Gleanings — §563

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 563 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

مشاهده کند و هر صاحب سمعی ندای مکلّم طور را اصغا نماید امواج بحر رحمت الهی بکمال اوج ظاهر بشأنی که مشرق آیات و مطلع بیّنات با جمیع احزاب بی پرده و حجاب جالس و مؤانس چه مقدار از اهل آفاق بنفاق داخل و بوفاق خارج باب فضل بر وجوه کل مفتوح با عاصی و مطیع در ظاهر بیک قسم معاشر که شاید بدکاران بدریای بخشش بی‌پایان پی‌برند تجلّیات اسم ستّار بقسمی ظاهر که بدکار گمان مینمود از اخیار محسوب هیچ قاصدی محروم نماند و هیچ مقبلی ممنوع نه...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Every discerning eye can, in this Day, perceive the dawning light of God’s Revelation, and every attentive ear can recognize the Voice that was heard from the Burning Bush. Such is the rushing of the waters of Divine mercy, that He Who is the Dayspring of the signs of God and the Revealer of the evidences of His glory is without veil or concealment associating and conversing with the peoples of the earth and its kindreds. How numerous are those who, with hearts intent upon malice, have sought Our Presence, and departed from it loyal and loving friends! The portals of grace are wide open before the face of all men. In Our outward dealings with them We have treated alike the righteous and the sinner, that perchance the evildoer may attain the limitless ocean of Divine forgiveness. Our name “the Concealer” hath shed such a light upon men that the froward hath imagined himself to be numbered with the pious. No man that seeketh Us will We ever disappoint, neither shall he that hath set his face towards Us be denied access unto Our court.…

Translation Notes

مشاهده

sh-h-d → “perceive”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

کند

k-r-d → “made” Distinctive

literal: to do; to make; to act; to dig, excavate; slow

هر

h-r → “Every discerning”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

صاحب

ṣ-ḥ-b → “companions” Distinctive

literal: possessor; those who have; companion; followers

سمعی

s-m-ʿ → “every attentive ear”

literal: heard, hearkened to, acceptable, worthy of attention

ندای

n-d-y → “Voice”

literal: call; voice; cry; summons; to call; to proclaim; to cry out; to summon

مکلّم

k-l-m → “words” Distinctive

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

طور

ṭ-w-r → “rustling” Distinctive

literal: states; conditions; stages; modes; phases; manner

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

اصغا

ṣ-gh-w → “hear”

literal: to listen, hear; to give ear

نماید

n-m-ʾ → “recognize” Distinctive

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

امواج

m-w-j → “surged” Distinctive

literal: wave; billows; surge

بحر

b-ḥ-r

literal: sea; ocean

رحمت

r-ḥ-m → “Divine mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

الهی

ʾ-l-h → “Divine mercy”

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

بکمال

k-m-l

literal: perfection; completeness; fully; with full; in complete; to complete, perfect, fulfill

اوج

ʿ-w-j

literal: zenith; apex; summit; height

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

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

بشأنی

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

که

k-h → “that He Who is”

literal: that; who; who, that

مشرق

sh-r-q → “Dayspring”

literal: radiance; splendor; dawn; illumination

آیات

ʾ-y-y → “signs”

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

مطلع

ṭ-l-ʿ → “Revealer” Distinctive

literal: rising; appearance; countenance; manifestation

بیّنات

b-y-n → “evidences”

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

با

b-ʾ-ʾ → “with”

literal: to; with; by

جمیع

j-m-ʿ

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

احزاب

ḥ-z-b → “peoples”

literal: party; people; community

بی

b-y → “without”

literal: without; is; to

پرده

p-r-d → “established” Distinctive

literal: to engage in; to undertake; to deal with

حجاب

ḥ-j-b → “concealment” Distinctive

literal: to veil oneself, to be veiled

جالس

j-l-s → “seated”

literal: council; assembly; gathering; session

مؤانس

ʾ-n-s → “man” Distinctive

literal: association; companionship; social interaction; عشرين (twenty) is from numeral root ع-ش-ر, distinct from ‘association’ meaning

چه

ch-h → “For”

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

مقدار

q-d-r → “How numerous” Distinctive

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “men” Distinctive

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

آفاق

ʾ-f-q

literal: horizons; regions; quarters; skylines

بنفاق

n-f-q → “with hearts intent upon malice”

literal: hypocrisy; sedition; discord; betrayal

داخل

d-kh-l → “have sought Our Presence” Distinctive

literal: to enter; to admit; to bring in

بوفاق

w-f-q

literal: accord, agreement, harmony; to agree, accord with

خارج

kh-r-j

literal: bringing out, taking out, expulsion, extraction

باب

b-w-b → “portals” Distinctive

literal: door; gate; chapter; way; manner

فضل

f-ḍ-l → “grace”

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

بر

b-r-r → “upon”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

وجوه

w-j-h → “face”

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

کل

k-l-l → “all men”

literal: for us; to us

مفتوح

f-t-ḥ → “wide open”

literal: opening; opening up; conquests; revelations; disclosure

عاصی

ʿ-ṣ-y → “sinner”

literal: disobey; transgress; rebel

مطیع

ṭ-w-ʿ → “obey” Distinctive

literal: to obey; to comply with

در

d-r-r → “In”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

بیک

y-k → “one”

literal: one; a single

معاشر

ʿ-sh-r → “associated”

literal: association; companionship; social interaction; عشرين (twenty) is from numeral root ع-ش-ر, distinct from ‘association’ meaning

شاید

sh-y-d → “perchance”

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

بدکاران

b-د + ک-ʾ-r → “evildoer”

literal: evildoers; evildoer

بدریای

d-r-y-ʾ → “be led”

literal: sea; ocean

بخشش

b-kh-sh → “grace”

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

بی‌پایان

p-ʾ-y

literal: foot; basis; foundation; end; with negation: endless, infinite, boundless

پی‌برند

b-r-d → “brother” Distinctive

literal: brother; take; coldness

تجلّیات

j-l-w → “hath shed” Distinctive

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

اسم

s-m-w → “Our name”

literal: name; title; designation

ستّار

s-t-r → ““the Concealer””

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

بقسمی

q-s-m → “such a” Distinctive

literal: oath; division; kind; type

گمان

g-m-n → “Think”

literal: supposition; opinion; conjecture; fancy; to suppose; to think

اخیار

kh-y-r → “good” Distinctive

literal: good; better; choose

محسوب

ḥ-s-b → “numbered”

literal: according to; in accordance with; as regards

هیچ

h-y-ch → “any”

literal: nothing; any; not a single

قاصدی

q-ṣ-d → “purpose” Distinctive

literal: intention; purpose; aim; goal; to seek; to direct oneself

محروم

ḥ-r-m → “deprived”

literal: sanctity, inviolability, dignity, honor, respect

نماند

m-ʾ-n

literal: to remain; to stay; to be left

مقبلی

q-b-l → “before” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

ممنوع

m-n-ʿ → “hinder”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

نه...

n-h-y

literal: end; ended; utmost

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 ¶