The ''Arabic Bayán'' () is an unfinished book in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

written by the

Báb The Báb (born ʻAlí-Muḥammad; ; ; 20 October 1819 – 9 July 1850) was an Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbai ...

around 1848. It functions as a significant

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

Bábism Bábism () is a Messianism, messianic movement founded in 1844 by Báb, the Báb ( 'Ali Muhammad). The Báb, an Iranian merchant-turned-prophet, professed that there is one incorporeal, unknown, and incomprehensible GodEdward Granville Browne ...

, asserting that it is a product of divine

revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...

and inspiration.

Etymology and meaning

The word ''Bayán'' literally means declaration or elucidation. In the context of

, this term is used to refer to the writings of the Bāb in general, but usually is applied to two specific works, including ''Arabic Bayán''. Its larger sister book is in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, called the ''

Persian Bayán The ''Persian Bayán'' ( - "expression") is one of the principal scriptural writings of the Báb, the founder of Bábism, written in Persian. The Báb also wrote a shorter book in Arabic, known as the '' Arabic Bayán''. Content The Persian Ba ...

''.

History

Exact date of the book's composition has been subject to disagreements. However, internal evidence indicates that it was composed while the Báb was imprisoned in

Maku, Iran Maku () is a city in the Central District of Maku County, West Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Maku is from the Turkish border in a mountain gorge at an altitude of 1,634 metres. The Za ...

, at the end of 1848. At that time, the Báb's restrictions were not severe, and he was permitted to write and communicate with his followers. However, he did not manage to make the ''Arabic Bayán'' complete and it remained unfinished with his execution in 1850. Following clashes between Bábis and the Persian government, Bábi works including the ''Arabic Bayán'' were banned. This made them hard to procure. Only some thirteen

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...

of this work, including an

autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...

, are known to exist. Unlike

Azalis Subh-i-Azal (1831–1912, born Mīrzā Yahyā Nūrī) was an Iranian religious leader and writer who was the second head of the Bābī movement after the execution of its founder, the Bāb, in 1850. He was named the leader of the movement afte ...

, the Baháʼís showed little interest in preserving or distributing this work because they assumed it was abrogated and superseded by their own scripture. The autograph was printed using lithography and circulated in Tehran by the Azalis, and it was later republished in 1957 by 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Hasani in his book ''al-Bābīyūn wa’l-Bahāʾīyūn''.

Text and arrangement

External structure

The book was intended to comprise nineteen chapters (''wāḥeds''), each containing nineteen ''abwāb''. Nonetheless it is incomplete, and contains only eleven chapters. The number nineteen was arranged for the sake of symbolism and according to

Abjad numerals The Abjad numerals, also called Hisab al-Jummal (, ), are a decimal alphabetic numeral system/alphanumeric code, in which the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values. They have been used in the Arab world, Arabic-speaking ...

. Other Bábi sources imply that the rest of chapters were to be written by Báb's successor,

Subh-i-Azal Subh-i-Azal (1831–1912, born Mīrzā Yahyā Nūrī) was an Iranian religious leader and writer who was the second head of the Bābī movement after the execution of its founder, the Bāb, in 1850. He was named the leader of the movement afte ...

. Each of the ''abwāb'' is slightly longer than a verse, which leads to a high degree of compression in the ''wāḥeds'' and results in "little or no logic in the sequence of subjects".

Translations

The book has been translated into French twice.

Arthur de Gobineau Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (; 14 July 1816 – 13 October 1882) was a French writer and diplomat who is best known for helping introduce scientific race theory and "racial demography", and for developing the theory of the Aryan master race and N ...

first published an incomplete and inaccurate translation of the work in his ''Les religions et les philosophies dans l'Asie centrale'' (1865), as part of the appendix "Ketab-è Hukkam". The second translation was made by

A. L. M. Nicolas Louis Alphonse Daniel Nicolas (1864–1939)—better known by his pen name A. L. M. Nicolas—was a Persian-born French historian and scholar of Oriental studies who is best known today for his early work on Shaykhism and Bábism. Although primar ...

, published under the title ''Le Beyan arabe'' in 1905. This work was of the earliest sources that enabled the Western world to understand Bábism.

Citations

References

* *

External links

Compendium on the ''Arabic Bayán''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabic Bayan Bábí texts 19th-century Arabic-language books Unfinished books