Gleanings — §499

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 499 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

انّ البلآء لا یمنع قلم القدم انّه یتحرّک باذن الله مصوّر الرّمم حال مع این شغل اعظم لایق آنست که جمیع احبّا کمر خدمت محکم کنند و بنصرت امر الله توجّه نمایند نه آنکه بارتکاب امور شنیعه مشغول شوند اگر قدری در افعال و اعمال ظاهرهٴ حقّ مشاهده نمائی لتخرّ بوجهک علی التّراب و تقول یا ربّ الأرباب اشهد انّک انت مولی الوجود و مربّی الغیب و الشّهود و اشهد انّ قدرتک احاطت الکائنات لا تخوّفک جنود من علی الأرض و لا تمنعک سطوة من علیها و اشهد انّک ما اردت الّا حیاة

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Considering this most mighty enterprise, it beseemeth them that love Him to gird up the loins of their endeavor, and to fix their thoughts on whatever will ensure the victory of the cause of God, rather than commit vile and contemptible deeds. Wert thou to consider, for but a little while, the outward works and doings of Him Who is the Eternal Truth, thou wouldst fall down upon the ground, and exclaim: O Thou Who art the Lord of Lords! I testify that Thou art the Lord of all creation, and the Educator of all beings, visible and invisible. I bear witness that Thy power hath encompassed the entire universe, and that the hosts of the earth can never dismay Thee, nor can the dominion of all peoples and nations deter Thee from executing Thy purpose. I confess that Thou hast no desire except the regeneration of the whole world, and the establishment of the unity of its peoples, and the salvation of all them that dwell therein.

Translation Notes

البلآء

b-l-w

literal: affliction; trial; calamity

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

قلم

q-l-m

literal: pen; writing instrument

القدم

q-d-m

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

یتحرّک

ḥ-r-k

literal: movement; motion; trembling; activity; حراک is unusual; possible typo or dialectal. Standard Arabic would be حرك or اهتزاز for ‘trembling’

باذن

ʾ-dh-n

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

الله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

مصوّر

ṣ-w-r

literal: form; trumpet; conception

الرّمم

r-m-m

literal: decayed bones; decayed, moldering; bones

حال

ḥ-w-l → “Considering”

literal: state; condition; circumstance

مع

m-ʿ

literal: with; together with; alongside

این

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

شغل

sh-gh-l → “busied” Distinctive

literal: to occupy; to engage; to busy; occupation

اعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

لایق

l-y-q → “it beseemeth” Distinctive

literal: worthy, befitting, appropriate, suitable

آنست

ʾ-n-s → “man” Distinctive

literal: abrogator; repealer; one who abrogates or abrogates the law

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

جمیع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

احبّا

ḥ-b-b → “them that love Him”

literal: love; affection

کمر

k-m-r → “gird up the loins”

literal: loins; waist; to gird

خدمت

kh-d-m → “serve”

literal: service; servitude; to serve

محکم

ḥ-k-m

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom; firm; solid; strengthened

کنند

k-r-d

literal: do; to do; do, make

بنصرت

n-ṣ-r → “aid”

literal: explicit text; clear statement

امر

ʾ-m-r → “cause”

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

توجّه

w-j-h → “face” Distinctive

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

نمایند

n-m-ʾ

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

نه

n-h-y → “forbidden”

literal: end; ended; utmost

آنکه

ʾ-n → “to” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

بارتکاب

r-k-b → “commit vile and contemptible”

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

شنیعه

sh-n-ʿ

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

شوند

sh-w-d

literal: become; to become; became

اگر

ʾ-g-r → “were they”

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

قدری

q-d-r → “for but a little while” Distinctive

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

افعال

f-ʿ-l → “outward works and doings”

literal: to do, act, make; deed, action

اعمال

ʿ-m-l

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

ظاهرهٴ

ẓ-h-r

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

حقّ

ḥ-q-q → “Truth”

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

لتخرّ

kh-r-r → “murmur” Distinctive

literal: fall down; murmur; murmuring

علی

ʿ-l-w → “of the” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

التّراب

t-r-b

literal: dust; earth; soil

تقول

q-w-l → “exclaim: O” Distinctive

literal: to say; to speak; saying

یا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

ربّ

r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

اشهد

sh-h-d → “I testify”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

انّک

ʾ-n-n → “that”

literal: I, verily; behold I

انت

ʾ-n-t → “Thou”

literal: you (masculine singular)

مولی

w-l-y → “Lord”

literal: friend; lord; guardian

الوجود

w-j-d → “creation”

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

الغیب

gh-y-b → “all beings, visible and invisible”

literal: the unseen; the invisible; the hidden; the unknowable; stranger; foreign; alien; separated

احاطت

ḥ-w-ṭ → “hath encompassed”

literal: to encompass; to surround; to encircle

الکائنات

k-w-n → “the entire universe” Distinctive

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

تخوّفک

kh-w-f → “dismay”

literal: fear; fearful; to fear

جنود

j-n-d → “hosts”

literal: hosts, armies, troops

من

m-n → “of the”

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

الأرض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

تمنعک

m-n-ʿ → “deter”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

سطوة

s-ṭ-w → “dominion”

literal: might; force; severity; oppression; tyranny

علیها

ʿ-l-y → “Thee from executing Thy purpose” Distinctive

literal: upon; on; exalted

ما

m-ʾ

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

اردت

r-w-d → “hast no desire” Distinctive

literal: to will, to intend, to wish, to desire; to want; to intend; to desire

الّا

ʾ-kh-r → “end”

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

حیاة

ḥ-y-y → “life”

literal: greeting; salutation; tribute; to make alive; to revive

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 ¶