Siyyid Ṣádiq-i-Ṭabáṭabá’ísay-yed-saw-deck-eh-
tab-aw-tab-aw-eeMujtahid denounced by Bahá’u’lláh as “the Liar of Ṭihrán.” He authored the decree condemning every Persian male Bahá’í to death, and every Bahá’í woman to deportation. Ṣádiq means truthful. (GPB 232).
Siyyid Yaḥyáy-i-Dárábísay-yed-ya-h-yaw-yeh-
daw-raw-beeSee Vaḥíd.
Ṣubḥ-i-Azalsob-heh-az-AlMorning of Eternity (Mírzá Yaḥyá). Bahá’u’lláh cites Amos 4:12–13, “He...that maketh the morning darkness” with reference to him (SW 146). See GPB 90; 113; 114; 115).
Sublime PorteFormerly, the Ottoman court. Government of the Turkish Empire from the gate (porte) of the Sulṭán’s palace where justice was anciently administered.
SúfsoofWool; the practice of wearing the woollen robe, i.e. garb of Muslim mystic, is one definition of Ṣúfism.
Súfísoo-feeThis word, probably derived from the Arabic for wool, denotes the mystics in Islám. Divided into innumerable sects, differing in customs, dress, observances, their common goal is to rejoin the Godhead from which all things emanate, through ecstasy (vajd) and contemplation. Life to them is a journey (safar) having various stages (manázil); the soul is an exile, a traveller going homeward, seeking reunion (vaṣl with God, and thus achieving nothingness—(faná)—“total absorption into the Deity, extinction.” Bahá’u’lláh teaches: “By self-surrender and perpetual union with God is meant that men should merge their will wholly in the Will of God, and regard their desires as utter nothingness beside His purpose.” (Gl. 337). ‘Ishq, love (of God) has been termed “the one distinguishing feature of Súfí mysticism.” Cf. Hughes, Dict. of Is.
Súfí literatureWritten in its special terminology, this literature assigns spiritual meanings to a long list of words such as wine, love, the cypress, the letter alif, the Ka‘bih, etc.
Sulaymáníyyihsol-ay-mawn-ee-yehTown in Northeast ‘Iráq; Bahá’u’lláh lived in retirement two years in Kurdistán, first on an isolated mountain named Sar-Galú, later in the town of Sulaymáníyyih at a theological seminary. (April 10, 1854–March 19, 1856).
Sulṭánu’sh-Shuhadásol-tawn-osh-sho-had-awKing of Martyrs, eminent Iṣfáhání who, together with his brother the Beloved of Martyrs, was put to death by Mír Muḥammad-Ḥusayn (who denounced them as Bábís to escape repaying the large debt he owed them), Shaykh Muḥammad-Báqir and the Ẓillu’s-Sulṭán.
Sunní (also Sunnite)sonn-neeFrom Sunna (the Way or Practice of the Prophet, as reported in the ḥadíth). By far the largest sect of Islám, this includes the four so-called orthodox sects: Hanbalites, Hanafites, Malikites, Shafiites. These four principle schools of Muslim jurisprudence are founded to a considerable extent on the Sunna. Sunnites regard the first Caliphs as legitimate successors of Muḥammad and accept the “six authentic” books of tradition. They believe the Caliph must be elected and must be a member of the Quraysh—the Prophet’s tribe.
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