“The five-pointed star, or haykal (Arabic: temple) is the symbol of the
Baháʼí Faith as mentioned by Shoghi Effendi, head of the Baháʼí Faith in
the first half of the 20th century: "Strictly speaking the 5-pointed star
is the symbol of our Faith, as used by the Báb and explained by Him."[1]
The five-pointed star has been used as the outline of special letters or
tablets by both the Báb[2] and Baháʼu'lláh.[3]
Haykal is a loan word from the Hebrew word hēyḵāl, which means temple and
specifically Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. In Arabic, the word also means
the body or form of something, particularly the human body.[4] In the
Baháʼí tradition, the haykal was established by the Báb — who told of
Baháʼu'lláh's coming — who represented the haykal as a five-pointed star
representing the human body as a head, two hands, and two feet.[4][5] The
Báb wrote many letters, tablets, prayers and more in the shape of a
five-pointed star, including some that included many derivatives of the
word Baháʼ (see below).[6][7]
In Baháʼu'lláh's writings, specifically the Súriy-i-Haykal (Tablet of the
Temple), while the meaning of temple remains present, the haykal is used
mainly to mean the human body, but particularly the body of the
Manifestation of God — a messenger from God — and the person of Baháʼu'lláh
himself.[4] In the Tablet, the haykal is also used to refer to the word of
God, which is revealed by the Manifestations of God.[8] He also says in the
same Tablet:
