Gleanings — §519

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 519 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

جوهكم أبواب الرّحمة وإنّه لهو الرّحمن الرّحيم، اتّقوا الله يا أيّها الملوك ولا تتجاوزوا عن حدود الله ثمّ اتّبعوا بما أمرتم به في الكتاب ولا تكوننّ من المتجاوزين، إيّاكم أن لا تظلموا على أحد قدر خردل واسلكوا سبيل العدل وإنّه لسبيل مستقيم، ثمّ أصلحوا ذات بينكم وقلّلوا في العساكر ليقلّ مصارفكم وتكوننّ من المستريحين، وإن ترتفعوا الاختلاف بينكم لن تحتاجوا إلى كثرة الجيوش إلّا على قدر الّذي تحرسون بها بلدانكم وممالككم اتّقوا الله ولا تسرفوا في شيء ولا تكوننّ من المسرفين، وعلمنا بأنّكم تزدادون مصارفكم في كلّ يوم وتحمّلونها على الرّعيّة وهذا فوق طاقتهم وإنّ هذا لظلم عظيم، اعدلوا يا أيها الملوك بين النّاس وكونوا مظاهر العدل في الأرض وهذا ينبغي لكم ويليق لشأنكم لو أنتم من المنصفين، إيّاكم أن لا تظلموا على الّذين هم هاجروا إليكم ودخلوا في ظلّكم اتّقوا الله وكونوا

Shoghi Effendi Translation

If ye pay no heed unto the counsels which, in peerless and unequivocal language, We have revealed in this Tablet, Divine chastisement shall assail you from every direction, and the sentence of His justice shall be pronounced against you. On that day ye shall have no power to resist Him, and shall recognize your own impotence. Have mercy on yourselves and on those beneath you. Judge ye between them according to the precepts prescribed by God in His most holy and exalted Tablet, a Tablet wherein He hath assigned to each and every thing its settled measure, in which He hath given, with distinctness, an explanation of all things, and which is in itself a monition unto them that believe in Him.

Translation Notes

جوهكم

f-w-h

literal: mouth; mouths; fruits

أبواب

b-w-b

literal: door; gate; chapter; way; manner

الرّحمة

r-ḥ-m → “Have mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

وإنّه

h-w → “He”

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

اتّقوا

w-q-y

literal: to fear; to frighten; afraid

الله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

يا

y-ʾ

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

أيّها

ʾ-y-y

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

الملوك

m-l-k

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty

ولا

w-l-y → “Lord” Distinctive

literal: no; not; negation particle

تتجاوزوا

j-w-z

literal: permissible; allowed; possible; fair; lawful

عن

ʿ-n

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

حدود

ḥ-d-d → “precepts”

literal: iron; sharp, keen, acute

ثمّ

th-m-m

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

اتّبعوا

t-b-ʿ

literal: to follow; to obey; to pursue

بما

m-ʾ

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

أمرتم

ʾ-m-r → “prescribed”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

به

b-h → “by” Distinctive

literal: by it; by him; with it

في

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

الكتاب

k-t-b → “Book”

literal: book; scripture; writing

تكوننّ

k-w-n

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

من

m-n

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

أن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

لا

l-ʾ

literal: no; not; negation particle

تظلموا

ẓ-l-m

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

على

ʿ-l-w → “to resist Him, and shall recognize your own impotence” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

أحد

ʾ-ḥ-d

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

قدر

q-d-r → “power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

خردل

kh-r-d

literal: smallness, littleness, minuteness; childhood

واسلكوا

s-l-k

literal: conduct; walk; traveler

سبيل

s-b-l → “the”

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

العدل

ʿ-d-l → “justice”

literal: justice; equity

مستقيم،

q-w-m

literal: rising; standing; resurrection; uprising; establishment

أصلحوا

ṣ-l-ḥ

literal: reform; peace; Salih

ذات

dh-w-t

literal: self; essence; being

بينكم

b-y-n → “between them” Distinctive

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

وقلّلوا

q-l-l

literal: less; few; little

العساكر

ʿ-s-k-r

literal: army; forces; soldiers

مصارفكم

ṣ-r-f

literal: pure; disposal; assayer

المستريحين،

r-w-ḥ

literal: spirit; spiritual; soul

وإن

ʾ-n-n

literal: that; indeed/verily; indeed

ترتفعوا

r-f-ʿ → “exalted”

literal: raise; raised; elevation

الاختلاف

kh-l-f

literal: opposing; contrary; conflicting

لن

l-n

literal: will not (negation of future)

تحتاجوا

ḥ-w-j

literal: need; needy; needs

كثرة

k-th-r → “most”

literal: most; abundance; many

الجيوش

j-y-sh

literal: armies

إلّا

ʾ-kh-r

literal: end; hereafter; other

تحرسون

ḥ-r-s

literal: guard; guarding; security

بها

b-h-w

literal: glory; most glorious; most-glorious

بلدانكم

b-l-d

literal: city; land; country

تسرفوا

s-r-f

literal: to be extravagant; to exceed; to squander

شيء

sh-y-ʾ → “thing”

literal: thing; something; to will; to wish; to desire; to open; to unfold; to reveal

وعلمنا

ʿ-l-m

literal: world; universe; the worlds

بأنّكم

ʾ-n-n → “that”

literal: that; indeed/verily; indeed

تزدادون

z-y-d

literal: increase; excess; more; additional; to increase; to grow; to be added

كلّ

k-l-l → “each and every”

literal: for us; to us

يوم

y-w-m → “day”

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

وتحمّلونها

ḥ-m-l

literal: to bear; to endure; to carry; to tolerate

الرّعيّة

r-ʿ-y → “subjects”

literal: to guard, watch over, regard, heed, respect, maintain; care; protection; guardianship; watchfulness

وهذا

h-dh-ʾ → “this Tablet”

literal: this; that

فوق

f-w-q

literal: above; over; beyond

طاقتهم

ṭ-w-q

literal: strength; ability; capacity; power

عظيم،

ʿ-ẓ-m

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

النّاس

n-ʾ-s

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

مظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “revealed” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

الأرض

ʾ-r-ḍ

literal: earth; land; ground; country

ينبغي

n-b-gh

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

لكم

l-k-m → “you”

literal: for you, to you, your (dative pronoun)

ويليق

l-y-q

literal: worthy, befitting, appropriate, suitable

لشأنكم

sh-ʾ-n

literal: evil, disgrace; the letter ‘shin’; befitting; appropriate; suitable

لو

l-w

literal: if; would that; O that

أنتم

n-t-m → “you”

literal: you

المنصفين،

n-ṣ-f

literal: justice; fairness; equity

الّذين

l-dh-y → “them that”

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

هم

h-m-m → “endeavor” Distinctive

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

هاجروا

h-j-r

literal: to emigrate, migrate, forsake; migration, emigration

إليكم

ʾ-l-y → “towards”

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

ودخلوا

d-kh-l

literal: to enter; to admit; to bring in

ظلّكم

ẓ-l-l

literal: shadow; shade; shadow/shade

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

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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 ¶