Gleanings — §609

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 609 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

أن یا حرف الحيّ لقد سَمِعَت أُذُن الله ندائک ولاحظت عین الله کتابک وینادیک حینئذ عن جهة العرش بآیات نفسه المهیمن القیّوم فطوبی

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O Letter of the Living! The ear of God hath heard thy cry, and His eyes have beheld thy written supplication. He is calling thee from His seat of glory, and is revealing unto thee the verses that have been sent down by Him Who is the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.

Translation Notes

أن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

یا

y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

حرف

ḥ-r-f → “Letter”

literal: letter; character; edge

الحيّ

ḥ-y-y → “life” Distinctive

literal: greeting; salutation; tribute; to make alive; to revive

لقد

q-d → “We have been”

literal: verily; indeed; certainly (particle of emphasis)

سَمِعَت

s-m-ʿ → “heard”

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

أُذُن

ʾ-dh-n → “ears”

literal: ear; permission; leave; to permit; to allow; to listen

الله

ʾ-l-h → “of God”

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

ندائک

n-d-y → “thy cry” Distinctive

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

ولاحظت

l-ḥ-ẓ → “Consider” Distinctive

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

عین

ʿ-y-n → “His eyes”

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence

کتابک

k-t-b → “thy written supplication” Distinctive

literal: book; scripture; writing

حینئذ

ḥ-y-n → “moment”

literal: time; moment; while; season

عن

ʿ-n → “from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

جهة

j-h-h → “side” Distinctive

literal: direction; side; way; quarter; aspect

العرش

ʿ-r-sh → “throne”

literal: of the Throne; companion of the Throne

بآیات

ʾ-y-y → “verses”

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

نفسه

n-f-s → “Him Who” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

المهیمن

h-m-n → “the Help in Peril”

literal: the Protector; the Overseer; the Guardian

القیّوم

q-w-m → “the Self-Subsisting”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

فطوبی

ṭ-w-b

literal: happiness; blessedness; felicity

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

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 ¶