Gleanings — §16

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 16 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

است که ضرّی از برای اين أمر اليوم اعظم از فساد و نزاع و جدال و کدورت و برودت ما بين أحباب نبوده و نيست اجتنبوا بقدرة اللّه و سلطانه ثمّ ألّفوا بين القلوب باسمه المُؤلّف العليم الحکيم از حق جلّ جلاله بخواهيد که بلذّت اعمال

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Every eye, in this Day, should seek what will best promote the Cause of God. He, Who is the Eternal Truth, beareth Me witness! Nothing whatever can, in this Day, inflict a greater harm upon this Cause than dissension and strife, contention, estrangement and apathy, among the loved ones of God. Flee them, through the power of God and His sovereign aid, and strive ye to knit together the hearts of men, in His Name, the Unifier, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Translation Notes

است

b-w-d

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

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

ضرّی

ḍ-r-r → “harm”

literal: harm; damage; injury; detriment

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

برای

b-r-y → “Briefly” Distinctive

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

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

أمر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

اليوم

y-w-m → “Day”

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

اعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “greater”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

فساد

f-s-d → “mischief”

literal: corruption; ruin; discord; mischief; decay

نزاع

n-z-ʿ → “strife”

literal: to pull out; to deprive; to contest; to wrench away

جدال

j-d-l → “contention”

literal: to argue; to dispute; to contend; argument

کدورت

k-d-r → “angry” Distinctive

literal: turbidity; turbidness; cloudiness; murkiness

برودت

b-r-d → “brother” Distinctive

literal: brother

ما

m-ʾ

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

بين

b-y-n

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

أحباب

ḥ-b-b → “loved ones”

literal: love; affection

اجتنبوا

j-n-b → “Flee”

literal: to avoid; to shun; to keep away from

بقدرة

q-d-r → “power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

سلطانه

s-l-ṭ → “sovereign aid” Distinctive

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

ثمّ

th-m-m

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

ألّفوا

ʾ-l-f → “thousand” Distinctive

literal: word; expression; utterance; to reconcile; to compose; to compile; to unite

القلوب

q-l-b → “hearts”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

باسمه

s-m-w → “Name”

literal: heaven; sky

العليم

ʿ-l-m → “All-Knowing”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

الحکيم

ḥ-k-m → “All-Wise”

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom

حق

ḥ-q-q → “Eternal Truth”

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

جلّ

j-l-l

literal: majesty; glory; exaltation; magnificence

بخواهيد

kh-w-h → “will”

literal: to want; to wish; will (future auxiliary); brother; sibling

بلذّت

l-dh-dh

literal: sweet; sweeter; pleasure

اعمال

ʿ-m-l

literal: to work; to act; to do; to perform

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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

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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

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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 ¶

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 ¶