9 August 2009
Dear Bahá’í Friend,
Your email letter of 29 May 2009, asking when the Blessed Beauty was first addressed by the title Bahá’u’lláh, has been received at the Bahá’í World Centre and forwarded to our Department for response.
In a letter written on his behalf dated 16 February 1929, the beloved Guardian provides the following explanation:
“...the Báb definitely uses the name Bahá’u’lláh for the promised One. This name was first given to Bahá’u’lláh in Badasht, but who first used it is not known. Some say it was Qurratu’l-‘Ayn. Some say that she gave Him this name because the Báb had written her to that effect. Anyhow what is sure is that when Mullá Báqir, one of the Letters of the Living, visited the Báb in Chihríq, just before the latter was martyred, the Báb gave him a box containing His writings and told him to take it to Mullá Abdu’l-Karim of Qazvín, through whom most of His correspondence was made. Then the Báb added that the box was to go to Bahá’u’lláh, the son of Mírzá Buzurg of Núr. This was the first time the Báb was heard to attribute that name to Bahá’u’lláh. When Mullá Báqir received the box many of the friends asked him to open it. When he did so he found on the top of its contents a blue sheet of paper on which the Báb had written in His own handwriting and in the form of a five-pointed star, which stands for the body of man, three hundred and sixty-one derivatives of the word Bahá’u’lláh. This box was given to Bahá’u’lláh in Tihrán. The Báb had also told Mullá Báqir that he would meet Him Whom God would manifest and this person was one of those who visited Bahá’u’lláh in 'Akká.”
It is hoped that the above passage provides you with the information you seek.
With loving Bahá'í greetings,
Department of the Secretariat
(Baha’i Library Online)