matrix) : Fatima [daughter of Muhammad]

Though the text here is not always very clear,  there is little doubt that Huwa theological phrases are central to this talismanic configuration as are important associated Divine Attributes and the names of the five ahl al-kisa (persons of [gathered under] the cloak) constituting the Shi`i holy family. There exist numerous other Babi and Baha'i talismans in which extensive use is made of Huwa and Huwa+ Divine Attribute(s) evocations.

Some further examples of the use of huwa in the writings of the central figures of the Babi and Baha'i religions.

The [Kitab] Haykal al-Din (Book of the Temple of Religion) of the Bab.

Finally, but not at all exhaustively in this connection, a few points of interest in the late writings of the Bab may now set down relative to his very late, June 1850 CE., Arabic Kitab Haykal al-Din. This neglected work begins with the Huwa, then the apophatic neo-basmala of the Bab :

In the Haykal al-Din each Unity (wahid) most often commences with the Huwa or an address thereto, an address to the Ipseity, Ya Hu/Huwa. “O He!”. Each unity is also often prefixed with Ya Allah (O God!).  In Haykal al-Din III-VII we have Ya Allah! (O God!). These invocations are followed by the new basmala of the Bab as set down  in the Persian and Arabic Bayans, Bismi’llah al-amna’ al-aqdas… This new basmala also occurs at the commencement of Haykal al-Din [I]  II-VIII + X and XI but not before IX. The resolution of these matters requires the establishedment of a semi-critical or critical edition of this very late work of the Bab. 

The Huwa in the writings of  Baha'-Allah and his successors.

Hundreds if not thousands of the Persian and Arabic alwah of Baha'-Allah from early and late periods simply commence with the huwa (He is) or the Huwa Allah (He is God) which is often followed by several Divine Attributes. Most mss. of the very early poem dating to the Babi years none (1269 AH = 1853-4), the Rashh-i `ama' (The Sprinkling of the theophanic cloud) of Baha'-Allah commence  with the Huwa [Allah]. The perhaps late 1853 or earky 1854 esoteric commentary on Qur'an 3:87 [93] (cf. Genesis 32:32) entitled Lawḥ-i kull al-ta`ām (Tablet of All Food) has no basmala but has two extended Huwa (“He is”) theological statements :

The above cited commencement of the Lawh-i Halih, Halih, Halih, Ya Bisharat  opens with the Huwa and a following Divine Attribute. In this instance it is, هوالمحموب "He is the Beloved One". Thousands of other Babi-Baha'i alwah or books and tablets commence with just the Huwa or the Huwa followed by one, two or more Divine Attributes.

Probably dating to the two year period of Baha'-Allah's withdrawal in Sulaymaniyya, Iraqi Kurdistan (1854-6), the al-Qasida al-Warqa’iyya (loosely, the “Ode of the Dove”, c. 1855), has the following huwa commencement with two Divine Attributes suggestive of the persons of the Bab and Baha'-Allah respectively (mss. may vary),  هو العلى الابهى

"He is the Elevated (al-`aliyy), the All-Glorious (al-abha)".

The Bab is `Ali or the one al-a`la (The One Supremely Transcendent) while Baha’u’llah is one [al-bahiyy] al-abha ("The All-Glorious"). Indentical or similar dual messianic neo-basmalas, are common in the Persian and Arabic writings of Baha'-Allah.

Mastand bulbulān zi naghma-yi  ya huwa-yi u

ياهوی او

Most likely dating to the mid-late Iraq or Baghdad period (c.1854- 1863) and often entitled after its opening line, the Persian poem of Baha'-Allah, Mastand bulbulān zi naghma-yi  ya huwa-yi u (“O Nightingales intoxicated at the melody of the “O He”  of “He-She Him-Herself”), contains multiple attestations of a declarative huwa in the Persian-Arabic phrase ya huwa-yi u (“O He”  of “He-She Him-Herself”)! (see Ishrāq Khavārī ed Mā’ida-yi āsmānī, IV: 194-196 ). The Arabic huwa of the Ipseity is linked in a Persisn genitive phrase with the Persian third person   او  meaning "He-She-It". This important ecstatic poem commences - after an opening هوالعزيز (“He is the Mighty”) - with the line just translated then another second hemistitch which also ends with the ya huwa-yi u  :

هم جان عاشقان ز جرعه ياهوی او

Every soul among the enraptured ones (`āshiqīn) is anxious (jazi`a) on account of the [eschatological evocation] “O He” of “He-She Him-Herself”.

This  rhyming Arabo-Persian evocative phrase ya huwa-yi u occurs another  twenty-one times in the second hemistich of a further  twenty one verses, e.g. twenty three times altogether  within twenty-two verses. 

The او   “He-She Him-Herself” in this Sufi type divine evocation most probably refers to Baha'-Allah himself. He it is who utters the challenging, expected eschatological huwa "He is" (God), a declaration, the "He is" of subordinate divinity. He utters a theophanological disclosure of the end-time indicative of the latter-day presence of God. The evocation ياهوی او , ya huwa-yi u , “O He”  of “He Himself, perhaps indicates that the "O He" declaration of Baha'-Allah is focused through his own person as self-expressed by the Persian post genitive "He-She".  If the (Per.) او  u is viewed as the divine feminine, it might, furthermore, repsesent the voicing of the eschatological Huwa call through the Divine Maiden (Huri, huriyya) who is his eschatological female persona.

Chahar Vadi (The Four Valleys)

While the Persian Chahar Vadi (The Four Valleys) of Baha'-Allah (c. 1857-8) has the following double Huwa commencement, Huwa al-`Aziz al-Mahbub (“He is the Mighty, the One Beloved”), the Haft Vadi (Seven Valleys) of similar dating, commences with  the standard Islamic basmala and commences its Arabic prolegomenon, reminiscent of the al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya of Ibn al-`Arabi, with the words :  "Praised be to God Who hath manifested existence (al-wujud) from non-existence (al-`adm)" (AQA III:92).

Lawh-i madīnat al-tawḥīd  (Tablet of the City of Divine Unity).

The mid.-late  Iraq-Baghdad period (c.1857) Lawh-i madīnat al-tawḥīd  (Tablet of the City of Divine Unity) commences with the following threefold baha' (glory-splendor) centered derivitives (al-bahiyy, al-bahiyy al-abha = Baha'-Allah) from the same root as baha' (b-h-y/w [`]) prefix:

هو

البهى البهى الابهى

 He is the Splendid, the Splendid, the Most Splendidly radiant.

This is followed by an identificatory line and a counsel :

This is the City of Divine Unity (madīnat al-tawḥīd) .

Enter ye therein, O concourse of the believers in Divine Unity! (mawḥidīn), so that ye may, on account of the glad-tidings of the Spirit  (bisharāt al-rūḥ), be numbered among such as are endowed with mystic insight.

Closely related to the earlier Haft Vadi (Seven Valleys) and to the subsequent Kitab-i iqan (The Book of Certiutude), the Jawahir al-asrar (The Essence of the Mysteries,  c. 1860-61 CE) of Baha'-Allah commences with huwa al-`aliyy al-a`la, “He is the Exalted, the Most Transcendent”, again suggestive of the elevated status of `Ali Muhammad Shirazi, the Bab.To some degree modelled on the Jawahir al-asrar, the very well-known Kitab-i iqan  has the following Babi neo-Basmala :

بسم ربنا الاعلي الاعلى  

In the Name of Our Lord (Rabb), the Exalted (al-`aliyy [`Ali]) the Most High (al-a`la).

Here the word rabb "Lord", apart from indicating the Godhead like Allah, might allude to the Bab as "Lord". Various Babi believers referred to the Bab as [Hadrat-i] Rabb-i A`la (or al-Rabb al-A`la), 'His Holiness Our Lord, the Most Elevated'. This is related to the fact that the  abjad value of rabb (Lord) is 202 (r=200 + b = 2 = 202) which corresponds to the name of the Bab `Ali Muhammad (=`+l+y+m+h+m+d = 70+30+10+40+8+40+4 = 202).

The use of two forms of the Arabic root `+l+y (= `to elevate, be exalted, etc) then, seems to make sense as an allusion to the first component of name of the Bab `Ali [Muhammad] Shirazi, a name which corresponds to the name of the first twelver Imam, `Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 40/661). That Baha'u'llah uses an Attribute of God `Aliyy/`Ali then its superlative also echoes the pattern set out by the Bab in his Arabic and Persian Bayans and elsewhere. In his new neo- but post-qur'anic  basmala he utilized two Arabic superlatives as Divine Attributes indicative of the transcendent unknowability of God :

 بسم الله الامنع الاقدس 

Worth noting here is the fact that in his Lawh-i Hajj I  (First Tablet of the Pilgrimage) to the House of the Bab in Shiraz, Baha'-Allah addresses the wall (jidar) of the city (al-madinat) of Shiraz (the birthplace of the Bab and the site of the house where he first declared his mission before Mulla Husayn Bushru'i in 1260/May 22-3, 1844), according it the following beatitude : "So Blessed be unto thee in that the Lights of the sun of thy Lord, the  Transcendent the Most Elevated (rabbika al-aliyy al-a`la = the Bab) had radiated forth upon thee" The Bab's title here "the Transcendent, the Most Elevated (rabbika al-aliyy al-a`la) would seem to confirm the implications of this double divine attribute of transcendence ( al-`aliyy al-a`la) when applied to the Bab, as Lord of the eschatological era.

Lawḥ Shams-i jamāl-i ilāhī  (The Tablet of the Sun of the Divine Beauty)

I have named this Arabic and Persian scriptural Tablet of Baha'-Allah after its opening words as Lawḥ Shams-i jamāl-i ilāhī  (The Tablet of the Sun of the Divine Beauty). It was probably written for or addressed to Baha'-Alah himself  during the Kurdistan period or perhaps to Darvish Siddiq/ Sidq-`Ali Qazvini (d.1299/1882) who had been a Babi-Baha'i from at least the 1850s. It  begins with the Huwa (He is) which also opens pr prefixes many of the later couplets:

[I]

Huwa (He is God)

The Sun of the Divine Beauty (shams-i jamāl-i ilāhī)  beameth forth  from the Lordly Orient of the Unseen  (mashriq-i ghayb-i rabbānī). Wherefore are  all  wayfarers  [? text unclear] illumined  by its shining forth.

So Oh! Blessed be thou! who art made luminous through its orient lights.

[II]

Huwa (He is God)

The Lamp of God (sirāj Allāh)  radiateth light  such that through its intrinsic Splendour (ḍiyā'-yi khud)  the candles of the hearts of humankind are ignited!

So Oh! Blessed be thou!
who art  rendered resplendent through its splendors!

This Huwa commencement occurs five times then is followed twice by the address Ya Darvish (O Dervish [Siddiq `Ali? of Baha'-Allah himself]) twice, then the quasi-messianic  "He is God, the Desired One' (huwa Allah al-maqsud) followed by another ten Huwa headings intersperced with  "O `Ali" (twice) and single occurences of  Huwa al-mahbub ("He is the Beloved One") and Huwa Allah al-mahbub ("He is God, the Beloved One"). The versified proclamations usually comencing with Huwa (He is) occur st least eighteen times (including phrases with a following object) in both Persian and Arabic.

The Lawh-i Naqus (Tablet of the Bell) c. 1863

Centrally important in this connection is the Lawh-i Naqus ("Tablet  of the Bell [Clapperboard") or Lawh-i Subhanika Ya Hu, the Tablet of  "In Thy Name "He" [for Thou, verily, art "He"]) of Baha'-Allah which dates from the Constantinople period (1863 CE). This writing commences with the quasi-basmala, "In My Name", which is followed with an introductory prescript then the following Sufi type neo-basmala :  "In Thy Name "He" for Thou, verily, art "He"". After this, the Tablet continues with an address to the Divine huwa/ "He is"  followed by an address to Baha'-Allah as one cloistered within the domain of the Divine Oneness, as opposed to one within a church where proclamatory "bells" should be rung in celebration of his advent:  "O "He"!  O Monk of the Divine Unicity! (rāhib al-aḥadiyya)". The Ya Hu /Huwa  ("He-He is") here dominantes the oft repeated refrain which occurs no less than twenty-seven times in the Lawh-i Naqus, each time with three or four occurrences of Ya Hu/Huwa or Huwa ("He is") - around eighty one times (= 9x9) in all :   

 

^{See further  http://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/node/328/}

The double Huwa  (Huwa Huwa هوهو) and its theological-theophanological implications.

The occurences of adjacent huwas in the refrain of the Lawh-i Naqus cited above, leads us on to a brief consideration of double or adjacent huwa ("He is") formulations  in Babi-Baha'i writ and their theological-theophanological implications.

It is a matter of considerable interest that the only female `Letter of the Living' Fatima Baraghani, entitled Tahira, Qurrat al-`Ayn (d. 1852 CE), opened one of her letters with a double or repeated Huwa  apparently followed by an adapted from of  the basmala :

^{From a ms. in the handwriting of Tahira}

On one level this doubling of the huwa may express the double Divinity of God and His Divine Manifestation, a twin yet related theophany. In later texts  of Baha'-Allah this double huwa could perhaps refer to the double theophany of the Bab and Baha'-Allah. An early example of Baha'-Allah's use of the double huwa as a textual commencement is found in his Baghdad [Iraq] era, lengthy Arabic and Persian Lawh-i Musibat-i Hurufat-i Aliyyin (The Tablet of the Calamity of the Elevated Letters), the first Arabic opening of which is prefixed, Huwa, Huwa followed by an Arabic devotional lamentation (see Tasbih va Tahlil, 242-170). The use of the double huwa is also found in other later writings of Baha'-Allah as in the following brief Persian communuication to his important apostle Shaykh Muhammad Kazim Samandar (b. Qazvin 1260/1844 d. Qazvin 1336/1918) :

Huwa Huwa  (He is, He is).

"The generative locus [point] of thy servitude is called to mind ..."  (Persian text from Ayat-i bayinat, 3).

The hadith of the double  ana ("I am I myself") and the double Huwa Huwa ("He is He Himself").

Certain of the double huwa prefixes within Babi and Baha'i sacred writ related literatures doubtless go back to an influential hadith ascribed to the (twelver Shi`i) Imams or one or more of these Imams, and registered, for example, in the much commented upon Manāzil al-Sā'irīn (`The Stations of the Wayfarers', completed 475/1082-3) of Khwaja Abu Isma'il Abdullah al-Ansari (b. Kohandez [Herat] 1006-d. Herat,1089).* CHECK.  It reads,

 لي مع الله حالات انا هو و هو انا الا انا انا و هوهو

For myself with God are states  [conditions], `I am He and He is I except that I am that I am and He is what He is'

^{[Note [Adapted Lambden] * "A fairly large number of commentaries have been written upon this work of al-Ansari, including one by the Persian Sufi Kamal al-Din `Abd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī [al-Qāshānī] (d. c. 730/1330) and one by  the neo-Salafi Sunni polemical thinker and Hanbali Sufi  writer, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350), a fairly prolific associate of Ibn Taymiyya (481/1089). al-Kāshānī wrote his Madarij al-salikin bayna manazil iyyaka na`btidu wa׳iyyaka nasta`in ("The Ranks of the Seekers [after God] between the Stations of 'Thee we worship and Thy succor we seek' , cf.1:4) in commentary on al-Ansari's Manāzil al-Sā'irīn."}

In Shoghi Effendi's translation this tradition, as it is cited by Baha'-Allah,  reads as follows :

"Manifold and mysterious is My relationship with God. I am He, Himself, and He is I, Myself, except that I am that I am, and He is that He is“ (GWB XXVII).

Versions of this hadith are cited by the Bab, Baha'-Allah and  `Abd al-Baha' in  various of their writings as expressions of the elevated divine status of the mazahir-i ilahi (Manifestations of God) or their representatives as contrasted with their human nature (Makatib-i Hadrat-i `Abd al-Baha' vol. 2:21). In Babi and Baha'i usuage the double "He is" - Huwa Huwa - indicates the high theophanological relationship between God and the Messenger of God as the subordinate or mirrored Godhead, the manifestations of God and the Ultimate Deity. For Baha'is this tradition cannot be taken too literally or lead to a belief in the identity of the Unknowable Deity and the Divine nature of His representative.

In the second Surat al-Ruya' (The Surah of the Vision) of the Qayyum al-asma' of the Bab there is an interesting utilization of the huwa tradition cited above. The person of the Bab as the servant of God or  the hidden Imam   is closely associated with the theologically loaded Huwa  "He is":

God made for Us and for Our servant (`abd = the Bab) [spiritual] stations (maqamat <sup>an</sup>) registered in the Archytypal [Mother] Book (umm al-kitab) throughout all the worlds and suspended in the Point of Fire (muqata al-nar) for this was also a matter registered in the Archytypal [Mother] Book (umm al-kitab) hidden away about the cosmic Water (al-ma'). : We are He (nahnu huwa) and He is Us (huwa nahnu) except that He is He (huwa huwa) and Our servant (`abd - the Bab) who is registered in the Archtypal [Mother] Book (umm al-kitab) a Witness (shahid ^an) situated above the ___! [text unclear] (QA. 45, p. 169).     

The Commentary on the Ḥadith al-Ḥaqīqa (Ultimate Reality) for Kumayl ibn Ziyād ibn Nahīk al-Naka'ī (d. c. 81 / 701) of Sayyid `Alī Muhammad Shirazi, the Bāb (d.1850 CE).

The Hadîth al-haqîqa ("Tradition concerning Ultimate Reality") or Hadîth ma al-haqîqa, (very loosely) the `The Hadîth in response to the question as to what is Reality" , is the record of an alleged (Arabic) conversation between the first Shî`î Imam, `Alî b. Abî Tâlib (d.40/661) and his Shî`î associate, the one-time governor of Hît (Iraq, 130 miles from Baghdad), Kumayl ibn Ziyâd ibn Nahîd ibn Haytham ibn Sa'd ibn Malik ibn al-Nakhâ'î. (d. c. 81 / 701) whose shine is located at wadî al-salâm near Najaf (Iraq) (al-Mufîd, K. al-Irshâd). It has to do with the nature and definition of of al-ḥaqîqa which is often (loosely) translated "Reality" or "Ultimate Reality". The hadîth al-haqîqa is a well-known tradition much discussed and highly influential in Shî`î Islamic philosophy and mysticism as well as many times registered in Babi-Baha'i scripture. It has been commented upon by the early Shaykhi leaders as well as many gnostic (irfani) or esoterically minded thinkers among them Hajji Mullâ Hâdî Sabziwârî (d. c.1295/ 1878).

The Bab's high Imamological commentary on the abovementioned Hadith. very much revolves around the high status of the first Imam `Ali whose Logos-Self is represented as the creative genesis of Being and a divine effulgence which mediates divine realities in the world of creation. After commenting upon the implications of "The unveiling of the subuḥāt al-jalāl,  the "the splendors of Divine majesty" min ghayr al-ishāra which are beyond comparison (or "without allusion"), the Bab is led to say,

"Then observe with the eye [vision] of thine inmost heart (`ayn al-fu'ādika) that thy ḥaqīqa  (Reality) is the Lordship of thy Lord (rububiyyat al-rabb) both before thee and within thee for "thou art He" and "He is thou" except that "thou art thou" which is indeed thyself and "He is He Himself" and for Him is the station of that oneness  which an Ipseity of the Divine Essence (waḥdat huwiyya dhat). Wherefore, indeed, is there neither mention nor allusion of Him.. ADD         (Text and translation from INBMC 53:65).

Baha'-Allah and the Eschatological claim of انا هو "I am He [Himself]" : From huwa =  ( "He is" ) unto  anā =  "Iam".

A number of Islamic hadith texts registered in Imami Shi`i literatures have  it that a time will come when the proclamation of Huwa (He is) will be transformed into one of "I am He". A word (kalimat) will be uttered - "I am He", He or Divine or God - which will cause even leading religious or other notables to flee or rush away to find a hiding place:

"Say: The Word (al-kalimat) hath assuredly appeared which hath made your nuqabā' ("nobles") and your `ulamā' ("learned") to flee; this [claim of] "I am" (anā') about which We gave you news aforetime. He, assuredly, is the  Mighty, the All-Knowing." (Baha'-Allah, Iqtidarat, 235).

In writings such as the bove Baha'-Allah claimed that this eschatological challenge came about through his claim to subordinate Divinity.

The Rashh-i `ama'  (The sprinkling of the theophanic Cloud)

دور  انا هو از چهره ما ها كرده بروز

كور هو هو از طفحه ما ميريزد

On account of Our Visage the dispensation of "I am He" hath commenced.

Through Our overflowing the cycle of "He is He" is diffused. 

The Lawh-i Jawhar-i Hamd ( Tablet of the Essence of Praise") the eschatological claims of Baha'-Allah.

In his important Lawḥ-i jawhar-i ḥamd, Bahā’-Allāh has occasion to respond to questions touching upon the eschatological theophany of Divinity and related issues reflected in phrases contained within the ḥadīth of al-ḥaqīqa, a ḥadith registering `Imam `Alī's theological conversation with Kumayl ibn Ziyād (d. c. 81/701) about the modes, meanings or implications of al-ḥaqīqa (Ultimate Reality). At one point Bahā’-Allāh  explains that after the definition of al-ḥaqīqa implied in the phrase “It is the unveiling of the splendors of the Majestic One [or `vainglories of hybris’] (kashf subuḥāt al-jalāl)  beyond compare [without allusion] (min ghayr ishāra) [an apophatic disclosure]!" 

Such Baha'-Allah further states implies the realization of the station of Huwa Huwa ("He is He Who is") which has been mentioned in a noble hadith (dar hadith-i sharif)“  (L-Jawhar-i hamd, ms. p. 18).

Among the uses of the double huwa   هوهو in the writings of `Abd al-Baha', is that found at the opening of his tablet or letter in exposition of inshiqaq-i qamar (`Commentary upon the Cleaving of the Moon') (See Makatib II:263) which may date from an early period.

The Islamic and Babi-Baha'i use of    هويةHuwiyya (The Divine Ipseity, “Selfness”).

The article  Huwiyya'  by A. M. Goichon in the second edition of the Leiden, Brill produced Encyclopedia of Islam (EI² 1961>) opens instructively as follows :

HUWIYYA

is one of the abstract words that were coined in order to express in Arabic the nuances of Greek philosophy. It has been translated in a number of ways, in mediaeval Latin as well as in modern European languages. "Ipseity" would seem to be the term with which it most precisely corresponds. In modern Arabic it is retained with the meaning "identity".

Huwiyya is formed from the pronoun huwa and the normal abstract termination -iyya, according to the explanation given by Ibn Rushd. He attributes this formation to a desire to avoid the ambiguity of the word mawdjud, translating [Gk.] το ov, as the Arabic participle has the original meaning of "found".

The term was established early by the translators, for it already occurs frequently in the translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics and is found also in the so-called Theology attributed to the same author.

Though it hardly touches at all upon the uses of huwiyya in Islamic mysticism, this EI² article continues to survey examples of various uses and senses of huwiyya in select Graeco-Islamic and other sources which cannot possibly be summarized or set forth here. The following citation relating to the key early Islamic philosopher al-Kindi (ca. 800–870 CE) must suffice :

 A curious passage in a Risala of al-Kindi (ed. Abu Rida, i, 161-2) exhibits the word [huwiyya] assimilated into the [Arabic] language in the form of a triliteral root H W Y, which possesses a fifth form verb, with a masdar [verbal noun], sometimes given a plural, and a passive. The discussion concerns the One; among sensible things, a being is both one and many... If there were no unity there would be no multiplicity. Thus every multiple (being) is made what it is (or: is made itself) by unity: tahawwi kull kathir huwa bi-'l-wahda. If there were no unity the multiple would have no huwiyya (ipseity)". "The flux of unity that comes from the first and true One is the tahawwi of every sensible being", its establishment as an individual being, as it were. It is thus the One that is "the creator of all the mutahawwiyat (all the beings that are constituted as individual beings, that are characterized). There is thus no huwiyya (ipseity), except because of the unity that is in it". Cf. also p. 123, line 5, and the explanation given at 129, note 4: "... a huwiyya, that is to say a thing subsisting by itself", and so a substance (referring to huwa huwa)"  (A. M. Goichon EI²).

Ibn al-`Arabi and the Divine Huwiyya (Ipseity).

The Great Islamic theologian, philosopher and mystic Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muhammad ... al-Ḥātimī aṭ-Ṭāʾī, Ibn al-`Arabi (1165-1240 CE) was an extremely prolific writer. He devoted many pages to the diverse senses and deep sometimes numerological and morphological  implications of the letters of the Arabic alphabet, to the basmala and to the recondite meanings of the huwa ("He is") and the huwiyya (Divine Ipseity). Only a few aspects of this subject can be tentatively examined here as found in his short treatise 'The Book of the Mim (M), the Waw (W) and the Nun (N)',  his massive al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya ("The Meccan Illuminations"), and in and a few other writings.

In his Kitab al-Mim wa'l-Waw wa'l-Nun (`Book of the M, the W and the N'),  the Great Shaykh has it that the multi-faceted, noble letter "w" (Ar. waw) is compounded of the two letters, a letter "b" (abjad 2) and a letter "j" (abjad 3) since 6= 3 x 2 = (abjad) "w". This accords with Pythagorean concepts pointing to this letter “w” (=6) as the matrix of the other letters. The letter "w" (abjad six = 3x2), furthermore, is inherent in the letter "h" (abjad 5 = 3+2). Among other things, the "b" (= 2) which is intrinsic within the "w", represents the "first Intellect" (al-`aql al-awwal), the letter "j" (= 3) being regarded as of the "primary levels of uniqueness" (awwal maqamat al-fardaniyya). These two letters enshrine the numerical powers and multiplicities inherent in, or resulting from, the number six (= w) as a compound of the letters w and h.

Additionally for Ibn al-`Arabi, the letter "w" exists within the huwiyya (Divine Ipseity) as its second letter.  By virtue of its own self, the letter "w" within the huwiyya, preserves or safeguards the continuity of the non-manifest, hiddenness (al-ghayb) of the Deity. It has a special intrinsic power superior to all the other letters of the alphabet, save the letter "h" (al-ha'). The “h” (al-ha’)  and the “w” (al-waw) are the essence (`ayn) of the huwa (“He is”) about which it has been said, “The Ipseity (al-huwiyya) and things otherwise  exist for the safeguarding of Him by means of this letter “h” (al-ha’)”.

After discoursing on the letters "k" and "n" of the Qur'anic Divine creative imperative "Be!" (kun) relative to the huwiyya, - in the imperative Arabic kun  (meaning "Be!") the letter "w" is absent from though fundamental to the underlying triliteral root k-w-n, the verbal noun form being  كون  kawn = existence, existent "being") - the Great Shaykh returns to the question of the relationship between the letters "h" and "w" of the huwiyya. He states that "the letter al-waw (w) realizes its cosmic reality through the letter al-ha' (h)" for they coexist in a oneness of morphology or form. By creatively inverting and transposing the morphological shape of the letter "w", its fundamental relationship and identity with the letter "h" is realized. According to Ibn al-`Arabi, such matters had been previously disclosed by the Andalucian Sufi master, Imam Abu al-Qasim Ahmad ibn al-Husayn Ibn Qasi (d. Silves, 1151 CE) in his Kitab Khal` al-Na`layn wa Iqtibas al-Anwar min Mawdi al-Qadamayn  ("The Doffing of the two Sandals..."). Within this work as understood by Ibn al-`Arabi, we find expressions of the deep interelationship between the "mysteries of the letter al-waw (w) and of the letter "h". Spelled with three letters, each having deep significance, the first letter waw is understood by the Great Shaykh to be "the [letter] waw of the huwiyya (Ipseity), having the [letter] h (al-ha') enfolded within it". Its second, final waw, is that of the word kawn ("being", existence"), the waw here being its middle letter. Such are a few obsevations made by Ibn al-`Arabi in his Kitab al-Mim wa'l-Waw wa'l-Nun. 

^{For further details  see the edition of the Arabic text with French trans. by Charles-Andrew-Gilis,  `Ibn `Arabi, Le Livre du Mim. du Waw et du Nun', Beirut: Dar albouraq, 1432, 2002).}

Huwiyya in the al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya

Only a few select observations pertaining to this complex aspect of the `ilm al-huruf (science of the letters) can be touched upon at this point. It has been appropriately observed by the polymathic German Islamicist, Annemarie Schimmel (1922-2003), that Ibn al-`Arabī, “championed the Unknowability and Unmanifest nature of the Absolute Essence” and (drawing on Henri Corbin) that he "experienced the vision of the highest divine essence in the shape of the word هو   hū (or huwa, namely)  "He,"  luminous between the arms [margin like divisions in the shape] of the letter ﻫ   =  “H”  (الهاء   al-hā) the Arabic letter “H” (Schimmel, 1975: 270, adapted). ^[25] The passage referred to here comes from the dense and complex section twenty-seven in volume II of Ibn al-`Arabī’s al-Futūḥāt (Vol. II sect. XXVII = pp. 445-449). It initially deals with the gnosis of various cosmic and angelological configurations of the letters of the Arabic alphabet closing with reference a vision of the Great Shaykh of the form of the first letter “H” of the word Huwiyya (“He-ness” or Ipseity) which denotes the theological Self-Identity of God:

Very tentatively translated a portion of this passage reads:

“I visioned in its morphological outwardness (al-waqi`a al-ẓāhir) the Divine Ipseity (al-huwiyya al-ilāhiyya) [= the word هوية] in its evident reality and in its deep inner dimension (bāṭin). This I had not seen this prior to that [aforementioned] time in an outward vision (mashad<sup>an</sup>) among our [various] visionary experiences (mushāhid-nā)... And its forms are similitudes (mithāl <sup>an</sup>) of the [two] side strokes [`lines’ or `margins’](al-hāmish) as appropriate to [the  [letter] al-hā’ (= “H”). (al-Futuhat vol. II: 449 last lines)

Henri Corbin somewhat loosely summed up aspects of this passage follows:

This visionary capacity… is discernible throughout Ibn 'Arabī's work. It embraces, for example, his ability to "visualize" certain letters of the Arabic alphabet… Thus he visualizes the Divine Ipseity, the huwlya, in the form of the Arabic letter ha, resplendent with light and placed on a red carpet; between the two branches of the ha gleam the two letters hw (huwa, He), while the ha projects its rays upon four spheres” (see Corbin, Creative Imagination [in Alone with the Alone], 234). ^[26]

Ibn al-`Arabī underlined the unknowability and unmanifest nature of the transcendent Divine Essence: "The Divine Essence (al-dhāt al-ilāhiyya) cannot be understood by the rational faculty" (Ibn `Arabi, Futuhāt II: 257; Chittick, 1989:60). The Divine Essence is transcendent above the cosmos, "independent of the worlds" (Q. 3:97 ibid II: 502).  He often cited the following prophetic tradition: "Reflect (tafakkur) upon all things, but reflect not upon God's Essence." (cited ibid 62). Any attempt by human beings to fathom the Divine Essence is futile as is implied in the Qur' ānic phrase, "God would have you beware of Himself (nafsihi)" (3:28/30).

Chittick sums up key aspects of Ibn `Arabī's theology when he states, "God is known through the relations, attributions, and correlations that become established between Him and the cosmos. But the Essence is unknown, since nothing is related to It":  

"In respect of Itself the Essence has no name, since It is not the locus of effects, nor is It known by anyone. There is no name to denote It without relationship, nor with any assurance (tamkīn). For names act to make known and to distinguish, but this door [to knowledge of the Essence] is forbidden to anyone other than God, since "None knows God but God." So the names exist through us and for us. They revolve around us and be‑come manifest within us. Their properties are with us, their goals are toward us, their expressions are of us, and their beginnings are from us...Reflection (fikr) has no governing property or domain in the Essence of the Real, neither rationally nor according to the Law. For the Law has forbidden reflection upon the Essence of God, a point to which is alluded by His words, "God warns you about His Self" (3:28). This is because there is no interrelationship (munasaba) between the Essence of the Real and the essence of the creatures. (al-Futuḥāt I: 230)

“In our view there is no disputing the fact that the Essence is unknown. To It are ascribed descriptions that make It incomparable with the attributes of temporal things (al-ḥadath). It possesses eternity (al-qidam), and to Its Being is ascribed beginninglessness (al-azal). But all these names designate negations, such as the negation of beginning and everything as appropriate to temporal origination" (Futuḥāt II: 557 cited Chittick, 1989:62).

`Abd al-Karām al-Jīlī [Gilānī]  (d. c. 832/ 1428) on Huwiyya.

To return to an aspect of the theology surrounding the letter “H” of the Huwa (“He is”)  and of the closely related word  Huwiyya indicative of the Divine Ipseity. ^[27]  It can first be noted that there is a section on هوية (huwiyya = “He-ness”) in the important, foundational al-Insān al-kāmil.. ("The Perfect Man [Human]") of the key disciple of Ibn al-`Arabī named `Abd al-Karām al-Jīlī [Gilānī]  (d. c. 832/ 1428).  This important Persian Shī`īte Sufī writes in this work:

"The Ipseity of the Ultimately Real [True One] (God; huwiyya al-ḥaqq):  this indicates His hiddenness (ghayb), the manifestation of which is impossible save by means of the totality of the [Divine] Names and Attributes. This since their Reality alludeth unto the interiority of the Divine Uniqueness (bāṭin al-wāḥidiyya); it alludeth unto His Being (kūn) and His Essence (dhāt) by means of His Names and Attrubutes: `The Ipesity (al-huwiyya) is the hiddenness of the Divine Essence which is Uniquely One (wāhid)” (Jīlī, al-Insān [1956] 1: 96-7 trans. Lambden).

The realm ofهاهوت   Hāhūt, the apophatic realm of the Unknowable Godhead.

Also related to the Arabic letter ﮫ  "h" (hā') and هو  huwa (`He is') is the designation of the dhāt, the Divine Essence as (loosely) `the sphere of the Divine Ipseity', as Hāhūt. Traditionally this realm lies `above' and `beyond' the ever more elevated succession of spheres or `worlds' set forth in Islamic cosmologies:

• [1] عالم ناسوت، Nāsūt ("this Mortal World");
• [2] عالم ملکوت، Malakūt ("the world of the angels or the Kingdom [of God]");
• [3] عالم جبروت،  Jabarūt (`the sphere of the Divine decrees or celestial Powers") and
• [4] عالم لاهوت،  Lāhūt ("the realm of the Divine theophany"). ^[28]
• [5] عالم هاهوت، Hāhūt (“the apophatic realm of the Unknowable Godhead”).

The  fifth possible designation is the most transcendent sphere named هاهوت  Hāhūt, a name modeled on the names of the abovementioned `realms' the names which are themselves rooted in Christian Aramaic or Syriac theological terminology (see Arnaldez, `Lāhūt and Nāsūt' EI²).  Hāhūt  indictes the yet more or most elevated, inaccessible sphere of the Dhāt-Allāh the Essence of Divinity or of the Divine Ipseity. The Hāhūt realm is held to forever remain utterly incomprehensible to all, whether they be created or uncreated, including human beings, the elevated, archangelic  Concourse on High (al-malā’ al-a`lā) and the totality or all of the Divine (Per.) maẓhar-i ilāhī or Manifestations of God. Diverse references to Hāhūt are found in the writings of numerous Muslim philosophical and other writers and mystics. It also occurs in such writings of Baha’u’llah such as his Lawḥ-i kull al-ṭa`ām (The Tablet of All Food'. The Bahā’ī teaching is that even the Manifestations of God are not privy to the Ultimate mystery of the Ipseity, Dhāt-Allāh or Veiled Essence of the Godhead. ^[29]

The Hāhūt occurs in  few writings of the Bab, including in one of his `Tablets to the Letters of he Living' (Huruf aL- hayy) published in facsimile towrads the beginning of the English translation of the Dawn-Breakers  (matla al-anwar) of Shoghi Effendi and Nabil-i Zarandi (d.1892). So also in a few poetical writings of Baha'u'llah such as the Rashh-i `ama' (c.1852 CE) and a Tablet sometimes believed to have been addressed to the Babi, al-Turshizi entitled `Azim (the Mighty One) by the Bab.(see Mazandarani, Kitab-i Zuhur al-haqq, vol.4).

The Ipseity (Divine Self-Identity) and the Tafsīr-i Hū’  هو [Huwa] (c. 1859?).

Bahā'u'llāh wrote a highly theosophanological  Tafsīr-i Hū [Huwa] `The Commentary on "He is"' perhaps written around 1859 or evidently written soon after the compilation of the `Hidden Words' (Kalimat-i Maknūna, c.1858 CE), one of which is cited and interpreted (Arabic no. 3). ^[57] It contains many interesting theological statements about the Divine Identity (huwa, "He-ness"), "Essence" (dhāt), Names (asmā') and Attributes (sifāt). It was largely written in explanation of a passage from a writing of the the Bāb (?) addressed to a "Mirror" (mirāt) of the Bābi dispensation (probably Mirzā Yahyā). The issue of the relationship of this "Mirror" to the divine Names and Attributes, the "Most Beautiful Names" (al-asmā' al-usnā'), and the Divine Identity (Ar. huwa = "He is" Per.  Hū) is central.

It is indicated that the Manifestation of God is the locus of the Names and Attributes of God and the vehicle through which the Unknowable Essence -- Who is beyond the "Most Beautiful Names" (al-asmā' al-husnā') -- communicates with His creation. While the totality of the Divine "Names" (al-asmā') revolve around the "Divine Will" (mashiyyat) all the Divine "Attributes" (al-ifāt) are realized through His "Intention" (irada). Everything circumambulates the Divine and Unfathomable Essence (dhāt) whose manifestation (tajallā) is realized through His major Prophets or Manifestations. The Bāb, among other things, is referred to as the "Fountainhead of His Essence" (manba` al-dhātihi) and the "Locus of His Activity" (`Source of His Action'; masdar fi`lihi).

Bahā'-Allāh explains how the divinely revealed verse indicates that all the divine "Names" (al-asmā') are concentrated in the expression "all things" (kull^u shay'; abjad = 19X19) which were subsequently compacted or limited within the divine name "He is" (huwa). In Arabic "He is" (huwa) is composed of the two letters "H" (hā') and "W" (wāw) which are indicative of its "inner" and "outer" dimesions respectivey. The inner dimension of the Divine Identity, Bahā'-Allāh adds, is expressed in the phrases "Hiddenness of the Ipseity" (ghayb al-huwiyya), "Interiority of the Divine Oneness" (sirr al-aadiyya) and the "Primordial, Pristine Divine Essence" (al-dhāt al-bata al-qamāma). When the hidden "H" is established upon "enthroned, eternal Temple" (al-haykal al`arshiyya al-azaliyya), "the Beauty of the Divine Ipseity" (jamāl al-huwiyya) is established in the "Luminous Temple" (haykal al-nuriyya) of the Manifestation of God. God made His name "He is" (huwa) the greatest of the divine designations for it is a "Mirror" (mirāt) of all the divine "Names" (al-asmā') and "Attributes" (al-sifāt).

Unlike the divine "Names" and "Attributes" whose manifestation accounts for all earthly and heavenly things, the Reality of the Divine Essence is not in its very Self (al-dhāt bi'l-dhātihi) manifested unto a single thing; neither is it grasped or comprehended by anything. It is guarded from the comprehension of God's creatures and immeasurably beyond the gnosis of His servants. Experiential knowledge of the Divine Essence (ma`rifat dhātihi) is impossible :

Bābī-Bahā’ī theology has a great deal to say about  "He is" and the related expressions huwiyya (“He-ness”, “Ipseity”), the Divine Self-Identity,  as well as aniyya (“I-ness”), the Divine or human self identity. In the Babi-Bahā’ī sacred writings, we find the following opening portion of the a prayer of (most probably) the Bāb (or possibly Baha’u’llāh):

 

 

 

 

In the Name of God, the Single (al-fard), the Transcendent (al-mutta`āl), the All-Praiseworthy (al-ḥamīd).

The first Glory (bahā’) from the Beingness of the Divine Ipseity (kaynūniyya al-huwiyya) and the most ornamented Laudation (aṭraz al-thanā’) from the Pre-Eternal Essential Reality (dhātiyya al-azaliyya) and the Supreme Beauty of the  Elevated Reality (`allā’) from the Self-Identity (aniyya al-abadiyya) be upon Thee, O Thou Leaf of Camphor (al-warq al-kāfūr), Sinaitic Mount (shajarat al-tūr) and Lote-Tree of the Divine Theophany (sidrat al-ẓuhūr)… “ ^[58]

The Ipseity (Divine Self-Identity) in the Jawahir al-asrar (c.1860-61) and Kitab-i iqan (c. 1861).

Written some time before the Persian Kitab-i iqan perhaps around 1860-61 and at times echoing the earlier Haft vadi (Seven Valleys, c. 1858), the Arabic Jawahir al-asrar (Gems of the Mysteries) cites the above mentioned "I am He" Islamic tradition and contains XX uses of huwiyya. Discoursing on the `City of Divine Unity' Baha'-Allah states:

In his journey he seeth all differences return to a single word and all allusions culminate in a single point. Unto this beareth witness he who sailed upon the ark of fire and followed the inmost path to the pinnacle of glory in the realm of immortality: "Knowledge is one point, which the foolish have multiplied.“  This is the station that hath been alluded to in the tradition: "I am He, Himself, and He is I, Myself, except that I am that I am, and He is that He is.“  (Baha'u'llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 30)

Unity with the Divine can exhibit a single point (nuqta) like singulality and exhibit the identity spoken about in the "I am" unity and differentation tradition.

Kitab-i iqan (c. 1861)

The 150-200 page Persian Kitab-i iqan (Book of Certitude) is among the best known works of Baha'-Allah. It dates to the Iraq or Baghdad years, to about 1861, just a few years prior to its author's exile to Constantinople-Istanbul.The word huwiyya (Per. huviyya) occurs no less then twenty times in this seminal text. It was often translated or paraphrased non-literarally by the Baha'i Guardian, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (d.1957) in his 1931 English translation  which makes this work understandable to western Baha'is from a non-Islamic background.

The first occurence of (Per.) huviyya occurs in the genitive phrase shumus-i huviyya ("Suns of the Divine Ipseity") in the context of the suffering of the great Prophet founders of religions and is translated "Prophets of God" by Shoghi Effendi (KI:5 =trans. 5). The second occurence is in the phrase javahir-i huviyya (lit. "Gems-Essences of the Divine Ipseity") which was translated by the same authority as "Revealers of the Divine Essence" (see KI:36 = trans. p.31). More than ten pages further on, the third occurence is an allusion to the Prophet Muhammad who is referred to as the shams-i huviyya ("Sun of the Divine Ipseity") which is translated by the Baha'i Guardian as the "beauty of Muhammad" (KI:50 = trans. 42). The next, fourth occurence of huviyya is found just a few lines further on in connection with the appearence of the harbingers of the messenger or manifestation of God who are again referred to as the shams-i huviyya ("Sun of the Divine Ipseity", cf. the Bab) on this occasion translated "divine Luminary" by Shoghi Effendi (KI:51 = trans.42). 

When translating Baha'-Allah's explanation of the eschatological parousia "in the clouds" of obscurity, Shoghi Effendi  renders the coming shams-i ilahi, as "the Divine Luninary" and undestands his advent from the mashriq-i huviyya (dawning-place of the Divine Ipseity") to indicate the "dayspring of the divine Essence" (KI:57 = trans. 47). The sixth occurence of huviyya is a reference to the the post-Bab messianic theophany described as the all-powerful sultan-i huviyya translated in this instance by "King of Divine Might" (KI:72 = trans. 59).

The seventh and eighth occurences of huviyya in the Kitab-i iqan are found towards the beginning of what has been considered `Part Two' of this work where Bahā-Allāh explains that the Divine Manifestations appear from, the   khiyām-i ghayb-i huviyya  (lit. “tents of the hiddenness of the Divine Ipseity”) which is translated  “invisible habitations of ancient glory” (KI:73 = trans. 69). Continuing to discourse a few lines later, upon the hiddenness of the Divine Reality, Bahā-Allāh refers to the Ultimate Deity as the ghayb-i huviyya va dhāt-i aḥadiyya (lit. "hiddenness of the Divine Ipseity and the Essence of the Divine Oneness”)  which is translated by Shoghi Effendi as “God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being” (KI: 73 = trans. 69). Evidently here, as in many Islamic sources, huviyya can indicate the identity of Ultimate Deity.

After another page or so further on, reference is made in the Kitāb-i īqān to the Manifestations of God as marāyā-yi qudsiyya va maṭāli`-yi huviyya (“sanctified mirrors and dawning-places of the Divine Ipseity”) which is rendered by Shoghi Effendi as  “sanctified Mirrors, these Day-springs of ancient glory” (KI: 74 = trans. 64). The intimate relationship between the Manifestations of God (maẓhar-i ilāhī) and the Ultimate Deity is, furthermore, expressed as a maqam, a theophanological mode, indicated in the Islamic tradition (cited above in full) containing the phrase, anā huwa wa huwa anā, “I am He, Himself and He is I, myself” (trans. Shoghi Effendi; KI: 75 = trans. 65).

The tenth occurrence of huviyya (Divine Ipseity) is found in the gentive phrase varqā’-i huviyya, which is  translated “Dove of Eternity” by Shoghi Effendi. It is a reference to the Prophet Muhammad (or Gabriel) through whom Qur’ān 7:145 was revealed (KI: 75 trans. 68). The next use of huviyya by Bahā’-Allāh in the Kitāb-i īqān is found in the second of three genitive phrases referring to God and to the Prophet Muhammad whom He commissioned or caused to radiate forth from the “horizon of gnosis and meaning” (ufq-i`ilm va ma`ānī). God is the ghayb-i azalī (“the Pre-Eternal Hiddenness”) and the sādhij-i huviyya (“Pristine Divine Self-Identity”). These latter phrases are translated by Shoghi Effendi as “the Unseen, the Eternal, the divine Essence” while the Arabian Prophet is designated the  shams-i Muhammadī (“the Muhammadan Sun”; trans. “Day-star of Muhammad”), (KI: 105, trans. 87).

The twelfth reference to huviyya is found in connection with the days (era) of the manifestation of the maẓāhir-i huviyya, the founder Prophets or Manifestations of the Divine Ipseity, which is here translated by Shoghi Effendi as “Manifestations of the divine Essence” (KI: 118, trans. 97). The first Imam and fourth Caliph `Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d.40/661) is subsequently referred to as the tayr-i huviyya (“Bird of the Divine Ipseity) or in Shoghi Effendi’s rendering, “bird of Heaven” (KI: 129, trans. 107). Then, around ten pages further on in the course of an explanation of the subordinate Divinity and sublime Oneness of all of the Manifestations of God, they are said to possess the attributes of rubūbiyyat (“Lordship” or “Godhead”), ulūhiyyat (“Divinity”), vaḥidiyyat-i ṣirfa (“supreme Singleness”) and huviyya-i bakhta (“the Ipseity of felicity”) which is translated by Shoghi Effendi with the phrase “Inmost Essence”. The founder Prophets are thus all viewed as divine beings relative to their being expressions of the huviyya or Divine Ipseity. They are all said to be seated upon the throne of Divinity and may utter expressions of their Lordship relative to the divine huviyya (KI: 137, trans. 114).

The fifteenth occurrence of huviyya is a second reference to the varqā’-yi  huviyya (“Dove/Bird of the Divine Ipseity”) which is here rendered “Bird of Heaven” by Shoghi Effendi, though earlier (see above) he had translated “Dove of Eternity”. While the first such reference is apparently an allusion to the Prophet Muhammad, this second occurrence would seem to refer to the Manifestation(s) of God in general who utter divine melodies on behalf of the huviyya, the Deity beyond or their own transcendent Self-Identity (KI: 148, trans. 122).

In this connection it is next declared by Bahā’-Allāh that the asrār-i huviyya (“mysteries of the Divine Ipseity”; here Shoghi Effendi has “the mysteries of the divine Essence”) are registered or “enshrined” in the isolated, detached or disconnected letters of the Furqān, the Arabic Qur’ān (ḥurūfāt-i muqaṭṭa`a-yi furqān), (KI: 156, trans. 129). A few sentences further on, Bahā’-Allāh greatly exalts this Arabic Qur’ān by declaring that the Ultimate Divinity, through the operations of His Own Self (Per.) bi-nafsihi ān dhāt-i aḥadiyya (“through that Essence of the Divine Oneness”) and the ghayb-i huviyya (the “Hiddenness of the Divine Ipseity”), testifies to its guiding veracity until the day of the eschatological return (yawm-i ma`ād), the “Day of Resurrection” (KI: 156, trans. 130). The phrase  ghayb-i huviyya dar haykal-i bashariyya ("Hiddenness of the Divine Ipseity in the human Temple") towards the end of the Kitab-i iqan describes the person of the Manifestation of God who appears in "every age and era" (har ahd va asr). Shoghi Effendi here translates these words "the Invisible Essence (ghayb-i huviyya) ... revealed in the person of His Manifestation" (KI: 172, trans. 141).

The final two uses of huviyya both occur in genitive expressions indicative of the Manifestation(s) of God; firstly, huviyya-i nur (lit. `Divine Ipseity of Light') beautifully translated by Shoghi Effendi as "Quintessence of Light" (KI: 196, trans. 162) and finally ityār [as pl. of tayr]-i huviyya ("Birds of the Divine Ipseity") translated by the aforementioned authority as "Birds of Heaven" (KI: 197, trans. 162) which is also paraleled by the exression  hamamat-i `azaliyya (`Birds of Eternality"), translated  "Doves of Eternity" and again referring to the Manifestations of God (ibid).

The above paragraphs make it clear that in the Kitab-i iqan, Baha-Allah                                                                         

 

Baha'-Allah and the divine huwiyya (Ipseity) in the Lawh-i Naqus (Tablet of the Bell)

Within the abovementioned Lawh-i Naqus (Tablet of the Bell) of Baha'-Allah (dating to c. 1863) we find a few important references linking Baha'-Allah and the divine huwiyya (Ipseity).  He appears as the jamal al-huwiyya or the Beauty of the Divine Ipseity in its third address to the "Countenance Eternally Subsistent!" (tal`at al-baqā'): 

Pluck with the Fingertips of the Spirit (anāmil al-rūh)  upon a wondrous, holy Rebec (rabāb) for the Beauty of the Divine Ipseity (jamāl al-huwiyya)  is manifested in resplendent silken attire.

    سبحانكَ يَاهُوَ ياهُوَ هُو يَاهُو       

So Praised be Thou O "He"! O Thou Who art "He" Who is "He"!

O Thou besides Whom there is none other than "He".

The Lawh-i Zuhur, Tablet of Manifestation and the Huwiyya theophany of Baha'-Allah.

It is clear from the Lawh-i Zuhur of Baha'-Allah that huwiyya can indicate the mazhar-i ilahi (Manifestation of God) including himself. This important Tablet probably dating to the mid. West Galilean or `Akka (Acre) period commences by addressing one "who gazeth in the direction of the Godhead (ila shatr Allah)" and continues :

and art one submerged in the Ocean of His Nearness (qurb) and of His Good Pleasure (rida'). [2] So know thou! that the Manifestation of God (al-ẓūhur) is not compounded of the four [Empedoclean] elements (`anāṣir al-arba`a). [3] Nay, rather, He is the Mystery of the Divine Oneness (sirr al-aḥadiyya), the Pre-existent Being (kaynunat al-qidamiyya), the All-Enduring Essence (al-jawhar al-samadiyya) and the Hidden Ipseity [Self-Identity of the Godhead] (al-huwiyya al-ghaybiyya). [4] He can in no wise be known apart from His Own Self. [5] It is not possible for anyone to establish that He was made manifest from the four elements (`anāṣir) or indeed from such elements (ustuqus[s]āt = στοιχεῖον Gk. stoicheion = Latin elementum) as are mentioned by the tongue of the practitioners of [Graeco-Islamic] philosophy (ahl al-ḥikmat) or, additionally, from any of the four constituent natures (al-taba'i`). [6] Indeed! All such as this was created as a result of His Logos-Command (amr) and through His Divine Will (mashiyya). [7] For all eternity hath He been alone without a single thing proximate to Him. Like unto the time, that is, when the [Be! and] "it is" was, in very truth, realized (yakūn bi'l-ḥaqq) [cf. Q. 2:117]. [8] And when He established Himself upon the Heavenly Throne (al-`arsh) the revealed verses (al-ayat) were sent down unto thee in view of the fact that there was found in thy heart the fire of His love (trans. Lambden).

Not only can the genitive phrase al-huwiyya al-ghaybiyya be indicative (as in numerous Islamic sources) of the transcendent abstrated Deity, the Unknowable Godhead, but also the (Per.)  mazhar-i ilahi (Manifestation of God) as the "Hidden Ipseity" or Self-Identity of the Godhead" (al-huwiyya al-ghaybiyya). These are many alwah of Baha'-Allah in which both of these possibilities are registered.

Some Baha'i explanations of Huwa ("He is")

`Abdu'l-Bahā' wrote a number of important explanations of huwa Allāh ("He is God") which term occurs frequently in the Qur'ān (e.g. 28:70 - see above) and is very widely used in Islam as it is in Bābī-Bahā’ī sacred literatures. As in the Tafsīr-i Hū’ the explanation focuses around the doctrine of the unknowability of God. One scriptural Tablet written in reply to the question as to why "He is God" is written at the beginning of Bahā'ī sciptural Tablets (alwāḥ), begins by acknowledging its use in the orient and its being widely prefixed to sacred (Bābī and Bahā'ī) Tablets. The central Bahā’ī explanation is that it is indicative of incomprehensibility of the One, Divine Essence (haqīqat-i dhāt-i aḥadiyyat) which is beyond human conceptualization. In addition it indicates the "Beauty of the Promised One" Who is the "Sun of Reality" as the manifest Divinty (= Bahā'u'llāh) in allusion to whose name `Abdu'l-Bahā ' commences many of his writings (see Mā’ida IX: 22-3). The full translation of this Tablet of `Abdu’l-Baha to a wstern Bahā’ī  reads as follows:

"O Thou who art firm in the  Covenant!

Thou hast asked regarding the phrase "He is God!" written above the Tablets. By this Word it is intended that no one hath any access to the Invisible Essence. The way is barred and the road impassable. In this world all men must turn their faces toward "Him-whom-God-shall-Manifest." He is the "Dawning‑place of Divinity" and the "Manifestation of Deity." He is the "Ultimate Goal, and the "Adored One" of all and the "Worshipped One" of all. Otherwise, whatever flashes through the mind is not that Essence of essences and the Reality of realities; nay, rather, is it pure imagination woven by man and is surrounded, not the surrounding. Consequently, it returns finally to the realm of suppositions and conjectures." ^[59]

Human beings must turn indirectly to God through His Manifestation. The Ultimate Deity, the Essences of Essences, cannot be directly identified with.

Select Persian Versions of Arabic Huwa theological phrases in Persian Tablets of Baha'u'llah'

From a Tablet in the handwritings of Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpayigani

U-st Dānā U-st Binā. U-st Gūyā

He is the All-Knowing (the Wise)! And He is the  All-Seeing (the Clear Sighted)!

And He is the Speaker (the One who Giveth Utterance)!

Images cited from Tooraj Amini,  Gulpayigani, 2015 , p.531.

The Neo-Basmala in Persian.

In addition to there being Persian versions of the Huwa  ("He is") theological, scriptural commencement, there are also exist new Persian versions of the basmala or Babi type neo-basmala in the writings of Baha'u'llah. The well-known Lawh-i Hushang Mānekjī Limji Hataria (b. Mora, Sumali, India, 1813 -d. Tehran, 1890) or Lawh-i Manakji Sahib for this Zoroastrian notable, opens as follows:

Bi-nām-i khudāvand-i yiktā, "In the Name of God, the Single".

Other Persian Tablets or scriptural alwah of Baha'u'llah begin similarly. See for example, the Tablet of Baha'u'llah to Jinaāb-i Mirzā Aqā in the book edited and compiled  by Nasir Bashir-Ilahi consisting of Tablets in honour of his forbears (166 BE/2010 CE), p.19-20.