Gleanings — §490

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 490 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

يشاء ولا يسئل عمّا شاء وإنّه لهو العزيز القدير، اسمع يا سلطان ما ألقينا على حضرتك ثمّ امنع الظّالمين عن ظلمهم ثمّ اقطع أيديهم عن رؤوس المسلمين، فوالله ورد علينا ما لا يجري القلم على ذكره إلّا بأن يحزن راقمه ولن تقدر أن تسمعه آذان الموحّدين، وبلغ أمرنا إلى مقام الّذي بكت علينا عيون أعدائنا ومن ورائهم كلّ ذي بصر بصير، بعد الّذي توجّهنا إلى حضرتك وأمرنا النّاس بأن يدخلوا في ظلّك لتكون حصنا

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Let thine ear be attentive, O King, to the words We have addressed to thee. Let the oppressor desist from his tyranny, and cut off the perpetrators of injustice from among them that profess thy faith. By the righteousness of God! The tribulations We have sustained are such that any pen that recounteth them cannot but be overwhelmed with anguish. No one of them that truly believe and uphold the unity of God can bear the burden of their recital. So great have been Our sufferings that even the eyes of Our enemies have wept over Us, and beyond them those of every discerning person. And to all these trials have We been subjected, in spite of Our action in approaching thee, and in bidding the people to enter beneath thy shadow, that thou mightest be a stronghold unto them that believe in and uphold the unity of God.

Translation Notes

يشاء

sh-y-ʾ

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

ولا

w-l-y

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

يسئل

s-ʾ-l

literal: ask; ask/request; ask/beseech

وإنّه

h-w

literal: deviation; divergence; straying from the path; to be weak, to flag, to show reluctance

العزيز

ʿ-z-z

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

اسمع

s-m-ʿ → “Let thine ear be attentive” Distinctive

literal: heard, hearkened to, acceptable, worthy of attention

يا

y-ʾ → “O”

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

سلطان

s-l-ṭ → “King”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

ألقينا

l-q-y

literal: to throw, cast; to vomit; to present, put forward; to cast; to send down; to impart

على

ʿ-l-w → “to the”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

حضرتك

ḥ-ḍ-r → “to thee”

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

ثمّ

th-m-m → “then”

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

امنع

m-n-ʿ → “hinder” Distinctive

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

الظّالمين

ẓ-l-m → “the”

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

عن

ʿ-n → “from his tyranny”

literal: with them; in their company

اقطع

q-ṭ-ʿ → “detachment” Distinctive

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

أيديهم

y-d-y → “hands”

literal: hand; power; action; possession

رؤوس

r-ʾ-s

literal: chief; leader; head; president; beginning

المسلمين،

s-l-m

literal: resignation; submission; surrender; submissiveness

فوالله

w-l-h → “Rapture” Distinctive

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

ورد

w-r-d → “tribulations We have sustained” Distinctive

literal: to enter, to come, to befall, to arrive

علينا

ʿ-l-y → “upon”

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

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

يجري

j-r-y → “flow”

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

القلم

q-l-m → “pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

ذكره

dh-k-r

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

إلّا

ʾ-kh-r → “end”

literal: except; but; if not; lo; now; at this time; save; only; unless

بأن

ʾ-n-n → “that any”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

يحزن

ḥ-z-n

literal: sorrow; grief; sadness; anguish

راقمه

r-q-m

literal: written; inscribed; marked; recorded

ولن

l-n

literal: will not (negation of future)

تقدر

q-d-r → “can bear”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

أن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

آذان

ʾ-dh-n → “by Thy leave” Distinctive

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

الموحّدين،

w-ḥ-d → “one” Distinctive

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

وبلغ

b-l-gh

literal: to reach; to attain; to deliver; to proclaim

أمرنا

ʾ-m-r → “Our sufferings” Distinctive

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

إلى

ʾ-l-y → “towards”

literal: to; to, toward; to, until

مقام

q-w-m

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

الّذي

l-dh-y → “that even” Distinctive

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

بكت

b-k-y → “have wept”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

عيون

ʿ-y-n → “eyes of Our enemies”

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence; to appoint; to designate; to specify; to determine

أعدائنا

ʿ-d-w

literal: hostility, aggression, enmity, transgression

ومن

m-n → “and beyond them” Distinctive

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

ورائهم

w-r-ʾ → “them” Distinctive

literal: mankind; people; human beings; behind; after

كلّ

k-l-l → “every”

literal: for us; to us

ذي

dh-w-y

literal: possessor; possessor of; possessor/owner

بصر

b-ṣ-r → “discerning” Distinctive

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

بعد

b-ʿ-d → “in spite of Our” Distinctive

literal: after; behind; distance

توجّهنا

w-j-h → “action in approaching thee” Distinctive

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

النّاس

n-ʾ-s → “the people”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

يدخلوا

d-kh-l → “enter”

literal: to enter; to admit; to bring in

في

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

ظلّك

ẓ-l-l → “beneath thy shadow”

literal: to take shelter; to dwell in shadow

لتكون

k-w-n → “been”

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

حصنا

ḥ-ṣ-n → “stronghold”

literal: fortress, stronghold, fortified place

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 ¶