Skip to main content

Gleanings — §415

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 415 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

بأهوائهم ما لا اذن الله لهم بگو الیوم یوم اصغا است بشنوید ندای مظلوم را باسم حقّ ناطق باشید و بطراز ذکرش مزیّن و بانوار حبّش مستنیر اینست مفتاح قلوب و صیقل وجود و الّذی غفل عمّا جری من اصبع الارادة انّه فی غفلة مبین صلاح و

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Say: This is the Day when every ear must needs be attentive to His voice. Hearken ye to the Call of this wronged One, and magnify ye the name of the one true God, and adorn yourselves with the ornament of His remembrance, and illumine your hearts with the light of His love. This is the key that unlocketh the hearts of men, the burnish that shall cleanse the souls of all beings. He that is careless of what hath poured out from the finger of the Will of God liveth in manifest error. Amity and rectitude of conduct, rather than dissension and mischief, are the marks of true faith.

Translation Notes

بأهوائهم
h-w-y

literal: desire; vain desire; inclination; passion; whim; realm; region

ما
m-ʾ

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

لا
l-ʾ

literal: no; not; negation particle

اذن
ʾ-dh-n

literal: ear; permission; leave; to permit; to allow; to listen

الله
ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

لهم
l-h-m

literal: inspiration; divine inspiration; revelation

بگو
g-w-y → “Say”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

الیوم
y-w-m → “This is the Day”

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

اصغا
ṣ-gh-w → “hear”

literal: to listen, hear; to give ear

بشنوید
sh-n-w → “Hearken ye”

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

ندای
n-d-y → “Call”

literal: call; voice; cry; summons; to call; to proclaim; to cry out; to summon

مظلوم
ẓ-l-m → “this wronged One”

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

را
r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

باسم
s-m-w → “name”

literal: harm; strength; blame; hardship, adversity, tribulation, distress

حقّ
ḥ-q-q → “one true God”

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

ناطق
n-ṭ-q → “spoken” Distinctive

literal: to speak; to utter; to pronounce; to articulate

باشید
b-w-d → “are” Distinctive

literal: to be; are (third person plural present copula)

بطراز
ṭ-r-z → “with the ornament”

literal: ornament; adornment; embroidery; stripe

ذکرش
dh-k-r → “His remembrance”

literal: remembrance; mention; memory

مزیّن
z-y-n → “adorn”

literal: to adorn; ornament; beauty

بانوار
n-w-r → “with the light”

literal: light; illumination

حبّش
ḥ-b-b → “His love”

literal: Ethiopian; Abyssinian

اینست
h-s-t → “This is”

literal: is; be; are

مفتاح
f-t-ḥ → “key”

literal: opening; opening up; conquests; revelations; disclosure

قلوب
q-l-b → “hearts”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

صیقل
ṣ-q-l → “itself” Distinctive

literal: polisher, burnisher; one who polishes or clarifies

وجود
w-j-d → “souls” Distinctive

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

الّذی
l-dh-y → “He that” Distinctive

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

غفل
gh-f-l → “careless” Distinctive

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

عمّا
ʿ-n → “from”

literal: with them; in their company

جری
j-r-y → “hath poured out”

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

من
m-n → “from”

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

اصبع
ṣ-b-ʿ → “finger”

literal: finger; digit

الارادة
r-w-d → “the Will”

literal: to will; to intend; to wish; will, volition, intention, desire

انّه
ʾ-n-n → “that”

literal: I, verily; behold I

فی
f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

مبین
b-y-n → “manifest error” Distinctive

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

صلاح
ṣ-l-ḥ → “betterment” Distinctive

literal: peace; reconciliation

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 ¶