Gleanings — §231

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 231 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

یا أرض الطّآء یذکرك مولی الأسمآء في مقامه المحمود قد کنت مشرق أمر الله ومطلع الوحي ومظهر الاسم الأعظم الّذي به اضطربت الأفئدة والقلوب کم من مظلوم استشهد فیك في سبیل الله وکم من مظلومةٍ دُفنت فیك بظلم ناح به عباد مکرمون ...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O Land of Ṭá! He Who is the Lord of Names remembereth thee in His glorious station. Thou wert the Dayspring of the Cause of God, the fountain of His Revelation, the manifestation of His Most Great Name — a Name that hath caused the hearts and souls of men to tremble. How vast the number of those men and women, those victims of tyranny, that have, within thy walls, laid down their lives in the path of God, and been buried beneath thy dust with such cruelty as to cause every honored servant of God to bemoan their plight.

Translation Notes

یا

y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

أرض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “Land”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

الطّآء

ṭ-y-y → “of” Distinctive

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

یذکرك

dh-k-r → “mention” Distinctive

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

مولی

w-l-y → “Lord”

literal: friend; lord; guardian

الأسمآء

s-m-w → “Names”

literal: heaven; sky

في

f-y → “in”

literal: so he; thus he; therefore he

مقامه

q-w-m → “station”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

المحمود

ḥ-m-d → “glorious”

literal: praise; to praise

قد

q-d

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

کنت

k-w-n → “wert”

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

مشرق

sh-r-q → “Dayspring”

literal: radiance; splendor; dawn; illumination

أمر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

الله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

ومطلع

ṭ-l-ʿ → “fountain” Distinctive

literal: rising; appearance; countenance; manifestation

الوحي

w-ḥ-y → “Revelation”

literal: revelation; inspiration; divine communication

ومظهر

ẓ-h-r → “manifestation”

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

الأعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “Most Great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

الّذي

l-dh-y → “that hath caused” Distinctive

literal: who; which; that which; the one who

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

اضطربت

ḍ-r-b → “tremble”

literal: to be troubled, shaken, agitated; to tremble

الأفئدة

f-ʾ-d → “hearts”

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

والقلوب

q-l-b → “souls” Distinctive

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

کم

k-m-m → “How vast the number of” Distinctive

literal: how many; how much

من

m-n

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

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “victims of tyranny” Distinctive

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

استشهد

sh-h-d → “witness” Distinctive

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

سبیل

s-b-l → “path”

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

دُفنت

d-f-n → “buried”

literal: to bury; burial

ناح

n-w-ḥ → “groan” Distinctive

literal: to wail; to lament; lamentation

عباد

ʿ-b-d → “servant”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

مکرمون

k-r-m → “bounty” Distinctive

literal: Carmel (Mount Carmel); vineyard, fruitful field; honor; generosity; nobility

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 ¶