Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — §6

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 6 of 268.

Source (Persian)

* اشهد يا الهی و سلطانی بانّک خلقتنی لذکرک و ثنائک و نصرة امرک و انّی نصرت اعداءک الّذين نقضوا عهدک و نبذوا کتابک و کفروا بک و بآياتک آه آه من غفلتی و خجلتی و خطيئتی و جريرتی الّتی منعتنی عن الورود فی طمطام بحر احديّتک و قمقام يمّ رحمتک فآه آه ثمّ آه آه من سوء حالی و کبر عصيانی قد اظهرتنی يا الهی لاعلاء کلمتک و اظهار امرک و لکن غفلتی منعتنی و احاطت بی بحيث قمت علی محو آثارک و سفک دماء اوليائک و مطالع آياتک و مشارق وحيک و مخازن اسرارک *

Shoghi Effendi Translation

"I testify, O my God, and my King, that Thou hast created me to remember Thee, to glorify Thee, and to aid Thy Cause. And yet, I have aided Thine enemies, who have broken Thy Covenant, who have cast away Thy Book, disbelieved in Thee, and repudiated Thy signs. Alas, alas, for my waywardness, and my shame, and my sinfulness, and my wrong-doing that have withheld me from the depths of the ocean of Thy unity and from fathoming the sea of Thy mercy. Wherefore, alas, alas! and again alas, alas! for my wretchedness and the grievousness of my transgressions! Thou didst call me into being, O my God, to exalt Thy Word, and to manifest Thy Cause. My heedlessness, however, hath deterred me and compassed me about, in such wise that I have arisen to blot out Thy signs, and to shed the blood of Thy loved ones, and of the dawning-places of Thy signs, and of the daysprings of Thy revelation, and of the repositories of Thy mysteries.

Translation Notes

اشهد

sh-h-d → ““I testify”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

يا

y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

الهی

ʾ-l-h → “my God”

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

سلطانی

s-l-ṭ → “my King”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

بانّک

ʾ-n-n → “that Thou”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

خلقتنی

kh-l-q → “hast created me”

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

لذکرک

dh-k-r → “to remember Thee” Distinctive

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

ثنائک

th-n-y → “to glorify Thee” Distinctive

literal: praise; commendation; eulogy; glorification; praise, commendation, eulogy

نصرة

n-ṣ-r → “aid Thy Cause” Distinctive

literal: aid, help, succor, victory, support

امرک

ʾ-m-r → “Thy Cause”

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

اعداءک

ʿ-d-w → “Thine enemies”

literal: hostility, aggression, enmity, transgression

الّذين

l-dh-y → “which” Distinctive

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

نقضوا

n-q-ḍ → “have broken”

literal: breaker; violator; one who breaks (covenant); covenant-breaker

عهدک

ʿ-h-d → “Thy Covenant”

literal: covenant; testament; promise; command

نبذوا

n-b-dh → “have cast away”

literal: to cast; to reject; to abandon; to throw away

کتابک

k-t-b → “Thy Book”

literal: book; scripture; writing

کفروا

k-f-r → “disbelieved”

literal: to disbelieve, reject; unbelief, ingratitude; to deny, to disbelieve, to reject

بآياتک

ʾ-y-y → “repudiated Thy signs”

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

آه

ʾ-h → “Alas”

literal: alas

من

m-n → “for” Distinctive

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

غفلتی

gh-f-l → “my waywardness”

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

خجلتی

kh-j-l → “my shame”

literal: shame; embarrassment; disgrace

خطيئتی

kh-ṭ-ʾ → “sins” Distinctive

literal: sin; transgression; error; errors; sins; faults

جريرتی

j-r-r → “mighty sins” Distinctive

literal: sin; transgression; crime; that which is drawn or dragged

الّتی

ʾ-l-l → “that” Distinctive

literal: who; which/that; which

منعتنی

m-n-ʿ → “have withheld me”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

عن

ʿ-n → “from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

الورود

w-r-d → “hath befallen” Distinctive

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

فی

f-y

literal: in; in-it; in it

طمطام

ṭ-m-m → “Catastrophe” Distinctive

literal: abyss; depths; abundance; multitude

بحر

b-ḥ-r → “ocean”

literal: sea; ocean

احديّتک

ʾ-ḥ-d → “one”

literal: oneness; unity; absolute unicity; singleness of divine essence

قمقام

q-m-m → “unfathomed deep”

literal: surging wave; billow; depths

يمّ

y-m-m → “sea”

literal: sea; sea, ocean

رحمتک

r-ḥ-m → “Thy mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

فآه

ʾ-w-h → “Alas, alas”

literal: alas; woe; oh

ثمّ

th-m-m → “then”

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

سوء

s-w-ʾ → “evil”

literal: worst; evil; bad; other than; besides; save; except

حالی

ḥ-w-l → “now” Distinctive

literal: states; conditions; circumstances; situations; affairs

کبر

k-b-r → “pride”

literal: great; grand; mighty; large; greatness; majesty; sovereignty; arrogance

عصيانی

ʿ-ṣ-y → “sinner” Distinctive

literal: disobey; transgress; rebel

قد

q-d

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

لاعلاء

ʿ-l-w → “to exalt”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

کلمتک

k-l-m → “Thy Word”

literal: words; utterances; locutions; word; utterance; speech; sayings; verses

اظهار

ẓ-h-r → “and to manifest” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

لکن

l-k-n → “however”

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

احاطت

ḥ-w-ṭ → “compassed me about”

literal: to encompass, surround, envelop, embrace

بی

b-y

literal: without; is; to

بحيث

ḥ-y-th → “in such wise that”

literal: where; in which; inasmuch as; in such wise that; whereby; in that; respect, aspect

قمت

q-w-m → “I have arisen”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

محو

m-ḥ-w → “blot out”

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

آثارک

ʾ-th-r → “Thy signs”

literal: effect; trace; influence; imprint; sign; mark; vestige

سفک

s-f-k → “to shed”

literal: to shed; to spill; bloodshed; to shed (blood)

دماء

d-m-y → “blood”

literal: blood

اوليائک

w-l-y → “Thy loved ones”

literal: guardian; protector; friend; ally; lord; helper; first; primary; original

مطالع

ṭ-l-ʿ → “dawning-places” Distinctive

literal: rising; appearance; countenance; manifestation

مشارق

sh-r-q → “daysprings”

literal: radiance; splendor; dawn; illumination

وحيک

w-ḥ-y → “Thy revelation”

literal: revelation; inspiration; divine communication

مخازن

kh-z-n → “repositories”

literal: to store, to treasure; storehouse, depository, treasury

اسرارک

s-r-r → “Thy mysteries”

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

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 ¶