Gleanings — §119

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 119 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

جواهر توحید و لطائف تحمید متصاعد بساط حضرت سلطان بی‌مثال و ملیک ذو الجلالیست که حقایق ممکنات و دقایق و رقایق اعیان موجودات را از حقیقت نیستی و عدم در عوالم هستی و قدم ظاهر فرمود و از ذلّت بعد و فنا نجات داده بملکوت عزّت و بقا مشرّف نمود و این نبود مگر بصرف عنایت سابقه و رحمت منبسطهٴ خود چنانچه مشهود است که عدم صرف را قابلیّت و استعداد وجود نشاید و فانی بحت را لیاقت کون و انوجاد نباید و بعد از خلق کلّ ممکنات و ایجاد موجودات بتجلّ

Shoghi Effendi Translation

All praise to the unity of God, and all honor to Him, the sovereign Lord, the incomparable and all-glorious Ruler of the universe, Who, out of utter nothingness, hath created the reality of all things, Who, from naught, hath brought into being the most refined and subtle elements of His creation, and Who, rescuing His creatures from the abasement of remoteness and the perils of ultimate extinction, hath received them into His kingdom of incorruptible glory. Nothing short of His all-encompassing grace, His all-pervading mercy, could have possibly achieved it. How could it, otherwise, have been possible for sheer nothingness to have acquired by itself the worthiness and capacity to emerge from its state of nonexistence into the realm of being?

Translation Notes

جواهر

j-w-h-r → “Essences”

literal: jewel; essence; gem; substance

توحید

w-ḥ-d → “unity”

literal: Divine unity; monotheism; belief in the oneness of God

لطائف

l-ṭ-f → “loving-kindness” Distinctive

literal: kindness; grace; gentleness; benevolence

تحمید

ḥ-m-d

literal: praise; to praise

متصاعد

ṣ-ʿ-d

literal: ascent; ascension; rising; elevation

حضرت

ḥ-ḍ-r → “Him”

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

سلطان

s-l-ṭ → “sovereign Lord” Distinctive

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

بی‌مثال

m-th-l → “incomparable”

literal: like; example; parable; similitude

ملیک

m-l-k → “Ruler” Distinctive

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

ذو

dh-w

literal: possessor of; one having; those having

الجلالیست

j-l-l → “all-glorious”

literal: majesty; glory; exaltation; magnificence

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

حقایق

ḥ-q-q → “reality”

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

ممکنات

m-k-n → “all things” Distinctive

literal: establishment; confirmation; empowerment; firm settlement; place; possibility; being (negated as ‘non-being’)

دقایق

d-q-q → “for a moment” Distinctive

literal: attention; heed; care; precision

رقایق

r-q-q → “Thy slaves” Distinctive

literal: slave; servant; thin; delicate

اعیان

ʿ-y-n → “eyes” Distinctive

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence; to appoint; to designate; to specify; to determine

موجودات

w-j-d → “creation”

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

نیستی

n-y-s-t → “is not” Distinctive

literal: nonexistence; nothingness; nullity; to rest; to settle; to lay to rest

عدم

ʿ-d-m → “nothingness”

literal: nonexistent; void; nullified

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

عوالم

ʿ-l-m

literal: world; universe; the worlds

هستی

h-s-t → “being”

literal: is; be; are

قدم

q-d-m

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest; to display; to reveal; ظهور here means ‘backs’ (plural of ظهر), different semantic use than manifestation

فرمود

f-r-m → “hath created” Distinctive

literal: to say; to decree; to ordain; to command

ذلّت

dh-l-l → “abasement”

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

بعد

b-ʿ-d → “remoteness”

literal: after; behind; distance

فنا

f-n-y → “extinction”

literal: to annihilate; to disappear; annihilation

نجات

n-j-w → “deliver”

literal: saved; rescued; surviving

داده

d-ʾ-d

literal: below; lower than; beneath

عزّت

ʿ-z-z → “glory”

literal: glory; might; honor; dignity; power; majesty

بقا

b-q-y → “incorruptible” Distinctive

literal: remaining; everlasting; eternal; immortal; permanence; duration; continuance

مشرّف

sh-r-f

literal: honor; nobility; eminence; to honor

نمود

n-m-ʾ → “hath received”

literal: to become; to be

این

ʾ-y-n

literal: this; these

نبود

b-w-d

literal: to be; to exist; to remain

مگر

m-g-r

literal: matter; affair; thing

عنایت

ʿ-n-y → “grace”

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

سابقه

s-b-q

literal: to precede; to surpass; to excel

رحمت

r-ḥ-m → “mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

منبسطهٴ

b-s-ṭ → “court” Distinctive

literal: carpet; mat; carpet of realm; expanse; table; surface

خود

kh-w-d

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

چنانچه

ch-n-n

literal: thus; in such manner; as

مشهود

sh-h-d

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

صرف

ṣ-r-f → “treatment” Distinctive

literal: pure; absolute; to turn away; to expend

قابلیّت

q-b-l → “before” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

استعداد

ʿ-d-d → “capacity”

literal: numerous; many; multiple

نشاید

sh-ʾ-y

literal: perhaps; befits

بحت

b-ḥ-t

literal: mere; pure; absolute; sheer

لیاقت

l-y-q

literal: worthy; befit; befits

کون

k-w-n → “been” Distinctive

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

نباید

b-ʾ-d

literal: it is necessary; it behooves; one must

خلق

kh-l-q → “creatures”

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

کلّ

k-l-l

literal: for us; to us

بتجلّ

j-l-w

literal: manifestation; manifest; manifested

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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

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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 ¶