Gleanings — §26

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 26 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ميقات امم منقضی شد و وعده‌های إلهی که در کتب مقدّسه مذکور است جميع ظاهر گشت و شريعة اللّه از صهيون جاری و أراضی و جبال أورشليم بتجلّيات أنوار ربّ مزيّن طوبی لمن تفکّر فيما نزّل فی کتب اللّه المهيمن القيّوم ای دوستان إلهی تفکّر نمائيد و بآذان واعيه اصغای کلمة اللّه کنيد تا از فضل و رحمت او از زلال استقامت بياشاميد و بر أمر اللّه مثل جبل راسخ و ثابت باشيد

Shoghi Effendi Translation

The time foreordained unto the peoples and kindreds of the earth is now come. The promises of God, as recorded in the holy Scriptures, have all been fulfilled. Out of Zion hath gone forth the Law of God, and Jerusalem, and the hills and land thereof, are filled with the glory of His Revelation. Happy is the man that pondereth in his heart that which hath been revealed in the Books of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Meditate upon this, O ye beloved of God, and let your ears be attentive unto His Word, so that ye may, by His grace and mercy, drink your fill from the crystal waters of constancy, and become as steadfast and immovable as the mountain in His Cause.

Translation Notes

ميقات

w-q-t → “time foreordained”

literal: time; occasion; moment; period

امم

ʾ-m-m → “peoples”

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

منقضی

q-ḍ-y → “decree” Distinctive

literal: requirement; exigency; what demands or calls for; to require; to necessitate; to demand

شد

sh-d → “was”

literal: to become; to be

وعده‌های

w-ʿ-d → “promises”

literal: promised; the Promised One

إلهی

ʾ-l-h → “of God”

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

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

کتب

k-t-b → “Scriptures”

literal: book; scripture; writing

مقدّسه

q-d-s → “holy”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

مذکور

dh-k-r → “recorded”

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

است

b-w-d → “is”

literal: to be; are (third person plural present copula)

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “fulfilled” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

گشت

g-sh-t → “have been” Distinctive

literal: to become; to turn; to be

شريعة

sh-r-ʿ → “Law”

literal: law; legislation; religious law; canon; ordinance

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

جاری

j-r-y → “hath gone forth” Distinctive

literal: trade; commerce; business; to flow; to run; to be in effect; flowing

أراضی

ʾ-r-ḍ → “land”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

جبال

j-b-l → “mountains”

literal: mountain; nature, constitution; to create, to form

بتجلّيات

j-l-w → “revelation” Distinctive

literal: effulgence; manifestation; revelation; manifestation, revelation, appearance

أنوار

n-w-r

literal: light; illumination

ربّ

r-b-b → “His” Distinctive

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

مزيّن

z-y-n → “adorn”

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

طوبی

ṭ-w-b → “Happy”

literal: happiness; blessedness; felicity

لمن

m-n → “from”

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

تفکّر

f-k-r → “Meditate”

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

فيما

f-y → “in”

literal: in a day; during a day; one day after another

نزّل

n-z-l → “revealed”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

المهيمن

h-m-n → “Help in Peril”

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

القيّوم

q-w-m → “Self-Subsisting”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

ای

ʾ-y-y → “signs” Distinctive

literal: O; vocative particle; oh (vocative particle)

دوستان

d-w-s-t → “beloved” Distinctive

literal: friend; beloved

نمائيد

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

literal: to show, to display, to manifest, to exhibit; to manifest; to display; to show

بآذان

ʾ-dh-n → “ears”

literal: ear; permission; leave; to permit; to allow; to listen

واعيه

w-ʿ-y → “retentive”

literal: retentive, listening, mindful; hearing; listening; aware; conscious

اصغای

ṣ-gh-y → “heard” Distinctive

literal: to listen, hear; to give ear

کلمة

k-l-m → “Word”

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

کنيد

k-r-d → “hath” Distinctive

literal: do; to do; do, make

تا

t-y-y

literal: so that/until

فضل

f-ḍ-l → “His grace”

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

رحمت

r-ḥ-m → “mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

او

h-w-w

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

زلال

z-l-l → “crystal waters”

literal: to slip; to stumble; to fall

بياشاميد

sh-r-b → “drink”

literal: drink; drank; to drink

بر

b-r-r → “upon”

literal: on; on, upon; upon

أمر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

مثل

m-th-l → “as”

literal: like; example; parable; similitude

راسخ

r-s-kh

literal: steadfast; firm; firmly rooted; established

ثابت

th-b-t

literal: firm; steadfast; established; fixed

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 ¶