Skip to main content

Gleanings — §254

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 254 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

قل فارتقبوا حتّی یغیّر الله علیكم انّه لا یعزب عن علمه من شیء یعلم غیب السّموات والأرض وانّه بكلّ شیء علیم ولا تفرحوا بما فعلتم او تفعلون ولا بما وردتم علینا لأنّ بذلك لن یزداد شأنكم لو انتم تنظرون في اعمالكم بعین الیقین وكذلك لن ینقص عنّا من شیء بل یزید الله اجرنا بما صبرنا في البلایا وانّه یزید اجر الصّابرین

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Say: Await ye till God will have changed His favor unto you. Nothing whatsoever escapeth Him. He knoweth the secrets both of the heavens and of the earth. His knowledge embraceth all things. Rejoice not in what ye have done, or will do in the future, nor delight in the tribulation with which ye have afflicted Us, for ye are unable by such means as these to exalt your stations, were ye to examine your works with acute discernment. Neither will ye be capable of detracting from the loftiness of Our state. Nay, God will add unto the recompense with which He shall reward Us, for having sustained with persevering patience the tribulations We have suffered. He, verily, shall increase the reward of them that endure with patience.

Translation Notes

قل
q-w-l → “Say”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

فارتقبوا
r-q-b → “necks” Distinctive

literal: neck; slaves; those held in bonds

حتّی
ḥ-t-y → “even”

literal: to be necessary, inevitable; determined

یغیّر
gh-y-r → “will have changed”

literal: without; besides; other than; except; other; different

الله
ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

علیكم
ʿ-l-y → “unto you”

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

انّه
ʾ-n-n

literal: I, verily; behold I

لا
l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

یعزب
ʿ-z-b → “escapeth”

literal: to escape; to be hidden from; to be distant from

عن
ʿ-n → “from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

علمه
ʿ-l-m → “knowledge”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

من
m-n

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

شیء
sh-y-ʾ → “whatsoever”

literal: thing; something; to will; to wish; to desire; to open; to unfold; to reveal

غیب
gh-y-b → “invisible”

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

السّموات
s-m-w → “heavens”

literal: heaven; sky

والأرض
ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

وانّه
h-w → “He”

literal: deviation; divergence; straying from the path; to be weak, to flag, to show reluctance

بكلّ
k-l-l → “all”

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

ولا
w-l-y → “not”

literal: friend; lord; guardian

تفرحوا
f-r-ḥ → “Rejoice”

literal: to rejoice; to be glad; joy

بما
m-ʾ → “that” Distinctive

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

او
h-w-w → “or” Distinctive

literal: he; it (third person pronoun); refuge; shelter; dwelling place; abode; lamentation, cry, woe; melody, song

تفعلون
f-ʿ-l → “will do”

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

وردتم
w-r-d → “have afflicted”

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

لأنّ
ʾ-n → “that”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

بذلك
dh-l-k → “by such means as these” Distinctive

literal: that; this; it; by that

لن
l-n → “neither”

literal: will not (negation of future)

یزداد
z-y-d → “waxed greater and greater” Distinctive

literal: increase; excess; more; additional; to increase; to grow; to be added

شأنكم
sh-ʾ-n → “stations”

literal: affair; matter; station; rank; importance

لو
l-w → “If”

literal: if; would that; O that

انتم
n-t-m → “you”

literal: you

تنظرون
n-ẓ-r → “Consider” Distinctive

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

في
f-y

literal: in; in-it; in it

اعمالكم
ʿ-m-l → “works”

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

بعین
ʿ-y-n → “eyes”

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

الیقین
y-q-n

literal: certainty; certitude; conviction

وكذلك
k-dh-l

literal: that; thus; likewise

ینقص
n-q-ṣ → “imperfect” Distinctive

literal: deficient; deficiency; decrease

بل
b-l → “Nay”

literal: rather; but; rather/nay

اجرنا
ʾ-j-r → “recompense”

literal: wage; recompense; reward; wage, reward, recompense

صبرنا
ṣ-b-r → “patience”

literal: patience; forbearance; endurance; to be patient

البلایا
b-l-w → “tribulations”

literal: affliction; trial; calamity

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 ¶