Gleanings — §611

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 611 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

عليّ في الأفق الأعلی ویقول فطوبی لک یا حرف الحيّ بما آمنت بنفسي وما خجّلتني بین أهل ملأ الأعلی ووفیت بمیثاقک وأخرجت نفسک عن حجبات الوهم وأقبلت إلی الله ربّک وربّ ما یُری وما لا یُری وربّ البیت المعمور وإنّي رضیت عنک بما وجدت

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Thy Lord, the Most High (the Báb), addresseth thee, from His Realm of glory, these words: Great is the blessedness that awaiteth thee, O Letter of the Living, for thou hast truly believed in Me, hast refused to shame Me before the Concourse on high, hast fulfilled thy pledge, hast cast away the veil of vain imaginings, and hast fixed thy gaze upon the Lord, thy God, the Lord of the unseen and the seen, the Lord of the Frequented Fane. I am well pleased with thee, inasmuch as I have found thy face beaming with light on the Day when faces have been made dismal and turned black.

Translation Notes

عليّ

ʿ-l-w → “exalted”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

في

f-y → “from” Distinctive

literal: in; in-it; in it

الأفق

ʾ-f-q → “Realm” Distinctive

literal: horizons; regions; quarters; skylines

ویقول

q-w-l → “words” Distinctive

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

فطوبی

ṭ-w-b → “Great is the blessedness”

literal: happiness; blessedness; felicity

لک

l → “His is”

literal: for; for you; for him

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

بما

m-ʾ → “that” Distinctive

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

آمنت

ʾ-m-n → “hast truly believed”

literal: to believe; to have faith; to be secure

بنفسي

n-f-s → “Me” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

خجّلتني

kh-j-l → “hast refused to shame”

literal: shame; embarrassment; disgrace

بین

b-y-n → “before” Distinctive

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

أهل

ʾ-h-l → “people”

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

ملأ

m-l-ʾ

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

ووفیت

w-f-y → “fidelity” Distinctive

literal: faithfulness; loyalty; fulfillment; fidelity; to be faithful; faithful, loyal

بمیثاقک

w-th-q → “Covenant”

literal: covenant; pledge; bond

وأخرجت

kh-r-j → “banished” Distinctive

literal: bringing out, taking out, expulsion, extraction

عن

ʿ-n → “from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

حجبات

ḥ-j-b

literal: states; conditions; circumstances; situations; affairs

الوهم

w-h-m → “vain imaginings”

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

وأقبلت

q-b-l → “before” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

إلی

ʾ-l-y → “towards”

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

الله

ʾ-l-h → “the Lord” Distinctive

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

ربّک

r-b-b → “thy God” Distinctive

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

یُری

r-ʾ-y → “unseen”

literal: ability; capability; capacity

لا

l-ʾ

literal: no; not; negation particle

البیت

b-y-t → “House”

literal: house; household; family; verse

المعمور

ʿ-m-r → “By My life” Distinctive

literal: to work; to act; to do; to perform

وإنّي

ʾ-n-n → “I”

literal: I, verily; behold I

رضیت

r-ḍ-y → “Thy pleasure” Distinctive

literal: good-pleasure, consent, satisfaction

وجدت

w-j-d → “have found”

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

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 ¶