Gleanings — §558

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 558 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

شنود و اسرار رجوع و ایاب را بچشم سر ملاحظه فرماید چه ذکر نمایم از آثار و علامات و ظهورات و تجلّیات که بامر سلطان اسماء و صفات در آن مدینه مقدّر شده بی‌آب رفع عطش نماید و بی‌نار حرارت محبّة الله بیفزاید در هر گیاهی حکمت بالغهٔ معنوی مستور است و بر شاخسار هر گل هزار بلبل ناطقه در جذب و شور از لاله‌های بدیعش سرّ نار موسوی ظاهر و از نفحات قدسیّه‌اش نفخهٔ روح القدس عیسوی باهر بی‌ذهب غنا بخشد و بی‌فنا بقا عطا فرماید در هر ورقش نعیمی

Shoghi Effendi Translation

How unspeakably glorious are the signs, the tokens, the revelations, and splendors which He, Who is the King of Names and Attributes, hath destined for that City! The attainment unto this City quencheth thirst without water, and kindleth the love of God without fire. Within every blade of grass are enshrined the mysteries of an inscrutable Wisdom, and upon every rosebush a myriad nightingales pour out, in blissful rapture, their melody. Its wondrous tulips unfold the mystery of the undying Fire in the Burning Bush, and its sweet savors of holiness breathe the perfume of the Messianic Spirit. It bestoweth wealth without gold, and conferreth immortality without death. In each one of its leaves ineffable delights are treasured, and within every chamber unnumbered mysteries lie hidden.

Translation Notes

شنود

sh-n-w

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

اسرار

s-r-r → “mysteries”

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

رجوع

r-j-ʿ

literal: return; reference; place of return; resort

ایاب

ʾ-w-b

literal: return; homecoming; restoration

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بچشم

ch-sh-m

literal: eye; vision; sight

ملاحظه

l-ḥ-ẓ

literal: assembly; multitude; chiefs; to fill; people of rank; fullness, assembly

فرماید

f-r-m → “He” Distinctive

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

چه

ch-h

literal: what; what/for; whatsoever, that which

ذکر

dh-k-r

literal: remembrance; mention; memory; invocation; reminders; commemorations

نمایم

n-m-ʾ → “hath” Distinctive

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

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

آثار

ʾ-th-r → “signs, the tokens”

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

علامات

ʿ-l-m

literal: world; universe; the worlds

تجلّیات

j-l-w → “revelations” Distinctive

literal: effulgence; manifestation; revelation; manifestation, revelation, appearance

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

بامر

ʾ-m-r

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

سلطان

s-l-ṭ → “King”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

اسماء

s-m-w → “Names”

literal: name

صفات

w-ṣ-f → “Attributes”

literal: attribute; quality; characteristic

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

آن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

مدینه

m-d-n → “that City”

literal: religion; faith; creed; belief

مقدّر

q-d-r → “destined”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

شده

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

بی‌آب

b-y-ʾ-b → “wastes”

literal: wilderness

رفع

r-f-ʿ → “raised”

literal: to be raised, elevated, exalted, lifted up

عطش

ʿ-ṭ-sh → “thirst”

literal: thirsty, athirst

بی‌نار

n-ʾ-r → “without fire”

literal: fire; blaze; flame

حرارت

ḥ-r-r

literal: heat; writing; freedom

محبّة

ḥ-b-b → “love”

literal: love; affection

الله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

بیفزاید

f-z-y → “kindleth”

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

هر

h-r → “every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

گیاهی

g-y-h → “blade of grass”

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

حکمت

ḥ-k-m → “Wisdom”

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom

بالغهٔ

b-l-gh → “inscrutable”

literal: to reach; to attain; to deliver; to proclaim

معنوی

ʿ-n-y

literal: meaning; sense; significance

مستور

s-t-r → “hidden”

literal: to veil; to conceal; to cover; veil; covering

است

b-w-d → “are”

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

بر

b-r-r → “upon”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

شاخسار

sh-ʾ-kh

literal: branch; twig; limb

گل

g-l → “rosebush”

literal: rose-garden; garden of flowers

هزار

h-z-r → “myriad”

literal: thousand

بلبل

b-l-b-l → “nightingales”

literal: confusion; mixture of languages; disorder

ناطقه

n-ṭ-q

literal: to speak; to utter; to pronounce; to articulate

جذب

j-dh-b → “blissful rapture”

literal: to draw, attract, pull; to be enraptured

شور

sh-w-r

literal: to consult, deliberate; to advise

لاله‌های

l-ʾ-l-h → “tulips”

literal: tulip; tulips

بدیعش

b-d-ʿ → “wondrous”

literal: wondrous; wonders; creation

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

نفحات

n-f-ḥ → “savors” Distinctive

literal: breeze; fragrance; whiff; breath; emanation

قدسیّه‌اش

q-d-s → “holiness”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

نفخهٔ

n-f-kh → “breathe”

literal: to blow; to breathe; to inflate; to sound (a trumpet)

روح

r-w-ḥ → “Spirit”

literal: to go; to depart; to rest; spirit; soul

باهر

b-h-r

literal: portion, share; for the sake of; spring (season)

بی‌ذهب

dh-h-b → “without gold”

literal: religion; creed; doctrine; belief; sect

غنا

gh-n-y → “wealth”

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

بخشد

b-kh-sh → “bestoweth”

literal: to grant; to give; to forgive; to bestow

بی‌فنا

f-n-y → “shall perish” Distinctive

literal: to annihilate; to disappear; annihilation

بقا

b-q-y → “immortality”

literal: remaining; everlasting; eternal; immortal; permanence; duration; continuance

عطا

ʿ-ṭ-w

literal: the letter Ṭá; refers to Ṭihrán (also spelled Ṭehran)

ورقش

w-r-q → “leaves”

literal: leaf; dove; leaves

نعیمی

n-ʿ-m → “delights”

literal: bliss; bounty; grace; comfort; felicity

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 ¶