Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §19

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 19 of 268.

Source (Persian)

ای اهل بها کمر همّت را محکم نمائيد که شايد جدال و نزاع مذهبی از بين اهل عالم مرتفع شود و محو گردد حبّا للّه و لعباده بر اين امر عظيم خطير قيام نمائيد ضغينه و بغضای مذهبی ناريست عالم سوز و اطفاء ان بسيار صعب مگر يد قدرت الهی ناس را از اين بلاء عقيم نجات بخشد * در محاربه واقعه بين دولتين ملاحظه نمائيد طرفين از مال و جان گذشتند چه مقدار قريه ها کان لم يکن ملاحظه شد *

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Gird up the loins of your endeavor, O people of Bahá, that haply the tumult of religious dissension and strife that agitateth the peoples of the earth may be stilled, that every trace of it may be completely obliterated. For the love of God, and them that serve Him, arise to aid this sublime and momentous Revelation. Religious fanaticism and hatred are a world-devouring fire, whose violence none can quench. The Hand of Divine power can, alone, deliver mankind from this desolating affliction. Consider the war that hath involved the two Nations, how both sides have renounced their possessions and their lives. How many the villages that were completely wiped out!

Translation Notes

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

literal: O; vocative particle; oh (vocative particle)

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “people”

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

بها

b-h-w → “All-Glorious” Distinctive

literal: by it; by him; with it

کمر

k-m-r → “loins”

literal: loins; waist; to gird

همّت

h-m-m → “endeavor”

literal: them (feminine or general); by them; through them

را

r-ʾ-ʾ → “your”

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

محکم

ḥ-k-m → “wisdom” Distinctive

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

نمائيد

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

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

که

k-h → “that”

literal: that; who; who, that

شايد

sh-y-d → “haply”

literal: perhaps, perchance, haply, maybe, possibly; to become; to be; to happen; to occur

جدال

j-d-l → “conflict”

literal: to argue; to dispute; to contend; argument

نزاع

n-z-ʿ → “strife”

literal: to pull out; to deprive; to contest; to wrench away

مذهبی

dh-h-b → “religious”

literal: religion; creed; doctrine; belief; sect

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

بين

b-y-n

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

عالم

ʿ-l-m → “earth” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

مرتفع

r-f-ʿ → “stilled”

literal: to be raised, elevated, exalted, lifted up

شود

sh-w-d

literal: to come; to go; to arrive; came

محو

m-ḥ-w → “blot out”

literal: to efface; to obliterate; to blot out; to cause to disappear

گردد

g-r-d → “were” Distinctive

literal: become; to become; make

حبّا

ḥ-b-b → “For the love of God”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

لعباده

ʿ-b-d → “them that serve Him” Distinctive

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

بر

b-r-r

literal: on; on, upon; upon

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

امر

ʾ-m-r → “Revelation”

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

عظيم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “Most Great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

خطير

kh-ṭ-r → “momentous”

literal: danger; peril; risk; to cross the mind

قيام

q-w-m → “arise”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

ضغينه

ḍ-gh-n → “hatred”

literal: rancor, hatred, malice, spite

بغضای

b-gh-ḍ → “hatred”

literal: hatred; enmity; animosity

ناريست

n-ʾ-r → “are a world-devouring fire” Distinctive

literal: fire; blaze; flame

سوز

s-w-z

literal: burning; to burn; fire

اطفاء

ṭ-f-ʾ → “put out”

literal: to extinguish, put out, quench; to be extinguished; to perish; to go out

ان

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

بسيار

b-s-r

literal: much; many; very; greatly

صعب

ṣ-ʿ-b

literal: most difficult; hardest; most arduous

مگر

m-g-r

literal: matter; affair; thing

يد

y-d-y → “Hand”

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

قدرت

q-d-r → “power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

الهی

ʾ-l-h → “Divine”

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

ناس

n-ʾ-s → “mankind” Distinctive

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

بلاء

b-l-w → “affliction”

literal: trial; affliction; test; calamity; plague

عقيم

ʿ-q-m → “desolating”

literal: barren; sterile; unfruitful; desolate

نجات

n-j-w → “deliver”

literal: you (singular/plural pronoun)

بخشد

b-kh-sh → “deliver”

literal: to grant; to give; to forgive; to bestow

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

محاربه

ḥ-r-b → “war”

literal: warfare; combat; fighting; hostility

واقعه

w-q-ʿ → “occurred”

literal: to fall, to occur, to happen; incident, event

دولتين

d-w-l → “government” Distinctive

literal: state; government; dynasty; period of rule; dominion

ملاحظه

l-ḥ-ẓ → “Consider”

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

طرفين

ṭ-r-f → “both sides”

literal: side; regions; sides

مال

m-w-l → “substance”

literal: hope; wish; desire; aspiration

جان

j-ʾ-n → “lives”

literal: soul; life; spirit; self

گذشتند

g-dh-r → “renounced”

literal: pass; place; passed

چه

ch-h

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

قريه

q-r-y → “villages”

literal: village; be-delighted

ها

w-j-h

literal: He; He is

کان

k-w-n

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

لم

l-y-s

literal: to reproach; blame; censure

شد

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

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 ¶