Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §36

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 36 of 268.

Source (Persian)

و چون مظلوم از سجن خارج حسب الامر حضرت پادشاه حرسه اللّه تعالی مع غلام دولت عليّه ايران و دولت بهيّه روس بعراق عرب توجّه نموديم و بعد از ورود باعانت الهی و فضل و رحمت ربّانی آيات بمثل غيث هاطل نازل و باطراف ارض ارسال شد و جميع عباد را مخصوص اين حزب را بمواعظ حکيمانه و نصايح مشفقانه نصيحت نموديم و از فساد و نزاع و جدال و محاربه منع کرديم تا انکه از فضل الهی غفلت و نادانی به برّ و دانائی بدل گشت و سلاح باصلاح *

Shoghi Effendi Translation

And when this Wronged One went forth out of His prison, We journeyed, in pursuance of the order of His Majesty the Sháh - may God, exalted be He, protect him - to ‘Iráq, escorted by officers in the service of the esteemed and honored governments of Persia and Russia. After Our arrival, We revealed, as a copious rain, by the aid of God and His Divine Grace and mercy, Our verses, and sent them to various parts of the world. We exhorted all men, and particularly this people, through Our wise counsels and loving admonitions, and forbade them to engage in sedition, quarrels, disputes and conflict. As a result of this, and by the grace of God, waywardness and folly were changed into piety and understanding, and weapons converted into instruments of peace.

Translation Notes

چون

ch-w-n → “As”

literal: since; when; as

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “this Wronged One”

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

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

سجن

s-j-n → “His prison, We”

literal: prison, imprisonment; to imprison

خارج

kh-r-j → “went forth out”

literal: bringing out, taking out, expulsion, extraction

حسب

ḥ-s-b → “accounted” Distinctive

literal: according to; in accordance with; as regards

الامر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

حضرت

ḥ-ḍ-r → “of His Majesty”

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

پادشاه

p-ʾ-d-sh-ʾ-h → “Sháh”

literal: king; monarch; shah

حرسه

ḥ-r-s → “protect him”

literal: to guard, protect, watch over

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

تعالی

ʿ-l-w → “exalted be He”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

مع

m-ʿ → “notwithstanding”

literal: with; together with; alongside

غلام

gh-l-m → “Youth”

literal: youth; boy; servant; the Youth (Bahá’u’lláh)

دولت

d-w-l → “government”

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

عليّه

ʿ-l-y → “upon”

literal: upon; on; exalted

بهيّه

b-h-y

literal: Bahá’í; of Bahá; splendor; glory; splendor, glory, radiance, majesty; Bahá (the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh)

روس

r-ʾ-s → “leadership” Distinctive

literal: Russia; Czar/Tsar

بعراق

ʿ-r-q → “vein”

literal: Iraq; sweat

عرب

ʿ-r-b

literal: Arabic; Arab; Bedouin

توجّه

w-j-h → “face” Distinctive

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

نموديم

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

literal: to show, display, exhibit; to grow, develop

بعد

b-ʿ-d → “After Our”

literal: after; behind; distance

ورود

w-r-d → “arrival”

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

باعانت

ʿ-w-n → “by the aid”

literal: help; aid; helper; supporter

فضل

f-ḍ-l → “His Divine Grace”

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

رحمت

r-ḥ-m → “mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

ربّانی

r-b-b

literal: education; upbringing; training; cultivation

آيات

ʾ-y-y → “Our verses”

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

بمثل

m-th-l → “as a”

literal: like; example; parable; similitude

غيث

gh-y-th

literal: to call for help; to cry out; to seek assistance

هاطل

h-ṭ-l → “copious rain”

literal: falling; pouring down; abundant

نازل

n-z-l → “We revealed”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

باطراف

ṭ-r-f → “eyes” Distinctive

literal: extremity; end; edge; outskirt; periphery

ارض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “of the world” Distinctive

literal: earth; land; ground; country

ارسال

r-s-l → “sent”

literal: to send; dispatch; transmission

شد

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

عباد

ʿ-b-d → “men”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

مخصوص

kh-ṣ-ṣ → “singled out” Distinctive

literal: specific matter; particularity; especially; in this matter

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

حزب

ḥ-z-b → “people”

literal: party; people; community

بمواعظ

w-ʿ-ẓ → “counsels”

literal: exhortation; admonition; preaching

حکيمانه

ḥ-k-m → “wise”

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom

نصايح

n-ṣ-ḥ → “admonitions”

literal: counsel; advice; admonition

مشفقانه

sh-f-q → “kindliness” Distinctive

literal: tenderness; compassion; mercy; pity

فساد

f-s-d → “sedition”

literal: corruption; ruin; discord; mischief; decay

نزاع

n-z-ʿ → “contention”

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

جدال

j-d-l → “disputes”

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

محاربه

ḥ-r-b → “contended” Distinctive

literal: warfare; combat; fighting; hostility

منع

m-n-ʿ → “hinder”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

تا

t-y-y → “so that”

literal: so that/until

انکه

ʾ-n → “this”

literal: that; indeed; that, to

غفلت

gh-f-l → “waywardness”

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

نادانی

d-ʾ-n → “considered” Distinctive

literal: call; voice; proclamation; forty; forty years

به

b-h → “as”

literal: by it; by him; with it

برّ

b-r-r → “piety” Distinctive

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

بدل

b-d-l

literal: in place of; instead of; to change; to alter (preposition or verb stem)

گشت

g-sh-t

literal: to become; to turn; to be

سلاح

s-l-ḥ → “weapons”

literal: weapon; arms; armor

باصلاح

ṣ-l-ḥ → “betterment”

literal: peace; reconciliation

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 ¶