Skip to main content

Gleanings — §376

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 376 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

زاغ بصره بگو در خود ملاحظه کنید اظفار و چشم هر دو از شما است آیا این دو نزد شما در یک رتبه و یک شأن بوده اگر گفته شود بلی قل کذبتم بربّی الأبهی چه که آن را قطع میکنید و این را مثل جان عزیز دارید تجاوز از رتبه و مقام جایز نه حفظ مراتب لازم یعنی هر شیء در مقام خود مشاهده شود بلی

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Furthermore, consider the signs of the revelation of God in their relation one to another. Can the sun, which is but one of these signs, be regarded as equal in rank to darkness? The one true God beareth Me witness! No man can believe it, unless he be of those whose hearts are straitened, and whose eyes have become deluded. Say: Consider your own selves. Your nails and eyes are both parts of your bodies. Do ye regard them of equal rank and value? If ye say, yea; say, then: ye have indeed charged with imposture, the Lord, my God, the All-Glorious, inasmuch as ye pare the one, and cherish the other as dearly as your own life.

Translation Notes

زاغ
z-y-gh

literal: deviated

بصره
b-ṣ-r → “eyes”

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

بگو
g-w-y → “Say”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

در
d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

خود
kh-w-d → “your own selves”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

ملاحظه
l-ḥ-ẓ → “Consider”

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

کنید
k-r-d

literal: do; to do; do, make

اظفار
ẓ-f-r → “triumph” Distinctive

literal: victory, success; to triumph, prevail; nail, fingernail

چشم
ch-sh-m → “eyes”

literal: eye; vision; sight

هر
h-r

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

دو
d-w → “two”

literal: two; run; running

از
ʾ-z

literal: from

شما
sh-m-ʾ

literal: you (plural); your

است
b-w-d → “are”

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

آیا
ʾ-y-y → “signs”

literal: does; is it that (interrogative particle); sign; verse; O! (vocative particle); him; them (object pronoun)

این
ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

نزد
n-z-d

literal: near; beside; with; in the presence of

یک
y-k → “one”

literal: one; a single

رتبه
r-t-b → “rank”

literal: rank; station; degree; time; instance

شأن
sh-ʾ-n

literal: affair; matter; station; rank; importance

اگر
ʾ-g-r → “were they”

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

گفته
g-f-t → “say”

literal: utterance; speech; word; discourse

شود
sh-w-d

literal: to come; to go; to arrive; came

بلی
b-l-y → “yea”

literal: affliction; trial; calamity; trial, tribulation, affliction, calamity; yes; indeed; verily

قل
q-w-l → “say”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

کذبتم
k-dh-b → “falsehood” Distinctive

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

بربّی
r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: divine; of God; lordly

الأبهی
b-h-w → “the All-Glorious”

literal: splendor; glory; magnificence; Bahá (Proper Name in Bahá’í texts)

چه
ch-h

literal: what; what/for; whatsoever, that which

که
k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

آن
ʾ-n → “one” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

را
r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

قطع
q-ṭ-ʿ → “detachment” Distinctive

literal: to be severed; to be cut off; to detach oneself; to abstain

مثل
m-th-l

literal: like; example; parable; similitude

جان
j-ʾ-n → “your own life” Distinctive

literal: soul; life; spirit; self

عزیز
ʿ-z-z → “glory” Distinctive

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

دارید
d-ʾ-r → “repository” Distinctive

literal: to have; to hold; to possess; to maintain

تجاوز
j-w-z

literal: to transgress; to exceed; to overstep; to cross over

مقام
q-w-m

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

نه
n-h-y

literal: end; ended; utmost

حفظ
ḥ-f-ẓ

literal: guardian; preserver; keeper

لازم
l-z-m

literal: necessary, incumbent, obligatory, essential

یعنی
ʿ-n-y

literal: that is; meaning; i.e.

شیء
sh-y-ʾ

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

مشاهده
sh-h-d → “witness”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

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 ¶