Gleanings — §394

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 394 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

نیا اهل ملکوت اسماء را مشغول نموده مع آنکه هر ذی بصر و ذی سمعی شهادت بر فنای آن داده و میدهد جمیع اهل ارض در این عصر در حرکتند و سبب و علّت آنرا نیافته‌اند مشاهده میشود اهل غرب بادنی شیء که فی‌الحقیقه ثمری از او حاصل نه متمسّک میشوند بشأنی که الوف الوف در سبیل ظهور و ترقّی آن جان داده و میدهند و اهل ایران مع این امر محکم مبین که صیت و علوّ و سموّش عالم را احاطه نموده مخمود و افسرده‌اند

Shoghi Effendi Translation

A new life is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth; and yet none hath discovered its cause or perceived its motive. Consider the peoples of the West. Witness how, in their pursuit of that which is vain and trivial, they have sacrificed, and are still sacrificing, countless lives for the sake of its establishment and promotion. The peoples of Persia, on the other hand, though the repository of a perspicuous and luminous Revelation, the glory of whose loftiness and renown hath encompassed the whole earth, are dispirited and sunk in deep lethargy.

Translation Notes

نیا

ʾ-n-n → “that”

literal: to not come; to not arrive; reaching; arrival; attainment; to bring, to produce; to present

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “peoples”

literal: people; inhabitants; family; kin; worthy; deserving; my family; my people; my kin

ملکوت

m-l-k

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty

اسماء

s-m-w

literal: name

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

مشغول

sh-gh-l

literal: to occupy; to engage; to busy; occupation

نموده

n-m-ود → “hath”

literal: to show, display, exhibit; to grow, develop

مع

m-ʿ → “notwithstanding”

literal: with; together with; alongside

هر

h-r → “every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

ذی

dh-w-y

literal: possessor; possessor of; possessor/owner

بصر

b-ṣ-r

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

سمعی

s-m-ʿ

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

شهادت

sh-h-d → “Witness” Distinctive

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

بر

b-r-r

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

فنای

f-n-y

literal: annihilation; perishing; extinction; cessation; the threshold

آن

ʾ-n → “its” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

داده

d-ʾ-d → “of equity”

literal: below; lower than; beneath

جمیع

j-m-ʿ

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

ارض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

این

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

عصر

ʿ-ṣ-r → “age”

literal: age; era; century; period of time

حرکتند

ḥ-r-k → “move” Distinctive

literal: movement; motion; trembling; activity; حراک is unusual; possible typo or dialectal. Standard Arabic would be حرك or اهتزاز for ‘trembling’

سبب

s-b-b → “cause”

literal: cause; reason; means; instrument

علّت

ʿ-l-l → “motive” Distinctive

literal: for us; to us

آنرا

n-w-r → “its” Distinctive

literal: light; lights; luminous

نیافته‌اند

y-ʾ-f → “found” Distinctive

literal: to find, discover; to obtain, acquire; to find; to obtain; to discover

میشود

sh-w-d

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

غرب

gh-r-b → “West”

literal: west; sunset; place of setting

بادنی

d-n-w

literal: this world; earthly life; temporal realm; lowest; base; mean; of little account; to know; to be acquainted with

شیء

sh-y-ʾ

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

که

k-h → “that which is vain”

literal: that; who; who, that

فی‌الحقیقه

ḥ-q-q

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

ثمری

th-m-r

literal: fruit; the fruit

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

او

h-w-w

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

حاصل

ḥ-ṣ-l

literal: obtained; result; sum

نه

n-h-y

literal: end; ended; utmost

متمسّک

m-s-k → “cling”

literal: musk; to seize; grip; to hold fast; to cling to; to grasp

بشأنی

sh-ʾ-n

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

الوف

ʾ-l-f → “thousand” Distinctive

literal: thousand; thousands; intimacy/unity

سبیل

s-b-l → “of its” Distinctive

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

ظهور

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

ترقّی

r-q-y → “advance”

literal: raise them; promote them; heal them; ascension; elevation; rise

جان

j-ʾ-n

literal: soul; life; spirit; self

میدهند

d-h → “imputed” Distinctive

literal: give; grant; bestow; award

امر

ʾ-m-r → “Revelation”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

محکم

ḥ-k-m → “perspicuous” Distinctive

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom

مبین

b-y-n → “luminous”

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

صیت

ṣ-y-t → “fame”

literal: fame, renown, reputation, repute, report

علوّ

ʿ-l-w → “loftiness”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

عالم

ʿ-l-m → “earth” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

احاطه

ḥ-w-ṭ → “encompassed”

literal: to encompass, surround, envelop, embrace

مخمود

kh-m-d → “quench” Distinctive

literal: extinguish; extinguished; extinguishing

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 ¶