Gleanings — §170

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 170 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

رسند امروز نالهٴ عدل بلند و حنین انصاف مرتفع دود تیرهٴ ستم عالم و امم را احاطه نموده از حرکت قلم اعلی روح جدید معانی بامر آمر حقیقی در اجساد الفاظ دمیده شد و آثارش در جمیع اشیای عالم ظاهر و هویدا اینست بشارت اعظم که از قلم مظلوم جاری شده بگو ای دوستان ترس از برای چه و بیم از که گلپار‌ه‌های عالم باندک رطوبتی متلاشی شده و میشوند نفس اجتماع سبب تفریق نفوس موهومه است....

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Justice is, in this day, bewailing its plight, and Equity groaneth beneath the yoke of oppression. The thick clouds of tyranny have darkened the face of the earth, and enveloped its peoples. Through the movement of Our Pen of glory We have, at the bidding of the omnipotent Ordainer, breathed a new life into every human frame, and instilled into every word a fresh potency. All created things proclaim the evidences of this worldwide regeneration. This is the most great, the most joyful tidings imparted by the Pen of this wronged One to mankind. Wherefore fear ye, O My well-beloved ones? Who is it that can dismay you? A touch of moisture sufficeth to dissolve the hardened clay out of which this perverse generation is molded. The mere act of your gathering together is enough to scatter the forces of these vain and worthless people.…

Translation Notes

رسند

r-s-d → “reached” Distinctive

literal: to arrive; to reach; to attain; to come

امروز

r-w-z → “in this day”

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

نالهٴ

n-w-ḥ → “bewailing”

literal: to wail; to lament; lamentation

عدل

ʿ-d-l → “Justice”

literal: justice; equity

بلند

b-l-n-d

literal: high; lofty; raised; to raise

حنین

ḥ-n-n → “lamentation”

literal: trial, tribulation, ordeal, testing

انصاف

n-ṣ-f → “Equity”

literal: justice; fairness; equity

مرتفع

r-f-ʿ

literal: to be raised, elevated, exalted, lifted up

دود

d-w-d → “of his Best-Beloved” Distinctive

literal: give; grant; bestow; award

تیرهٴ

t-y-r-h → “darkness” Distinctive

literal: prostrate; thrown down; helpless

ستم

s-t-m → “iniquity”

literal: oppression, tyranny, cruelty

عالم

ʿ-l-m → “face of the earth” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

امم

ʾ-m-m → “its peoples”

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

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

احاطه

ḥ-w-ṭ → “enveloped”

literal: to encompass, surround, envelop, embrace

نموده

n-m-ود

literal: to show, display, exhibit; to grow, develop

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

حرکت

ḥ-r-k → “movement”

literal: movement; motion; trembling

قلم

q-l-m → “Pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

اعلی

ʿ-l-w → “glory” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

روح

r-w-ḥ → “new life” Distinctive

literal: to go; to depart; to rest; spirit; soul

جدید

j-d-d → “fresh potency”

literal: new, novel, renewed; novelty, innovation

معانی

ʿ-n-y

literal: obstinacy; opposition; enmity

بامر

ʾ-m-r → “at the bidding of” Distinctive

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

آمر

ʾ-m-r → “omnipotent Ordainer” Distinctive

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

حقیقی

ḥ-q-q

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

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

اجساد

j-s-d → “bodies”

literal: body; corpse; physical form

الفاظ

l-f-ẓ → “words”

literal: word; utterance; expression

دمیده

d-m-y → “blood” Distinctive

literal: breath; moment; instant

شد

sh-d → “We have” Distinctive

literal: to become; to be

آثارش

ʾ-th-r → “evidences of this”

literal: effect; trace; influence; imprint; sign; mark; vestige

جمیع

j-m-ʿ → “All”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

اشیای

sh-y-ʾ → “things”

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

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “proclaim” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest; to display; to reveal; ظهور here means ‘backs’ (plural of ظهر), different semantic use than manifestation

هویدا

h-w-y

literal: cradle; bed; couch; resting place

اینست

h-s-t → “This is”

literal: is; be; are

بشارت

b-sh-r → “mankind” Distinctive

literal: human; mankind; human nature

اعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “most great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “wronged One”

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

جاری

j-r-y → “flow”

literal: trade; commerce; business; to flow; to run; to be in effect; flowing

بگو

g-w-y → “I say”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

literal: O; vocative particle; oh (vocative particle)

دوستان

d-w-s-t → “My well-beloved ones”

literal: friend; beloved

ترس

t-r-s → “alarm” Distinctive

literal: to fear; to frighten; afraid

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

چه

ch-h

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

بیم

b-y-m → “sickness” Distinctive

literal: fear, dread, apprehension

گلپار‌ه‌های

g-l-p-ʾ-r-h → “hardened clay”

literal: clay ball, mud lump

باندک

ʾ-n-d-k → “touch of”

literal: little; small; scanty

رطوبتی

r-ṭ-b → “green” Distinctive

literal: moisture; dampness; humidity

متلاشی

t-l-sh → “dissolve”

literal: dissolved, scattered; effort; striving, effort

میشوند

sh-w-d

literal: become; to become; became

نفس

n-f-s → “souls”

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

سبب

s-b-b

literal: cause; reason; means; instrument

تفریق

f-r-q → “scatter”

literal: faction; sect; group; company

موهومه

w-h-m → “vain and worthless people.…”

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

است....

b-w-d → “is”

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

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 ¶