Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §107

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 107 of 268.

Source (Persian)

* انظروا فی هذه الايّام الّتی اتی جمال القدم بالاسم الاعظم لحياة العالم و اتّحادهم انّهم قاموا عليه باسياف شاحذة و ارتکبوا ما فزع به الرّوح الامين * الی ان جعلوه مسجونا فی اخرب البلاد و انقطعت عن ذيله ايادی المقبلين * اذا قيل لهم اتی مصلح العالم قالوا قد تحقّق انّه من المفسدين مع انّهم ما عاشروه و يرون انّه ما حفظ نفسه فی اقلّ من حين کان فی کلّ الاحيان بين ايادی اهل الطّغيان * مرّة حبسوه و طورا اخرجوه و تارّة اداروا به البلاد * کذلک حکموا علينا و اللّه بما اقول عليم

Shoghi Effendi Translation

"Consider these days in which He Who is the Ancient Beauty hath come in the Most Great Name, that He may quicken the world and unite its peoples. They, however, rose up against Him with sharpened swords, and committed that which caused the Faithful Spirit to lament, until in the end they imprisoned Him in the most desolate of cities, and broke the grasp of the faithful upon the hem of His robe. Were anyone to tell them: \‘The World Reformer is come,' they would answer and say: \‘Indeed it is proven that He is a fomenter of discord!', and this notwithstanding that they have never associated with Him, and have perceived that He did not seek, for one moment, to protect Himself. At all times He was at the mercy of the wicked doers. At one time they cast Him into prison, at another they banished Him, and at yet another hurried Him from land to land. Thus have they pronounced judgment against Us, and God, truly, is aware of what I say."

Translation Notes

انظروا

n-ẓ-r → ““Consider”

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

هذه

h-dh-ʾ → “this”

literal: this; this (masculine); this (feminine)

الايّام

y-w-m → “days”

literal: day; age; period; era; a day

الّتی

ʾ-l-l → “which”

literal: who; which/that; which

اتی

ʾ-t-y → “come”

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

جمال

j-m-l → “Ancient Beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

القدم

q-d-m

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

بالاسم

s-m-w → “in the Most Great Name”

literal: to name, to nominate, to designate, to appoint; name; noun; to name, to appoint, to designate

الاعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

لحياة

ḥ-y-y → “life”

literal: greeting; salutation; tribute; to make alive; to revive

العالم

ʿ-l-m → “world”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

اتّحادهم

w-ḥ-d → “unite”

literal: Divine unity; monotheism; belief in the oneness of God

انّهم

ʾ-n-n → “They”

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

قاموا

q-w-m → “rose up”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

عليه

ʿ-l-y → “against Him”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

باسياف

s-y-f → “swords”

literal: sword

شاحذة

sh-ḥ-dh → “sharpened”

literal: sharpened, whetted, keen

ارتکبوا

r-k-b → “committed”

literal: to ride; to commit; to undertake; composition; combination; structure

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

فزع

f-z-ʿ → “caused”

literal: to fear; to be terrified; terror, fright

به

b-h → “as”

literal: by it; by him; with it

الرّوح

r-w-ḥ → “Faithful Spirit”

literal: to go; to depart; to rest; spirit; soul

الامين

ʾ-m-n → “trustworthy”

literal: to believe; to have faith; to be secure; trust; trustworthiness; covenant; deposit; believer, faithful

الی

ʾ-l-y → “until”

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

ان

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

جعلوه

j-ʿ-l → “make” Distinctive

literal: make; made; to make

مسجونا

s-j-n → “imprisoned”

literal: prison, imprisonment; to imprison

اخرب

kh-r-b → “desolate”

literal: ruin; desolation

البلاد

b-l-d → “cities”

literal: city; land; country

انقطعت

q-ṭ-ʿ → “detachment” Distinctive

literal: to be severed; to be cut off; to detach oneself; to abstain

عن

ʿ-n → “with” Distinctive

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

ذيله

dh-y-l → “hem”

literal: hem; skirt; tail; border

ايادی

y-d-y → “hands”

literal: hand; power; strength; (plural) hands; agents; helpers; to assist, to support, to aid, to strengthen

المقبلين

q-b-l → “before” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

اذا

ʾ-dh-n → “ears”

literal: when; if; whenever; then suddenly

قيل

q-w-l → “Say” Distinctive

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

لهم

l-h-m → “inspiration” Distinctive

literal: inspiration; divine inspiration; revelation

مصلح

ṣ-l-ḥ → “betterment” Distinctive

literal: peace; reconciliation

قد

q-d → “We have been”

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

تحقّق

ḥ-q-q → “proven”

literal: truth; right; that which is true or just

من

m-n

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

المفسدين

f-s-d → “mischief” Distinctive

literal: corruption; ruin; discord; mischief; decay

مع

m-ʿ → “notwithstanding”

literal: with; together with; alongside

عاشروه

ʿ-sh-r → “associated”

literal: assembly; association; associate

يرون

r-ʾ-y → “Thou seest”

literal: to see; to perceive; to look; to see, to observe, to behold; to view; vision; dream; sight; ل is prefix; verb تری (you see) is from ر-ا-ي

حفظ

ḥ-f-ẓ → “protect”

literal: guardian; preserver; keeper

نفسه

n-f-s → “Himself”

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

اقلّ

q-l-l → “less”

literal: little; few; scanty; small in quantity

حين

ḥ-y-n → “moment”

literal: time; moment; while; season

کان

k-w-n → “was”

literal: to do; to make; to perform; to be; was

کلّ

k-l-l

literal: for us; to us

بين

b-y-n → “at the mercy” Distinctive

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident; in; among; between; at this moment

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “people”

literal: people; inhabitants; family; kin; worthy; deserving; my family; my people; my kin

الطّغيان

ṭ-gh-y → “the oppressors” Distinctive

literal: transgression; rebellion; tyranny; insolence

مرّة

m-r-r → “one time”

literal: to pass; to pass by; to go

حبسوه

ḥ-b-s → “cast Him into prison”

literal: imprison; prison; imprisoned

طورا

ṭ-w-r → “another”

literal: states; conditions; stages; modes; phases; manner

اخرجوه

kh-r-j → “banished”

literal: go out; exit; outside

تارّة

t-w-r → “second”

literal: Torah; time; Torah, Pentateuch

اداروا

d-w-r → “far” Distinctive

literal: cycle; dispensation; age; turn; round

کذلک

dh-l-k → “Thus”

literal: thus; likewise; also

حکموا

ḥ-k-m → “wisdom” Distinctive

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

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Fire Tablet

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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

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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

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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

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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 ¶