Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §123

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 123 of 268.

Source (Persian)

در ابا بديع تفکّر نمائيد ان مظلوم را اخذ نمودند و بسبّ و لعن اين مظلوم امر کردند * و لکن بعنايت الهی و رحمت ربّانی شهادت اختيار نمود و بان فائز گشت * ان تعدّوا الشّهداء فی سبيل اللّه لا تحصوهم * در حضرت سيّد اسماعيل عليه سلام اللّه و عنايته نظر نمائيد که قبل از فجر باب بيت را با عمّامه خود جاروب نمود و بعد در کنار شطّ مقبلا الی البيت بدست خود جان نثار نمود *

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Remember the father of Badi. They arrested that wronged one, and ordered him to curse and revile his Faith. He, however, through the grace of God and the mercy of his Lord, chose martyrdom, and attained thereunto. If ye would reckon up the martyrs in the path of God, ye could not count them. Consider his honor Siyyid Ismá’íl - upon him be the peace of God, and His loving-kindness - how, before daybreak he was wont to dust, with his own turban, the doorstep of My house, and in the end, whilst standing on the banks of the river, with his eyes fixed on that same house, offered up, by his own hand, his life.

Translation Notes

در

d-r-r → “on”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

ابا

ʾ-b-w → “father of”

literal: father; ancestry; forefathers

بديع

b-d-ʿ → “wondrous”

literal: to create; most wondrous; excel

تفکّر

f-k-r → “ponder”

literal: thoughts; ideas; fancies; opinions; to think; to reflect; to contemplate

نمائيد

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

literal: to show, to display, to manifest, to exhibit; to manifest; to display; to show

ان

ʾ-n → “that”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “wronged one”

literal: wrongedness, oppression, meekness; state of being wronged or oppressed

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

اخذ

ʾ-kh-dh → “arrested”

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

نمودند

n-m-ود → “hath” Distinctive

literal: to show, display, exhibit; to grow, develop

بسبّ

s-b-b → “to curse”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

لعن

l-ʿ-n → “accursed”

literal: to curse; to revile; curse

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

امر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair; Cause (of God); to command; to order

کردند

k-r-d → “made” Distinctive

literal: to do; to make; to perform; deed; action; conduct; behavior

لکن

l-k-n → “however”

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

بعنايت

ʿ-n-y → “through the grace”

literal: to concern; to mean; to turn away from; bounty; loving-kindness; grace; divine care; attention; meaning; significance; inner sense

الهی

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

رحمت

r-ḥ-m → “mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

ربّانی

r-b-b → “Lord” Distinctive

literal: education; upbringing; training; cultivation

شهادت

sh-h-d → “martyrdom”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

اختيار

kh-y-r → “chose”

literal: goodwill; benevolence; kindness

بان

ʾ-n-n → “that”

literal: that; indeed; moment

فائز

f-w-z → “attained”

literal: benefit, profit, advantage; usefulness; bounty; effusion; grace

گشت

g-sh-t → “have been” Distinctive

literal: to become; to turn; to be

تعدّوا

ʿ-d-d → “capacity” Distinctive

literal: numerous; many; multiple

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

سبيل

s-b-l → “path”

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

لا

l-ʾ → “not”

literal: no; not; negation particle

تحصوهم

ḥ-ṣ-y → “reckon” Distinctive

literal: unnumbered, innumerable, countless, beyond count; to count; to enumerate; to be reckoned

حضرت

ḥ-ḍ-r → “honor” Distinctive

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

سيّد

s-y-d → “Siyyid”

literal: master; lord; chief; my master

اسماعيل

s-m-ʿ → “heard”

literal: hear; hearing; heard

عليه

ʿ-l-y → “upon”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

سلام

s-l-m → “peace”

literal: resignation; submission; surrender; submissiveness

نظر

n-ẓ-r → “Consider”

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

قبل

q-b-l → “before”

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

فجر

f-j-r → “workers of iniquity” Distinctive

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

باب

b-w-b → “doorstep”

literal: door; gate; chapter; way; manner

بيت

b-y-t → “house”

literal: house; household; family; verse

با

b-ʾ-ʾ → “have clung”

literal: to; with; by

عمّامه

ʿ-m-m → “with his”

literal: generality; general; general, universal

خود

kh-w-d → “own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

جاروب

j-r-b → “dust”

literal: sweeping

بعد

b-ʿ-d → “after”

literal: after; behind; distance

کنار

k-n-r → “banks”

literal: light; illumination

شطّ

sh-ṭ-ṭ → “river”

literal: river

الی

ʾ-l-y

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

بدست

d-s-t → “by his” Distinctive

literal: hand; control, power, authority

جان

j-ʾ-n → “life” Distinctive

literal: soul; life; spirit; self

نثار

n-th-r → “threw down”

literal: scattering; sacrifice; offering; to scatter or lay down

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 ¶