Gleanings — §205

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 205 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

طوبی لهم و للّذین هاجروا الیک فی سبیل الله مالک هذا الیوم البدیع طوبی از برای نفوسی که بذکر و ثنای حقّ ناطقند و بخدمت امر مشغول ایشانند آن نفوسی که در کتب قبل مذکورند امیرالمؤمنین علیه بهائی در وصفشان فرموده طوباهم افضل من طوبانا قد نطق بالصّدق و انا من الشّاهدین اگرچه حال این مقامات مستور است ولکن ید قدرت البتّه مانع را بردارد و ظاهر فرماید آنچه را که سبب و علّت روشنی چشم عالم است

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O Land of Ṭá! Thou art still, through the grace of God, a center around which His beloved ones have gathered. Happy are they; happy every refugee that seeketh thy shelter, in his sufferings in the path of God, the Lord of this wondrous Day! Blessed are they that remember the one true God, that magnify His Name, and seek diligently to serve His Cause. It is to these men that the sacred Books of old have referred. On them hath the Commander of the Faithful lavished his praise, saying: “The blessedness awaiting them excelleth the blessedness we now enjoy.” He, verily, hath spoken the truth, and to this We now testify. The glory of their station, however, is as yet undisclosed. The Hand of Divine power will, assuredly, lift up the veil, and expose to the sight of men that which shall cheer and lighten the eye of the world.

Translation Notes

طوبی

ṭ-w-b → “Happy are they”

literal: happiness; blessedness; felicity

لهم

l-h-m

literal: inspiration; divine inspiration; revelation

للّذین

l-dh-y → “which” Distinctive

literal: for those who; to those who (preposition + definite relative pronoun)

هاجروا

h-j-r → “remoteness” Distinctive

literal: to emigrate, migrate, forsake; migration, emigration

الیک

ʾ-l-y → “towards” Distinctive

literal: one; a single

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

سبیل

s-b-l → “path”

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

الله

ʾ-l-h → “of God”

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

مالک

m-l-k → “Lord”

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

هذا

h-dh-ʾ → “of this”

literal: this; that

الیوم

y-w-m → “wondrous Day”

literal: day; age; period; era; a day

البدیع

b-d-ʿ

literal: to create; most wondrous; excel

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

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

نفوسی

n-f-s → “these men”

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

که

k-h → “that”

literal: that; who; who, that

بذکر

dh-k-r → “that remember” Distinctive

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

ثنای

th-n-y → “praise”

literal: praise; commendation; eulogy; glorification; praise, commendation, eulogy

حقّ

ḥ-q-q → “one true God”

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

ناطقند

n-ṭ-q → “spoken”

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

بخدمت

kh-d-m → “seek diligently to serve”

literal: service; servitude; to serve

امر

ʾ-m-r → “His Cause”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

مشغول

sh-gh-l

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

ایشانند

h-s-t → “hath” Distinctive

literal: familiar; intimate; companionship; to be acquainted with; companion; intimate friend; to be intimate with; to keep company; to console

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

کتب

k-t-b → “sacred Books”

literal: book; scripture; writing

قبل

q-b-l → “of old”

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

علیه

ʿ-l-y

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)

وصفشان

w-ṣ-f

literal: to describe, characterize; description

فرموده

f-r-m → “lavished his praise, saying” Distinctive

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

افضل

f-ḍ-l → “excelleth”

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

من

m-n

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

قد

q-d → “We have been”

literal: verily; indeed; certainly (particle of emphasis)

بالصّدق

ṣ-d-q → “truth”

literal: to confirm; to verify; to acknowledge; to testify to truth

انا

ʾ-n → “to”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

الشّاهدین

sh-h-d → “testify”

literal: witness; observation; witnessed

حال

ḥ-w-l → “around” Distinctive

literal: state; condition; circumstance

این

ʾ-y-n

literal: this; these

مقامات

q-w-m → “glory of their station”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

مستور

s-t-r → “hidden”

literal: to veil; to conceal; to cover; veil; covering

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

ولکن

l-k-n

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

ید

y-d-y → “Hand”

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

قدرت

q-d-r → “of Divine power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

البتّه

b-t-t → “will, assuredly”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

مانع

m-n-ʿ → “hinder” Distinctive

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بردارد

b-r-d → “brother” Distinctive

literal: brother

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

سبب

s-b-b → “cause”

literal: cause; reason; means; instrument

علّت

ʿ-l-l

literal: for us; to us

روشنی

r-w-sh → “lighten”

literal: light; illumination; brilliance; clarity

چشم

ch-sh-m → “eye”

literal: eye; vision; sight

عالم

ʿ-l-m → “of the world”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

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 ¶