Skip to main content

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §224

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 224 of 268.

Source (Persian)

قل يا معشر البيان انصفوا انصفوا ثمّ انصفوا انصفوا و لا تکونوا من الّذين ذکروا مظهر امر اللّه فی اللّيالی و الايّام و لمّا اتی بالفضل و اشرق افق الظّهور افتوا عليه بما ناح به سکّان الملکوت و الجبروت و الّذين طافوا حول ارادة اللّه العليم الحکيم *

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Say: O people of the Bayán! Be fair, be fair; and again, be fair, be fair. Be ye not of them who have made mention of the Manifestation of the Cause of God in the daytime and in the night season, and who, when He, through His grace, appeared, and when the Horizon of Revelation was illumined, pronounced against Him such a judgment as hath provoked the lamentations of the inmates of the Kingdom and of the Realm of Glory, and of such as have circled about the will of God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Translation Notes

قل

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

يا

literal: O; or

معشر
ʿ-sh-r “associated” Distinctive

literal: association; companionship; social interaction; عشرين (twenty) is from numeral root ع-ش-ر, distinct from ‘association’ meaning

البيان

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

انصفوا
n-ṣ-f “equity” Distinctive

literal: justice; fairness; equity

ثمّ

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

لا

literal: no; not; negation particle

تکونوا

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

من

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

الّذين
l-dh-y “which” Distinctive

literal: those who; the ones who (relative pronoun)

ذکروا

literal: remembrance; mention; memory; invocation; reminders; commemorations

مظهر

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

امر

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

اللّه

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

فی
f-y “of” Distinctive

literal: in; in-it; in it

اللّيالی

literal: night; darkness

الايّام

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

لمّا

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

اتی

literal: to come; to arrive; to bring; to go; coming; arrival; the one coming; to give; Revelation; came; gave; brought

بالفضل

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

اشرق
sh-r-q “Dayspring” Distinctive

literal: most complete; to complete; perfect; fullness

افق

literal: horizon; sphere; realm; quarter

افتوا

literal: slander; calumny; fabrication; false accusation

عليه

literal: highest; most high; supreme

بما
m-ʾ “that” Distinctive

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

ناح

literal: to wail; to lament; lamentation

به

literal: by it; by him; with it

سکّان

literal: stillness, rest, quietude, tranquility

الملکوت

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty

الجبروت

literal: compelled; forced; constrained

طافوا

literal: circle; circling; circumambulate

حول
ḥ-w-l “now” Distinctive

literal: states; conditions; circumstances; situations; affairs

ارادة

literal: to will; to intend; to wish; will, volition, intention, desire

العليم

literal: world; universe; the worlds

الحکيم

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

Source: Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Fire Tablet cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 ¶