All papers by Lambden


There are 64 papers by Lambden

TitleTitle translationAuthor 1Author 2LanguageSessionPublishedAbstractonline
And It Came to Pass: the Báb and the Fulfillment of Shí'í Islamic Messianism (Part 1)   e Stephen Lambden English 81 The Bab fixed very, very precisely, to the exact minute, the time of the onset of the New age and non-literally understood "Day of Resurrection" (yawm al-qiyama). According to Persian Bayan the "Day of God" commenced on the evening of May 22nd 1844 CE, two hours and eleven minutes after sunset on the evening of that day when the Bab announced his m...  
And It Came to Pass: the Báb and the Fulfillment of Shí'í Islamic Messianism (Part 2)   e Stephen Lambden English 81 See full abstract under Part One, above.  
Aspects of the Prophetology (nubuwwa) and Theophanology (mazhariyya) of the Báb, Some   e Stephen Lambden English 42  
Bábí-Bahá'í Theology of 'Adl (Justice) and the Lawh-i Ridván al-'Adl of Bahá'u'lláh, The   e Stephen Lambden English 116 "This is the Ridwan al `Adl ("Paradise of Justice"). It was indeed made manifest through the Divine Bounty (al-fadl) for God hath ornamented it with His Mighty, Incomparable [Scriptural] Traces (al-athar)." In the Name of God, the Promoter of Justice (al-adil), the All-Wise (al-hakim). .. "This is a Tablet (lawh) in which God raised up His ...  
Bábí-Bahá'í Transformation and Interpretation of the Islamic Basmala, The   e Stephen Lambden English 102 "The Basmala is closer to the Greatest Name (al-ism al-a`zam) than the black of the eye is to its white."(A well-known Islamic tradition) The Arabic Islamic term Basmala indicates the frequently repeated Qur'anic phrase or verse, "bism Allah al-Rahman al-Rahim," which is usually translated, "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate."...  
Báb's Commentary on the Hadith al-Haqíqa (The Hadith about the Ultimate Reality): or the Tradition of Kumayl ibn Ziyad, al-Nakha'i   e Stephen Lambden English 46 The Hadith al-Haqiqa ("Tradition concerning Ultimate Reality") or Hadith Kumayl is the record of an alleged (Arabic) conversation between the first Shi'i Imam, `Ali b. Abi Talib (d.40/661) and his Shi`i associate, the one-time governor of Hit (Iraq), Kumayl ibn Ziyad ibn Nahid ibn Haytham ibn Sa'd ibn Malik ibn al-Nakha'i. (d. c.81 / 70...  
Báb's Dalá'il Sab`ah (Seven Proofs), The: Some Introductory Notes   e Stephen Lambden English 54 It was perhaps towards the middle or latter part of his nine-months imprisonment at Makú (The Open Mountain) between July 1847 and April 1848 in Persian province of Adhirbayjan (in the NW of Iran), that the Bab revealed the Persian and the shorter Arabic recension of his (Per.) Dala'il-i Sab`ih (Seven Proofs). These closely related liter...  
Báb's Response to a Question about Lawh-i-Mahfúz (Preserved Tablet), The   e Stephen Lambden English 46 In this presentation a synopsis and partial translation will be given of the brief (2 page), relatively unknown Arabic treatise of the Bab on the meaning of al-lawh al-mahfuz (The Preserved Tablet). This along with some aspects of the Islamic and Shaykhi background. The phrase al-lawh al-mahfuz occurs once only in the Qur'an. It is at Qur'a...  
Bab's Risala fi'l-jasad al-nabi (Treatise upon the Body of the Prophet Muhammad), The   e Stephen Lambden English 42  
Bab's Commentary on the Ultimate Reality, The   e Stephen Lambden English 48 The Hadith al-haqiqa ("Tradition concerning Ultimate Reality") or Hadith Kumayl is the record of an alleged (Arabic) conversation between the first Shi`i Imam, `Ali b. Abi Tilib (d.40/661) and his Shi`i associate, the one-time governor of Hit (Iraq, 130 miles from Baghdad), Kumayl ibn Ziyid ibn Nahid ibn Haytham ibn Sa'd ibn Malik ibn al-Nakhi'i. (...  
Bab's Sermon at Jeddah, The   e Stephen Lambden English 51  
Bab's Treatise on the Translocation of the Body of the Prophet Muhammad, The: An Introduction, Translation and Commentary   e Stephen Lambden English 44  
Background and Significance of Bábí-Bahá'í Interpretations of hurufat al-muqatta'at, the Mysterious Arabic Letters of the Qur'án, The   e Stephen Lambden English 28 Both Sunni and Shi'i Islamic traditions and sources contain numerous passages which dwell upon the secret, mysterious nature of those letters of the Arabic alphabet which open or occur before 29 of the 114 (=6x19) súrahs of the Qur'an, the Islamic Holy Book. At the beginning of certain súras varying numbers of Arabic letters are set d...  
Bahá' al-Dín al-`Ahmili: A Bahá'í before Bahá'u'lláh and an initiate of the al-ism al-a`zam   e Stephen Lambden English 79  
Bahá' al-Dín al-`Amilí (d. 1030/1621): A Bahá'í before Bahá'u'lláh and an initiate of the al-ism al-a`zam ("The Greatest Name of God")   e Stephen Lambden English 76  
Bahá'u'lláh's Lawh-i-Hertik or the Tablet to Hardegg: Tablets to Christians, Part I   e Kamran Ekbal Stephen Lambden English 22 Lights4 Lawh-i-Hertik, as the Tablet addressed to Georg David Hardegg is usually called, contains in an open and straightforward manner the proclamation of Baha'u'llah as the Promised One and the return of the Father to earth. The recipient, one of the two leaders of the Wurttemberg Templers of Germany who arrived in Palestine, expecting the coming of the ... read online  
Bahá'u'llah's tablet to Pope Pius IX   e Stephen Lambden English 12 The paper offers an overview of the tablet's context as one of a series of messages penned by Manifestations to religious and political leaders and surveyed the tablet's contents, including possible allusions to the First Vatican Council (1869).  
Best of Stories (Ahsan al-Qasas), The: Joseph Motifs and the Bábí-Bahá'í Interpretation of the Joseph Narrative   e Stephen Lambden English 18 The person and story of Joseph is important in both the Bible (Genesis 37-50) and the Qur'an (sura 12) where the account of this patriarch-prophet is the longest qur'anic narrative — an aspect of the "best of stories" (ahsan al-qasas). In Sunni and Shi'i Islamic sources Joseph is pre-eminently a model of righteous piety (al-siddiq) and a par...  
Biblical echoes in the Du`a al-simat (Prayer of the Signs): with some notes on the Commentary of Sayyid Kazim al-Husayni al-Rashti (d.1259/1843) and Babi-Baha'i intertextualities   e Stephen Lambden English 69  
Carmel Calling Jerusalem: History and Prophesy Related to Carmel, Mount Carmel and the Tablet of Carmel   e Stephen Lambden English 116 "It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it" (Isaiah 2:2) "Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the joyful tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-conq...  
Cherubim, Seraphim and Demythologization: Some aspects of Babi-Bahá'i angelology and the mala' al-a`la (Supreme Concourse)   e Stephen Lambden English 36 The English word "angel" derives from the Greek angelos and basically signifies, like the Biblical Hebrew mal'akh which it often translates, `messenger'. On the most basic level angels are divine messengers though the word "angel" indicates a bewildering variety of largely benevolent spiritual beings with a wide range of functions. Within religious...  
Christianity and the Bahá'i Faith: An Historical and Doctrinal Overview   e Stephen Lambden English 12  
Comparative Study of Two Istidlaliyyih Texts, A: The Báb's Dal'il-i- Sab'ah (Seven Proof) and Baha'u'llah's Kitab-i Iqán   e Stephen Lambden English 67  
Comparative Study of Two Istidlaliyyih Texts, A: The Báb's Dal'il-i- Sab'ah (Seven Proofs) and Baha'u'llah's Kitab-i Iqán   e Stephen Lambden English 69  
Dimensions of Imam Ali's Khutba al-Tutunjiyya (Sermon of the Gulf) and its Shaykhí, Bábí, and Bahá'í Interpretations   e Stephen Lambden English 62 Note: please see Lambden's website for a version of this abstract with proper diacritics and Arabic lettering The literary form of the Khutba, an Arabic word meaning `Sermon', `Oration', `Homily' or `Discourse', is important within Shi`i Islam. A number of important discourses with titles commencing this word are ascribed to the son-in-law and s...  
From al-Mulk (the Dominion) to al-Mu'minin (the Believers): Some Further Thoughts on the Surah Titles of the Qayyúm al-`asmá of the Báb   e Stephen Lambden English 95 The around 400 page Arabic Qayyum al-asma' (mid. 1844 CE) of the Bab, Sayyid `Ali Muhammad Shirazi, (d. 1850 CE) is not an easy book to comprehend. It is a kind of commentary on the qur'anic story of Joseph (Q. 12) but much more besides. One way in which to approach this first major revelation of the Bab, is to examine an aspect of its form and con...  
From Alwáh to Ziyara: The Literary Forms of the Writings of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh   e Stephen Lambden English 22 The extensive Persian and Arabic writings of Sayyid 'Ali Muhammad, the Bab (1819-1850), and Mirza Husayn 'Ali Núri, Baha'u'llah (18171892), are extant in a variety of literary forms believed by their authors and by their followers (the Babis and Baha'is) to encapsulate ahy ('divine revelation'). These revelations are sometimes identified by ...  
From Desolation to Deification: Some Comments on the Theological and secular meanings of the Arabic word Baha' in Islamic and Bábi-Baha'i Literatures.   e Stephen Lambden English 74  
From Nabi (Prophet) and Rasul (Messenger) to Mazhar-i Ilahi (`Manifestation of God'): A Babí-Bahá'í Trajectory through the Biblical-Islamic Prophets and Messengers   e Stephen Lambden English 102 "God... created 124,000 nabi (prophets) and I [Muhammad] am the most noble of them... and God created 124,000 wasi (successors) and `Ali is the most noble of them..." (Muhammad through Imam Rida' cited Bihar 2 11:30-31). "God raised up a black prophet (nabi an aswad) whose story he did not relate unto us. The traditions (al-akhbar) differ as to ...  
Gateways to the Qayyúm al-Asmá' of the Báb: Some Introductory Notes Based on an Examination of its Surah   e Stephen Lambden English 88 The around 400-page Arabic Qayyum al-asma' (mid. 1844 CE) of Sayyid `Ali-Muhammad Shirazi, the Bab (d. 1850 CE) is not an easy book to comprehend. It is a kind of commentary on the Qur'anic story of Joseph (Q. 12) but much more besides. One way in which to approach this first major revelation of the Bab is to examine an aspect of its form and conte...  
Genesis of Bábí Ritual as Exemplified in the Khasa'il-Sab`a ('The Seven Directives') of the Báb, The   e Stephen Lambden English 95 This very brief work of the Bab, the Risala Khasa'il-i Sab`ah ('The Treatise of the Seven Directives") is, aside from certain surahs of the Qayyúm al-asma' and a few other pre-1845 CE writings, one of the earliest legal-ritualistic writings of the Bab. It sets forth the tokens, hallmarks or parameters for the conduct of the true believers in...  
Grandeur of Islam and the Magnificence of the Qur'an, The: The Bab's Dala'il-i Sab`ah (Seven Proofs and the Baha'u'llah's Kitab-i iqan (Book of Certitude)   e Stephen Lambden English 72 With the now widespread negative attitudes towards the Islamic religion and its founder Prophet Muhammad (d. 632 CE), it is fitting that Baha'is remind themselves of the grandeur of Islam and the magnificence of the Qur'an. They have the duty of proclaiming the truth of Islam and its Prophet communicator of the Arabic Qur'an. Babi-Baha'i sacred wri...  
"He-She-It Is"� (Huwa): The re-created Basmala in Babi-Baha'i Literary Commencements   e Stephen Lambden English 130 "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate" بِس�'مِ اللهِ الر�'َ��'منِ الر�'َ�ِيمِ "In the Name of God, the Inaccessible, the Most Holy" بِس�'مِ اللهِ الامنع الاقدس "In the Name of God, the Glorious, the All-Glorious" بِس�'مِ اللهِ بهي الابهى "The Grea...  
Joseph and the Motif of the Garment of Joseph in the Qayyūmu'l-Asmá' and other Bábí-Bahá'i Sacred Writings.   e Stephen Lambden English 74  
Kaleidoscope: Angelology and Colour Mysticism in Babi-Baha'i Scripture   e Stephen Lambden English 48 Lights5 "Say: O my God! O my God! I supplicate Thee by the blood of Thy chosen Ones through whom the Countenances of the Supreme Concourse (mala' al-a`la) and the companions of the Crimson Ark (ashab al-safinat alhamra') hath been dyed crimson (ahmarrat) to make me one that crieth out in Thy Name and is steadfast in Thy Cause. Thou, verily art the Powerful... read online  
Khutba al-Tutunjiyya (Sermon of the Gulf) ascribed to Imam `Ali, The: Shaykhi, Babi and Baha'i Interpretations   e Stephen Lambden English 65  
Khutbah al-Jidda (Oration at Jeddah) of the Bab   e Stephen Lambden English 76  
Khutbas or literary "Sermons" of the Báb, The   e Stephen Lambden English 81 The Arabic word khutba has a range of senses in Islamic literatures. It is only loosely and inadequately defined by the western Christian terms "sermon", "homily" or "oration", etc. Within Islamic literary history khutba can indicate a much favored oral discourse or related literary form and contain weighty cosmological, theological, prophetologica...  
Lawh-i-Amváj ("Tablet of the Waves" [Billows]) of Bahá'u'lláh, Alwáh-i-Mustagath, Lawh-i-Baqá, The   e Stephen Lambden English 28       The Lawh-i-Amvaj (Tablet of the Waves [or Billows])[1] of Baha'u'llah has been published in Majmu`ih-yi alwah-i-mubarakih-yi hadrat-i-Baha'u'llah.[2] It also exists in numerous unpublished manuscripts. This Tablet was apparently written for a certain `iqa Siyyid Yahya[3] and is a 3-4 page Persian and Arabic Tablet of the middl... read online  
Lawh-i-Ru'yá (Tablet of Vision)   e Stephen Lambden English 22 The Lawh-i-Ru'ya was revealed in the House of 'Udi Khammar in 'Akka for an apparently Baha'i believer referred to by Baha'u'llah as "My Name" (=Husayn?). In various sources this Tablet is said to date nineteen years prior to the ascension of Baha'u'llah in 1308 AH and to the (eve of) the anniversary of the birthday of the Bab in the year to 1290 AH... read online  
Lawh-i-Tibb (Tablet of Medicine)   e Stephen Lambden English 22 The Arabic and Persian text of Baha'u'llah's 'Tablet of Medicine' (Lawh-i-Tibb) is to be dated to the early 'Akka period of his ministry (early 1870s?). It was addressed to a Baha'i named Mirza Muhammad Rida'-yi Tabib-i Yazdi, a physician of the traditional school. The text was first published in Cairo in the early 1920s and is in two parts: [1] an...  
Mary Magdalene and the Resurrection of Jesus: Some ancient and modern traditions and Baha'i and Perspectives   e Stephen Lambden English 60 New Testament scholars generally regard Mary Magdalene a female contemporary of Jesus, one of his ardent admirers, and a Jewish woman who was the most important female figure within the New Testament relative to the genesis of the Jesus movement that became Christianity. The gospels conclusively have it that she was the first to announce the rise...  
Motif of Joseph's Garment in Islamo-Biblical and Babi-Baha'i Scripture: With a translation and Commentary on the Surat al-Qamis of Baha'u'llah   e Stephen Lambden English 44  
Mysteries within Mysteries: Some Notes on the Teachings of the Báb's Kitáb-i-Panj Sha'n   e Stephen Lambden English 62 Note: please see Lambden's website for a version of this abstract with proper diacritics and Arabic lettering In the Name of God,the Deity Most Divine (al-a'ilah), the Supreme Deity (al-a'ilah). I, verily am God, no God is there except Me, [representative of]the Deity Most Divine (al-a'ilah), the Supreme Deity (al-a'ilah). In the Name of God,... read online  
Names and Attributes of God   e Stephen Lambden English 89 God has numerous personal and associated names and attributes within Abrahamic (Jewish, Christian, Islamic) religious scripture and related exegetical texts. The third word in the Hebrew Bible is the personal Name of God Elohim (Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created...), a designation of the Deity which subsequently occurs around 2,569 times i...  
Panel Presentation on "Qayyúmu'l-Asmá'"   e Muin Afnani Stephen Lambden, and Habib Raizati English 46 The Qayyúm al-Asma' of the Bab, with special reference to the Súrat al-Mulk (QA.1 'The Surah of the Dominion') and the Surat Husayn (QA. 5 'The Surah of Husayn') Stephen N. Lambden The Qayyúm al-Asma' is the first major work of Sayyid 'Ali Muhammad the Bab (1819-1850 CE) which he commenced at the time of his declarat...  
Position of Mírzá Yahyá Núrí Subh-i-Azal, The: Some aspects of Azalí Anti-Baha'i Polemic and Baha'i Apologetics   e Stephen Lambden English 8 The exact nature of the position of Mirza Yahya Nuri, Subh-i-Azal ("The Morn of Eternity," 1830-1912) following the martyrdom of the Bab (1850) has long been a subject of Baha'i-Azali debate. The Bab wrote a number of Tablets to Mirza Yahya and Baha'u'llah as well as an Arabic Wasiyyat namih ("Will and Testament") in which (among other things) Yahy...  
Prophecy in the Johannine Farewell Discourse: The Advents of the Paraclete, Ahmad, and the Comforter (Mu'azzí)   e Stephen Lambden English 1 Scripture read online  
Qa'im (Ariser) and Qayyum (Deity Self-Subsistent): The background and significance of twin messianic advents in Babi-Bahá'i scripture   e Stephen Lambden English 14 According to the Baha'i poet and historian Nabil-i Zarandi, the Shaykhi leader Sayyid Kazim Rashti (d. 1260/1843[4]) predicted that ".. after the Qa'im the Qayyúm will be made manifest" (Dawnbreakers, 41). It is clear from numerous passages in Babi-Baha'i scripture that this was understood to refer to the twin messianic advents of Sayyid `Al...  
Ridwan Renewed: The Semitic-Abrahamic religions and Babi-Baha'i concepts of Ridvan   e Stephen Lambden English 109 "And a Ridwan from God is supremely great" (Qur'an 9:72b) "O people of the earth! ... God promised both the male and female believers among the people of the covenant (ahl al-`ahd) what pertains to the [messianic] Dhikr (Remembrance) the most transcendent Paradises (al-jannat al-`aliyya) and blessed dwelling places (masakin tayyibat) in the Greate...  
Súrat al-qamis (Súrah of the Garment) of Bahá'u'lláh   e Stephen Lambden English 42  
Shi`i and Babi-Baha'i Imamology: Some introductory Notes on the Twelver Imams and traditions attributed to them in Shi`i and Babi-Baha'i scriptural sources   e Stephen Lambden English 109 The names Muhammad, Imam `Ali, and Fatima More or less from its origins in the decades after the passing of the Arabian Prophet Muhammad (c. 570-11/632) in 632 CE., the Muslim world came to be divided into Imami Shi`i and related factions and what became the mainstream Sunni (loosely, "traditionalist"), community, now the majority Muslim world. T...  
Sidrah (Lote Tree) and Sidrat al-Munataha (Lote Tree of the Extremity), The: Some Aspects of their Islamic and Babi-Baha'i Interpretation   e Stephen Lambden English 67  
Some Aspects of the Shi`i-Shaykhí Universe and of the Persian and Arabic Writings of Sayyid Kázim al-Husayní al-Rashtí   e Stephen Lambden English 72 "Within the bosom of Islam (sadr al-islam) many were submerged in the ocean of idle fancies and vain imaginings. Subsequent to the Seal of the Prophets (khatam-i anbiya') [= Muhammad] and to the purified [Twelver] Imams (a'imih-yi tahirin) two souls attained unto the reality of Truth (bi-haqq) and were embellished with the ornament of awareness (bi...  
Some New, Little-known, or Unstudied Writings of Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892)   e Stephen Lambden English 123 "God testifieth unto His Own Self, through His Own Self (li nafsī bi-nafsī) that I, verily, am One that liveth in the Abha Horizon (bi innani ana hayy fi al ufuq al abha). Wherefore doth He cry out from the Light of the Horizon in all things (min al-ufuq al-nur fī kull shay'), `I verily am God, no God is there except Me, the Powerful (al-muqtadi...  
Some New, Little-known, or Unstudied Writings of the Báb (1819-1850)   e Stephen Lambden English 123 As is well-known, the B�b wrote, dictated or revealed many thousands of Arabic and Persian verses. The roughly 500 page Islamic holy book, the Arabic Qur'�n, contains just over 6,200 verses. In various of his writings, the Bab himself has stated that he bequeathed to humanity in excess of 200,000 (or as much as 500,000) verses. This is over 100 tim...  
Some New, Little-Known, or Unstudied Writings of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh   e Stephen Lambden English 123 No abstract provided, but see also Some New, Little-known, or Unstudied Writings of the Bab (1819-1850) and Some New, Little-known, or Unstudied Writings of Baha'u'llah (1817-1892) .  
Soul, Spirit, Mind and Intellect, from Antiquity to a Bahá'í Perspective: An Intertextual Trajectory from Biblical Times and Hellenistic Antiquity to the Islamic and Bábí-Bahá'í Psychology   e Stephen Lambden English 88 "The soul is the cause or source of the living body. The terms cause and source have many senses. But the soul is the cause of its body alike in all three senses which we explicitly recognize. It is (a) the source or origin of movement, it is (b) the end, it is (c) the essence of the whole living body" (Aristotle, De Anima). "O Kumayl [spirit...  
Tablet of the Bell (Lawh-i-Náqús) of Bahá'u'lláh   e Stephen Lambden English - Lights4 read online  
Tablet of the Fear of God [Righteousness, Piety...], The   e Stephen Lambden English 18 The fairly brief (4-5pp) wholly Arabic Lawh al-Tuqa (Persian Lawh-i-Tuqa — Tablet of the Fear of God [Righteousness, Piety...]) is published in the original Arabic but it has neither been translated into any other language nor commented upon in any Baha'i publication — only rarely receiving cursory or passing mention. Though the exact dat...  
Tahrif ("scriptural falsification") and Tanzil ("divine revelation"): Some aspects of divine guidance through sacred Scripture   e Stephen Lambden English 60 One of the major features of the age-old polemical interaction between major Abrahamic peoples and religions of the Book has been the question of the sacredness, veracity and inspired or revealed nature of specific scriptures in the form of a sacred Book or collection of books. Jews accused their Samaritan ("Israelite-Judaic") neighbors and various...  
Thomas Kelly Cheyne   e Stephen Lambden English 1  
Twin Shining Lights, Part 1: Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Ahsa'i   e Stephen Lambden English 137 Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Ahsa'i was born in eastern Arabia (now Saudi Arabia) in the mid. 18th century, during the sacred seventh Islamic month of Rajab, in the year 1166 AH., or sometime during May, 1753 CE. His exact birthdate is unknown, though it is recorded that it occurred in an Imami Shi`i village named Matayrafi in the vicinity of a ...  
Twin Shining Lights, Part 2: Sayyid Kazim al-Rashti   e Stephen Lambden English 137 Like the Bab, Sayyid Kazim al-Husayni al-Rashti was a descendent of the third, martyred Imam Husayn (d. 60/680). Little is known about his early life save that he was born in Rasht, a city in northern Persia. His precise year of birth remains unknown. Estimates for his birthday vary by as much as fifteen years, from between 1198/1784 and 1214/1799-...