Gleanings — §230

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 230 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

یا أیّها النّاظر إلی الوجه إذا رأیت سواد مدینتي قف وقل یا أرض الطّآء قد جئتك من شطر السّجن بنبإِ الله المهیمن القیّوم قل یا أُمّ العالم ومطلع النّور بین الأمم أبشّرك بعنایة ربّك وأکبّر علیك من قبل الحقّ علّام الغیوب أشهد فیك ظهر الاسم المکنون والغیب المخزون وبك لاح سرّ ما کان وما یکون

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O thou whose face is turned towards Me! As soon as thine eyes behold from afar My native city (Ṭihrán), stand thou and say: I am come to thee out of the Prison, O Land of Ṭá, with tidings from God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. I announce unto thee, O mother of the world and fountain of light unto all its peoples, the tender mercies of thy Lord, and greet thee in the name of Him Who is the Eternal Truth, the Knower of things unseen. I testify that within thee He Who is the Hidden Name was revealed, and the Unseen Treasure uncovered. Through thee the secret of all things, be they of the past or of the future, hath been unfolded.

Translation Notes

یا

y-ʾ → “O ye”

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

أیّها

ʾ-y-y → “signs” Distinctive

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

النّاظر

n-ẓ-r → “turned towards”

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

إلی

ʾ-l-y

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

الوجه

w-j-h → “face” Distinctive

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

إذا

ʾ-dh-n → “ears”

literal: when; if; whenever; then suddenly

رأیت

r-ʾ-y → “behold” Distinctive

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

سواد

s-w-d → “my Master” Distinctive

literal: blackened; dark; tranquil; at peace; undisturbed

مدینتي

m-d-n → “native city”

literal: religion; faith; creed; belief

قف

w-q-f → “hesitated” Distinctive

literal: aware; standing; stopping

وقل

q-w-l → “and say”

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

أرض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “Land”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

الطّآء

ṭ-y-y → “traverse”

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

قد

q-d

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

جئتك

j-y-ʾ → “come to thee”

literal: come; came; to come

من

m-n → “from”

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

شطر

sh-ṭ-r

literal: side, direction; half; to split

السّجن

s-j-n → “Prison”

literal: prison, imprisonment; to imprison

بنبإِ

n-b-ʾ → “Prophets” Distinctive

literal: prophet; messenger

الله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

المهیمن

h-m-n → “Help in Peril”

literal: the Protector; the Overseer; the Guardian; inspiration; revelation; intuition

القیّوم

q-w-m → “Self-Subsisting”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

أُمّ

ʾ-m-m → “mother”

literal: mother

العالم

ʿ-l-m → “world”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

ومطلع

ṭ-l-ʿ → “fountain” Distinctive

literal: rising; appearance; countenance; manifestation

النّور

n-w-r → “light”

literal: light; illumination

بین

b-y-n → “unto all its” Distinctive

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

أبشّرك

b-sh-r → “announce unto thee”

literal: human; mankind; human nature

بعنایة

ʿ-n-y → “loving-kindness”

literal: to concern; to mean; to turn away from; bounty; loving-kindness; grace; divine care; attention; meaning; significance; inner sense

ربّك

r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

وأکبّر

k-b-r → “grandeur” Distinctive

literal: great; grand; mighty; large; greatness; majesty; sovereignty; arrogance

علیك

ʿ-l-y

literal: highest; most high; supreme

قبل

q-b-l

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

الحقّ

ḥ-q-q → “Eternal Truth”

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

الغیوب

gh-y-b → “things unseen”

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

أشهد

sh-h-d → “testify”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

فیك

f-y → “within thee”

literal: so he; thus he; therefore he

ظهر

ẓ-h-r → “was revealed” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

الاسم

s-m-w → “Name”

literal: heaven; sky

المکنون

k-n-n → “Hidden”

literal: to do; to make; to perform

المخزون

kh-z-n → “treasury” Distinctive

literal: to store, to treasure; storehouse, depository, treasury

لاح

l-w-ḥ → “hath been unfolded”

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

سرّ

s-r-r → “secret”

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

کان

k-w-n → “past” Distinctive

literal: to do; to make; to perform; to be; was

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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

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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 ¶