Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §184

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 184 of 268.

Source (Persian)

ذلّت بمقامی رسيده که هر يوم بانتشار مفتريات مشغولند و لکن اين مظلوم بصبر جميل تمسّک جسته * ايکاش حضرت پادشاه ممالک ايران انچه در استانه وارد شده صورت ان را طلب فرمايند تا بر حقيقت امر اگاه شوند * يا سلطان اقسمک بربّک الرّحمن در اين فقره بنظر عدل ملاحظه فرما * هل من ذی عدل يحکم اليوم بما انزله اللّه فی الکتاب و هل من ذی انصاف ينصف فيما ورد علينا من دون بيّنة و برهان؟

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Such abasement hath been inflicted that each day they spread fresh calumnies. This Wronged One, however, cleaveth to seemly patience. Would that His Majesty the Sháh of Persia would ask for a report of the things which befell Us in Constantinople, that he might become fully acquainted with the true facts. O Sháh! I adjure thee by thy Lord, the God of Mercy, to look into this matter with the eye of fairness. Is there to be found a just man who will judge in this day according to that which God hath sent down in His Book? Where is the fair-minded person who will equitably consider what hath been perpetrated against Us without any clear token or proof?

Translation Notes

ذلّت

dh-l-l → “Such abasement”

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

بمقامی

q-w-m

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

رسيده

r-s-d → “reached”

literal: to send; dispatch; transmission

که

k-h → “that”

literal: that; who; who, that

هر

h-r → “every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

يوم

y-w-m → “day”

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

بانتشار

n-sh-r → “spread”

literal: to scatter; to spread; to unfold; to disseminate

مفتريات

f-r-y → “calumnies”

literal: slander; calumny; fabrication; false accusation

مشغولند

sh-gh-l → “busied”

literal: to occupy; to engage; to busy; occupation

لکن

l-k-n → “however”

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

اين

ʾ-y-n → “This”

literal: this; these

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “Wronged One”

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

بصبر

ṣ-b-r → “patience”

literal: patience; forbearance; endurance; to be patient

جميل

j-m-l → “seemly”

literal: beauty; comeliness

تمسّک

m-s-k → “cleaveth”

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

جسته

j-s-t → “to”

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

حضرت

ḥ-ḍ-r → “His Majesty”

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

پادشاه

p-ʾ-d-sh-ʾ-h → “Sháh”

literal: king; monarch; shah

ممالک

m-l-k

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

انچه

ʾ-n → “to”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

استانه

s-t-n → “Sublime Porte”

literal: threshold; capital city; province

وارد

w-r-d → “befell”

literal: to enter, to come, to befall, to arrive

شده

sh-d → “was”

literal: to become; to be

صورت

ṣ-w-r → “trumpet-call” Distinctive

literal: to imagine; to conceive; to suppose

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

طلب

ṭ-l-b → “ask”

literal: seeker, one who seeks; those who seek

فرمايند

f-r-m → “saith” Distinctive

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

تا

t-y-y → “so that”

literal: so that/until

بر

b-r-r

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

حقيقت

ḥ-q-q → “true facts” Distinctive

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

امر

ʾ-m-r

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

اگاه

ʾ-g-h → “fully acquainted”

literal: aware; cognizant; informed; apprised; awareness; knowledge; consciousness

شوند

sh-w-d

literal: become; to become; became

يا

y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

سلطان

s-l-ṭ → “Sháh”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

اقسمک

q-s-m → “adjure”

literal: oath; division; kind; type

بربّک

r-b-b → “by thy Lord”

literal: divine; of God; lordly

الرّحمن

r-ḥ-m → “the God of Mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

فقره

f-q-r → “poor”

literal: poor; needy; the poor one; pauper

بنظر

n-ẓ-r → “with the eye” Distinctive

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

عدل

ʿ-d-l → “justice”

literal: justice; equity

ملاحظه

l-ḥ-ẓ → “Consider”

literal: assembly; multitude; chiefs; to fill; people of rank; fullness, assembly

هل

h-l → “people” Distinctive

literal: interrogative particle; whether; is it that

من

m-n → “from”

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

ذی

dh-w-y → “and” Distinctive

literal: possessor; possessor of; possessor/owner

يحکم

ḥ-k-m → “judge” Distinctive

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

بما

m-ʾ → “that” Distinctive

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

انزله

n-z-l → “hath sent down”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in a day; during a day; one day after another

الکتاب

k-t-b → “His Book”

literal: book; scripture; writing

انصاف

n-ṣ-f → “fair-minded” Distinctive

literal: justice; fairness; equity

علينا

ʿ-l-y → “against Us”

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

دون

d-w-n → “any” Distinctive

literal: below; lower than; beneath

بيّنة

b-y-n → “clear token” Distinctive

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident

برهان؟

b-r-h → “proof”

literal: proof, evidence, demonstration, argument

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 ¶