Gleanings — §34

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 34 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ناظر بايّام قبل شويد که چقدر مردم از اعالی و ادانی که هميشه منتظر ظهورات احديّه در هياکل قدسيّه بوده‌اند بقسمی که در جميع اوقات و اوان مترصّد و منتظر بودند و دعاها و تضرّعها مينمودند که شايد نسيم رحمت الهيّه بوزيدن آيد و جمال موعود از سرادق غيب بعرصه ظهور قدم گذارد و چون ابواب عنايت مفتوح ميگرديد و غمام مکرمت مرتفع و شمس غيب از افق قدرت ظاهر ميشد جميع تکذيب مينمودند و از لقای او که عين لقاء اللّه است احتراز ميجستند ...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Consider the past. How many, both high and low, have, at all times, yearningly awaited the advent of the Manifestations of God in the sanctified persons of His chosen Ones. How often have they expected His coming, how frequently have they prayed that the breeze of Divine mercy might blow, and the promised Beauty step forth from behind the veil of concealment, and be made manifest to all the world. And whensoever the portals of grace did open, and the clouds of divine bounty did rain upon mankind, and the light of the Unseen did shine above the horizon of celestial might, they all denied Him, and turned away from His face — the face of God Himself.…

Translation Notes

ناظر

n-ẓ-r → “Consider” Distinctive

literal: neck; slaves; those held in bonds

بايّام

y-w-m → “past” Distinctive

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

قبل

q-b-l

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

شويد

sh-w-d

literal: to become; to be

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

چقدر

ch-q-d → “How all-encompassing”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

مردم

m-r-d

literal: rebellion; mutiny; revolt

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

اعالی

ʿ-l-w → “high”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

ادانی

d-n-w → “low”

literal: to know; to understand

هميشه

h-m-sh → “continually”

literal: always; ever; forever; at all times; constantly

ظهورات

ẓ-h-r → “advent of the Manifestations”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

احديّه

ʾ-ḥ-d → “of God”

literal: oneness; uniqueness; absolute unity; singularity of God

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

هياکل

h-y-k-l → “form” Distinctive

literal: temple; body; edifice; structure

قدسيّه

q-d-s

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

بوده‌اند

b-w-d → “have”

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

بقسمی

q-s-m

literal: oath; division; kind; type

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “they all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

اوقات

w-q-t

literal: time; occasion; moment; period

اوان

ʾ-w-n → “frequently”

literal: periods; moments/times

مترصّد

r-ṣ-d

literal: to watch; to observe; to lie in wait

دعاها

d-ʿ-w → “prayed”

literal: call, invocation, summons; to call, invite, summon

تضرّعها

ḍ-r-ʿ → “shall humble themselves before God”

literal: supplication; entreaty; humble prayer

مينمودند

n-m-w → “have”

literal: to appear; to show; to display; to exhibit

شايد

sh-y-d → “that” Distinctive

literal: perhaps, perchance, haply, maybe, possibly; to become; to be; to happen; to occur

نسيم

n-s-m → “breeze”

literal: breeze; gentle wind; fragrance

رحمت

r-ḥ-m → “mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

الهيّه

ʾ-l-h → “Divine”

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

بوزيدن

w-z-y-d → “blow”

literal: to blow; to waft; to breathe

آيد

ʾ-y-d

literal: come; support; may aid

جمال

j-m-l → “promised Beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

موعود

w-ʿ-d

literal: promised; the Promised One

سرادق

s-r-d-q → “veil”

literal: pavilion; tabernacle; canopy; tent

غيب

gh-y-b → “invisible”

literal: the unseen; the invisible; the hidden; the unknowable; stranger; foreign; alien; separated

بعرصه

ʿ-r-ṣ

literal: branch; offshoot; to branch off

قدم

q-d-m → “step forth” Distinctive

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

گذارد

g-dh-r

literal: pass; place; passed

چون

ch-w-n → “As”

literal: since; when; as

ابواب

b-w-b → “portals”

literal: door; gate; chapter; way; manner

عنايت

ʿ-n-y → “of grace”

literal: to concern; to mean; to turn away from; bounty; loving-kindness; grace; divine care; attention; meaning; significance; inner sense

مفتوح

f-t-ḥ → “did open”

literal: opening; opening up; conquests; revelations; disclosure

غمام

gh-m-m → “clouds”

literal: cloud; clouds

مکرمت

k-r-m → “divine bounty”

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

مرتفع

r-f-ʿ → “raised”

literal: to be raised, elevated, exalted, lifted up

شمس

sh-m-s → “light” Distinctive

literal: sun; daystar; manifestation of divine light

افق

ʾ-f-q → “horizon”

literal: horizon; sphere; realm; quarter

قدرت

q-d-r → “celestial might” Distinctive

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

ميشد

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

تکذيب

k-dh-b → “falsehood”

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

لقای

l-q-y → “presence”

literal: opposite; facing; in front of; towards

او

h-w-w → “is”

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

عين

ʿ-y-n → “eyes”

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence

لقاء

l-q-y

literal: opposite; facing; in front of; towards

احتراز

ḥ-r-z

literal: avoidance; caution; protection; guard

ميجستند

j-s-t

literal: to seek; to cling; to grasp; to strive

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 ¶

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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

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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 ¶