Gleanings — §141

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 141 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

و جان مردمانرا بزرگترین مایهٴ آسایش و پرورش است خوشا روز آنکه بیاری خداوند یکتا از آلایش گیتی و آنچه در او است رهائی یافت و در سایهٴ درخت دانائی بیاسود آوای هزاردستان که بر شاخسار

Shoghi Effendi Translation

This robe with which the body and soul of man hath been adorned is the very foundation of his well-being and development. Oh, how blessed the day when, aided by the grace and might of the one true God, man will have freed himself from the bondage and corruption of the world and all that is therein, and will have attained unto true and abiding rest beneath the shadow of the Tree of Knowledge!

Translation Notes

جان

j-ʾ-n → “soul”

literal: soul; life; spirit

مردمانرا

m-r-d → “man”

literal: rebellion; mutiny; revolt

بزرگترین

b-z-r-g → “great” Distinctive

literal: great; large; important; grandeur

مایهٴ

m-y-h

literal: water; waters

آسایش

ʾ-s-y → “well-being”

literal: well-being, happiness, prosperity, tranquility, ease, comfort

پرورش

p-r-w-r → “We beg of Thee” Distinctive

literal: nourishment; education; upbringing; rearing; sustenance

است

b-w-d → “is”

literal: to be; are (third person plural present copula)

خوشا

kh-w-sh → “sweet”

literal: self; own; personal

روز

r-w-z → “day”

literal: day; today; that-day

آنکه

ʾ-n → “to” Distinctive

literal: that; indeed; that, to

بیاری

y-ʾ-r → “friends” Distinctive

literal: friend; companion; loved one (pl. یاران)

یکتا

y-k-t → “one true”

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

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

آلایش

ʾ-l-y → “bondage and corruption”

literal: defilement; impurity; fetters

گیتی

g-y-t-y → “world”

literal: world; earthly; terrestrial

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

او

h-w-w → “is”

literal: he; it (third person pronoun); refuge; shelter; dwelling place; abode; lamentation, cry, woe; melody, song

رهائی

r-h-ʾ → “rescue”

literal: way; path; road; deliverance; liberation; freedom

یافت

y-f-t → “have kept both” Distinctive

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

سایهٴ

s-y-h → “shadow”

literal: shadow

درخت

d-r-kh-t → “Tree”

literal: tree

دانائی

d-ʾ-n → “Knowledge”

literal: knowledge; wisdom; understanding

بیاسود

ʾ-s-w → “rest”

literal: in the shade; under the shadow; rested; to be necessary; to behoove; to arise

آوای

ʾ-w-ʾ

literal: voice; voice/sound

هزاردستان

h-z-ʾ-r

literal: thousand; (hzaardastān) the thousand-tongued

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

بر

b-r-r

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

شاخسار

sh-ʾ-kh

literal: branch; twig; limb

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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50 ¶

Kitáb-i-’Ahd

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 ¶