Skip to main content

Gleanings — §296

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 296 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

وأتی جمال عَلِيٍّ بالحقّ علی غمام الأسمآء بقمیص أُخری إِذًا قاموا علی النّفاق بهذا النّور المشرق عن شطر الآفاق ونقضوا المیثاق وکفروا به وحاربوا بنفسه وجادلوا بآیاته وکذّبوا ببرهانه وکانوا من المشرکین إلی أن قاموا علی قتله کذلک کان شأن هؤلآء الغافلین فلمّا

Shoghi Effendi Translation

And when after the lapse of a few years the heaven of Divine decree was cleft asunder, and the Beauty of the Báb appeared in the clouds of the names of God, arrayed in a new raiment, these same people maliciously rose up against Him, Whose light embraceth all created things. They broke His Covenant, rejected His truth, contended with Him, caviled at His signs, treated His testimony as falsehood, and joined the company of the infidels. Eventually, they determined to take away His life. Such is the state of them who are in a far-gone error!

Translation Notes

وأتی
ʾ-t-y → “appeared”

literal: to come; to arrive; to bring; to go; coming; arrival; the one coming; to give; Revelation; came; gave; brought

جمال
j-m-l → “Beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

علی
ʿ-l-w → “in the” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

بالحقّ
ḥ-q-q → “God”

literal: truth; right; that which is true or just

غمام
gh-m-m → “clouds”

literal: cloud; clouds

الأسمآء
s-m-w → “the names”

literal: heaven; sky

بقمیص
q-m-ṣ → “arrayed in a new raiment” Distinctive

literal: garment; shirt; tunic

أُخری
ʾ-kh-r

literal: the hereafter, the next life, the world to come; last, latter; the next life, the hereafter; delay; postponement

إِذًا
ʾ-dh-n

literal: when; if; whenever; then suddenly

قاموا
q-w-m → “rose up against”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

النّفاق
n-f-q → “sacrificed” Distinctive

literal: hypocrisy; sedition; discord; betrayal

بهذا
h-dh-ʾ

literal: this; that

النّور
n-w-r → “light”

literal: light; illumination

المشرق
sh-r-q

literal: radiance; splendor; dawn; illumination

عن
ʿ-n

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

شطر
sh-ṭ-r

literal: side, direction; half; to split

الآفاق
ʾ-f-q → “the heaven” Distinctive

literal: horizon, direction, region; horizon; sun

ونقضوا
n-q-ḍ → “broken”

literal: breaker; violator; one who breaks (covenant); covenant-breaker

المیثاق
w-th-q → “Covenant”

literal: covenant; compact; pact; agreement

وکفروا
k-f-r → “rejected” Distinctive

literal: to disbelieve, reject; unbelief, ingratitude; to deny, to disbelieve, to reject

به
b-h → “as”

literal: by it; by him; with it

وحاربوا
ḥ-r-b → “contended with”

literal: warfare; combat; fighting; hostility

بنفسه
n-f-s → “Him”

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

وجادلوا
j-d-l → “conflict” Distinctive

literal: to argue; to dispute; to contend; argument

بآیاته
ʾ-y-y → “His signs”

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

وکذّبوا
k-dh-b → “treated His testimony as falsehood”

literal: denial; belying; falsification; rejection; liar; lying; false

ببرهانه
b-r-h

literal: proof, evidence, demonstration, argument

وکانوا
k-w-n → “and joined” Distinctive

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

من
m-n → “company of”

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

المشرکین
sh-r-k → “infidels”

literal: partner; associate; sharer; companion

إلی
ʾ-l-y → “towards”

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

أن
ʾ-n → “they determined”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

قتله
q-t-l → “death”

literal: slayer; killer; murderer

کذلک
dh-l-k → “Such”

literal: thus; likewise; also

شأن
sh-ʾ-n → “in such wise”

literal: affair; concern; matter; aspect; quality; state; affairs; matters; conditions; circumstances; affair, matter, station, rank, dignity; station; rank; importance; matter, affair, concern, dignity, rank

هؤلآء
h-ʾ-l → “these”

literal: these

الغافلین
gh-f-l → “in a far-gone error” Distinctive

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

فلمّا
l-m-m → “No sooner”

literal: when; as soon as; thereupon

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 ¶