Gleanings — §58

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 58 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

الرِّضْوَانِ دَعُوا كُؤُوسَ الْجِنَانِ وَمَا فِيهِنَّ مِنْ كَوْثَرِ الْحَيَوانِ، لأَنَّ أَهْلَ الْبَهَاءِ دَخَلُوا جَنَّةَ اللِّقَآءِ وَشَرِبُوا رَحِيْقَ الْوِصَالِ مِنْ كَأْسِ جَمَالِ رَبِّهِمِ الْغَنِيِّ الْمُتَعَالِ، يَا قَلَمِ دَعْ ذِكْرَ الإِنْشَآءِ وَتَوَجَّه إِلى وَجْهِ

Shoghi Effendi Translation

This is the Day whereon He Who is the Revealer of the names of God hath stepped out of the Tabernacle of glory, and proclaimed unto all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth: “Put away the cups of Paradise and all the life-giving waters they contain, for lo, the people of Bahá have entered the blissful abode of the Divine Presence, and quaffed the wine of reunion, from the chalice of the beauty of their Lord, the All-Possessing, the Most High.”

Translation Notes

الرِّضْوَانِ

r-ḍ-w → “Paradise”

literal: good-pleasure, consent, satisfaction

دَعُوا

w-d-ʿ → ““Put away”

literal: call, invocation, summons; to call, invite, summon

كُؤُوسَ

k-ʾ-s → “cups”

literal: cup; chalice; goblet

وَمَا

m-ʾ → “that”

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

فِيهِنَّ

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

مِنْ

m-n → “from”

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

كَوْثَرِ

k-w-th-r → “waters”

literal: abundance; river of paradise; the Kawthar

الْحَيَوانِ،

ḥ-y-w

literal: life; living being; animal

لأَنَّ

ʾ-n → “that”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

أَهْلَ

ʾ-h-l → “people”

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

الْبَهَاءِ

b-h-w → “the All-Glorious” Distinctive

literal: splendor; glory; magnificence; Bahá (Proper Name in Bahá’í texts)

دَخَلُوا

d-kh-l → “entered”

literal: to enter; to admit; to bring in

جَنَّةَ

j-n-n → “Paradise”

literal: garden; paradise; heaven

اللِّقَآءِ

l-q-y → “the Divine Presence”

literal: opposite; facing; in front of; towards

وَشَرِبُوا

sh-r-b → “quaffed”

literal: to drink; to imbibe

رَحِيْقَ

r-ḥ-q → “wine”

literal: wine; pure drink; choice beverage (metaphorical for divine knowledge and love)

الْوِصَالِ

w-ṣ-l → “reunion”

literal: reunion; union; meeting; connection

جَمَالِ

j-m-l → “beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

رَبِّهِمِ

r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: divine; of God; lordly

الْغَنِيِّ

gh-n-y → “All-Possessing”

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

الْمُتَعَالِ،

ʿ-l-w → “Most High.””

literal: highest; most high; supreme

يَا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

قَلَمِ

q-l-m

literal: pen; writing instrument

دَعْ

d-ʿ-w

literal: call, invocation, summons; to call, invite, summon

ذِكْرَ

dh-k-r

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

الإِنْشَآءِ

n-sh-ʾ

literal: creation; bringing into existence; establishment; God willing; if God wishes; please God

وَتَوَجَّه

w-j-h

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

إِلى

ʾ-l-y

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

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 ¶