Gleanings — §219

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 219 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

قلنا و قولنا الحقّ ثمّ اعلم بأنّ لیس هذا أوّل وهن نزل علی بیتي وقد نزل من قبل بما اکتسبت أیدي الظّالمین وسینزل علیه من الذّلّة ما تجري به الدّموع عن کلّ بصر بصیر کذلك ألقیناك بما هو المستور في حجب الغیب وما اطّلع به أحد إلّا الله العزیز الحمید ثمّ تمضي أیّام یرفعه الله بالحقّ ویجعله عَلَمًا في الملك بحیث یطوف في حوله ملأ عارفون هذا قول ربّي من قبل أن یأتي یوم الفزع قد أخبرناك به في هذا اللّوح لئلّا یحزنك ما ورد علی البیت بما اكتسبت أیدي المعتدین والحمد للّه العلیم الحکیم

Shoghi Effendi Translation

To him We have written: This is not the first humiliation inflicted upon My House. In days gone by the hand of the oppressor hath heaped indignities upon it. Verily, it shall be so abased in the days to come as to cause tears to flow from every discerning eye. Thus have We unfolded to thee things hidden beyond the veil, inscrutable to all save God, the Almighty, the All-Praised. In the fullness of time, the Lord shall, by the power of truth, exalt it in the eyes of all men. He shall cause it to become the Standard of His Kingdom, the Shrine round which will circle the concourse of the faithful. Thus hath spoken the Lord, thy God, ere the day of lamentation arriveth. This revelation have We given thee in Our holy Tablet, lest thou sorrow for what hath befallen Our House through the assaults of the enemy. All praise be to God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Translation Notes

قلنا

q-w-l → “We have written” Distinctive

literal: little; few; scanty; small in quantity

الحقّ

ḥ-q-q → “God”

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

ثمّ

th-m-m

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

بأنّ

ʾ-n-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

لیس

l-y-s → “is not”

literal: is not; to be not

هذا

h-dh-ʾ → “This”

literal: this; that

أوّل

ʾ-w-l → “first”

literal: first; beginning; at first; the first; former; possessors of; those who have; masters of

وهن

w-h-n → “humiliation”

literal: to weaken; to become weak; weakness; feebleness

نزل

n-z-l → “sent down”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

علی

ʿ-l-w → “upon” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

بیتي

b-y-t → “My House”

literal: house; household; family; verse

وقد

q-d → “We have been”

literal: and indeed; and already; conjunction indicating completed action

من

m-n → “from”

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

قبل

q-b-l → “before”

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

اکتسبت

k-s-b

literal: to acquire, earn, gain; to bring upon (oneself); to gain; to acquire; earning; livelihood

أیدي

y-d-y → “hand”

literal: hand; power; action; possession

الظّالمین

ẓ-l-m → “the oppressor”

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

علیه

ʿ-l-y

literal: upon; on; exalted

الذّلّة

dh-l-l → “abased”

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

تجري

j-r-y → “flow”

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

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

الدّموع

d-m-ʿ → “tears”

literal: tears

عن

ʿ-n → “from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

کلّ

k-l-l → “every”

literal: for us; to us

بصر

b-ṣ-r → “discerning” Distinctive

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

کذلك

dh-l-k → “Thus”

literal: thus; likewise; also

ألقیناك

l-q-y → “Presence” Distinctive

literal: suggestion; instilling; casting; throwing

هو

h-w

literal: He; He is

المستور

s-t-r → “hidden”

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

في

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

حجب

ḥ-j-b → “veil”

literal: to veil oneself, to be veiled

الغیب

gh-y-b

literal: the unseen; the invisible; the hidden; the unknowable; stranger; foreign; alien; separated

اطّلع

ṭ-l-ʿ → “inscrutable”

literal: rising; appearance; countenance; manifestation

أحد

ʾ-ḥ-d → “one”

literal: Divine unity; monotheism; belief in the oneness of God

إلّا

ʾ-kh-r → “end”

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

الله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

العزیز

ʿ-z-z → “the Almighty”

literal: glory; might; honor; dignity; power; majesty

الحمید

ḥ-m-d → “the All-Praised”

literal: praise; to praise

تمضي

m-ḍ-y → “passed” Distinctive

literal: pass; execution; past

أیّام

y-w-m → “days”

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

یرفعه

r-f-ʿ → “exalt”

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

ویجعله

j-ʿ-l → “He shall cause” Distinctive

literal: to make; to cause; to render; to appoint

عَلَمًا

ʿ-l-m → “Standard” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

الملك

m-l-k → “His Kingdom”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty

بحیث

ḥ-y-th

literal: where; in which; inasmuch as; in such wise that; whereby; in that; respect, aspect

یطوف

ṭ-w-f → “circle”

literal: flood, deluge, tempest

حوله

ḥ-w-l → “round”

literal: states; conditions; circumstances; situations; affairs

ملأ

m-l-ʾ → “concourse”

literal: assembly; multitude; chiefs; to fill; people of rank; fullness, assembly

عارفون

ʿ-r-f → “knowledge” Distinctive

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

ربّي

r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: divine; of God; lordly

أن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

یأتي

ʾ-t-y → “come”

literal: to come; to arrive; to approach; verse; sign; miracle

الفزع

f-z-ʿ → “caused” Distinctive

literal: to fear; to be terrified; terror, fright

أخبرناك

kh-b-r → “All-Informed” Distinctive

literal: all-knowing; aware; well-informed; omniscient

اللّوح

l-w-ḥ → “Tablet”

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

لئلّا

l-y-l → “night”

literal: night; darkness

یحزنك

ḥ-z-n → “sorrow”

literal: sorrow; grief; sadness; anguish

ورد

w-r-d → “befallen”

literal: to enter, to come, to befall, to arrive

المعتدین

ʿ-d-w → “the enemy” Distinctive

literal: transgressor; insolent; arrogant one

الحکیم

ḥ-k-m → “the All-Wise”

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom; firm; solid; strengthened

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 ¶