Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §178

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 178 of 268.

Source (Persian)

* حال نفس غافل بحبل روضه خوانی تمسّک جسته لعمر اللّه انّه فی کذب مبين * چه که اين حزب را اعتقاد انکه در ظهور حضرت قائم ائمّه سلام اللّه عليهم از قبور بر خاسته‌اند هذا حقّ لا ريب فيه * از حقّ ميطلبيم متوهّمين را از کوثر ايقان که از معين قلم اعلی جاريست قسمت عطا فرمايد تا کلّ فائز شوند بانچه که سزاوار ايّام اوست *

Shoghi Effendi Translation

This heedless one hath now clung to the practice of Rawdih-khani (traditional lamentation for the Imam Ḥusayn). He - I swear by God - is in evident error. For it is the belief of this people that during the Revelation of the Qá’im, the Imams - may the peace of God be upon them - have arisen from their sepulchres. This verily is the truth, and no doubt is there about it. We beseech God to bestow upon the superstitious a portion of the living waters of certitude which are streaming from the wellspring of the Most Sublime Pen, that all may attain unto that which becometh these days.

Translation Notes

حال

ḥ-w-l → “now”

literal: state; condition; circumstance

نفس

n-f-s → “This heedless one” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

غافل

gh-f-l

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

بحبل

ḥ-b-l → “cord”

literal: cord; rope; bond; connection

روضه

r-w-ḍ

literal: garden; meadow; enclosed garden

خوانی

kh-w-n → “disloyalty” Distinctive

literal: blood

تمسّک

m-s-k

literal: musk; to seize; grip; to hold fast; to cling to; to grasp

جسته

j-s-t

literal: to seek; to cling; to grasp; to strive

لعمر

ʿ-m-r → “I swear”

literal: life; age; duration; by the life of (oath)

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

انّه

ʾ-n-n → “He”

literal: I, verily; behold I

فی

f-y → “is in”

literal: alas; woe; oh

کذب

k-dh-b → “falsehood”

literal: denial; belying; falsification; rejection; liar; lying; false

مبين

b-y-n

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

چه

ch-h → “For”

literal: what; what/for; whatsoever, that which

که

k-h → “that”

literal: that; who; who, that

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

حزب

ḥ-z-b → “people”

literal: party; people; community

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

اعتقاد

ʿ-q-d → “belief”

literal: contract; covenant; knot; to tie; to contract; to conclude

انکه

ʾ-n

literal: that; indeed; that, to

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

ظهور

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

حضرت

ḥ-ḍ-r

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

قائم

q-w-m → “people” Distinctive

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

ائمّه

ʾ-m-m → “nations” Distinctive

literal: mother; to lead; to head; matter; affair; people; nation; community; female servant; handmaiden; umma

سلام

s-l-m → “peace”

literal: resignation; submission; surrender; submissiveness

عليهم

ʿ-l-y → “be upon them”

literal: exalted; highest; supreme; most high; upon you; on; over; Ali (name); upon

از

ʾ-z → “from their”

literal: from

قبور

q-b-r → “sepulchres”

literal: Cyprus (toponym)

بر

b-r-r → “upon”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

خاسته‌اند

kh-y-z → “arisen”

literal: self; own; personal

هذا

h-dh-ʾ → “This verily”

literal: this; that

حقّ

ḥ-q-q → “truth”

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

لا

l-ʾ → “no”

literal: no; not; negation particle

ريب

r-y-b → “doubt”

literal: doubt, suspicion, uncertainty; doubt; suspicion

ميطلبيم

ṭ-l-b → “beseech”

literal: seeker, one who seeks; those who seek

متوهّمين

w-h-m → “superstitious”

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

کوثر

k-w-th-r → “living waters”

literal: abundance; river of paradise; the Kawthar

ايقان

y-q-n → “certitude”

literal: certitude; conviction; certainty; faith

معين

ʿ-y-n → “wellspring” Distinctive

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence

قلم

q-l-m → “Pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

اعلی

ʿ-l-w → “Most Sublime” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

جاريست

j-r-y → “flowed” Distinctive

literal: flowing; flowing/current; flow

قسمت

q-s-m → “portion”

literal: oath; division; kind; type

عطا

ʿ-ṭ-w → “bestow”

literal: the letter Ṭá; refers to Ṭihrán (also spelled Ṭehran)

فرمايد

f-r-m

literal: to say; to decree; to ordain; to command

تا

t-y-y → “that”

literal: so that/until

کلّ

k-l-l → “all”

literal: for us; to us

فائز

f-w-z → “attain”

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

شوند

sh-w-d

literal: become; to become; became

بانچه

b-ch-h → “that which”

literal: building, structure, edifice; to build, construct; structure, edifice

سزاوار

s-z-w → “beseemeth”

literal: worthy; fitting; deserving; appropriate; suitable

ايّام

y-w-m → “days”

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

اوست

h-s-t → “hath” Distinctive

literal: he; it (third person pronoun); refuge; shelter; dwelling place; abode; lamentation, cry, woe; melody, song

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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50 ¶

Gleanings

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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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 ¶