Gleanings — §503

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 503 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

لهو المقتدر القدیر مشاهده کن که اهل بیان آنقدر ادراک ننموده‌اند که مظهر قبلم و مبشّر جمالم آنچه فرموده ناظراً الی الظّهور و قیامه علی الأمر فرموده والّا ونفسه الحقّ بکلمه‌ئی از آنچه فرموده تکلّم نمینمودند این جهّال امر غنیّ متعال را لعب اطفال دانسته‌اند هر روز بخیالی حرکت مینمایند و در مفازه‌ئی سایرند لو کان الأمر کما یقولون کیف یستقرّ امر ربّک علی عرش السّکون تفکّر و کن من المتفرّسین تفکّر و کن من المتوسّمین تفکّر و کن من الرّاسخین تفکّر و کن من المطمئنّین علی شأن لو یدّعی کلّ البشر بکلّ ما یمکن او فوقه لا تتوجّه الیهم و تدعهم عن ورائک

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Behold how the people of the Bayán have utterly failed to recognize that the sole object of whatsoever My Previous Manifestation and Harbinger of My Beauty hath revealed hath been My Revelation and the proclamation of My Cause. Never — and to this He Who is the Sovereign Truth beareth Me witness — would He have, but for Me, pronounced what He did pronounce. Witness how this foolish people have treated the Cause of Him Who is the All-Possessing, the Inaccessible, as a play and pastime! Their hearts devise each day a new device, and their fancy leadeth them to seek a fresh retreat. If what they say be true, how then can the stability of the Cause of thy Lord be ensured? Ponder this in thine heart, and be thou of them who are sharp-sighted, who scan heedfully, who are steadfast in their purpose and confident in their belief. Such should be thy certitude that if all mankind were to advance such claims as no man hath ever advanced, or any mind conceived, thou wouldst completely ignore them, wouldst cast them from thee, and would set thy face towards Him Who is the Object of the adoration of all worlds.

Translation Notes

لهو

h-w → “is”

literal: to distract; to divert; to amuse

المقتدر

q-d-r → “how” Distinctive

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

مشاهده

sh-h-d → “Behold”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

کن

k-w-n → “of” Distinctive

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

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “people”

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

بیان

b-y-n → “Bayán” Distinctive

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident; in; among; between; at this moment

ادراک

d-r-k → “failed to recognize” Distinctive

literal: to overtake; to catch; to reach; to attain; to perceive; to comprehend

ننموده‌اند

n-m-ʾ → “failed to recognize” Distinctive

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

مظهر

ẓ-h-r → “Manifestation”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

قبلم

q-b-l

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

مبشّر

b-sh-r → “announce” Distinctive

literal: human; mankind; human nature

جمالم

j-m-l → “My Beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

آنچه

ʾ-n → “to”

literal: that; indeed; that, to

فرموده

f-r-m → “hath revealed” Distinctive

literal: to say; to decree; to ordain; to command

ناظراً

n-ẓ-r

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

قیامه

q-w-m → “people” Distinctive

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

علی

ʿ-l-w

literal: highest; most high; supreme

الأمر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

والّا

w-l-y → “Lord” Distinctive

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

ونفسه

n-f-s → “He” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

الحقّ

ḥ-q-q → “Sovereign Truth”

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

بکلمه‌ئی

k-l-m

literal: words; utterances; locutions; word; utterance; speech; sayings; verses

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

این

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

جهّال

j-h-l → “foolish”

literal: ignorant; foolish; the ignorant ones

امر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

غنیّ

gh-n-y → “All-Possessing, the Inaccessible”

literal: to be independent of; to be in no need of; to dispense with; rich; wealthy; needless

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

لعب

l-ʿ-b → “disportest” Distinctive

literal: to play; to sport; to jest

اطفال

ṭ-f-l

literal: child; children; childhood

دانسته‌اند

d-ʾ-n → “considered”

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

هر

h-r → “every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

روز

r-w-z → “day”

literal: day; today; that-day

بخیالی

kh-y-l → “fancy”

literal: imagination; fancy; shadow; phantom; thought; idea

حرکت

ḥ-r-k

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

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

مفازه‌ئی

m-f-z → “retreat”

literal: desert

سایرند

s-y-r

literal: journey; other; conduct

لو

l-w → “If”

literal: if; would that; O that

کما

k-m

literal: as; like; how much; lane; street; quarter; abode

یقولون

q-w-l → “they say”

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

کیف

k-y-f → “how”

literal: how; in what manner

یستقرّ

q-r-r → “acknowledged” Distinctive

literal: stability; firmness; establishment

ربّک

r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

عرش

ʿ-r-sh

literal: of the Throne; companion of the Throne

السّکون

s-k-n

literal: stillness, rest, quietude, tranquility

تفکّر

f-k-r → “Ponder”

literal: thoughts; ideas; fancies; opinions; to think; to reflect; to contemplate

من

m-n → “of them who are”

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

المتفرّسین

f-r-s → “send” Distinctive

literal: Persian; Persia

المتوسّمین

w-s-m → “heedfully”

literal: to discern; to observe; to recognize; to perceive

الرّاسخین

r-s-kh → “steadfast”

literal: steadfast; firm; firmly rooted; established

المطمئنّین

ṭ-m-n → “confident”

literal: tranquility; confidence; tranquil

شأن

sh-ʾ-n → “in such wise”

literal: affair; concern; matter; aspect; quality; state; affairs; matters; conditions; circumstances; affair, matter, station, rank, dignity; station; rank; importance; matter, affair, concern, dignity, rank

یدّعی

d-ʿ-y → “claims” Distinctive

literal: claim; claimant; claims

کلّ

k-l-l → “all”

literal: for us; to us

ما

m-ʾ

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

یمکن

m-k-n

literal: establishment; confirmation; empowerment; firm settlement; place; possibility; being (negated as ‘non-being’)

او

h-w-w → “is”

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

فوقه

f-w-q

literal: above; over; beyond

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

تتوجّه

w-j-h → “face”

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

الیهم

ʾ-l-y → “towards”

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

تدعهم

w-d-ʿ → “cast them from thee”

literal: call, invocation, summons; to call, invite, summon

عن

ʿ-n

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

ورائک

w-r-ʾ → “them” Distinctive

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

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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 ¶

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50 ¶

Kitáb-i-’Ahd

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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

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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 ¶

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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 ¶

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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

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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

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57 ¶

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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 ¶

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‘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 ¶