Posted by anon on October 29, 2101 at 10:20:10:

In Reply to: Trying to figure this thing out posted by Dawud on October 29, 2101 at 06:46:25:

Hello Dawud. I think the "hadha'l-qalam" you are seeing above the Badi` writing in the conclusion of the text or prayer calligraphied by Mirza Muhammad-`Ali. The Badi` script that follows is mentioned to be Mirza Muhammad-`Ali's signature to indicate that he actually was the calligrapher of these selection of tablets. So this short example probably does not show all the possible letters/vowels in this script since it is just his signature. If we were to find out how he signed his name on his calligraphy items, it would be fairly easy to decipher the letters presented in this sample.

This signature appeared in a Collection of Baha'u'llah's tablets printer in 1891 as indicated by the letter form the Universal House of Justice, so it was not really for a certain recipient. As for signatures go, how many people's signatures in English can you normally read? So I don't think he wrote it with the intent of actually being read, but the intent of having a unique/creative/interesting signature.

I have been looking at it and really have just one starting place. I am wondering if the middle word of the first line of the signature is "Muhammad". The reason is that the base letter for the first and third letters is the same (this is assuming that vowels are indicated by changes in the top and/or bottom of the vertical lines). Also, that leads me to believe that the mark above this word serves as the shadda/tashdid for the "m" in Muhammad. I may be way off - this may just be a little ornate separator between the text and his signature.

I think this seems like a reasonable starting point and that viewing this with this continued hypothesis may yield some results. Who knows! But if that letter is an "m", then I see all the words starting with "m" and the first one, as well as the second, containing two m's. At least then, we can also assume that the last word ends with a "d".

I look forward to further discussion.

-anon

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