Gleanings — §247

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 247 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ثمّ اذكر یا عبد ما رأیت في المدینة حین ورودك لیبقی ذكرها في الأرض ویكون ذكری للمؤمنین فلمّا وردنا المدینة وجدنا رؤسائها كالأطفال الّذین یجتمعون علی الطّین لیلعبوا به وما وجدنا منهم من بالغ لنعلّمه ما علّمني الله ونلقي علیه من كلمات حكمة منیع ولذا بكینا علیهم بعیون السّرّ لارتكابهم بما نهوا عنه وإغفالهم عمّا خلقوا له وهذا ما أشهدناه في المدینة وأثبتناه في الكتاب لیكون تذكرة لهم وذكری للآخرین

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Narrate, O Servant, the things Thou didst behold at the time of Thine arrival in the City, that Thy testimony may endure amongst men, and serve as a warning unto them that believe. We found, upon Our arrival in the City, its governors and elders as children gathered about and disporting themselves with clay. We perceived no one sufficiently mature to acquire from Us the truths which God hath taught Us, nor ripe for Our wondrous words of wisdom. Our inner eye wept sore over them, and over their transgressions and their total disregard of the thing for which they were created. This is what We observed in that City, and which We have chosen to note down in Our Book, that it may serve as a warning unto them, and unto the rest of mankind.

Translation Notes

ثمّ

th-m-m → “then”

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

اذكر

dh-k-r → “mention”

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

یا

y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

عبد

ʿ-b-d → “Servant”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

رأیت

r-ʾ-y → “Thou didst”

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

في

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

المدینة

m-d-n → “City”

literal: city; town

حین

ḥ-y-n → “time”

literal: time; moment; while; season

ورودك

w-r-d → “of Thine arrival”

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

لیبقی

b-q-y → “may endure”

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

الأرض

ʾ-r-ḍ

literal: earth; land; ground; country

ویكون

k-w-n → “be”

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

للمؤمنین

ʾ-m-n → “unto them that believe” Distinctive

literal: to believe; to have faith; to be secure; trust; trustworthiness; covenant; deposit; believer, faithful

فلمّا

l-m-m → “No sooner”

literal: when; as soon as; thereupon

وجدنا

w-j-d

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

رؤسائها

r-ʾ-s → “leadership” Distinctive

literal: chief; leader; head; president

كالأطفال

ṭ-f-l → “as children”

literal: childhood; infancy

یجتمعون

j-m-ʿ → “gathered about”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

علی

ʿ-l-w

literal: highest; most high; supreme

الطّین

ṭ-y-n → “clay”

literal: clay; mire; mud

لیلعبوا

l-ʿ-b → “disportest” Distinctive

literal: to play; to sport; to jest

به

b-h → “with” Distinctive

literal: by it; by him; with it

منهم

m-n

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

بالغ

b-l-gh → “teach” Distinctive

literal: the unseen; the invisible; the hidden; the unknowable

لنعلّمه

ʿ-l-m → “knowledge”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

الله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

ونلقي

l-q-y

literal: meeting; cast; meeting, encounter

كلمات

k-l-m → “words”

literal: words; utterances; locutions; word; utterance; speech; sayings; verses

حكمة

ḥ-k-m → “wisdom”

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

منیع

m-n-ʿ → “hinder” Distinctive

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

ولذا

l-dh-y → “which”

literal: those who; the ones who (relative pronoun)

بكینا

b-k-y → “wept”

literal: to weep; to cry

علیهم

ʿ-l-y → “over them” Distinctive

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

بعیون

ʿ-y-n → “Our inner eye” Distinctive

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence; to appoint; to designate; to specify; to determine

السّرّ

s-r-r

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

لارتكابهم

r-k-b → “perpetrated” Distinctive

literal: to ride; to commit; to undertake; composition; combination; structure

نهوا

n-h-y

literal: end; ended; utmost

عنه

ʿ-n

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

وإغفالهم

gh-f-l → “heedless” Distinctive

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

خلقوا

kh-l-q → “they were created”

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

له

h-w → “is”

literal: for them both; to both of them (dual pronoun)

وهذا

h-dh-ʾ → “This is”

literal: this; that

أشهدناه

sh-h-d → “witness” Distinctive

literal: witness; observation; witnessed

وأثبتناه

th-b-t → “established” Distinctive

literal: firm; steadfast; established; fixed

الكتاب

k-t-b → “Our Book”

literal: book; scripture; writing

لهم

l-h-m → “inspiration” Distinctive

literal: inspiration; divine inspiration; revelation

للآخرین

ʾ-kh-r → “end” Distinctive

literal: end; hereafter; other

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 ¶