Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §194

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 194 of 268.

Source (Persian)

هذه آياتٌ انزلناها من قبل فی اوّل ورودنا فی سجن عکّاء و ارسلناها اليک لتعرف ما نطقت به ألسنتهم الکذبة اذ اتی الامر بقدرة و سلطان * قد تزعزع بنيان الظّنون و انفطرت سماء الاوهام و القوم فی مِرْيَةٍ و شقاق * قد انکروا حجّة اللّه و برهانه بعد اذ اتی من افق الاقتدار بملکوت الآيات * ترکوا ما امروا به و ارتکبوا ما منعوا عنه فی الکتاب * وضعوا إلههم اخذوا اهواءهم أَلَا انّهم فی غفلة و ضلال * يقرءون الآيات و ينکرونها يرون البيّنات و يعرضون عنها أَلَا انّهم فی ريب عجاب *

Shoghi Effendi Translation

These are verses We sent down previously, soon after Our arrival in the prison-city of ‘Akká, and We have sent them unto thee, that thou mayest be acquainted with what their lying tongues have spoken, when Our Cause came unto them with might and sovereignty. The foundations of idle fancies have trembled, and the heaven of vain imaginings hath been cleft asunder, and yet the people are in doubt and in contention with Him. They have denied the testimony of God and His proof, after He came from the heaven of power with the kingdom of His signs. They have cast away what had been prescribed, and perpetrated what had been forbidden them in the Book. They have abandoned their God, and clung unto their desires. They truly have strayed and are in error. They read the verses and deny them. They behold the clear tokens and turn aside. They truly are lost in strange doubt.

Translation Notes

هذه

h-dh-ʾ → “this”

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

آياتٌ

ʾ-y-y → “are verses”

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

انزلناها

n-z-l → “sent down”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

من

m-n → “from”

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

قبل

q-b-l → “previously” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

اوّل

ʾ-w-l → “first”

literal: first; beginning; at first; the first; former; possessors of; those who have; masters of

ورودنا

w-r-d → “arrival”

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

سجن

s-j-n → “prison-city”

literal: prison, imprisonment; to imprison

ارسلناها

r-s-l → “have sent them unto”

literal: to send; dispatch; transmission

اليک

ʾ-l-y → “towards” Distinctive

literal: one; a single

لتعرف

ʿ-r-f → “knowledge” Distinctive

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

نطقت

n-ṭ-q → “have spoken”

literal: to speak; to utter; to pronounce; to articulate

به

b-h → “with” Distinctive

literal: by it; by him; with it

ألسنتهم

l-s-n → “tongues”

literal: arrow; pointed weapon; spear-point; edge

الکذبة

k-dh-b → “lying”

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

اذ

ʾ-dh-dh → “whilst”

literal: when; since

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

الامر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

literal: mother; to lead; to head; matter; affair

بقدرة

q-d-r → “might” Distinctive

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

سلطان

s-l-ṭ → “sovereignty”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

قد

q-d → “We have been”

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

تزعزع

z-ʿ-z-ʿ → “trembled”

literal: to be shaken; to tremble; to shake

بنيان

b-n-y → “foundations”

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

الظّنون

ẓ-n-n → “idle fancies”

literal: fancy; supposition; vain imagination; idle conjecture

انفطرت

f-ṭ-r → “true Faith” Distinctive

literal: creator; the one who splits/creates

سماء

s-m-w → “heaven”

literal: heaven; sky

الاوهام

w-h-m → “vain imaginings”

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

القوم

q-w-m → “people”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

مِرْيَةٍ

m-r-y → “doubt”

literal: doubt; Mary; doubter, waverer

شقاق

sh-q-q → “discord”

literal: discord; dissension; rebellion; strife

انکروا

n-k-r → “denied”

literal: denial; rejection; repudiation

حجّة

ḥ-j-j → “testimony”

literal: path, way; clear path

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

برهانه

b-r-h-n → “proof”

literal: proof, evidence, demonstration, argument

بعد

b-ʿ-d → “after”

literal: after; behind; distance

افق

ʾ-f-q → “heaven” Distinctive

literal: horizon; sphere; realm; quarter

بملکوت

m-l-k → “kingdom”

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

ترکوا

t-r-k → “renounce” Distinctive

literal: to leave; to abandon; to forsake

ارتکبوا

r-k-b → “perpetrated”

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

منعوا

m-n-ʿ → “had been forbidden”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

عنه

ʿ-n → “from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

الکتاب

k-t-b → “Book”

literal: book; scripture; writing

وضعوا

w-ḍ-ʿ → “low” Distinctive

literal: place; lowly; put down

اخذوا

ʾ-kh-dh → “laid hold” Distinctive

literal: to take; to seize; to grasp

اهواءهم

h-w-y → “desires”

literal: desire; vain desire; inclination; passion; whim; realm; region

أَلَا

ʾ-kh-r

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

انّهم

ʾ-n-n → “He”

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

غفلة

gh-f-l → “strayed” Distinctive

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

ضلال

ḍ-l-l → “error”

literal: error; straying; misguidance; delusion; falsehood

يقرءون

q-r-ʾ → “read”

literal: Quran; read; reading

يرون

r-ʾ-y → “behold” Distinctive

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

البيّنات

b-y-n → “clear tokens”

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

يعرضون

ʿ-r-ḍ → “turn aside”

literal: to turn away; to avert; to abstain; heedless

عنها

ʿ-n-n

literal: from; from/about; about

ريب

r-y-b → “doubt”

literal: doubt, suspicion, uncertainty; doubt; suspicion

عجاب

ʿ-j-b → “strange”

literal: wonder; strange; wonder, marvel

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 ¶