Concerning the number nine: the Baha’is reverence this for
two reasons, first because it is considered by those who are interested in
numbers as the sign of perfection. The second consideration, which is the more
important one, is that it is the numerical value of the word “Baha.” (B equals
2, h equals 5, a equals 1, and there is an accent at the end of the word which
also equals 1; the “a” after the “B” is not written in Persian so it does not
count). In the Semitic languages, both Arabic and Hebrew, every letter of the
alphabet has a numerical value, so instead of using figures to denote numbers
they used letters and compounds of letters. Thus every letter had both a
literal meaning and also a numerical value. This practice is no more in use but
during the time of Baha’u’llah and the Bab it was quite in vogue among the
educated classes, and we find it very much used in the Bayan. As the word Baha
also stood for the number nine it could be used interchangeably with it.
Besides these two significances the number nine has no other
meaning…
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 28 January 1932, written on behalf of Shoghi
Effendi to an individual believer; Baha’i News, no. 61, April 1932)
