Gleanings — §430

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 430 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

و او را بر بستر ناکامی انداخته مردمانی که از بادهٴ خودبینی سرمست شده‌اند پزشک دانا را از او بازداشته‌اند اینست که خود و همهٴ مردمان را گرفتار نموده‌اند نه درد میدانند نه درمان میشناسند راست را کژ انگاشته‌اند و دوست را دشمن شمرده‌اند بشنوید آواز این زندانی را بایستید و بگوئید

Shoghi Effendi Translation

We can well perceive how the whole human race is encompassed with great, with incalculable afflictions. We see it languishing on its bed of sickness, sore-tried and disillusioned. They that are intoxicated by self-conceit have interposed themselves between it and the Divine and infallible Physician. Witness how they have entangled all men, themselves included, in the mesh of their devices. They can neither discover the cause of the disease, nor have they any knowledge of the remedy. They have conceived the straight to be crooked, and have imagined their friend an enemy.

Translation Notes

او

h-w-w → “is”

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

را

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بر

b-r-r → “on its” Distinctive

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

بستر

b-s-t → “fettered” Distinctive

literal: much; many; very; greatly

ناکامی

k-ʾ-m → “sickness”

literal: desire; appetite; lust; will; heap; hill; mound

انداخته

ʾ-n-d-ʾ-z → “cause”

literal: cast; threw; hurled

مردمانی

m-r-d → “human race”

literal: rebellion; mutiny; revolt

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

بادهٴ

b-ʾ-d → “must needs” Distinctive

literal: lest; perhaps; in order that not

خودبینی

b-y-n → “utterance” Distinctive

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

سرمست

literal: intoxication; drunkenness; ecstasy

شده‌اند

literal: become; turned into; has become; to become; to be

پزشک

p-z-sh → “physicians”

literal: physician; doctor

بازداشته‌اند

d-ʾ-sh → “have been” Distinctive

literal: to restrain; to withhold; to prevent

اینست

h-s-t → “are” Distinctive

literal: is; be; are

خود

kh-w-d → “their own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

همهٴ

h-m → “all men” Distinctive

literal: all; also; that same

گرفتار

g-r-f-t-ʾ-r → “oppressed”

literal: captive, afflicted, troubled, caught; affliction, trouble

نموده‌اند

n-m-w → “have”

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

نه

n-h-y → “forbidden”

literal: end; ended; utmost

درد

d-r-d → “disease”

literal: to tear; to rend; to tear asunder

میدانند

d-ʾ-n → “considered” Distinctive

literal: this world; earthly life; temporal realm; lowest; base; mean; of little account; to know; to be acquainted with

درمان

d-r-m → “remedy”

literal: to hold, keep, maintain, possess

میشناسند

sh-n-s → “recognize”

literal: to recognize, know, distinguish

راست

r-s-t → “Verily” Distinctive

literal: truth; verily; truly

کژ

k-zh → “crooked”

literal: crooked

انگاشته‌اند

n-g-r → “imagine” Distinctive

literal: England; English

دوست

d-w-s-t → “friend”

literal: friend; beloved; to befriend

دشمن

d-sh-m-n → “enemy”

literal: enemy; adversary; foe

شمرده‌اند

sh-m-r → “regard”

literal: to count; to regard; to esteem; to consider

بشنوید

sh-n-w → “heard” Distinctive

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

آواز

literal: sound; voice; rumor; news; utterance

این

literal: this; these

زندانی

literal: prison; jail

بایستید

literal: in the shade; under the shadow; rested; to be necessary; to behoove; to arise

بگوئید

literal: say; said; saying

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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