Gleanings — §291

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 291 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

وشرب من أیادي التّسلیم سلسبیل الحیوان وکان من الموقنین ومنهم من قام علی الإعراض وکفر بآیات الله المقتدر العزیز العلیم وقضت القرون وانتهت إلی سیّد الأیّام یوم الّذي

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Some were guided by the Light of God, gained admittance into the court of His presence, and quaffed, from the hand of resignation, the waters of everlasting life, and were accounted of them that have truly recognized and believed in Him. Others rebelled against Him, and rejected the signs of God, the Most Powerful, the Almighty, the All-Wise.

Translation Notes

وشرب

sh-r-b → “quaffed”

literal: to drink; to imbibe

من

m-n → “from the hand of”

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

أیادي

y-d-y

literal: hand; power; strength; (plural) hands; agents; helpers; to assist, to support, to aid, to strengthen

التّسلیم

s-l-m → “resignation”

literal: resignation; submission; surrender; submissiveness

سلسبیل

s-l-s → “chains” Distinctive

literal: Salsabil; a spring in Paradise; easy to drink

الحیوان

ḥ-y-w → “of everlasting life”

literal: life; living being; animal

وکان

k-w-n → “and were” Distinctive

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

الموقنین

y-q-n → “certitude” Distinctive

literal: to be certain; to know with certainty

قام

q-w-m

literal: rising; standing; resurrection; uprising; establishment

علی

ʿ-l-w

literal: highest; most high; supreme

الإعراض

ʿ-r-ḍ

literal: to turn away; to avert; to abstain; heedless

وکفر

k-f-r → “and rejected” Distinctive

literal: to disbelieve, reject; unbelief, ingratitude

بآیات

ʾ-y-y → “signs”

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

الله

ʾ-l-h → “of God”

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

المقتدر

q-d-r → “the Most Powerful”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

العزیز

ʿ-z-z → “the Almighty”

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

العلیم

ʿ-l-m → “knowledge” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

وقضت

q-ḍ-y

literal: time; occasion; moment; period

القرون

q-r-n

literal: conjunction; union; coupling; association

وانتهت

n-h-y

literal: end, limit, utmost, extreme; final; the end, limit, utmost bound; Lote-Tree beyond which there is no passing; end; limit; terminus

إلی

ʾ-l-y

literal: except; but; if not; lo; now; at this time; save; only; unless

سیّد

s-y-d

literal: master; lord; chief; my master

الأیّام

y-w-m

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

الّذي

l-dh-y

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

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 ¶