Gleanings — §395

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 395 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ای دوستان قدر و مقام خود را بدانید زحمات خود را بتوهّمات این و آن ضایع منمائید شمائید انجم سماء عرفان و نسایم سحرگاهان شمائید میاه جاریه که حیات کل معلّق بآنست و شمائید احرف کتاب بکمال اتّحاد و اتّفاق جهد نمائید که شاید موفّق شوید بآنچه سزاوار یوم الهیست براستی میگویم فساد و نزاع و ما یکرهه العقول لایق شأن انسان نبوده و نیست جمیع همّت را در تبلیغ امر الهی مصروف دارید هر نفسی که خود لایق این مقام اعلی است بآن قیام نماید والّا له ان یأخذ وکیلاً لنفسه فی اظهار هذا الأمر الّذی به تزعزع کلّ بنیان مرصوص و اندکّت الجبال و انصعقت النّفوس اگر مقام این یوم ظاهر آنی از او را بصدهزار جان طالب و آمل شوند تا چه رسد بارض و زخارف آن در جمیع امور بحکمت

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O friends! Be not careless of the virtues with which ye have been endowed, neither be neglectful of your high destiny. Suffer not your labors to be wasted through the vain imaginations which certain hearts have devised. Ye are the stars of the heaven of understanding, the breeze that stirreth at the break of day, the soft-flowing waters upon which must depend the very life of all men, the letters inscribed upon His sacred scroll. With the utmost unity, and in a spirit of perfect fellowship, exert yourselves, that ye may be enabled to achieve that which beseemeth this Day of God. Verily I say, strife and dissension, and whatsoever the mind of man abhorreth are entirely unworthy of his station. Center your energies in the propagation of the Faith of God. Whoso is worthy of so high a calling, let him arise and promote it. Whoso is unable, it is his duty to appoint him who will, in his stead, proclaim this Revelation, whose power hath caused the foundations of the mightiest structures to quake, every mountain to be crushed into dust, and every soul to be dumbfounded. Should the greatness of this Day be revealed in its fullness, every man would forsake a myriad lives in his longing to partake, though it be for one moment, of its great glory — how much more this world and its corruptible treasures!

Translation Notes

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

literal: O; vocative particle; oh (vocative particle)

دوستان

d-w-s-t → “friends”

literal: friend; beloved

قدر

q-d-r → “power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

مقام

q-w-m → “people” Distinctive

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

خود

kh-w-d → “their own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بدانید

d-ʾ-n → “considered” Distinctive

literal: to know; to be aware

زحمات

z-ḥ-m → “labor”

literal: hardship; toil; labor; trouble; suffering

بتوهّمات

w-h-m → “vain imaginations”

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

این

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

آن

ʾ-n → “its” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

ضایع

ḍ-y-ʿ → “extermination” Distinctive

literal: wasting; squandering; loss; harm

منمائید

n-m-ʾ → “Suffer not”

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

شمائید

b-w-d → “Ye are”

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

انجم

n-j-m → “stars”

literal: star

سماء

s-m-w → “heaven”

literal: heaven; sky

عرفان

ʿ-r-f → “understanding”

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

نسایم

n-s-m → “breeze”

literal: breeze; gentle wind; fragrance

سحرگاهان

s-ḥ-r → “dawn”

literal: dawn, daybreak; morning hour

میاه

m-w-h → “soft-flowing waters”

literal: water; waters

جاریه

j-r-y

literal: trade; commerce; business; to flow; to run; to be in effect; flowing

که

k-h → “that stirreth”

literal: that; who; who, that

حیات

ḥ-y-y → “very life”

literal: life; vitality; living

کل

k-l-l → “all men”

literal: for us; to us

معلّق

ʿ-l-q → “dependent”

literal: attachment; connection; relationship

بآنست

ʾ-n-s → “man” Distinctive

literal: servants; bondsmen; slaves

احرف

ḥ-r-f → “letters”

literal: letter; character; edge

کتاب

k-t-b → “Book”

literal: book; scripture; writing

بکمال

k-m-l → “utmost”

literal: perfection; completeness; fully; with full; in complete; to complete, perfect, fulfill

اتّحاد

w-ḥ-d → “unity”

literal: unity; union; unification

اتّفاق

w-f-q → “aid” Distinctive

literal: accord, agreement, harmony; to agree, accord with

جهد

j-h-d → “Strive”

literal: effort; striving; exertion; endeavor

شاید

sh-y-d → “haply”

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

شوید

sh-w-d → “been” Distinctive

literal: to become; to be

بآنچه

b-ch-h → “that which”

literal: building, structure, edifice; to build, construct; structure, edifice

سزاوار

s-z-w → “beseemeth”

literal: worthy; fitting; deserving; appropriate; suitable

یوم

y-w-m → “this Day”

literal: day; age; period; era

الهیست

ʾ-l-h → “of God”

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

براستی

r-s-t → “Verily”

literal: truth; verily; truly

میگویم

g-w-y → “I say”

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

فساد

f-s-d → “strife”

literal: corruption; ruin; discord; mischief; decay

نزاع

n-z-ʿ → “contention”

literal: to pull out; to deprive; to contest; to wrench away

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

literal: what; which; that which; relative pronoun; interrogative

یکرهه

k-r-h → “abhorreth” Distinctive

literal: to dislike; to hate; sphere; ball

العقول

ʿ-q-l → “the mind”

literal: intellect; wise persons; to understand

لایق

l-y-q → “entirely unworthy”

literal: worthy, befitting, appropriate, suitable

شأن

sh-ʾ-n → “his station” Distinctive

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

جمیع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

همّت

h-m-m

literal: them (feminine or general); by them; through them

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

تبلیغ

b-l-gh → “teach”

literal: to reach; to attain; to deliver; to proclaim

امر

ʾ-m-r → “Faith” Distinctive

literal: command; cause; matter; affair; Cause (of God); to command; to order

مصروف

ṣ-r-f → “treatment” Distinctive

literal: pure; absolute; to turn away; to expend

دارید

d-ʾ-r → “repository” Distinctive

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

هر

h-r → “every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

اعلی

ʿ-l-w → “so high” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

بآن

ʾ-n-n

literal: that; indeed; moment

والّا

w-l-y → “Lord” Distinctive

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

له

h-w

literal: for them both; to both of them (dual pronoun)

یأخذ

ʾ-kh-dh → “laid hold” Distinctive

literal: to take; to seize; to affect; to grasp

وکیلاً

w-k-l → “trust” Distinctive

literal: agency; representation; trusteeship; delegated authority; to rely; to trust; to place trust in

لنفسه

n-f-s → “souls”

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

اظهار

ẓ-h-r → “proclaim”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

هذا

h-dh-ʾ → “this”

literal: this; that

الأمر

ʾ-m-r → “Revelation”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair; Cause (of God); to command; to order

الّذی

l-dh-y → “which”

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

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

تزعزع

z-ʿ-z-ʿ → “trembled”

literal: to be shaken; to tremble; to shake

بنیان

b-n-y → “foundations”

literal: building, structure, edifice; to build, construct; structure, edifice

مرصوص

r-ṣ-ṣ → “bullets” Distinctive

literal: bullet; bullets, lead; compacted

اندکّت

d-k-k → “crushed into dust”

literal: crushed; crushing; crushed/leveled

الجبال

j-b-l → “every mountain” Distinctive

literal: mountain; nature, constitution; to create, to form

انصعقت

ṣ-ʿ-q → “every soul to be dumbfounded”

literal: to be thunderstruck; to be dumbfounded; to swoon

اگر

ʾ-g-r → “were they”

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

آنی

ʾ-n-n → “that” Distinctive

literal: that; indeed; moment

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

او

h-w-w → “is”

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

جان

j-ʾ-n → “myriad lives”

literal: soul; life; spirit; self

طالب

ṭ-l-b

literal: seeker, one who seeks; those who seek

آمل

ʾ-m-l → “desire”

literal: hope; expectation; aspiration; desire; wish; to hope; to wish

تا

t-y-y → “so that”

literal: so that/until

چه

ch-h

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

رسد

r-s-d → “how much more” Distinctive

literal: Persian verb رسیدن (to arrive/reach), not Arabic ر-س-د

بارض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “this world” Distinctive

literal: earth; land; ground; country

زخارف

z-kh-r-f → “vanities”

literal: ornament; adornment; decoration; falsehood

بحکمت

ḥ-k-m

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom

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 ¶