Gleanings — §111

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 111 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

واقع گشته از قبل بکمال تصريح خبر داده و مع آنکه از اهل علم نبوده و بمدارس نرفته و مباحث نديده فنون و علوم ربّانيّه بمثابه غيث هاطل ما بين عباد نازل و جاری شده چگونه بر اعراض و اعتراض قيام نمودند اکثر ايّام در دست اعداء مبتلا و در آخر بظلم مبين در اين سجن عظيم ساکن انشاء اللّه ببصر حديد و قلب منير در آنچه از قبل و بعد ظاهر شده نظر نمائی و تفکّر کنی تا آگاه شوی بر آنچه اليوم اکثر خلق از آن غافلند انشاء اللّه از نفحات ايّام الهی محروم نمانی و از فيوضات نامتناهيه ممنوع نشوی از عنايت حق از بحر اعظم که اليوم باسم مالک قدم در عالم ظاهر است بياشامی و بر امر اللّه مثل جبل ثابت و راسخ و

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Consider this wronged One. Though the clearest proofs attest the truth of His Cause; though the prophecies He, in an unmistakable language, hath made have been fulfilled; though, in spite of His not being accounted among the learned, His being unschooled and inexperienced in the disputations current among the divines, He hath rained upon men the showers of His manifold and Divinely inspired knowledge; yet, behold how this generation hath rejected His authority, and rebelled against Him! He hath, during the greater part of His life, been sore-tried in the clutches of His enemies. His sufferings have now reached their culmination in this afflictive Prison, into which His oppressors have so unjustly thrown Him. God grant that, with a penetrating vision and radiant heart, thou mayest observe the things that have come to pass and are now happening, and, pondering them in thine heart, mayest recognize that which most men have, in this Day, failed to perceive. Please God, He may enable thee to inhale the sweet fragrance of His Day, to partake of the limitless effusions of His grace, to quaff thy fill, through His gracious favor, from the most great Ocean that surgeth in this Day in the name of the Ancient King, and to remain firm and immovable as the mountain in His Cause.

Translation Notes

واقع

w-q-ʿ → “come to pass”

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

گشته

g-sh-t → “have been” Distinctive

literal: become; became; to become

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

قبل

q-b-l

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

بکمال

k-m-l → “perfect”

literal: perfection; completeness; fully; with full; in complete; to complete, perfect, fulfill

تصريح

ṣ-r-ḥ

literal: explicit statement; clear declaration

خبر

kh-b-r → “prophecies” Distinctive

literal: all-knowing; aware; well-informed; omniscient

داده

d-ʾ-d → “of equity”

literal: below; lower than; beneath

مع

m-ʿ → “notwithstanding”

literal: with; together with; alongside

آنکه

ʾ-n → “to” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “people”

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

علم

ʿ-l-m → “divines” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

نبوده

b-w-d → “not being accounted” Distinctive

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

بمدارس

d-r-s → “schools”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

نرفته

r-f-t

literal: to go; to pass; to have gone

مباحث

b-ḥ-th → “attended the controversies”

literal: dissertations; discussions; inquiries

نديده

d-y-d → “seen”

literal: Persian verb دیدن (to see), not Arabic د-ي-د

فنون

f-n-n

literal: twigs; branches

ربّانيّه

r-b-b

literal: divine; of God; lordly

بمثابه

m-th-l → “Consider” Distinctive

literal: like; example; parable; similitude

غيث

gh-y-th → “showers”

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

هاطل

h-ṭ-l → “copious rain”

literal: falling; pouring down; abundant

ما

m-ʾ

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

عباد

ʿ-b-d → “men”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

نازل

n-z-l

literal: to descend, to be revealed

جاری

j-r-y

literal: trade; commerce; business; to flow; to run; to be in effect; flowing

چگونه

ch-g-n → “how”

literal: how; in what manner

بر

b-r-r → “upon”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

اعراض

ʿ-r-ḍ → “rejected” Distinctive

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

قيام

q-w-m

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

نمودند

n-m-ود → “hath” Distinctive

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

اکثر

k-th-r → “greater part” Distinctive

literal: majority; multitude; abundance; multiplicity

ايّام

y-w-m → “Day”

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

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

دست

d-s-t → “hand”

literal: hand; control, power, authority

اعداء

ʿ-d-w → “enemies”

literal: when; if; whenever; at that time

مبتلا

b-l-w → “tribulations” Distinctive

literal: affliction; trial; calamity; trial, tribulation, affliction, calamity; yes; indeed; verily

آخر

ʾ-kh-r → “end”

literal: the hereafter, the next life, the world to come; last, latter; the next life, the hereafter; delay; postponement

بظلم

ẓ-l-m → “wronged One” Distinctive

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

مبين

b-y-n → “utterance” Distinctive

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

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

سجن

s-j-n → “Prison”

literal: prison, imprisonment; to imprison

عظيم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

ساکن

s-k-n

literal: stillness, rest, quietude, tranquility

انشاء

sh-y-ʾ → “will” Distinctive

literal: creation; bringing into existence; establishment; God willing; if God wishes; please God

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God grant”

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

ببصر

b-ṣ-r → “penetrating vision” Distinctive

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

حديد

ḥ-d-d

literal: iron; sharp, keen, acute

قلب

q-l-b → “radiant heart”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

منير

n-w-r

literal: light; illumination

بعد

b-ʿ-d → “after”

literal: after; behind; distance

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

نظر

n-ẓ-r → “observe” Distinctive

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

نمائی

n-m-ʾ → “may”

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

تفکّر

f-k-r → “pondering”

literal: thoughts; ideas; fancies; opinions; to think; to reflect; to contemplate

کنی

k-r-d → “hath” Distinctive

literal: to do; to make; to speak; to abstain; to refrain from; to avoid; allusion; insinuation; indirect reference

تا

t-y-y

literal: so that/until

آگاه

ʾ-g-h → “cognizant”

literal: aware; cognizant; informed; apprised; awareness; knowledge; consciousness

شوی

sh-d-n

literal: be; become

خلق

kh-l-q → “men” Distinctive

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

غافلند

gh-f-l → “heedless”

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

نفحات

n-f-ḥ → “fragrance”

literal: breeze; fragrance; whiff; breath; emanation

محروم

ḥ-r-m

literal: sanctity, inviolability, dignity, honor, respect

نمانی

m-ʾ-n → “remain”

literal: to remain; to stay; to be left

فيوضات

f-y-ḍ → “grace” Distinctive

literal: flood; abundance; overflow; emanation; grace; overflowing; emanating; surplus

نامتناهيه

n-h-y → “forbidden” Distinctive

literal: end, limit, utmost, extreme; final; the end, limit, utmost bound; Lote-Tree beyond which there is no passing; end; limit; terminus

ممنوع

m-n-ʿ

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

نشوی

sh-d → “been” Distinctive

literal: to become; to be

عنايت

ʿ-n-y → “gracious favor”

literal: to concern; to mean; to turn away from; bounty; loving-kindness; grace; divine care; attention; meaning; significance; inner sense

حق

ḥ-q-q → “truth”

literal: truth; right; that which is true or just

بحر

b-ḥ-r → “Ocean”

literal: sea; ocean

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

باسم

s-m-w → “in the name”

literal: harm; strength; blame; hardship, adversity, tribulation, distress

مالک

m-l-k → “King”

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

قدم

q-d-m → “Ancient”

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

بياشامی

sh-r-b → “quaff”

literal: to drink; to imbibe

امر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

جبل

j-b-l → “mountain”

literal: mountain; nature, constitution; to create, to form

ثابت

th-b-t → “firm”

literal: firm; steadfast; established; fixed

راسخ

r-s-kh → “steadfast”

literal: steadfast; firm; firmly rooted; established

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

Bahá’u’lláh

The last outstanding Tablet revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, written around 1891 and addressed to Shaykh Muḥammad-Taqí of Iṣfahán. It calls upon that rapacious priest to repent, quotes the most celebrated passages from Bahá’u’lláh’s own writings, and adduces proofs establishing the validity of His Cause.

268 ¶

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 ¶

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 ¶