Bahá'í orthography

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Bahá'í Faith

Central figures

Bahá'u'lláh The Báb · Abdu'l-Bahá

Key scripture

Kitáb-i-Aqdas · Kitáb-i-Íqán The Hidden Words Some Answered Questions

Institutions

Administrative Order The Guardian Universal House of Justice Spiritual Assemblies

History

Bahá'í history · Timeline Bábís · Shaykh Ahmad

Notable individuals

Shoghi Effendi Martha Root · Táhirih Badí‘ · Apostles Hands of the Cause

Selected teachings

Unity of humanity Unity of religion Gender equality Universal education Science and religion Auxilliary language

See also

Symbols · Laws Teachings · Literature Calendar · Divisions Index of Bahá'í Articles This box: view • talk • edit

The Bahá'í Faith uses a standardized system of orthography when rendering Persian or Arabic words into English. The set of guidelines uses certain accents and dots when transliterating the Arabic script that allows for a near-accurate representation of the original Arabic.

Bahá'ís use a particular and fairly precise system standardized by Shoghi Effendi, which he initiated in a letter to the Bahá'ís of America on March 12, 1923. The Bahá'í transliteration scheme was based on a standard adopted by the Tenth International Congress of Orientalists which took place in Geneva in September 1894. Shoghi Effendi changed some details of the Congress's system, most notably in the use of digraphs in certain cases (e.g. sh instead of š), and in incorporating the solar letters when writing the definite article al- (Arabic: ال) according to pronunciation (e.g. ar-Rahim, as-Saddiq, instead of al-Rahim, al-Saddiq).

Arabic letter	Name	Transliteration	Phonetic Value (IPA)
ﺍ‎	alif	á, a	various, including [aː] and [æː]
ﺏ‎	bá	b	[b]
ﺕ‎	tá	t	[t]
ﺙ‎	thá	th	[θ]
ﺝ‎	jím	j	[ʤ]
ﺡ‎	ḥá	ḥ	[ħ]
ﺥ‎	khá	kh	[x]
ﺩ‎	dál	d	[d]
ﺫ‎	dhál	dh	[ð]
ﺭ‎	rá	r	[r]
ﺯ‎	záy	z	[z]
ﺱ‎	sín	s	[s]
ﺵ‎	shín	sh	[ʃ]
ﺹ‎	ṣád	ṣ	[sˁ]
ﺽ‎	ḍád	ḍ	[dˁ]
ﻁ‎	ṭá	ṭ	[tˁ]
ﻅ‎	ẓá	ẓ	[ðˁ] / [zˁ]
ﻉ‎	`ayn	`	[ʕ] / [ʔˁ]
ﻍ‎	ghayn	gh	[ɣ] / [ʁ]
ﻑ‎	fá	f	[f]
ﻕ‎	qáf	q	[q]
ﻙ‎	káf	k	[k]
ﻝ‎	lám	l	[l]
ﻡ‎	mím	m	[m]
ﻥ‎	nún	n	[n]
ﻩ‎	há	h	[h]
ﻭ‎	wáw	ú, v, w	[uː], [v], [w]
ﻱ‎	yá	í, y	[iː], [j]

[edit] Modified letters

The following are not actually full letters, but rather phonemic diacritics or different orthographical shapes for letters.

Arabic letter	Name	Transliteration	Value
ء‎	hamza	'	[ʔ]
ﺁ‎	alif madda	á	[ʔæː]
ﺓ‎	tá marbúṭa	t or h	[ɛ̈], [ɛ̈t]
ﻯ‎	alif maqṣúra	á	[ɛ̈]

The correct forms used in the writings of the Bahá'í Faith referring to its name and central figures are "Bahá'í", "Bahá'ís", "Báb", "Bahá'u'lláh", and "`Abdu'l-Bahá".

Because of typographic limitations, the forms "Bahai", "Bahais", "Bab", and "Bahaullah" are often used as a common spelling and are satisfactory for certain electronic uses.

[edit] External links

• Transliteration, an essay by Bahá'í scholar Moojan Momen on the history and practical application of the Bahá'í transcription standard.
• Dying for God: Preface, introductory summary of Bahá'í terminology and transliteration used in academic literature.
• Bahá'í Style Guide, guidelines for published references to the Bahá'í Faith in the United States.
• Proper pronunciation of Arabic, by Research Department of the Universal House of Justice.