Gleanings — §410

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 410 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ت و جمیع امور منوط بآن قدری تفکّر در رزایا و بلایای این مسجون نمائید که تمام عمر در ید اعدا بوده و هر یوم در سبیل محبّت الهی ببلائی مبتلا تا آنکه امر الله مابین عباد مرتفع شد حال اگر نفسی سبب شود و باوهام خود در تفریق ناس سرّاً او جهراً مشغول گردد او از اهل انصاف است لا ونفسه المهیمنة علی العالمین لعمری ینوح قلبی و یدمع عینی لأمر الله و للّذین یقولون ما لا یفقهون و یتوهّمون فی انفسهم ما لا یشعرون

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Tell, O ‘Alí, the loved ones of God that equity is the most fundamental among human virtues. The evaluation of all things must needs depend upon it. Ponder awhile on the woes and afflictions which this Prisoner hath sustained. I have, all the days of My life, been at the mercy of Mine enemies, and have suffered each day, in the path of the love of God, a fresh tribulation. I have patiently endured until the fame of the Cause of God was spread abroad on the earth. If anyone should now arise and, prompted by the vain imaginations his heart hath devised, endeavor, openly or in secret, to sow the seeds of dissension amongst men — can such a man be said to have acted with equity? No, by Him Whose might extendeth over all things! By My life! Mine heart groaneth and mine eyes weep sore for the Cause of God and for them that understand not what they say and imagine what they cannot comprehend.

Translation Notes

جمیع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

امور

ʾ-m-r → “things”

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

منوط

n-w-ṭ → “depend upon”

literal: to be dependent upon, to hang upon, to hinge upon

بآن

ʾ-n-n → “it” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

قدری

q-d-r → “awhile”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

تفکّر

f-k-r → “Ponder”

literal: thoughts; ideas; fancies; opinions; to think; to reflect; to contemplate

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

رزایا

r-z-y → “trials”

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

بلایای

b-l-w → “afflictions”

literal: trial; affliction; tribulation; testing

این

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

مسجون

s-j-n → “Prisoner”

literal: prison, imprisonment; to imprison

نمائید

n-m-ʾ → “hath sustained” Distinctive

literal: to show, to display, to manifest, to exhibit; to manifest; to display; to show

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

تمام

t-m-m → “all”

literal: most complete; to complete; perfect; fullness

عمر

ʿ-m-r → “life” Distinctive

literal: life; age; duration; by the life of (oath)

ید

y-d-y → “hands”

literal: hand; power; strength; (plural) hands; agents; helpers; to assist, to support, to aid, to strengthen

اعدا

ʿ-d-w → “enemies”

literal: when; if; whenever; at that time

بوده

b-w-d → “been”

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

هر

h-r → “every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

یوم

y-w-m → “days”

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

سبیل

s-b-l → “path”

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

محبّت

ḥ-b-b → “love”

literal: love; affection

الهی

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

تا

t-y-y → “so that”

literal: so that/until

آنکه

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

مابین

b-y-n → “among”

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

عباد

ʿ-b-d → “servants”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

مرتفع

r-f-ʿ → “was spread abroad on” Distinctive

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

شد

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

حال

ḥ-w-l → “If anyone should now”

literal: state; condition; circumstance

اگر

ʾ-g-r

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

نفسی

n-f-s

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

سبب

s-b-b

literal: cause; reason; means; instrument

شود

sh-w-d

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

باوهام

w-h-m → “vain imaginations”

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

خود

kh-w-d → “their own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

تفریق

f-r-q → “separation”

literal: faction; sect; group; company

ناس

n-ʾ-s → “men”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

سرّاً

s-r-r → “in secret” Distinctive

literal: to proclaim openly; manifest; public

او

h-w-w → “or” Distinctive

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

جهراً

j-h-r → “openly”

literal: to proclaim openly; manifest; public

مشغول

sh-gh-l → “busied”

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

گردد

g-r-d → “become”

literal: become; to become; make

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

اهل

ʾ-h-l

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

انصاف

n-ṣ-f → “equity”

literal: justice; fairness; equity

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

المهیمنة

h-m-n → “the Help in Peril”

literal: the Protector; the Overseer; the Guardian; inspiration; revelation; intuition

علی

ʿ-l-w → “over” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

العالمین

ʿ-l-m → “all things!” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

ینوح

n-w-ḥ → “groaneth”

literal: to wail; to lament; lamentation

قلبی

q-l-b → “heart”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

یدمع

d-m-ʿ → “tears” Distinctive

literal: tears; tear; weep

عینی

ʿ-y-n → “mine eyes”

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence; to appoint; to designate; to specify; to determine

للّذین

l-dh-y → “which” Distinctive

literal: for those who; to those who (preposition + definite relative pronoun)

یقولون

q-w-l → “say”

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

یفقهون

f-q-h → “understand”

literal: to understand; to comprehend; insight; jurisprudence

فی

f-y

literal: in; in-it; in it

یشعرون

sh-ʿ-r → “comprehend” Distinctive

literal: hair

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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

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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

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 ¶