Gleanings — §176

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 176 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

علی کلّ شیء قدیر الحمد للّه حقّ جلّ جلاله بمفتاح قلم اعلی ابواب افئده و قلوب را گشوده و هر آیه‌ئی از آیات منزله بابیست مبین از برای ظهور اخلاق روحانیّه و اعمال مقدّسه این ندا و این ذکر مخصوص مملکتی و یا مدینه‌ئی نبوده و نیست باید اهل عالم طرّاً بآنچه نازل شده و ظاهر گشته تمسّک نمایند تا بآزادی حقیقی فائز شوند گیتی بانوار نیّر ظهور منوّر چه که در سنهٴ ستّین حضرت مبشّر روح ما سواه فداه بروح جدید بشارت داد و در سنهٴ ثمانین عالم بنور جدید و روح بدیع فائز گشت حال اکثر اهل بلاد مستعدّند از برای اصغاء کلمهٴ علیا که بعث و حشر کلّ بآن منوط و معلّق است....

Shoghi Effendi Translation

All praise be to the one true God — exalted be His glory — inasmuch as He hath, through the Pen of the Most High, unlocked the doors of men’s hearts. Every verse which this Pen hath revealed is a bright and shining portal that discloseth the glories of a saintly and pious life, of pure and stainless deeds. The summons and the message which We gave were never intended to reach or to benefit one land or one people only. Mankind in its entirety must firmly adhere to whatsoever hath been revealed and vouchsafed unto it. Then and only then will it attain unto true liberty. The whole earth is illuminated with the resplendent glory of God’s Revelation. In the year sixty He Who heralded the light of Divine Guidance — may all creation be a sacrifice unto Him — arose to announce a fresh revelation of the Divine Spirit, and was followed, twenty years later, by Him through Whose coming the world was made the recipient of this promised glory, this wondrous favor. Behold how the generality of mankind hath been endued with the capacity to hearken unto God’s most exalted Word — the Word upon which must depend the gathering together and spiritual resurrection of all men.…

Translation Notes

کلّ

k-l-l → “All”

literal: for us; to us

شیء

sh-y-ʾ → “will” Distinctive

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

قدیر

q-d-r

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

الحمد

ḥ-m-d → “praise be”

literal: praise; to praise

للّه

ʾ-l-h → “to the one true God”

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

حقّ

ḥ-q-q → “God”

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

جلّ

j-l-l → “exalted be His glory”

literal: majesty; glory; exaltation; magnificence

بمفتاح

f-t-ḥ → “unlocked”

literal: opening; opening up; conquests; revelations; disclosure

قلم

q-l-m → “Pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

اعلی

ʿ-l-w → “Most High”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

ابواب

b-w-b → “doors”

literal: door; gate; chapter; way; manner

افئده

f-ʾ-d → “men’s hearts”

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

قلوب

q-l-b

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

گشوده

g-sh-ʾ

literal: to open; to unlock; opened

هر

h-r → “Every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

آیه‌ئی

ʾ-y-h

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

آیات

ʾ-y-y → “verse”

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

منزله

n-z-l → “revealed”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

مبین

b-y-n → “utterance” Distinctive

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

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

ظهور

ẓ-h-r → “revelation”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

اخلاق

kh-l-q → “Thy creatures” Distinctive

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

روحانیّه

r-w-ḥ → “saintly and pious life” Distinctive

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

اعمال

ʿ-m-l → “pure and stainless deeds”

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

مقدّسه

q-d-s → “holy”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

این

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

ندا

n-d-w → “Voice”

literal: call; voice; proclamation; forty; forty years

ذکر

dh-k-r → “mention”

literal: remembrance; mention; memory; invocation; reminders; commemorations

مخصوص

kh-ṣ-ṣ

literal: specific matter; particularity; especially; in this matter

مملکتی

m-l-k → “land”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty; possessions; property; ownership

یا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

مدینه‌ئی

m-d-n

literal: city; cities; civilization

نبوده

b-w-d → “never intended” Distinctive

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

باید

b-y-d → “must”

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

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “people”

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

عالم

ʿ-l-m → “Mankind” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

طرّاً

ṭ-r-r → “one and all”

literal: the letter Ṭá; refers to Ṭihrán (also spelled Ṭehran)

بآنچه

b-ch-h → “whatsoever”

literal: building, structure, edifice; to build, construct; structure, edifice

شده

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

گشته

g-sh-t → “were”

literal: to become; to turn; to be

تمسّک

m-s-k → “cleave”

literal: musk; to seize; grip; to hold fast; to cling to; to grasp

نمایند

n-m-ʾ → “may”

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

تا

t-y-y

literal: so that/until

بآزادی

ʾ-z-d → “freed”

literal: free; liberated; at liberty; freedom

فائز

f-w-z → “attain”

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

شوند

sh-w-d

literal: become; to become; became

گیتی

g-y-t-y → “whole earth”

literal: world; earthly; terrestrial

بانوار

n-w-r → “light”

literal: fires; blazes; luminary; celestial body; light-giver

چه

ch-h

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

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

سنهٴ

s-n-h → “year sixty”

literal: year; way; tradition; custom

ستّین

s-t-y

literal: threshold; capital city; province

حضرت

ḥ-ḍ-r → “Him”

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

مبشّر

b-sh-r → “heralded”

literal: human; mankind; human nature

ما

m-ʾ

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

سواه

s-w-y

literal: other than; other-than; besides

فداه

f-d-y → “sacrifice unto Him”

literal: alas; woe; oh

جدید

j-d-d → “fresh”

literal: new, novel, renewed; novelty, innovation

داد

d-ʾ-d

literal: to give; to grant; to present; justice; judgment; to see; sight; eye; seen

ثمانین

th-m-n

literal: eight; price; value

بدیع

b-d-ʿ → “wondrous”

literal: to create; most wondrous; excel

حال

ḥ-w-l

literal: state; condition; circumstance

اکثر

k-th-r → “generality”

literal: majority; multitude; abundance; multiplicity

بلاد

b-l-d

literal: city; land; country

مستعدّند

ʿ-d-d → “capacity”

literal: numbered; number; capacity

اصغاء

ṣ-gh-w → “hearken”

literal: to listen, hear; to give ear

کلمهٴ

k-l-m → “Word”

literal: word; words; speak

بعث

b-ʿ-th → “sent down”

literal: to send; to raise up; to dispatch

حشر

ḥ-sh-r → ““resurrection,””

literal: to gather, assemble, congregate; resurrection, Day of Judgment

بآن

ʾ-n-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

منوط

n-w-ṭ → “depend”

literal: to be dependent upon, to hang upon, to hinge upon

معلّق

ʿ-l-q

literal: attachment; connection; relationship

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 ¶