Gleanings — §471

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 471 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

لسان صدق منيع، أما تذكّرت بذكر الله من قبل لتكون من المتذكّرين، قال وقوله الحقّ "منها خلقناكم وفيها نعيدكم ومنها نخرجكم تارة أخرى" وهذا ما قدّره الله لمن على الأرض من كلّ عزيز وذليل، ومن خلق من التّراب ويعيد فيها ويخرج منها لا ينبغي له بأن يستكبر على الله وأوليائه ويفتخر عليهم ويكون على غرور عظيم بل ينبغي لك ولأمثالك بأن تبخعوا لمظاهر التّوحيد وتخفضوا جناح الذّلّ للمؤمنين الّذين هم افتقروا في الله وانقطعوا عن كلّ ما تشتغل به أنفس العباد ويبعدهم عن صراط الله العزيز الحميد، وكذلك نلقي عليكم ما ينفعكم وينفع الّذين هم كانوا على ربّهم لمن المتوكّلين...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Rememberest thou not God’s warning uttered in times past, that thou mayest be of them that heed His warning? He said, and He, verily, speaketh the truth: “From it (earth) have We created you, and unto it will We return you, and out of it will We bring you forth a second time.” This is what God ordained unto all them that dwell on earth, be they high or low. It behooveth not, therefore, him who was created from dust, who will return unto it, and will again be brought forth out of it, to swell with pride before God, and before His loved ones, to proudly scorn them, and be filled with disdainful arrogance. Nay, rather it behooveth thee and those like thee to submit yourselves to them Who are the Manifestations of the unity of God, and to defer humbly to the faithful, who have forsaken their all for the sake of God, and have detached themselves from the things which engross men’s attention, and lead them astray from the path of God, the All-Glorious, the All-Praised. Thus do We send down upon you that which shall profit you and profit them that have placed their whole trust and confidence in their Lord.

Translation Notes

لسان

l-s-n → “tongue”

literal: tongue; language

صدق

ṣ-d-q

literal: to confirm; to verify; to acknowledge; to testify to truth

منيع،

m-n-ʿ

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

أما

ʾ-m-m → “nations” Distinctive

literal: mother; to lead; to head; matter; affair; people; nation; community; female servant; handmaiden; umma

تذكّرت

dh-k-r → “uttered”

literal: remembrance; mention; memory; invocation; reminders; commemorations

الله

ʾ-l-h → “God’s”

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

من

m-n → “from”

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

قبل

q-b-l → “past” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

لتكون

k-w-n → “that thou mayest be”

literal: to do; to make; to perform; to be; was

قال

q-w-l → “He said”

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

الحقّ

ḥ-q-q → “the truth”

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

خلقناكم

kh-l-q → “have We created you”

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

وفيها

f-y-y → “in”

literal: in it; in them

نعيدكم

ʿ-w-d → “habits” Distinctive

literal: return; habit; Ad

نخرجكم

kh-r-j → “will We bring you forth”

literal: bringing out, taking out, expulsion, extraction

تارة

t-w-r → “second”

literal: Torah; time; Torah, Pentateuch

أخرى"

ʾ-kh-r → “next” Distinctive

literal: hereafter; other; last

وهذا

h-dh-ʾ → “This is”

literal: this; that

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

قدّره

q-d-r → “ordained”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

على

ʿ-l-w → “on” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

الأرض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

كلّ

k-l-l → “that dwell” Distinctive

literal: for us; to us

عزيز

ʿ-z-z → “glory” Distinctive

literal: glory; might; honor; dignity; power; majesty

وذليل،

dh-l-l → “abasement” Distinctive

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

التّراب

t-r-b → “dust”

literal: dust; earth; soil

فيها

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

ينبغي

n-b-gh → “behooveth”

literal: it is proper; it is fitting; it is necessary; it behooves

له

h-w

literal: for them both; to both of them (dual pronoun)

بأن

ʾ-n-n → “to” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

يستكبر

k-b-r → “swell with pride”

literal: greatest; greater; grandeur

وأوليائه

w-l-y → “and before His loved ones”

literal: guardian; protector; friend; ally; lord; helper; first; primary; original

ويفتخر

f-kh-r → “glory”

literal: glory; boasting; pride

عليهم

ʿ-l-y → “them” Distinctive

literal: exalted; highest; supreme; most high; upon you; on; over; Ali (name); upon

غرور

gh-r-r → “pride”

literal: delusion, deceit; deluded, deceived

عظيم

ʿ-ẓ-m

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

بل

b-l → “Nay, rather”

literal: rather; but; rather/nay

لك

l → “His is”

literal: for us; to us

ولأمثالك

m-th-l → “and those like thee”

literal: like; likeness; example

تبخعوا

b-kh-ʿ → “submit yourselves”

literal: to exhaust; to wear out

لمظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Manifestations”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest; to display; to reveal; ظهور here means ‘backs’ (plural of ظهر), different semantic use than manifestation

التّوحيد

w-ḥ-d → “of the unity”

literal: Divine unity; monotheism; belief in the oneness of God

وتخفضوا

kh-f-ḍ → “Defer ye humbly” Distinctive

literal: to lower; to humble; to defer

جناح

j-n-ḥ

literal: wing; side; shelter; protection

للمؤمنين

ʾ-m-n → “to the faithful”

literal: to believe; to have faith; to be secure; trust; trustworthiness; covenant; deposit; believer, faithful

الّذين

l-dh-y → “which” Distinctive

literal: those who; the ones who (relative pronoun)

هم

h-m-m

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

افتقروا

f-q-r → “poor” Distinctive

literal: poor; needy; the poor one; pauper

وانقطعوا

q-ṭ-ʿ → “and have detached themselves”

literal: to be severed; to be cut off; to detach oneself; to abstain

عن

ʿ-n → “from the things which”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

تشتغل

sh-gh-l → “busied” Distinctive

literal: occupied; busy; occupy

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

أنفس

n-f-s → “men’s attention” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; souls

العباد

ʿ-b-d

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

ويبعدهم

b-ʿ-d → “after” Distinctive

literal: after; distance; far

صراط

ṣ-r-ṭ → “path”

literal: path, way, straight path

الحميد،

ḥ-m-d → “the All-Praised”

literal: praise; to praise

وكذلك

k-dh-l → “Thus do We”

literal: that; thus; likewise

نلقي

l-q-y → “send down”

literal: meeting; cast; meeting, encounter

ينفعكم

n-f-ʿ → “shall profit you”

literal: benefits; profits; advantages

ربّهم

r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: divine; of God; lordly

المتوكّلين...

w-k-l → “trust”

literal: trust; agents; rely upon

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 ¶