Gleanings — §505

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 505 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

الأرضین ای ذبیح بصر حدید باید و قلب محکم و رجل نحاس شاید تا بوساوس جنود نفسیّه نلغزد اینست حکم محکم که بارادهٴ مالک قدم از قلم اسم اعظم جاری و نازل شده ان احفظه کما تحفظ عینک و کن من الشّاکرین در لیالی و ایّام بخدمت حقّ مشغول باش و از دونش منقطع لعمری ما تراه الیوم سیفنی و تجد نفسک فی اعلی المقام لو تکون مستقیماً علی ما امرک مولاک انّ الیه منقلبک و مثواک.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Sharp must be thy sight, O Ḏhabíḥ, and adamant thy soul, and brass-like thy feet, if thou wishest to be unshaken by the assaults of the selfish desires that whisper in men’s breasts. This is the firm injunction which the Pen of the Most Great Name hath, by virtue of the Will of the Ancient King, been moved to reveal. Keep it as the apple of thine eye, and be thou of the thankful. Strive thou day and night to serve the Cause of Him Who is the Eternal Truth, and be thou detached from all else but Him. By Myself! Whatever thou seest in this Day shall perish. Supremely lofty will be thy station, if thou remainest steadfast in the Cause of thy Lord. Towards Him are thy busy movements directed, and in Him is thy final resting-place.

Translation Notes

الأرضین

ʾ-r-ḍ

literal: earth; land; ground; country

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

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

ذبیح

dh-b-ḥ → “offer up”

literal: to slaughter, sacrifice; slaughter, sacrifice

بصر

b-ṣ-r → “thy sight” Distinctive

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

حدید

ḥ-d-d → “limitations” Distinctive

literal: iron; sharp, keen, acute

باید

b-y-d → “must”

literal: by hand; with hands; eternal; perpetual; everlasting

قلب

q-l-b → “thy soul” Distinctive

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

محکم

ḥ-k-m → “wisdom” Distinctive

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom

رجل

r-j-l → “thy feet”

literal: man; men; person

نحاس

n-ḥ-s → “copper”

literal: copper; brass; base metal

شاید

sh-y-d → “haply”

literal: perhaps, perchance, haply, maybe, possibly; to become; to be; to happen; to occur

تا

t-y-y

literal: so that/until

بوساوس

w-s-w-s → “of” Distinctive

literal: whisper; whispering; temptation

جنود

j-n-d

literal: hosts, armies, troops

نفسیّه

n-f-s → “selfish desires” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

نلغزد

l-gh-z → “falter”

literal: slip; stumble; error

اینست

h-s-t → “This”

literal: is; be; are

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

بارادهٴ

r-w-d → “desire” Distinctive

literal: will; want; desire

مالک

m-l-k → “Ancient King”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty; possessions; property; ownership

قدم

q-d-m

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

قلم

q-l-m → “Pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

اسم

s-m-w

literal: name; title; designation

اعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “Most Great Name”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

جاری

j-r-y → “flow”

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

نازل

n-z-l → “sent down”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

شده

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

ان

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

احفظه

ḥ-f-ẓ → “Keep”

literal: guardian; preserver; keeper

کما

k-m → “loss” Distinctive

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

عینک

ʿ-y-n → “thine eye”

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

کن

k-w-n → “be thou”

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

من

m-n → “of”

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

الشّاکرین

sh-k-r → “the thankful”

literal: thank; thankful; thanks

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

لیالی

l-ʾ-l → “pearls”

literal: night; darkness

ایّام

y-w-m → “day”

literal: day; age; period; era; a day

بخدمت

kh-d-m → “serve”

literal: service; servitude; to serve

حقّ

ḥ-q-q → “Eternal Truth”

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

مشغول

sh-gh-l

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

باش

b-w-d → “is” Distinctive

literal: be, exist; do not be (in negative imperative)

دونش

d-w-n → “except Thee” Distinctive

literal: below; lower than; beneath

منقطع

q-ṭ-ʿ → “detached”

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

لعمری

ʿ-m-r → “By My life”

literal: life; age; duration; by the life of (oath)

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

تراه

r-ʾ-y → “seest”

literal: way; path; road

سیفنی

f-n-y → “shall perish”

literal: sword

تجد

w-j-d → “being” Distinctive

literal: monarch; crowned ruler; king

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

اعلی

ʿ-l-w → “Supremely lofty” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

لو

l-w → “If”

literal: if; would that; O that

مستقیماً

q-w-m → “steadfast”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

امرک

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

مولاک

w-l-y → “Lord”

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

الیه

ʾ-l-y → “besmirch”

literal: to; to him; besmirch

مثواک.

th-w-y → “shall be the abode” Distinctive

literal: abode; abode/dwelling

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 ¶