Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §102

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 102 of 268.

Source (Persian)

يا ايّتها الملکة فی لندن اسمعی نداء ربّک مالک البريّة من السّدرة الالهيّة انّه لا اله الّا انا العزيز الحکيم * ضَعِی ما علی الارض و زيّنی راس الملک باکليل ذکر ربّک الجليل * انّه قد اتی فی العالم بمجده الاعظم و کمل ما ذکر فی الانجيل * قد تشرّف برّ الشّام بقدوم ربّه مالک الانام و اخذ سکر خمر الوصال شطر الجنوب و الشّمال * طوبی لمن وجد عرف الرّحمن و اقبل الی مشرق الجمال فی هذا الفجر المنير * قد اهتزّ المسجد الاقصی من نسمات ربّه الابهی و البطحاء من نداء اللّه العليّ الاعلی و کلّ حصاة منها تسبّح الرّبّ بهذا الاسم العظيم

Shoghi Effendi Translation

"O Queen in London! Incline thine ear unto the voice of thy Lord, the Lord of all mankind, calling from the Divine Lote-Tree: Verily, no God is there but Me, the Almighty, the All-Wise! Cast away all that is on earth, and attire the head of thy kingdom with the crown of the remembrance of Thy Lord, the All-Glorious. He, in truth, hath come unto the world in His most great glory, and all that hath been mentioned in the Gospel hath been fulfilled. The land of Syria hath been honored by the footsteps of its Lord, the Lord of all men, and North and South are both inebriated with the wine of His presence. Blessed is the man that hath inhaled the fragrance of the Most Merciful, and turned unto the Dawning-Place of His beauty, in this resplendent Dawn. The Mosque of Aqsa vibrateth through the breezes of its Lord, the All-Glorious, whilst Batha (Mecca) trembleth at the voice of God, the Exalted, the Most High. Every single stone of them celebrateth the praise of the Lord, through this Great Name."

Translation Notes

يا

y-ʾ → “O ye”

literal: O; or

ايّتها

ʾ-t-y → “came”

literal: to come; to arrive; to bring; to go; coming; arrival; the one coming; to give; Revelation; came; gave; brought

الملکة

m-l-k → “Kingdom”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty; possessions; property; ownership

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

اسمعی

s-m-ʿ → “Incline thine ear unto”

literal: heard, hearkened to, acceptable, worthy of attention

نداء

n-d-y → “voice”

literal: call; voice; proclamation; forty; forty years

ربّک

r-b-b → “thy Lord”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

البريّة

b-r-ʾ → “of all mankind”

literal: high; exalted; upper; to adorn; to arrange; to prepare; banners; standards

من

m-n → “from the”

literal: from; out of; than (preposition and particle)

السّدرة

s-d-r → “Divine Lote-Tree”

literal: lote-tree; divine tree

انّه

ʾ-n-n → “Verily” Distinctive

literal: I, verily; behold I

لا

l-ʾ → “no”

literal: no; not; negation particle

اله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

literal: God; Allah; deity; Divinity; divine nature; godhood

الّا

ʾ-kh-r → “but” Distinctive

literal: except; but; if not; lo; now; at this time; save; only; unless

انا

ʾ-n → “to”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

العزيز

ʿ-z-z → “Almighty”

literal: glory; might; honor; dignity; power; majesty

الحکيم

ḥ-k-m → “All-Wise”

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom; firm; solid; strengthened

ضَعِی

w-ḍ-ʿ → “Cast away”

literal: weakness, weakness; to weaken, become weak

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

literal: what; which; that which; relative pronoun; interrogative

علی

ʿ-l-w → “exalted”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

الارض

ʾ-r-ḍ

literal: earth; land; ground; country

زيّنی

z-y-n → “attire”

literal: to adorn; ornament; beauty; adornment; embellishment; decoration

راس

r-ʾ-s → “head”

literal: chief; leader; head; president; beginning

باکليل

k-l-l → “with the crown”

literal: کلیل (feeble/dull) is from ك-ل-ل but باکلیل appears to be a distinct quadrilateral or Persian compound

ذکر

dh-k-r → “remembrance” Distinctive

literal: remembrance; mention; memory; invocation; reminders; commemorations

الجليل

j-l-l → “All-Glorious”

literal: majesty; glory; exaltation; magnificence

قد

q-d → “We have been”

literal: verily; indeed; certainly (particle of emphasis)

اتی

ʾ-t-y → “come unto”

literal: to come; to arrive; to bring; to go; coming; arrival; the one coming; to give; Revelation; came; gave; brought

العالم

ʿ-l-m → “the world”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

بمجده

m-j-d → “in His most great glory”

literal: glory; majesty; magnificence

الاعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

کمل

k-m-l → “perfect”

literal: perfection; completeness; fully; with full; in complete; to complete, perfect, fulfill

الانجيل

n-j-l → “Gospel”

literal: Gospel; the Good Tidings

تشرّف

sh-r-f → “honored”

literal: honor; nobility; eminence; to honor

برّ

b-r-r → “land”

literal: on; on, upon; upon

بقدوم

q-d-m → “by the footsteps”

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

الانام

ʾ-n-m → “the peoples of the”

literal: people; mankind; human beings

اخذ

ʾ-kh-dh → “arrested”

literal: to take; to seize; to affect; to grasp

سکر

s-k-r → “inebriated”

literal: to become drunk; intoxication; inebriation

خمر

kh-m-r → “with the wine”

literal: to drink; to imbibe

الوصال

w-ṣ-l → “of His presence” Distinctive

literal: reunion; union; meeting; connection

شطر

sh-ṭ-r → “direction”

literal: side, direction; half; to split

الجنوب

j-н-b → “North and South”

literal: to avoid; to shun; to keep away from

الشّمال

sh-m-l

literal: to comprehend; to include; whole; all

طوبی

ṭ-w-b → “Blessed”

literal: happiness; blessedness; felicity

وجد

w-j-d → “inhaled”

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

عرف

ʿ-r-f → “fragrance”

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

الرّحمن

r-ḥ-m → “the Most Merciful” Distinctive

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

اقبل

q-b-l → “turned unto” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

الی

ʾ-l-y

literal: to; to, toward; to, until

مشرق

sh-r-q → “Dawning-Place” Distinctive

literal: radiance; splendor; dawn; illumination

الجمال

j-m-l → “of His beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

الفجر

f-j-r → “Dawn”

literal: dawn; dayspring; to break (of dawn)

المنير

n-w-r → “resplendent”

literal: light; illumination

اهتزّ

h-z-z → “transports” Distinctive

literal: to shake, quiver, vibrate, tremble with emotion

المسجد

s-j-d → “worship” Distinctive

literal: mosque; place of prostration

الاقصی

q-ṣ-w → “Supreme”

literal: farthest; furthest; utmost; most distant

نسمات

n-s-m → “breezes”

literal: breeze; gentle wind; fragrance

الابهی

b-h-w → “All-Glorious”

literal: splendor; glory; magnificence; Bahá (Proper Name in Bahá’í texts)

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

literal: God; Allah; deity; Divinity; divine nature; godhood

حصاة

ḥ-ṣ-y → “reckon” Distinctive

literal: count; enumerate; enumeration

تسبّح

s-b-ḥ → “Glorified” Distinctive

literal: glory; glory, praise; glory/praise

بهذا

h-dh-ʾ → “through this”

literal: this; that

الاسم

s-m-w → “Great Name”

literal: heaven; sky

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Fire Tablet

Bahá’u’lláh

Revealed in late 1871 during a period of severe hardship in ‘Akká, this Tablet takes the form of an anguished dialogue between Bahá’u’lláh and God. Questions about the sufferings of the faithful are answered with divine assurances, building to a crescendo of triumph over tribulation.

50 ¶

Gleanings

Bahá’u’lláh

A compilation of 166 selections from Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablets, spanning the Baghdad, Adrianople, and ‘Akká periods (1853–1892). George Townshend assisted with English refinement. Shoghi Effendi wrote that it gives the friends a splendid opportunity to acquire knowledge and understanding of the Faith.

729 ¶

Kitáb-i-’Ahd

Bahá’u’lláh

The Book of the Covenant — Bahá’u’lláh’s Will and Testament, written entirely in His own hand and unsealed on the ninth day after His ascension. It designates ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as His successor and establishes what Shoghi Effendi called the mightiest Covenant in all religious history.

16 ¶

Kitáb-i-Íqán

Bahá’u’lláh

The principal doctrinal work of the Faith, revealed in Baghdad within the space of two days and two nights in response to questions from the Báb’s maternal uncle. Shoghi Effendi described it as occupying a position unequalled by any work except the Kitáb-i-Aqdas — a model of Persian prose, at once original, chaste, vigorous, and remarkably lucid.

291 ¶

Prayers and Meditations

Bahá’u’lláh

Published in 1938, this companion volume to Gleanings contains 184 prayers and meditations selected by Shoghi Effendi from Bahá’u’lláh’s devotional writings revealed across successive exiles from Baghdad to ‘Akká. Shoghi Effendi described it as a volume whose perusal would deepen the spirit of devotion and faith.

858 ¶

Tablet of Aḥmad

Bahá’u’lláh

Revealed in Adrianople and addressed to a believer named Aḥmad, this Tablet has been invested by Bahá’u’lláh with a special potency and significance. Its central imagery draws on the metaphor of fire and water: “Be thou as a flame of fire to My enemies and a river of life eternal to My loved ones.”

17 ¶

Tablet of Carmel

Bahá’u’lláh

Revealed during a visit to Mount Carmel, this Tablet addresses the mountain directly and prophesies its future as the world spiritual and administrative center of the Faith. Shoghi Effendi designated it one of three foundational Charters. Its imagery of the Ark and the dwellers therein prefigures the Universal House of Justice.

5 ¶

Tablet of the Holy Mariner

Bahá’u’lláh

Chanted aloud in the outskirts of Baghdad just weeks before the Declaration in the Garden of Riḍván, its gloomy prognostications aroused the grave apprehensions of all who heard it. Only the Arabic portion has an authorized translation; the Persian portion remains untranslated.

57 ¶

The Hidden Words

Bahá’u’lláh

Seventy-one Arabic and eighty-two Persian aphorisms revealed around 1858 while walking along the banks of the Tigris in Baghdad. Originally designated the “Hidden Book of Fáṭimih,” Shoghi Effendi described it as a marvelous collection of gem-like utterances occupying a position of unsurpassed preeminence among the ethical writings of the Faith.

160 ¶

Will and Testament

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in three parts between 1901 and 1908, opened and read after His passing on 28 November 1921. Shoghi Effendi designated it the Charter of the New World Order — the mightiest instrument forged to ensure the continuity of the three ages of the Bahá’í Dispensation.

59 ¶