Gleanings — §421

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 421 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

بگو ای اهل ارض براستی بدانید که بلای ناگهانی شما را در پی است و عقاب عظیمی از عقب گمان مبرید که آنچه را مرتکب شدید از نظر محو شده قسم بجمالم که در الواح زبرجدی از قلم جلیّ جمیع اعمال شما ثبت گشته

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O ye peoples of the world! Know, verily, that an unforeseen calamity is following you, and that grievous retribution awaiteth you. Think not the deeds ye have committed have been blotted from My sight. By My beauty! All your doings hath My Pen graven with open characters upon tablets of chrysolite.

Translation Notes

بگو

g-w-y → “O” Distinctive

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

ای

ʾ-y-y → “signs” Distinctive

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

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “peoples”

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

ارض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “of” Distinctive

literal: earth; land; ground; country

براستی

r-s-t → “Verily”

literal: truth; verily; truly

بدانید

d-ʾ-n → “Know”

literal: to know; to be aware

که

k-h → “that”

literal: that; who; who, that

بلای

b-l-w → “calamity”

literal: no; not; negation particle

ناگهانی

g-h-n → “suddenly” Distinctive

literal: to look; to regard; to keep

شما

sh-m-ʾ → “you”

literal: you (plural); your

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

در

d-r-r → “upon”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

پی

p-y → “discover”

literal: trace; pursuit; trace, awareness

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

عقاب

ʿ-q-b → “retribution”

literal: outcome; end; result; consequence

عظیمی

ʿ-ẓ-m → “grievous”

literal: strong; severe; intense; violent

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

گمان

g-m-n → “Think”

literal: supposition; opinion; conjecture; fancy; to suppose; to think

مبرید

b-r-d → “not”

literal: brother

آنچه

ʾ-n → “the”

literal: that; indeed; that, to

مرتکب

r-k-b → “committed”

literal: to ride; to commit; to undertake; composition; combination; structure

شدید

sh-d-d → “tribulations” Distinctive

literal: strong; severe; intense; violent

نظر

n-ẓ-r → “sight”

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

محو

m-ḥ-w → “blot out”

literal: to efface; to obliterate; to blot out; to cause to disappear

شده

sh-d → “have been”

literal: to become; to be

قسم

q-s-m

literal: oath; division; kind; type

بجمالم

j-m-l → “By My beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

الواح

l-w-ḥ → “tablets”

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

زبرجدی

z-b-r-j → “of chrysolite”

literal: writing; inscription; divine writ

قلم

q-l-m → “My Pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

جلیّ

j-l-y → “revelation” Distinctive

literal: effulgence; manifestation; revelation; manifestation, revelation, appearance

جمیع

j-m-ʿ → “All”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

اعمال

ʿ-m-l → “doings”

literal: to work; to act; to do; to perform

ثبت

th-b-t → “graven”

literal: firm; steadfast; established; fixed

گشته

g-sh-t

literal: become; became; to become

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 ¶