Gleanings — §171

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 171 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

امروز هر آگاهی گواهی میدهد بر اینکه بیاناتی که از قلم مظلوم نازل شده سبب اعظم است از برای ارتفاع عالم و ارتقاء امم بگو ای قوم بقوّت ملکوتی بر نصرت خود قیام نمائید که شاید ارض از اصنام ظنون و اوهام که فی‌الحقیقه سبب و علّت خسارت و ذلّت عباد بیچاره‌اند پاک و طاهر گردد این اصنام حائلند و خلق را از علوّ و صعود مانع امید آنکه ید اقتدار مدد فرماید و ناس را از ذلّت کبری برهاند در یکی از الواح

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Every man of insight will, in this day, readily admit that the counsels which the Pen of this wronged One hath revealed constitute the supreme animating power for the advancement of the world and the exaltation of its peoples. Arise, O people, and, by the power of God’s might, resolve to gain the victory over your own selves, that haply the whole earth may be freed and sanctified from its servitude to the gods of its idle fancies — gods that have inflicted such loss upon, and are responsible for the misery of, their wretched worshipers. These idols form the obstacle that impedeth man in his efforts to advance in the path of perfection. We cherish the hope that the Hand of Divine power may lend its assistance to mankind, and deliver it from its state of grievous abasement.

Translation Notes

امروز

r-w-z → “day”

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

هر

h-r → “Every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

آگاهی

ʾ-g-h → “cognizant” Distinctive

literal: aware; cognizant; informed; apprised; awareness; knowledge; consciousness

گواهی

sh-h-d → “witness”

literal: promised; the Promised One

میدهد

d-h → “imputed” Distinctive

literal: give; grant; bestow; award

بر

b-r-r → “upon”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

اینکه

ʾ-y-n → “that” Distinctive

literal: that, the fact that, this (demonstrative particle)

بیاناتی

b-y-n → “utterance” Distinctive

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

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

قلم

q-l-m → “Pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “this wronged One”

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

نازل

n-z-l → “revealed”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

شده

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

سبب

s-b-b → “cause”

literal: cause; reason; means; instrument

اعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “supreme” Distinctive

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

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

ارتفاع

r-f-ʿ → “raised” Distinctive

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

عالم

ʿ-l-m → “world”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

ارتقاء

r-q-y → “ascended” Distinctive

literal: raise them; promote them; heal them; ascension; elevation; rise

امم

ʾ-m-m → “peoples”

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

بگو

g-w-y

literal: say; to say; as-if

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

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

قوم

q-w-m → “people”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

بقوّت

q-w-y → “power”

literal: strength; power; might; piety; fear of God; godliness

ملکوتی

m-l-k

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty

نصرت

n-ṣ-r → “victory” Distinctive

literal: aid, help, succor, victory, support

خود

kh-w-d → “your own selves”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

نمائید

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

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

شاید

sh-y-d → “haply”

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

ارض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

اصنام

ṣ-n-m → “idols”

literal: idol; statue

ظنون

ẓ-n-n → “fancies”

literal: fancy; supposition; vain imagination; idle conjecture

اوهام

w-h-m → “vain imaginings”

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

فی‌الحقیقه

ḥ-q-q → “God” Distinctive

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

علّت

ʿ-l-l

literal: for us; to us

خسارت

kh-s-r → “loss”

literal: loss; ruin; to suffer loss

ذلّت

dh-l-l → “abasement”

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

عباد

ʿ-b-d → “worshipers” Distinctive

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

پاک

p-ʾ-k → “freed and sanctified” Distinctive

literal: pure; clean; sanctified; holy

طاهر

ṭ-h-r

literal: to purify; to cleanse

گردد

g-r-d

literal: become; to become; make

حائلند

ḥ-ʾ-l → “plight” Distinctive

literal: state; states; condition

خلق

kh-l-q → “Thy creatures”

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

علوّ

ʿ-l-w → “exalted” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

صعود

ṣ-ʿ-d

literal: ascent; ascension; rising; elevation

مانع

m-n-ʿ

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

امید

ʾ-m-d → “hope”

literal: to remain; to stay; to be left

آنکه

ʾ-n → “that”

literal: that; indeed; that, to

ید

y-d-y → “Hand”

literal: hand; power; strength; (plural) hands; agents; helpers; to assist, to support, to aid, to strengthen

اقتدار

q-d-r → “power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

مدد

m-d-d → “ink” Distinctive

literal: extended; outstretched; sustained

فرماید

f-r-m

literal: to say; to decree; to ordain; to command

ناس

n-ʾ-s → “mankind” Distinctive

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

کبری

k-b-r → “pride” Distinctive

literal: great; grand; mighty; large

برهاند

r-h → “guide” Distinctive

literal: proof, evidence, demonstration

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

یکی

w-ḥ-d

literal: one; any; each

الواح

l-w-ḥ

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

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 ¶