Gleanings — §29

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 29 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ملأ الأعلى يا كرمل أنزلي بما أقبل إليك وجه الله مالك ملكوت الأسماء وفاطر السّماء إِذًا أخذها اهتزاز السّرور ونادت بأعلى النِّداء نفسي لإقبالك الفداء ولعنايتك الفداء ولتوجّهك الفداء قد أهلكني يا مَطْلَع الحيوة فراقك وأحرقني هجرك لك الحمد بما أسمعتني ندائك وشرّفتني بقُدومك وأحييتني من نفحات أيّامك وصرير قلمك الّذي جعلته صورا بين عبادك فلمّا جاء أمرك المُبرم نفخت فيه إِذًا قامت القيمة الكبرى وظهرت الأسرار المكنونة في خزائن مالك الأشياء فلمّا بلغ ندائ

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Seized with transports of joy, and raising high her voice, she thus exclaimed: “May my life be a sacrifice to Thee, inasmuch as Thou hast fixed Thy gaze upon me, hast bestowed upon me Thy bounty, and hast directed towards me Thy steps. Separation from Thee, O Thou Source of everlasting life, hath well nigh consumed me, and my remoteness from Thy presence hath burned away my soul. All praise be to Thee for having enabled me to hearken to Thy call, for having honored me with Thy footsteps, and for having quickened my soul through the vitalizing fragrance of Thy Day and the shrilling voice of Thy Pen, a voice Thou didst ordain as Thy trumpet-call amidst Thy people. And when the hour at which Thy resistless Faith was to be made manifest did strike, Thou didst breathe a breath of Thy spirit into Thy Pen, and lo, the entire creation shook to its very foundations, unveiling to mankind such mysteries as lay hidden within the treasuries of Him Who is the Possessor of all created things.”

Translation Notes

ملأ

m-l-ʾ

literal: assembly; multitude; chiefs; to fill; people of rank; fullness, assembly

يا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

كرمل

k-r-m

literal: Carmel (Mount Carmel); vineyard, fruitful field; honor; generosity; nobility

أنزلي

n-z-l

literal: to descend, to be revealed

بما

m-ʾ

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

أقبل

q-b-l → “before” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

إليك

ʾ-l-y → “towards” Distinctive

literal: one; a single

الله

ʾ-l-h

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

مالك

m-l-k → “Possessor” Distinctive

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty; possessions; property; ownership

الأسماء

s-m-w

literal: heaven; sky

وفاطر

f-ṭ-r

literal: creator; the one who splits/creates

إِذًا

ʾ-dh-n → “ears”

literal: when; if; whenever; then suddenly

أخذها

ʾ-kh-dh → “Seized”

literal: to take; to seize; to affect; to grasp

اهتزاز

h-z-z → “transports”

literal: to shake, quiver, vibrate, tremble with emotion

السّرور

s-r-r → “joy”

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

ونادت

n-d-y → “voice” Distinctive

literal: you (singular/plural pronoun)

بأعلى

ʿ-l-w → “high”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

نفسي

n-f-s → “my life” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

الفداء

f-d-y → “sacrifice”

literal: to sacrifice; to ransom; to redeem

ولعنايتك

ʿ-n-y → “bestowed upon me Thy bounty”

literal: care; meaning; meanings

ولتوجّهك

w-j-h → “directed towards me Thy steps”

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

قد

q-d

literal: verily; indeed; certainly (particle of emphasis)

أهلكني

h-l-k → “consumed”

literal: to destroy; to ruin; to cause to perish; perishing; destroyer; lost

مَطْلَع

ṭ-l-ʿ → “Source” Distinctive

literal: rising; appearance; countenance; manifestation

الحيوة

ḥ-y-w → “life”

literal: life; life, living; animal

فراقك

f-r-q → “Separation”

literal: faction; sect; group; company

وأحرقني

ḥ-r-q → “burned”

literal: to burn; to be consumed by fire; burning

هجرك

h-j-r → “remoteness”

literal: to emigrate, migrate, forsake; migration, emigration

لك

literal: for; for you; for him

الحمد

ḥ-m-d → “praise”

literal: praise; to praise

أسمعتني

s-m-ʿ → “hearken”

literal: heard, hearkened to, acceptable, worthy of attention

وشرّفتني

sh-r-f → “honored”

literal: honor; nobility; eminence; to honor

بقُدومك

q-d-m → “footsteps”

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

وأحييتني

ḥ-y-y → “quickened”

literal: greeting; salutation; tribute; to make alive; to revive

من

m-n

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

نفحات

n-f-ḥ → “fragrance”

literal: breeze; fragrance; whiff; breath; emanation

أيّامك

y-w-m → “Day”

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

وصرير

ṣ-r-r → “voice”

literal: creaking sound; shrill voice; grating noise

قلمك

q-l-m → “Pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

الّذي

l-dh-y

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

جعلته

j-ʿ-l → “ordain”

literal: to make; to cause; to render; to appoint

صورا

ṣ-w-r → “trumpet-call”

literal: to imagine; to conceive; to suppose

بين

b-y-n → “amidst”

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

عبادك

ʿ-b-d → “people” Distinctive

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

فلمّا

l-m-m

literal: when; as soon as; thereupon

جاء

j-y-ʾ → “strike”

literal: to come; to arrive; to happen

أمرك

ʾ-m-r → “Faith” Distinctive

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

المُبرم

b-r-m → “resistless”

literal: to bind firmly; compelling, irresistible, immovable

نفخت

n-f-kh → “breathe”

literal: breath; breathed; blown

فيه

f-y → “in” Distinctive

literal: alas; woe; oh

قامت

q-w-m → “shook”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

الكبرى

k-b-r

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

وظهرت

ẓ-h-r → “unveiling”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest; to display; to reveal; ظهور here means ‘backs’ (plural of ظهر), different semantic use than manifestation

المكنونة

k-n-n → “hidden”

literal: to do; to make; to perform

خزائن

kh-z-n → “treasuries”

literal: to store, to treasure; storehouse, depository, treasury

الأشياء

sh-y-ʾ → “things.””

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

بلغ

b-l-gh

literal: to reach; to attain; to deliver; to proclaim

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 ¶