Gleanings — §192

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 192 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ای صاحبان بغضا قسم بآفتاب فلک بقا که اگر امر بدست این عبد بود هرگز خود را معروف نمینمودم چه که اسم مذکورم ننگ دارد از ذکر این السن غیر طاهرهٴ کاذبه و در هر حین که ساکن شده و صمت اختیار نمودم روح القدس از یمینم ناطق شده و روح الأعظم قدّام وجهم و روح الأمین فوق رأسم و روح البهآء در صدرم ندا فرموده و حال اگر بسمع لطیف استماع شود از جمیع اعضا و احشا و عروق و اظفار ندآء الله را استماع نمائید حتّی از شعراتم میشنوید بأنّه لا اله الّا هو و إنّ هذا الجمال لبهائه لمن فی السّموات و الأرضین ...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Be content, O people, with that which God hath desired for you and predestined unto you.… O my ill-wishers! The Daystar of eternal Guidance beareth me witness: Had it been in my power, I would have, under no circumstances, consented to distinguish myself amongst men, for the Name I bear utterly disdaineth to associate itself with this generation whose tongues are sullied and whose hearts are false. And whenever I chose to hold my peace and be still, lo, the voice of the Holy Ghost, standing on my right hand, aroused me, and the Supreme Spirit appeared before my face, and Gabriel overshadowed me, and the Spirit of Glory stirred within my bosom, bidding me arise and break my silence. If your hearing be purged and your ears be attentive, ye will assuredly perceive that every limb of my body, nay all the atoms of my being, proclaim and bear witness to this call: “God, besides Whom is none other God, and He, Whose beauty is now manifest, is the reflection of His glory unto all that are in heaven and on earth.”

Translation Notes

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

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

صاحبان

ṣ-ḥ-b → “O people” Distinctive

literal: possessor; those who have; companion; followers

بغضا

b-gh-ḍ → “ill-wishers” Distinctive

literal: hatred; enmity; animosity

قسم

q-s-m → “swear”

literal: oath; division; kind; type

بآفتاب

sh-m-s → “Daystar”

literal: horizon, direction, region; horizon; sun

فلک

f-l-k

literal: ship; ark; orbit; sphere; heaven

بقا

b-q-y → “eternal”

literal: remaining; everlasting; eternal; immortal; permanence; duration; continuance

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

اگر

ʾ-g-r → “were they”

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

امر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

بدست

d-s-t

literal: hand; control, power, authority

این

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

عبد

ʿ-b-d → “men” Distinctive

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

بود

b-w-d

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

هرگز

h-r-g → “never”

literal: never; at no time; never ever

خود

kh-w-d → “their own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

معروف

ʿ-r-f → “knowledge” Distinctive

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

نمینمودم

n-m-ود → “hath” Distinctive

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

چه

ch-h

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

اسم

s-m-w → “Name”

literal: name; title; designation

مذکورم

dh-k-r

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

ننگ

n-n-g → “reputation”

literal: shame, disgrace, ignominy

دارد

d-ʾ-r

literal: to have; to hold; to possess; to maintain

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

ذکر

dh-k-r → “mention”

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

السن

l-s-n → “tongues”

literal: tongue; language

غیر

gh-y-r

literal: without; besides; other than; except; other; different

طاهرهٴ

ṭ-h-r → “pure”

literal: to purify; to cleanse

کاذبه

k-dh-b → “false”

literal: denial; belying; falsification; rejection; liar; lying; false

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

هر

h-r

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

حین

ḥ-y-n

literal: time; moment; while; season

ساکن

s-k-n → “inmates” Distinctive

literal: stillness, rest, quietude, tranquility

شده

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

صمت

ṣ-m-t → “silent” Distinctive

literal: silence; to be silent

اختیار

kh-y-r → “chose”

literal: goodwill; benevolence; kindness; good; goodness; benefit; better; best

نمودم

n-m-w → “have”

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

روح

r-w-ḥ → “Holy Ghost” Distinctive

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

القدس

q-d-s

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

یمینم

y-m-n → “my right hand”

literal: right hand; oath; right side

ناطق

n-ṭ-q → “spoken” Distinctive

literal: to speak; to utter; to pronounce; to articulate

الأعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “Most Great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

قدّام

q-d-m → “Ancient of Days” Distinctive

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

وجهم

w-j-h

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

الأمین

ʾ-m-n

literal: to believe; to have faith; to be secure; trust; trustworthiness; covenant; deposit; believer, faithful

فوق

f-w-q

literal: above; over; beyond

رأسم

r-ʾ-s

literal: head; heads; beginning/start

البهآء

b-h-w

literal: splendor; glory; magnificence; Bahá (Proper Name in Bahá’í texts)

صدرم

ṣ-d-r → “bosom”

literal: to issue, emanate, proceed; issued, emanating

ندا

n-d-w → “voice”

literal: call; caller; call, voice

فرموده

f-r-m → “saith” Distinctive

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

حال

ḥ-w-l

literal: state; condition; circumstance

بسمع

s-m-ʿ → “hearing”

literal: heard, hearkened to, acceptable, worthy of attention

لطیف

l-ṭ-f

literal: kindness; grace; gentleness; benevolence

شود

sh-w-d

literal: to come; to go; to arrive; came

جمیع

j-m-ʿ → “every limb”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

اعضا

ʿ-ḍ-w

literal: limb; member; organ

احشا

ḥ-sh-w

literal: belly; entrails; inner part

عروق

ʿ-r-q

literal: Iraq; sweat

اظفار

ẓ-f-r

literal: victory, success; to triumph, prevail; nail, fingernail

ندآء

n-d-y → “call” Distinctive

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

الله

ʾ-l-h → ““God”

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

نمائید

n-m-ʾ → “will” Distinctive

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

حتّی

ḥ-t-y

literal: to be necessary, inevitable; determined

شعراتم

sh-ʿ-r → “perceive”

literal: hair

میشنوید

sh-n-w

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

لا

l-ʾ

literal: no; not; negation particle

اله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

الّا

ʾ-kh-r

literal: except; but; if not; lo; now; at this time; save; only; unless

هو

h-w → “He”

literal: He; He is

إنّ

ʾ-n → “to”

literal: I, verily; behold I

هذا

h-dh-ʾ

literal: this; that

الجمال

j-m-l → “beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

لمن

m-n → “all that” Distinctive

literal: from; out of; than (preposition and particle)

فی

f-y

literal: in; in-it; in it

الأرضین

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth.””

literal: earth; land; ground; country

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 ¶