Gleanings — §644

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 644 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ن قل یا قوم أن اعملوا ما أمرتم به في الألواح ولا تتّبعوا ظنون المفسدین الّذین یرتکبون الفحشآء وینسبونه إلی الله المقدّس العزیز المنیع قل إنّا قبلنا الضّرّآء والبأسآء لتنزیه أنفسکم ما لکم لا تکوننّ من المتفکّرین تالله من تفکّر في ضرّنا لیذوب من نار الحزن وربّک علی ما أقول شهید إنّا حملنا البلایا کلّها لتطهیر أنفسکم وأنتم من الغافلین قل ینبغي لکلّ من

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Say: Follow, O people, what hath been prescribed unto you in Our Tablets, and walk not after the imaginations which the sowers of mischief have devised, they that commit wickedness and impute it to God, the Most Holy, the All-Glorious, the Most Exalted. Say: We have accepted to be tried by ills and troubles, that ye may sanctify yourselves from all earthly defilements. Why, then, refuse ye to ponder Our purpose in your hearts? By the righteousness of God! Whoso will reflect upon the tribulations We have suffered, his soul will assuredly melt away with sorrow. Thy Lord Himself beareth witness to the truth of My words. We have sustained the weight of all calamities to sanctify you from all earthly corruption, and ye are yet indifferent.

Translation Notes

قل

q-w-l → “Say”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

یا

y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

قوم

q-w-m → “people”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

اعملوا

ʿ-m-l → “deeds” Distinctive

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

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

أمرتم

ʾ-m-r → “hath been prescribed”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair; Cause (of God); to command; to order

به

b-h → “unto you”

literal: by it; by him; with it

في

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

الألواح

l-w-ḥ → “Tablets”

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

ولا

w-l-y

literal: no; not; negation particle

تتّبعوا

t-b-ʿ → “follow”

literal: to follow; to obey; to pursue

ظنون

ẓ-n-n → “idle fancies”

literal: fancy; supposition; vain imagination; idle conjecture

المفسدین

f-s-d → “sowers of mischief” Distinctive

literal: corruption; ruin; discord; mischief; decay

الّذین

l-dh-y → “they that”

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

یرتکبون

r-k-b → “commit”

literal: to ride; to commit; to undertake; composition; combination; structure

الفحشآء

f-ḥ-sh → “wickedness”

literal: indecency; wickedness; iniquity; obscenity

وینسبونه

n-s-b → “relationship” Distinctive

literal: relation; relationship; connection; attribution; proportion

إلی

ʾ-l-y

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

الله

ʾ-l-h → “God”

literal: by God (oath formula)

المقدّس

q-d-s → “Most Holy”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

العزیز

ʿ-z-z → “All-Glorious”

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

المنیع

m-n-ʿ → “Most Exalted”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

إنّا

ʾ-n → “to”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

قبلنا

q-b-l → “have accepted”

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

الضّرّآء

ḍ-r-r → “ills and troubles” Distinctive

literal: harm; damage; injury; detriment

والبأسآء

b-ʾ-s

literal: harm; strength; blame; hardship, adversity, tribulation, distress

لتنزیه

n-z-h → “sanctified”

literal: exalted; sanctified; free from; removed from

أنفسکم

n-f-s → “yourselves”

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

لکم

l-k-m

literal: for you, to you, your (dative pronoun)

لا

l-ʾ

literal: no; not; negation particle

تکوننّ

k-w-n

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

من

m-n → “Whoso will” Distinctive

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

المتفکّرین

f-k-r → “ponder Our purpose”

literal: thoughts; ideas; fancies; opinions

تفکّر

f-k-r → “reflect” Distinctive

literal: thoughts; ideas; fancies; opinions

لیذوب

dh-w-b → “consumed” Distinctive

literal: to melt; to waste away

نار

n-ʾ-r

literal: light; illumination

الحزن

ḥ-z-n → “sorrow”

literal: sorrow; grief; sadness; anguish; to grieve; to sorrow; to be sad

وربّک

r-b-b → “Thy Lord”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

علی

ʿ-l-w → “exalted”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

شهید

sh-h-d

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

حملنا

ḥ-m-l → “sustained”

literal: to bear; to endure; to carry; to tolerate

البلایا

b-l-w → “tribulations”

literal: affliction; trial; calamity; trial, tribulation, affliction, calamity; yes; indeed; verily

کلّها

k-l-l → “all”

literal: all; every; whole; entirety; entire; completely

لتطهیر

ṭ-h-r → “pure” Distinctive

literal: purify; pure; purified

وأنتم

n-t-m → “you”

literal: you (plural)

الغافلین

gh-f-l → “heedless”

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

ینبغي

n-b-gh

literal: it is proper; it is fitting; it is necessary; it behooves

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 ¶