“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: