Shoghi Effendi gives 1846 as the year of Bahá’íyyih Khánum's birth. When exactly during that year she was born is uncertain but she was born in Tihrán. The name given her at birth was Fátimih. Later, Bahá’u'lláh bestowed upon her the feminine form of His appellation ‘Bahá‘, meaning glory. Confirming this in a Tablet revealed in her honour, He says: “Verily she is a leaf that hath sprung from this preexistent Root. She hath revealed herself in My name and tasted of the sweet savours of My holy, My wondrous pleasure” [1] The full text of that Tablet is inscribed in golden letters around the base of the circular dome of her monument. She sealed the letters that she wrote to Bahá’í institutions and individuals with a seal bearing the name Baha’iyyih. The seal is on display in the International Archives Building. Bahá’u’lláh also bestowed upon her, after her mother passed away, the title of Greatest Holy Leaf.
Varaqiy-i-‘Ulya is the original Arabic title Bahá’u’lláh bestowed on Bahíyyih Khánum’s mother. After Ásíyih Khánum passed away, He bestowed the title on their daughter, Bahíyyih Khánum. To avoid confusion, Shoghi Effendi translated the title as the Most Exalted Leaf for Ásíyih Khánum, and the Greatest Holy Leaf for Bahíyyih Khánum.
- Baharieh Rouhani Ma’ani (‘The Greatest Holy Leaf’s unparalleled role in religious history and the significance of the Arc, the site of her resting place’; presented at the Irfan Colloquia Session #121 [English], Louhelen Bahá'í Center: Davison, Michigan, USA, October 10–13, 2013 published in Lights of Irfan, volume 15)
[1] ‘Bahíyyih Khánum, The Greatest Holy Leaf’, a compilation by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, 1982