Baha'i Symbols

Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri founded the Baha'i Faith in Iran in 1863. He is known as Baha'u'llah, or Baha Allah, Arabic for "splendor of God." The faith spread across nations and cultures. Its followers describe themselves as citizens of the world. Several signs carry that teaching, and the nine-pointed star already has its own page. The others are set out here.

The five-pointed star

The five-pointed star, sometimes called the haykal, is the official symbol of the Baha'i Faith. Haykal means "temple" or "body" in Arabic. The star is read as a human body: the head at the top, two arms, and two legs.

The Ringstone symbol

Rings worn by Baha'is almost always bear this sign, which is how it got its name. It also appears on pendants, paintings, book covers, and the architecture of the Shrine of the Bab. It is a reminder of God's purpose for a human being. The top horizontal bar is the world of God. The middle bar is the world of God's Manifestations. The bottom bar is the world of man. A vertical line joins the three. The five-pointed stars on the left and the right stand for the twin Messengers, the Bab and Baha'u'llah.

The Greatest Name

This sign is a calligraphic writing of the Arabic word Baha, "glory," referring to Baha'u'llah. It is called the Greatest Name. It is treated as a distinguished emblem and is the form most often used in Baha'i painting, jewelry, and other art.

The nine-pointed star

Nine matters in the Baha'i revelation because the word Baha has the numerical value nine in the Abjad system, the traditional counting of Arabic letters. As the highest single digit, nine stands for culmination, completeness, and perfection. Baha'is take their faith as the fulfillment of what earlier religions were waiting for, and the nine-pointed star is the sign of that fulfillment.

A second form of the star places a symbol of a world religion at the tip of each point. In that arrangement, nine stands for nine religions: Christianity, the Baha'i Faith, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Jainism, Shinto, and Sikhism. The star in the center is read as the claim that the Baha'i revelation fulfills the scriptures of the religions around it.