Gleanings — §169

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 169 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

یا أفنانی علیک بهائی و عنایتی خیمهٴ أمر إلهی عظیم است جمیع احزاب عالم را فراگرفته و خواهد گرفت روز روز شماست و هزار لوح گواه شما بر نصرت امر قیام نمائید و بجنود بیان بتسخیر افئده و قلوب اهل عالم مشغول شوید باید از شما ظاهر شود آنچه که سبب آسایش و راحت بیچارگان روزگار است کمر همّت را محکم نمائید شاید بندگان از اسیری فارغ شوند و بآزادی

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O Afnán, O thou that hast branched from Mine ancient Stock! My glory and My loving-kindness rest upon thee. How vast is the tabernacle of the Cause of God! It hath overshadowed all the peoples and kindreds of the earth, and will, erelong, gather together the whole of mankind beneath its shelter. Thy day of service is now come. Countless Tablets bear the testimony of the bounties vouchsafed unto thee. Arise for the triumph of My Cause, and, through the power of thine utterance, subdue the hearts of men. Thou must show forth that which will ensure the peace and the well-being of the miserable and the downtrodden. Gird up the loins of thine endeavor, that perchance thou mayest release the captive from his chains, and enable him to attain unto true liberty.

Translation Notes

یا

y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

أفنانی

f-n-n → “Afnán”

literal: twigs; branches

علیک

ʿ-l-y → “upon”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

بهائی

b-h-w

literal: Bahá’í; of Bahá; splendor; glory; splendor, glory, radiance, majesty; Bahá (the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh)

عنایتی

ʿ-n-y → “My loving-kindness”

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

خیمهٴ

kh-y-m → “tabernacle”

literal: tent; tabernacle; pavilion; structure; edifice

أمر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause of”

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

إلهی

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

عظیم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “Most Great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

جمیع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

احزاب

ḥ-z-b → “peoples and kindreds”

literal: party; people; community

عالم

ʿ-l-m → “of the earth” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

فراگرفته

g-r-f → “hath quaffed” Distinctive

literal: captive, afflicted, troubled, caught; affliction, trouble

خواهد

kh-w-h → “will”

literal: will; to wish; to want

روز

r-w-z → “Thy day”

literal: day; today; that-day

هزار

h-z-r → “myriad”

literal: thousand

لوح

l-w-ḥ → “Tablets”

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

گواه

sh-h-d → “bear the testimony” Distinctive

literal: witness; to testify; presence

شما

sh-m-ʾ → “thee”

literal: you (plural); your

بر

b-r-r → “upon”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

نصرت

n-ṣ-r → “triumph”

literal: aid, help, succor, victory, support

قیام

q-w-m → “Arise”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

نمائید

n-m-ʾ → “will” Distinctive

literal: to show, to display, to manifest, to exhibit

بجنود

j-n-d → “hosts”

literal: hosts, armies, troops

بیان

b-y-n → “utterance”

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident

بتسخیر

s-kh-r → “subdue”

literal: to subdue, subject, render submissive; to harness

افئده

f-ʾ-d → “hearts”

literal: heart, innermost soul, mind; heart; inner consciousness; mind; one who benefits; advantageous

قلوب

q-l-b

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

اهل

ʾ-h-l

literal: people; inhabitants; family; kin; worthy; deserving; my family; my people; my kin

مشغول

sh-gh-l

literal: to occupy; to engage; to busy; occupation

شوید

sh-w-d

literal: to become; to be

باید

b-y-d → “must”

literal: by hand; with hands; eternal; perpetual; everlasting

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “show forth” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

آنچه

ʾ-n → “that which”

literal: that; indeed; that, to

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

سبب

s-b-b → “ensure” Distinctive

literal: cause; reason; means; instrument

آسایش

ʾ-s-y → “well-being”

literal: shadow; shade; shelter; protection

راحت

r-w-ḥ → “spirit” Distinctive

literal: rest; comfort; ease; relief

کمر

k-m-r → “loins”

literal: loins; waist; to gird

همّت

h-m-m → “endeavor”

literal: them (feminine or general); by them; through them

محکم

ḥ-k-m → “wisdom” Distinctive

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom

شاید

sh-y-d → “perchance”

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

بندگان

b-n-d → “servants”

literal: servants; bondsmen; slaves

اسیری

ʾ-s-r → “from his chains”

literal: captive; prisoner; captivity

فارغ

f-r-gh → “detached”

literal: free; detached; empty; unoccupied

بآزادی

ʾ-z-d → “freed”

literal: free; liberated; at liberty; freedom

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 ¶