Gleanings — §244

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 244 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

فاعلموا بأنّ الدّنیا و زینتها و زخرفها سیفنی و یبقی الملک للّه الملک المهیمن العزیز القدیر ستمضی ایّامکم و کلّ ما انتم تشتغلون به و به تفتخرون علی النّاس و یحضرکم ملائکة الأمر علی مقرّ الّذی ترجف فیه ارکان الخلایق و تقشعرّ فیه جلود الظّالمین و تسألون عمّا اکتسبتم فی الحیوة الباطلة و تجزون بما فعلتم و هذا من یوم الّذی یأتیکم و السّاعة الّتی لا مردّ لها و شهد بذلک لسان صدق علیم...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Nothing will endure except God’s Kingdom which pertaineth to none but Him, the Sovereign Lord of all, the Help in Peril, the All-Glorious, the Almighty. The days of your life shall roll away, and all the things with which ye are occupied and of which ye boast yourselves shall perish, and ye shall, most certainly, be summoned by a company of His angels to appear at the spot where the limbs of the entire creation shall be made to tremble, and the flesh of every oppressor to creep. Ye shall be asked of the things your hands have wrought in this, your vain life, and shall be repaid for your doings. This is the day that shall inevitably come upon you, the hour that none can put back. To this the Tongue of Him that speaketh the truth and is the Knower of all things hath testified.

Translation Notes

فاعلموا

ʿ-l-m

literal: world; universe; the worlds

بأنّ

ʾ-n-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

الدّنیا

d-n-w → “world”

literal: this world; earthly life; temporal realm; lowest; base; mean; of little account; to know; to be acquainted with

زینتها

z-y-n

literal: to adorn; ornament; beauty; adornment; embellishment; decoration

زخرفها

z-kh-r-f

literal: ornament; adornment; decoration; falsehood

سیفنی

f-n-y → “shall perish”

literal: sword

یبقی

b-q-y

literal: remaining; everlasting; eternal; immortal; permanence; duration; continuance

الملک

m-l-k → “Kingdom”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty

للّه

ʾ-l-h → “except God’s”

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

المهیمن

h-m-n → “the Help in Peril”

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

العزیز

ʿ-z-z → “the All-Glorious”

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

القدیر

q-d-r → “the Almighty”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

ستمضی

m-ḍ-y → “shall roll away”

literal: to pass, go by; have passed; past; bygone

ایّامکم

y-w-m → “days of your life”

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

کلّ

k-l-l → “all the things”

literal: for us; to us

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

انتم

n-t-m → “you”

literal: you

تشتغلون

sh-gh-l → “ye are occupied”

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

به

b-h → “as”

literal: by it; by him; with it

تفتخرون

f-kh-r → “ye boast yourselves”

literal: glory; boasting; pride

علی

ʿ-l-w → “exalted”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

النّاس

n-ʾ-s

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

یحضرکم

ḥ-ḍ-r → “Him”

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

الأمر

ʾ-m-r

literal: mother; to lead; to head; matter; affair; people; nation; community; female servant; handmaiden; umma

مقرّ

q-r-r → “acknowledged” Distinctive

literal: matter; affair; thing

الّذی

l-dh-y → “which”

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

ترجف

r-j-f → “shall be made to tremble”

literal: falsehoods; baseless tales; rumours

فیه

f-y

literal: alas; woe; oh

ارکان

r-k-n → “foundations”

literal: pillar; cornerstone; support; fundamental element; limb; member

الخلایق

kh-l-q → “of the entire creation”

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

تقشعرّ

q-sh-ʿ-r → “to creep”

literal: shudder

جلود

j-l-d → “volumes” Distinctive

literal: volume; skin; skins

الظّالمین

ẓ-l-m → “of every oppressor” Distinctive

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

تسألون

s-ʾ-l → “beseech” Distinctive

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

عمّا

ʿ-n → “from”

literal: with them; in their company

اکتسبتم

k-s-b → “have wrought” Distinctive

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

الحیوة

ḥ-y-w → “in this, your vain life”

literal: life; life, living; animal

الباطلة

b-ṭ-l

literal: falsehood, false; vain, null

تجزون

j-z-y → “and shall be repaid”

literal: poll tax; tribute; recompense; reward; requital

فعلتم

f-ʿ-l → “deeds” Distinctive

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

هذا

h-dh-ʾ → “This is”

literal: this; that

من

m-n → “from”

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

یأتیکم

ʾ-t-y → “shall inevitably come upon you”

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

السّاعة

s-w-ʿ → “the hour” Distinctive

literal: hour; moment

الّتی

ʾ-l-l → “that” Distinctive

literal: who; which/that; which

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

مردّ

m-r-d → “people” Distinctive

literal: rebellion; mutiny; revolt

لها

l-h-w

literal: to it; towards it; unto it

شهد

sh-h-d → “To this” Distinctive

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

بذلک

dh-l-k

literal: that; this; it; by that

لسان

l-s-n → “Tongue”

literal: tongue; language

صدق

ṣ-d-q → “truth”

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

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

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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 ¶