Gleanings — §43

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 43 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

حال امروز مشاهده نما که چقدر از سلاطين باسم آن حضرت تعظيم مينمايند و چه قدر از بلاد و اهل آن که در ظلّ او ساکنند و به نسبت بآن حضرت افتخار دارند چنانچه بر منابر و گلدسته‌ها اين اسم مبارک را بکمال تعظيم و تکريم ذکر مينمايند و سلاطينی هم که در ظلّ آن حضرت داخل نشده‌اند و قميص کفر را تجديد ننموده‌اند ايشانهم ببزرگی و عظمت آن شمس عنايت مقرّ و معترفند اينست سلطنت ظاهره که مشاهده ميکنی و اين لابدّ است از برای جميع انبياء که يا در حيات و يا بعد از عروج ايشان بموطن حقيقی ظاهر و ثابت ميشود ...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Consider, how great is the change today! Behold, how many are the Sovereigns who bow the knee before His name! How numerous the nations and kingdoms who have sought the shelter of His shadow, who bear allegiance to His Faith, and pride themselves therein! From the pulpit-top there ascendeth today the words of praise which, in utter lowliness, glorify His blessed name; and from the heights of minarets there resoundeth the call that summoneth the concourse of His people to adore Him. Even those Kings of the earth who have refused to embrace His Faith and to put off the garment of unbelief, nonetheless confess and acknowledge the greatness and overpowering majesty of that Daystar of loving-kindness. Such is His earthly sovereignty, the evidences of which thou dost on every side behold. This sovereignty must needs be revealed and established either in the lifetime of every Manifestation of God or after His ascension unto His true habitation in the realms above.…

Translation Notes

حال

ḥ-w-l → “Consider”

literal: state; condition; circumstance

امروز

r-w-z → “today”

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

مشاهده

sh-h-d → “Behold”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

نما

n-m-ʾ

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

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

چقدر

ch-q-d → “How all-encompassing”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

سلاطين

s-l-ṭ → “Sovereigns”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

باسم

s-m-w → “before His name”

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

آن

ʾ-n → “His” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

حضرت

ḥ-ḍ-r → “Him”

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

تعظيم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “bow the knee”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

چه

ch-h → “For”

literal: what; what/for; whatsoever, that which

قدر

q-d-r

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

بلاد

b-l-d → “nations and kingdoms”

literal: city; land; country

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “people”

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

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

ظلّ

ẓ-l-l → “shelter”

literal: to take shelter; to dwell in shadow

او

h-w-w → “His”

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

ساکنند

s-k-n

literal: stillness, rest, quietude, tranquility

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

نسبت

n-s-b → “relationship”

literal: relation; relationship; connection; attribution; proportion

بآن

ʾ-n-n

literal: that; indeed; moment

افتخار

f-kh-r → “and pride themselves therein”

literal: glory; boasting; pride

دارند

d-ʾ-r → “repository” Distinctive

literal: to hold, keep, maintain, possess

چنانچه

ch-n-n → “From” Distinctive

literal: thus; in such manner; as

بر

b-r-r

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

منابر

n-b-r → “pulpits”

literal: pulpit; elevated platform for preaching

گلدسته‌ها

g-l → “clay”

literal: pulpit; pulpits (plural of گلدسته)

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

مبارک

b-r-k → “blessed”

literal: blessed; auspicious; fruitful

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بکمال

k-m-l → “in utter lowliness” Distinctive

literal: perfection; completeness; fully; with full; in complete; to complete, perfect, fulfill

تکريم

k-r-m → “bounty” Distinctive

literal: Carmel (Mount Carmel); vineyard, fruitful field; honor; generosity; nobility

ذکر

dh-k-r → “mention”

literal: remembrance; mention; memory

هم

h-m-m

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

داخل

d-kh-l → “enter”

literal: to enter; to admit; to bring in

نشده‌اند

sh-w-d

literal: to become; to be

قميص

q-m-ṣ → “garment of unbelief”

literal: garment; shirt; tunic

کفر

k-f-r

literal: to disbelieve, reject; unbelief, ingratitude; to deny, to disbelieve, to reject

تجديد

j-d-d → “new”

literal: to demolish, destroy, tear down

ايشانهم

ʾ-y-sh → “Prophets”

literal: that; it (object pronoun with suffix)

ببزرگی

b-z-r-g → “greatness”

literal: great; large; important; grandeur

شمس

sh-m-s → “that Daystar”

literal: sun; daystar; manifestation of divine light

عنايت

ʿ-n-y → “of loving-kindness”

literal: to concern; to mean; to turn away from; bounty; loving-kindness; grace; divine care; attention; meaning; significance; inner sense

مقرّ

q-r-r

literal: matter; affair; thing

معترفند

ʿ-r-f

literal: knowledge; know; knower

اينست

h-s-t → “is”

literal: is; be; are

ميکنی

k-r-d → “made” Distinctive

literal: do; to do; do, make

لابدّ

b-d-d → “must needs”

literal: must, necessarily, needs must, there is no escape

است

b-w-d → “be”

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

برای

b-r-y

literal: to see; to perceive; to look; to see, to observe, to behold; to view; vision; dream; sight; ل is prefix; verb تری (you see) is from ر-ا-ي

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “every Manifestation”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

انبياء

n-b-ʾ

literal: prophet; messenger

يا

y-ʾ → “O ye”

literal: O; or

حيات

ḥ-y-y → “lifetime”

literal: life; vitality; living

بعد

b-ʿ-d → “after”

literal: after; behind; distance

عروج

ʿ-r-j → “ascension”

literal: to ascend, climb, mount

بموطن

w-ṭ-n → “country” Distinctive

literal: homeland; native country; dwelling place

حقيقی

ḥ-q-q

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

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “revealed and established”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

ثابت

th-b-t

literal: firm; steadfast; established; fixed

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 ¶