Gleanings — §404

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 404 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

قوّه و بنیهٴ ایمان در اقطار عالم ضعیف شده دریاق اعظم لازم سواد نحاس امم را اخذ نموده اکسیر اعظم باید یا حکیم آیا اکلیل غلبه دارای آن قدرت بوده که اجزاء مختلفهٴ در شیء واحد را تبدیل نماید و بمقام ذهب ابریز رساند اگرچه تبدیل آن صعب و مشکل بنظر میآید ولکن تبدیل قوّهٴ ناسوتی بقوّهٴ ملکوتی ممکن نزد این مظلوم آنچه این قوّه را تبدیل نماید اعظم از اکسیر است این مقام و این قدرت مخصوصست به کلمة الله...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it? Is it within human power, O Ḥakím, to effect in the constituent elements of any of the minute and indivisible particles of matter so complete a transformation as to transmute it into purest gold? Perplexing and difficult as this may appear, the still greater task of converting satanic strength into heavenly power is one that We have been empowered to accomplish. The Force capable of such a transformation transcendeth the potency of the Elixir itself. The Word of God, alone, can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity required for so great and far-reaching a change.

Translation Notes

قوّه

q-w-y → “power”

literal: power; strength; force

بنیهٴ

b-n-y → “SON”

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

ایمان

ʾ-m-n → “belief”

literal: to believe; to have faith; to be secure; trust; trustworthiness; covenant; deposit; believer, faithful

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

اقطار

q-ṭ-r → “every land”

literal: drop; region; country; rainfall

عالم

ʿ-l-m → “God” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

ضعیف

ḍ-ʿ-f → “weakness” Distinctive

literal: weak; feeble; imperfect

شده

sh-d → “was”

literal: to become; to be

دریاق

d-r-y-q → “sovereign remedy”

literal: antidote; remedy; panacea

اعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

لازم

l-z-m → “necessary”

literal: necessary, incumbent, obligatory, essential

سواد

s-w-d → “my Master” Distinctive

literal: blackened; dark; tranquil; at peace; undisturbed

نحاس

n-ḥ-s

literal: copper; brass; base metal

امم

ʾ-m-m → “before” Distinctive

literal: mother; to lead; to head; matter; affair; people; nation; community; female servant; handmaiden; umma

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

اخذ

ʾ-kh-dh → “arrested”

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

نموده

n-m-ود → “hath”

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

اکسیر

إكسير (non-Arabic) → “Elixir”

literal: breaking; ravening; destructive

باید

b-y-d → “must”

literal: by hand; with hands; eternal; perpetual; everlasting

یا

y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

حکیم

ḥ-k-m → “wisdom”

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom; firm; solid; strengthened

آیا

ʾ-y-y → “signs”

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

اکلیل

k-l-l

literal: all; every; whole; entirety; entire; completely

غلبه

gh-l-b

literal: to overcome, overpower, vanquish, prevail

دارای

d-ʾ-r → “repository”

literal: veiling; concealment; to have; to possess; to hold

آن

ʾ-n → “this” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

قدرت

q-d-r → “human power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

اجزاء

j-z-ʾ → “constituent elements”

literal: part; portion; component; section; volume

مختلفهٴ

kh-l-f

literal: opposing; contrary; conflicting

شیء

sh-y-ʾ → “things”

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

واحد

w-ḥ-d → “any”

literal: Divine unity; monotheism; belief in the oneness of God

تبدیل

b-d-l → “transformation”

literal: in place of; instead of; to change; to alter (preposition or verb stem)

نماید

n-m-ʾ → “may”

literal: do; show; make

بمقام

q-w-m → “people” Distinctive

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

ذهب

dh-h-b → “purest gold”

literal: religion; creed; doctrine; belief; sect

ابریز

b-r-z → “Revelation”

literal: manifestation; emergences; appearance

رساند

r-s-n

literal: to reach; to convey; to cause to arrive; to deliver

صعب

ṣ-ʿ-b → “greater”

literal: most difficult; hardest; most arduous

مشکل

sh-k-l → “difficult”

literal: formation; constitution; establishment; composition; to form; to establish

بنظر

n-ẓ-r → “Consider”

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

میآید

ʾ-y-d → “assist”

literal: sign; verse; miracle; token; verses; signs; proofs

ولکن

l-k-n → “but”

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

ناسوتی

n-w-s → “men” Distinctive

literal: human nature; humanity; the physical or material realm; corporeality

ملکوتی

m-l-k → “heavenly”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty; possessions; property; ownership

ممکن

m-k-n → “all created things” Distinctive

literal: establishment; confirmation; empowerment; firm settlement; place; possibility; being (negated as ‘non-being’)

نزد

n-z-d

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

این

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m

literal: wrongedness, oppression, meekness; state of being wronged or oppressed

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

مخصوصست

kh-ṣ-ṣ → “singled out” Distinctive

literal: specific matter; particularity; especially; in this matter

به

b-h → “with” Distinctive

literal: by it; by him; with it

کلمة

k-l-m → “Word”

literal: words; utterances; locutions; word; utterance; speech; sayings; verses

الله...

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

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 ¶