Skip to main content

Gleanings — §240

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 240 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

فکم من عباد عملوا کما عملتم و کانوا اعظم منکم و رجعوا کلّهم الی التّراب و قضی علیهم ما قضی ان انتم فی امر الله لمن المتفکّرین و ستلحقون بهم و تدخلون بیت الّتی لن تجدوا فیها لأنفسکم لا من نصیر و لا من حمیم و تسألون عمّا فعلتم فی ایّامکم و فرّطتم فی امر الله و استکبرتم علی اولیائه بعد الّذی وردوا علیکم بصدق مبین

Shoghi Effendi Translation

inevitable doom! Would that ye might ponder the Cause of God in your hearts! Ye shall follow in their wake, and shall be made to enter a habitation wherein none shall be found to befriend or help you. Ye shall, of a truth, be asked of your doings, shall be called to account for your failure in duty with regard to the Cause of God, and for having disdainfully rejected His loved ones who, with manifest sincerity, have come unto you. It is ye who have taken counsel together regarding them, ye that have preferred to follow the promptings of your own desires, and forsaken the commandment of God, the Help in Peril, the Almighty.

Translation Notes

فکم
k-m-m → “How many”

literal: how many; how much

من
m-n

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

عباد
ʿ-b-d

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

عملوا
ʿ-m-l

literal: to work; to act; to do; to perform

کما
k-m

literal: how many; how much

کانوا
k-w-n

literal: be; was; to be

اعظم
ʿ-ẓ-m

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

رجعوا
r-j-ʿ

literal: return; reference; place of return; resort

کلّهم
k-l-l

literal: all; every; whole; entirety; entire; completely

الی
ʾ-l-y

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

التّراب
t-r-b

literal: dust; earth; soil

قضی
q-ḍ-y

literal: requirement; exigency; what demands or calls for

ما
m-ʾ

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

ان
ʾ-n → “to”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

انتم
n-t-m → “you”

literal: you

فی
f-y → “in”

literal: in it; in them

امر
ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

الله
ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

المتفکّرین
f-k-r → “ponder”

literal: thoughts; ideas; fancies; opinions; to think; to reflect; to contemplate

ستلحقون
l-ḥ-q → “shall follow”

literal: to appear; to shine forth; to become visible

بهم
h-m → “all”

literal: them (feminine or general); by them; through them

تدخلون
d-kh-l → “shall be made to enter”

literal: to enter; to admit; to bring in

بیت
b-y-t → “habitation” Distinctive

literal: house; household; family; verse

الّتی
ʾ-l-l → “which”

literal: who; which/that; which

لن
l-n

literal: will not (negation of future)

تجدوا
w-j-d → “shall be found”

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

لأنفسکم
n-f-s → “none” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

لا
l-ʾ

literal: no; not; negation particle

نصیر
n-ṣ-r → “aid” Distinctive

literal: aid, help, succor, victory, support

حمیم
ḥ-m-m → “Doves” Distinctive

literal: dove; pigeon

تسألون
s-ʾ-l → “beseech” Distinctive

literal: question; problem; issue; matter; asking; petition; request

عمّا
ʿ-n

literal: with them; in their company

فعلتم
f-ʿ-l → “deeds” Distinctive

literal: to do, act, make; deed, action

ایّامکم
y-w-m

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

فرّطتم
f-r-ṭ → “hath failed in duty towards Thee”

literal: to neglect; to fail; to abandon; to waste

استکبرتم
k-b-r → “grandeur” Distinctive

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

علی
ʿ-l-w

literal: highest; most high; supreme

اولیائه
w-l-y → “His loved ones”

literal: guardian; protector; friend; ally

بعد
b-ʿ-d

literal: after; behind; distance

الّذی
l-dh-y → “which”

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

وردوا
w-r-d → “have come”

literal: entering; come; arrive

علیکم
ʿ-l-y → “unto you”

literal: exalted; highest; supreme; most high; upon you; on; over; Ali (name); upon

بصدق
ṣ-d-q → “with manifest sincerity” Distinctive

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

مبین
b-y-n

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

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 ¶