February 19. On this date in 1932, a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer explained that "The Number Nine is Reverenced for Two Reasons by Bahá'ís."

 

February 19. On this date in 1932, a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer explained that "The Number Nine is Reverenced for Two Reasons by Bahá'ís."

1372. The Number Nine is Reverenced for Two Reasons by Bahá'ís

"Concerning the number nine: The Bahá'ís reverence this for two reasons, first because it is considered by those who are interested in numbers as a sign of perfection. The second consideration which is the more important one is that it is the numerical value for the word 'Baha'. (B=2, h=5, a=1, and there is an accent at the end of the word which is also = 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 had a numerical value, so instead of using figures to denote numbers they used letters and compounds of letters. Thus every word had both a literal meaning and also a numerical value. This practice is no more in use but during the time of Bahá'u'lláh 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. It is however enough to make the Bahá'ís use it when an arbitrary number is to be chosen."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, February 19, 1932)