Gleanings — §619

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 619 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ات الأمر من لدن مقتدر حكيم أن يا خليل تالله إِذًا يتحرّك القلم على اللّوح ولكن يبكي ويصيح في نفسه ويضجّ معه السّراج بين يدي العرش بما ورد على جمال القِدم من الّذينهم بعثوا بإرادة من عنده وكان الله على ذلك لشهيد وعليم ومن يطهّر أُذنه من نَعِيْق المشركين ويتوجّه إلى الأشياء ليسمع ضجيجها ثمّ صريخها فيما مَسَّتْنَا الضّرّاء من عبادنا المشركين كذلك ألقيناك ذكرًا من مصائبا لتطّلع بما ورد على نفسي وتكون فيما ورد عليك لمن الصّابرين أن انصر ربّك في كلّ شأن وكن من النّاصري

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O Ḵhalíl! God beareth Me witness. Though My Pen be still moving on My Tablet, yet, in its very heart, it weepeth and is sore distressed. The lamp burning before the Throne, likewise, weepeth and groaneth by reason of the things which the Ancient Beauty hath suffered at the hands of them who are but a creation of His Will. God, Himself, knoweth and testifieth to the truth of My words. No man that hath purged his ear from the loud clamor of the infidels, and inclined it to all created things, can fail to hear the voice of their lamentation and weeping over the trouble that hath befallen Us at the hands of those of Our servants that have disbelieved in, and rebelled against, Us. Thus have We disclosed to thee a glimmer of the woes that have come upon us, that thou mayest be made aware of Our sufferings, and patiently endure thy sorrows.

Translation Notes

ات

ʾ-t-y

literal: come; came; bring

الأمر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

literal: mother; to lead; to head; matter; affair; people; nation; community; female servant; handmaiden; umma

من

m-n → “of”

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

لدن

l-d-n

literal: from; on the part of; from before; near

مقتدر

q-d-r

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

حكيم

ḥ-k-m

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom; firm; solid; strengthened

أن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

يا

y-ʾ → “O ye”

literal: O; or

خليل

kh-l-l

literal: defect; breach; disturbance

تالله

ʾ-l-h → “God beareth Me witness”

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

إِذًا

ʾ-dh-n → “ears”

literal: when; if; whenever; then suddenly

يتحرّك

ḥ-r-k → “moving”

literal: movement; motion; trembling; activity; حراک is unusual; possible typo or dialectal. Standard Arabic would be حرك or اهتزاز for ‘trembling’

القلم

q-l-m → “Pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

على

ʿ-l-w → “on” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

اللّوح

l-w-ḥ → “Tablet”

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

ولكن

l-k-n → “yet” Distinctive

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

يبكي

b-k-y → “weepeth”

literal: to wade; to plunge into; to engage in

ويصيح

ṣ-y-ḥ → “cry out” Distinctive

literal: to cry out; to shout; to clamor; cry, shout, outcry

في

f-y → “in”

literal: in a day; during a day; one day after another

نفسه

n-f-s → “its very heart” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

ويضجّ

ḍ-j-j → “sighing” Distinctive

literal: clamor; outcry; noise; tumult

معه

m-ʿ → “notwithstanding”

literal: معه = مع + ه (with him), preposition, not from root ع-م-م

السّراج

s-r-j → “lamp”

literal: lamp; light; illuminator

بين

b-y-n → “before” Distinctive

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

يدي

y-d-y → “the” Distinctive

literal: hand; power; action; possession

العرش

ʿ-r-sh → “Throne”

literal: of the Throne; companion of the Throne

بما

m-ʾ → “that” Distinctive

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

ورد

w-r-d → “hath suffered” Distinctive

literal: to enter, to come, to befall, to arrive

جمال

j-m-l → “Ancient Beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

القِدم

q-d-m

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

الّذينهم

l-dh-y → “which” Distinctive

literal: those who; the ones who (relative pronoun)

بعثوا

b-ʿ-th

literal: to send; to raise up; to dispatch

بإرادة

r-w-d → “Will”

literal: will; want; desire

عنده

ʿ-n-d → “thee” Distinctive

literal: obstinacy; opposition; enmity

لشهيد

sh-h-d → “testifieth”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

وعليم

ʿ-l-m → “knoweth” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

يطهّر

ṭ-h-r → “pure” Distinctive

literal: purify; pure; purified

نَعِيْق

n-ʿ-q → “loud clamor”

literal: clamor; shouter; crier

المشركين

sh-r-k → “of the infidels”

literal: partner; associate; sharer; companion

ويتوجّه

w-j-h → “inclined”

literal: face; attention; turning

إلى

ʾ-l-y → “to”

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

الأشياء

sh-y-ʾ → “all created things”

literal: thing; something; to will; to wish; to desire; to open; to unfold; to reveal

ليسمع

s-m-ʿ → “hear”

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

ثمّ

th-m-m

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

صريخها

ṣ-r-kh → “cry” Distinctive

literal: cry; outcry; clamour; to cry out

مَسَّتْنَا

m-s-s → “touch” Distinctive

literal: supplication; request; to ask; to implore

الضّرّاء

ḍ-r-r → “harm” Distinctive

literal: harm; damage; injury; detriment

عبادنا

ʿ-b-d → “those of Our servants”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

كذلك

dh-l-k → “Thus”

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

ألقيناك

l-q-y → “Presence” Distinctive

literal: suggestion; instilling; casting; throwing

ذكرًا

dh-k-r → “mention”

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

مصائبا

ṣ-y-b → “fall upon” Distinctive

literal: calamity; misfortune; disaster; affliction

لتطّلع

ṭ-l-ʿ → “Dayspring” Distinctive

literal: rising; appearance; countenance; manifestation

وتكون

k-w-n → “and patiently endure” Distinctive

literal: to do; to make; to perform; to be; was

عليك

ʿ-l-y → “upon”

literal: upon; on; exalted

الصّابرين

ṣ-b-r

literal: patience; forbearance; endurance; to be patient

انصر

n-ṣ-r

literal: aid, help, succor, victory, support

ربّك

r-b-b

literal: divine; of God; lordly

كلّ

k-l-l

literal: for us; to us

شأن

sh-ʾ-n

literal: affair; concern; matter; aspect; quality; state; affairs; matters; conditions; circumstances; affair, matter, station, rank, dignity; station; rank; importance; matter, affair, concern, dignity, rank

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 ¶