Gleanings — §120

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 120 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ی اسم یا مختار انسانرا از بین امم و خلایق برای معرفت و محبّت خود که علّت غائی و سبب خلقت کائنات بود اختیار نمود.... زیرا کینونت و حقیقت هر شیئی را باسمی از اسماء تجلّی نمود و بصفتی از صفات اشراق فرمود مگر انسان را که مظهر کلّ اسماء و صفات و مرآت کینونت خود قرار فرمود و باین فضل عظیم و مرحمت قدیم خود اختصاص نمود ولکن این تجلّیات انوار صبح هدایت و اشراقات انوار شمس عنایت در حقیقت انسان مستور و محجوبست چنانچه شعله و اشعّه و انوار در حقیقت شمع و سراج مستور است و تابش و رخشش آفتاب جه

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him — a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation.… Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.

Translation Notes

یا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

مختار

kh-y-r → “unconstrained and sovereign Will”

literal: goodwill; benevolence; kindness; good; goodness; benefit; better; best

انسانرا

ʾ-n-s → “man”

literal: familiar; intimate; companionship; to be acquainted with; companion; intimate friend; to be intimate with; to keep company; to console

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

بین

b-y-n

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

امم

ʾ-m-m

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

خلایق

kh-l-q → “created” Distinctive

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

برای

b-r-y

literal: to see; to perceive; to look; to see, to observe, to behold; to view; vision; dream; sight; ل is prefix; verb تری (you see) is from ر-ا-ي

معرفت

ʿ-r-f → “know Him” Distinctive

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

محبّت

ḥ-b-b → “love Him”

literal: love; affection

خود

kh-w-d → “own Self”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

علّت

ʿ-l-l

literal: cause; reason; sick

غائی

gh-y-y

literal: extreme; goal; utmost

سبب

s-b-b → “cause”

literal: cause; reason; means; instrument

کائنات

k-w-n → “be”

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

بود

b-w-d

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

نمود....

n-m-ʾ → “hath”

literal: to become; to be

زیرا

z-y-r

literal: because; since; for; inasmuch as

کینونت

k-w-n → “be” Distinctive

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

حقیقت

ḥ-q-q → “reality of” Distinctive

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

هر

h-r → “every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

شیئی

sh-y-ʾ → “thing”

literal: thing; something; to will; to wish; to desire; to open; to unfold; to reveal

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

باسمی

s-m-w → “one of His names”

literal: name; title; designation

تجلّی

j-l-w → “shed the light” Distinctive

literal: effulgence; manifestation; revelation

بصفتی

w-ṣ-f → “one of His attributes”

literal: attribute; quality; characteristic

اشراق

sh-r-q

literal: radiance; splendor; dawn; illumination

فرمود

f-r-m → “He” Distinctive

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

مگر

m-g-r → “save through”

literal: matter; affair; thing

مظهر

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

کلّ

k-l-l → “all”

literal: for us; to us

مرآت

r-ʾ-y → “mirror”

literal: to see; to perceive; to look; to see, to observe, to behold; to view; vision; dream; sight; ل is prefix; verb تری (you see) is from ر-ا-ي

قرار

q-r-r → “acknowledged” Distinctive

literal: stability; firmness; establishment

باین

b-y-n

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

فضل

f-ḍ-l → “so great a favor” Distinctive

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

عظیم

ʿ-ẓ-m

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

مرحمت

r-ḥ-m → “mercy” Distinctive

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

قدیم

q-d-m

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

اختصاص

kh-ṣ-ṣ → “singled out”

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

ولکن

l-k-n

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

این

ʾ-y-n

literal: this; these

انوار

n-w-r → “radiance of” Distinctive

literal: light; illumination

صبح

ṣ-b-ḥ

literal: morning, dawn; daybreak

هدایت

h-d-y

literal: guidance; to guide; direction; leading rightly; this; this one

شمس

sh-m-s

literal: sun; daystar; manifestation of divine light

عنایت

ʿ-n-y

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

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

مستور

s-t-r

literal: to veil; to conceal; to cover; veil; covering

محجوبست

ḥ-j-b

literal: to veil oneself, to be veiled

چنانچه

ch-n-n

literal: thus; in such manner; as

شعله

sh-ʿ-l

literal: burning; kindled; flame

اشعّه

sh-ʿ-ʿ

literal: ray; radiance; gleaming

شمع

sh-m-ʿ

literal: candle, lamp, light

سراج

s-r-j

literal: lamp; light; illuminator

تابش

t-b-sh

literal: light, radiance, brilliance; to shine, to glow

آفتاب

ʾ-f-t-ʾ-b

literal: horizon, direction, region; horizon; sun

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 ¶