Arabic Bayán

Template:Short description Template:Italic title Template:Babi texts and scriptures The Arabic Bayán (Template:Langx) is an unfinished book in Arabic written by the Báb around 1848. It functions as a significant scripture in Bábism, asserting that it is a product of divine revelation and inspiration.

Etymology and meaning

The word Bayán literally means declaration or elucidation.Template:Sfnm In the context of Bábism, 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.Template:Sfnm Its larger sister book is in Persian, called the Persian Bayán.Template:Sfnm

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, at the end of 1848.Template:Sfnm At that time, the Báb's restrictions were not severe, and he was permitted to write and communicate with his followers.Template:Sfnm However, he did not manage to make the Arabic Bayán complete and it remained unfinished with his execution in 1850.Template:Sfnm

Following clashes between Bábis and the Persian government, Bábi works including the Arabic Bayán were banned. This made them hard to procure.Template:Sfnm Only some thirteen manuscripts of this work, including an autograph, are known to exist.Template:Sfnm Unlike Azalis, the Baháʼís showed little interest in preserving or distributing this work because they assumed it was abrogated and superseded by their own scripture.Template:Sfnm The autograph was printed using lithography and circulated in Tehran by the Azalis, and it was later republished in 1957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.Template:Sfnm

Text and arrangement

File:Arabic Bayan P1.jpg

First page from the first wāḥed

External structure

The book was intended to comprise nineteen chapters (wāḥeds), each containing nineteen abwāb.Template:Sfnm Nonetheless it is incomplete, and contains only eleven chapters.Template:Sfnm The number nineteen was arranged for the sake of symbolismTemplate:Sfnm and according to Abjad numerals.Template:Sfnm Other Bábi sources imply that the rest of chapters were to be written by Báb's successor, Subh-i-Azal.Template:Sfnm 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".Template:Sfnm

Translations

The book has been translated into French twice.Template:Sfnm Arthur de Gobineau 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".Template:Sfnm The second translation was made by A. L. M. Nicolas, published under the title Le Beyan arabe in 1905.Template:Sfnm This work was of the earliest sources that enabled the Western world to understand Bábism.Template:Sfnm

External links

• Compendium on the Arabic Bayán
• The Text of the Arabic Bayan (in Arabic)