Gleanings — §624

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 624 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

بوده براستی میگویم ندای احلی را بشنوید و خود را از آلایش نفس و هوی مقدّس دارید الیوم ساکنین بساط احدیّه و مستقرّین سرر عزّ صمدانیّه اگر قوت لایموت نداشته باشند بمال یهود دست دراز

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Verily I say: Incline your ears to My sweet voice, and sanctify yourselves from the defilement of your evil passions and corrupt desires. They who dwell within the tabernacle of God, and are established upon the seats of everlasting glory, will refuse, though they be dying of hunger, to stretch their hands and seize unlawfully the property of their neighbor, however vile and worthless he may be.

Translation Notes

براستی

r-s-t → “Verily”

literal: truth; verily; truly

میگویم

g-w-y → “I say”

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

ندای

n-d-y → “voice”

literal: call; voice; cry; summons

احلی

ḥ-l-w → “sweet”

literal: sweetest; most sweet; most pleasant

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بشنوید

sh-n-w → “heard” Distinctive

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

خود

kh-w-d → “their own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

از

ʾ-z → “from the”

literal: from

آلایش

ʾ-l-y → “bondage and corruption”

literal: defilement; impurity; fetters

نفس

n-f-s → “evil passions” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

هوی

h-w-y → “desires”

literal: desire; vain desire; inclination; passion; whim; realm; region

مقدّس

q-d-s → “sanctify” Distinctive

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

دارید

d-ʾ-r

literal: to have; to hold; to possess; to maintain

الیوم

y-w-m

literal: day; age; period; era; a day

ساکنین

s-k-n → “dwell”

literal: stillness, rest, quietude, tranquility

بساط

b-s-ṭ → “court”

literal: carpet; mat; carpet of realm; expanse; table; surface

احدیّه

ʾ-ḥ-d → “God”

literal: oneness; unity; absolute unicity; singleness of divine essence

مستقرّین

q-r-b → “nearness” Distinctive

literal: stability; firmness; establishment

سرر

s-r-r → “seats”

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

عزّ

ʿ-z-z → “glory”

literal: glory; might; honor; dignity; power; majesty

صمدانیّه

ṣ-m-d → “everlasting glory”

literal: eternal, self-sufficient, divine, the Eternal

اگر

ʾ-g-r → “were they”

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

قوت

q-w-t → “power”

literal: strength; power; might

لایموت

m-w-t

literal: death; dead; to die

نداشته

d-ʾ-sh-t

literal: to have; to possess; to hold

باشند

b-w-d → “are” Distinctive

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

بمال

m-w-l → “property”

literal: hope; wish; desire; aspiration

یهود

y-h-d → “Jews”

literal: Jews; Jew; Judea

دست

d-s-t → “their hands”

literal: hand; control, power, authority

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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

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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 ¶

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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 ¶

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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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57 ¶

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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 ¶

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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 ¶