Gleanings — §413

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 413 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

مشهود و مبرهن و واضح قل لک الحمد یا ستّار عیوب الضّعفآء و لک الحمد یا غفّار ذنوب الغفلآء ناس را از موهوم منع نمودیم که بسلطان معلوم و ما یظهر من عنده عارف شوند حال بظنون و اوهام خود مبتلا مشاهده میشوند لعمری انّهم هم الموهوم و لا یشعرون و ما یتکلّمون

Shoghi Effendi Translation

We have forbidden men to walk after the imaginations of their hearts, that they may be enabled to recognize Him Who is the sovereign Source and Object of all knowledge, and may acknowledge whatsoever He may be pleased to reveal. Witness how they have entangled themselves with their idle fancies and vain imaginations. By My life! They are themselves the victims of what their own hearts have devised, and yet they perceive it not. Vain and profitless is the talk of their lips, and yet they understand not.

Translation Notes

مشهود

sh-h-d → “Witness” Distinctive

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

مبرهن

b-r-h-n

literal: human; mankind; human nature

واضح

w-ḍ-ḥ

literal: clear; evident; manifest; obvious

قل

q-w-l

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

لک

literal: for; for you; for him

الحمد

ḥ-m-d

literal: praise; to praise

یا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

ستّار

s-t-r

literal: to veil; to conceal; to cover; veil; covering

عیوب

ʿ-y-b

literal: defect; fault; flaw

الضّعفآء

ḍ-ʿ-f

literal: weak; weakness; weaken

غفّار

gh-f-r

literal: to forgive; forgiveness

ذنوب

dh-n-b

literal: sin; crime; offense; fault

الغفلآء

gh-f-l

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

ناس

n-ʾ-s → “men”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

موهوم

w-h-m → “imaginations” Distinctive

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

منع

m-n-ʿ → “forbidden” Distinctive

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

نمودیم

n-m-ʾ → “We have” Distinctive

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

که

k-h → “that they may be enabled to”

literal: that; who; who, that

بسلطان

s-l-ṭ → “sovereign”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

معلوم

ʿ-l-m → “knowledge” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

یظهر

ẓ-h-r → “reveal”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

من

m-n

literal: from; out of; than (preposition and particle)

عنده

ʿ-n-d

literal: obstinacy; opposition; enmity

عارف

ʿ-r-f → “recognize”

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

شوند

sh-w-d

literal: become; to become; became

حال

ḥ-w-l

literal: state; condition; circumstance

بظنون

ẓ-n-n → “idle fancies”

literal: fancy; supposition; vain imagination; idle conjecture

خود

kh-w-d → “their own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

مبتلا

b-l-w → “tribulations” Distinctive

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

لعمری

ʿ-m-r → “By My life”

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

انّهم

ʾ-n-n → “They”

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

هم

h-m-m → “endeavor” Distinctive

literal: endeavor; effort; also

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

یشعرون

sh-ʿ-r → “perceive” Distinctive

literal: hair

یتکلّمون

k-l-m → “talk of their lips” Distinctive

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

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 ¶