Gleanings — §550

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 550 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ای برادر من شخص مجاهد که اراده نمود قدم طلب و سلوک در سبیل معرفت سلطان قدم گذارد باید در بدایت امر قلب را که محلّ ظهور و بروز تجلّی اسرار غیبی الهی است از جمیع غبارات تیرهٔ علوم اکتسابی و اشارات مظاهر شیطانی پاک و منزّه فرماید و صدر را که سریر ورود و جلوس محبّت محبوب ازلی است لطیف و نظیف نماید و همچنین دل را از علاقهٔ آب و گل یعنی از جمیع نقوش شبحیّه و صور ظلّیّه مقدّس گرداند بقسمی که آثار حبّ و بغض در قلب نماند که مبادا آن حبّ او را بجهتی بیدلی

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O My brother! When a true seeker determineth to take the step of search in the path leading unto the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cleanse his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy. He must purge his breast, which is the sanctuary of the abiding love of the Beloved, of every defilement, and sanctify his soul from all that pertaineth to water and clay, from all shadowy and ephemeral attachments. He must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly incline him to error, or that hate repel him away from the truth. Even as thou dost witness in this Day how most of the people, because of such love and hate, are bereft of the immortal Face, have strayed far from the Embodiments of the Divine mysteries, and, shepherdless, are roaming through the wilderness of oblivion and error.

Translation Notes

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

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

برادر

b-r-d → “brother”

literal: brother

من

m-n → “My” Distinctive

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

شخص

sh-kh-ṣ

literal: person, individual, self; movement, stirring

مجاهد

j-h-d → “true seeker”

literal: effort; striving; exertion; endeavor

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

اراده

r-w-d → “determineth” Distinctive

literal: to will; to intend; to wish; will, volition, intention, desire

نمود

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

literal: to become; to be

قدم

q-d-m → “Ancient of Days”

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

طلب

ṭ-l-b → “step of search”

literal: seeker, one who seeks; those who seek

سلوک

s-l-k

literal: conduct; behavior; way; path; spiritual wayfaring

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

سبیل

s-b-l → “path”

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

معرفت

ʿ-r-f → “knowledge”

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

سلطان

s-l-ṭ

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

گذارد

g-dh-r

literal: pass; place; passed

باید

b-y-d → “must”

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

بدایت

b-d-ʾ → “before all else”

literal: beginning; primacy; originality; origin; principle; starting point; commencement; start; inception; creation

امر

ʾ-m-r

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

قلب

q-l-b → “heart”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

محلّ

ḥ-l-l → “seat”

literal: place; location; spot

بروز

b-r-z → “revelation”

literal: appearance; manifestation; coming forth

تجلّی

j-l-w

literal: effulgence; manifestation; revelation

اسرار

s-r-r → “mysteries”

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

غیبی

gh-y-b → “invisible”

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

الهی

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

است

b-w-d → “is”

literal: to be; are (third person plural present copula)

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

جمیع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

غبارات

gh-b-r → “dust”

literal: dust; particles

تیرهٔ

t-y-r → “obscured”

literal: arrow; dark; gloomy

علوم

ʿ-l-m → “knowledge”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

اکتسابی

k-s-b → “have wrought” Distinctive

literal: to acquire, earn, gain; to bring upon (oneself); to gain; to acquire; earning; livelihood

اشارات

sh-y-r → “allusions”

literal: explanation; commentary; to explain; to open

مظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “embodiments” Distinctive

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

شیطانی

sh-ṭ-n → “satanic”

literal: Satan; devil; evil one; accursed one

پاک

p-ʾ-k → “cleanse”

literal: pure; clean; sanctified; holy

منزّه

n-z-h

literal: exalted; sanctified; free from; removed from

فرماید

f-r-m → “he” Distinctive

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

صدر

ṣ-d-r → “breast”

literal: to issue, emanate, proceed; issued, emanating

ورود

w-r-d

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

جلوس

j-l-s

literal: sitting; assembly; sitting, seated

محبّت

ḥ-b-b → “love”

literal: love; affection

ازلی

ʾ-z-l → “eternal”

literal: eternity; pre-eternity; without beginning; eternal; everlasting; from eternity

لطیف

l-ṭ-f

literal: kindness; grace; gentleness; benevolence

نظیف

n-ẓ-f → “defilement”

literal: clean; cleanse

همچنین

ch-n-n → “Even as” Distinctive

literal: always; ever; forever; at all times; constantly

دل

d-l → “soul”

literal: to argue; to demonstrate; proof

علاقهٔ

ʿ-l-q → “attachments”

literal: attachment; connection; relationship

آب

m-w-h → “water”

literal: father; ancestry; forefathers

گل

g-l → “clay”

literal: rose-garden; garden of flowers

یعنی

ʿ-n-y

literal: that is; meaning; i.e.

نقوش

n-q-sh

literal: design; pattern; to inscribe; imprint

شبحیّه

sh-b-ḥ → “shadowy”

literal: phantom; spectral

صور

ṣ-w-r

literal: to imagine; to conceive; to suppose

ظلّیّه

ẓ-l-l → “ephemeral”

literal: shadow; shade; shadow/shade

مقدّس

q-d-s → “sanctify” Distinctive

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

گرداند

g-r-d

literal: to become; to happen; to come to pass

بقسمی

q-s-m → “swear” Distinctive

literal: oath; division; kind; type

آثار

ʾ-th-r → “remnant”

literal: effect; trace; influence; imprint; sign; mark; vestige

بغض

b-gh-ḍ → “hate”

literal: hatred; enmity; animosity

نماند

m-ʾ-n → “remain” Distinctive

literal: to remain; to stay; to be left

مبادا

b-d-w → “lest”

literal: lest; perhaps; in order that not

آن

ʾ-n → “that”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

او

h-w-w → “is”

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

بجهتی

j-h-t → “side”

literal: direction; aspect; side; regard

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 ¶