Gleanings — §153

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 153 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

بگذری و در سبیل دوست انفاق نمائی این بسی واضح است که این عبد خیالی نداشته و ندارد چه که امرش از شئونات ظاهره خارج است چنانچه در سجن اعظم غریب و مظلوم افتاده و از دست اعدا خلاصی نیافته و نخواهد یافت لذا آنچه میگوید لوجه الله بوده که شاید ناس از حجبات نفس و هوی پاک شوند و بعرفان حقّ که اعلی المقام است فائز گردند لا یضرّنی إعراضهم و لا ینفعنی إقبالهم إنّما ندعوهم لوجه الله إنّه لغنیّ عن العالمین

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Who can ever believe that this Servant of God hath at any time cherished in His heart a desire for any earthly honor or benefit? The Cause associated with His Name is far above the transitory things of this world. Behold Him, an exile, a victim of tyranny, in this Most Great Prison. His enemies have assailed Him on every side, and will continue to do so till the end of His life. Whatever, therefore, He saith unto you is wholly for the sake of God, that haply the peoples of the earth may cleanse their hearts from the stain of evil desire, may rend its veil asunder, and attain unto the knowledge of the one true God — the most exalted station to which any man can aspire. Their belief or disbelief in My Cause can neither profit nor harm Me. We summon them wholly for the sake of God. He, verily, can afford to dispense with all creatures.

Translation Notes

بگذری

g-dh-r

literal: to place, to put, to leave, to set, to pass

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

سبیل

s-b-l

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

دوست

d-w-s-t

literal: friend; beloved; to befriend

انفاق

n-f-q

literal: hypocrisy; sedition; discord; betrayal

نمائی

n-m-ʾ → “may”

literal: do; show; make

این

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

بسی

b-s-y

literal: many; much; very

واضح

w-ḍ-ḥ

literal: clear; evident; manifest; obvious

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

عبد

ʿ-b-d → “of God” Distinctive

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

خیالی

kh-y-l → “fancy”

literal: imagination; fancy; shadow; phantom; thought; idea

نداشته

d-ʾ-sh-t → “hath at any time cherished” Distinctive

literal: to have; to possess; to hold

ندارد

d-ʾ-r

literal: below; lower than; beneath

چه

ch-h

literal: what; what/for; whatsoever, that which

امرش

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

شئونات

sh-ʾ-n → “in such wise” Distinctive

literal: affair; concern; matter; aspect; quality; state; affairs; matters; conditions; circumstances; affair, matter, station, rank, dignity; station; rank; importance; matter, affair, concern, dignity, rank

ظاهره

ẓ-h-r

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

خارج

kh-r-j → “banished” Distinctive

literal: bringing out, taking out, expulsion, extraction

چنانچه

ch-n-n → “likewise” Distinctive

literal: thus; in such manner; as

سجن

s-j-n → “Prison”

literal: prison, imprisonment; to imprison

اعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “Most Great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

غریب

gh-r-b → “exile” Distinctive

literal: west; sunset; place of setting

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “victim of tyranny” Distinctive

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

افتاده

f-t-d

literal: to fall, drop, befall, happen, come to pass

دست

d-s-t

literal: hand; control, power, authority

اعدا

ʿ-d-w → “enemies”

literal: when; if; whenever; at that time

خلاصی

kh-l-ṣ → “wholly” Distinctive

literal: sincere; devoted; pure one

نیافته

y-ʾ-f-t

literal: to find, discover; to obtain, acquire; to find; to obtain; to discover

نخواهد

kh-w-h → “will continue”

literal: will; to wish; to want

یافت

y-f-t

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

لذا

l-dh-ʾ → “therefore”

literal: therefore; for this reason; hence; so

آنچه

ʾ-n → “to”

literal: that; indeed; that, to

میگوید

g-w-y → “I say” Distinctive

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

لوجه

w-j-h → “for the sake of God”

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

الله

ʾ-l-h

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

شاید

sh-y-d → “haply”

literal: perhaps, perchance, haply, maybe, possibly; to become; to be; to happen; to occur

ناس

n-ʾ-s → “peoples”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

حجبات

ḥ-j-b → “veil”

literal: to veil oneself, to be veiled

نفس

n-f-s → “hearts” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

هوی

h-w-y → “desire”

literal: desire; vain desire; inclination; passion; whim; realm; region

پاک

p-ʾ-k → “cleanse”

literal: pure; clean; sanctified; holy

شوند

sh-w-d

literal: become; to become; became

بعرفان

ʿ-r-f → “knowledge”

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

حقّ

ḥ-q-q → “true God”

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

اعلی

ʿ-l-w → “most exalted”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

المقام

q-w-m → “station”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

فائز

f-w-z → “attain”

literal: benefit, profit, advantage; usefulness; bounty; effusion; grace

گردند

g-r-d

literal: to become; to happen; to come to pass

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

یضرّنی

ḍ-r-r → “harm”

literal: harm; hardship; affliction

إعراضهم

ʿ-r-ḍ → “turned away” Distinctive

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

ینفعنی

n-f-ʿ → “profit”

literal: benefits; profits; advantages

إقبالهم

q-b-l

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

ندعوهم

d-ʿ-w → “summon”

literal: call, invocation, summons; to call, invite, summon

إنّه

ʾ-n-n → “He, verily”

literal: I, verily; behold I

لغنیّ

gh-n-y → “wealth” Distinctive

literal: to be independent of; to be in no need of; to dispense with; rich; wealthy; needless

عن

ʿ-n

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

العالمین

ʿ-l-m → “all creatures” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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 ¶

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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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291 ¶

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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 ¶

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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 ¶

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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 ¶