Gleanings — §665

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 665 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

وإن وجدتم من ذلیل لا تستکبروا علیه لأنّ سلطان العزّ یمرّ علیه في هذا الأیّام ولا یعلم کیف ذلک أحد إلّا من کان مشیّته مشیّة ربّکم العزیز الحکیم. أن یا ملأ الأغنیآء إن رأیتم من فقیر ذي مَتْرَبَة لا تفرّوا عنه ثمّ اقعدوا معه واستفسروا منه عمّا رشح علیه من رشحات أبحر القضآء تالله في تلک الحالة یشهدنّکم أهل ملأ الأعلی ویصلّینّ علیکم ویستغفرنّ لکم ویذکرنّکم ویمجّدنّکم بألسن مقدّس طاهر فصیح فیا طوبی لعالم لن یفتخر علی دونه بعلمه ویا حبّذا لمحسن لن یستهزء بمن عصی ویستر ما شهد منه لیستر الله علیه جریراته...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

If ye meet the abased or the downtrodden, turn not away disdainfully from them, for the King of Glory ever watcheth over them and surroundeth them with such tenderness as none can fathom except them that have suffered their wishes and desires to be merged in the Will of your Lord, the Gracious, the All-Wise. O ye rich ones of the earth! Flee not from the face of the poor that lieth in the dust, nay rather befriend him and suffer him to recount the tale of the woes with which God’s inscrutable Decree hath caused him to be afflicted. By the righteousness of God! Whilst ye consort with him, the Concourse on high will be looking upon you, will be interceding for you, will be extolling your names and glorifying your action. Blessed are the learned that pride not themselves on their attainments; and well is it with the righteous that mock not the sinful, but rather conceal their misdeeds, so that their own shortcomings may remain veiled to men’s eyes.

Translation Notes

وإن

ʾ-n-n → “If”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

وجدتم

w-j-d → “being” Distinctive

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

من

m-n

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

ذلیل

dh-l-l → “abased”

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

تستکبروا

k-b-r → “grandeur” Distinctive

literal: great; grand; mighty; large; greatness; majesty; sovereignty; arrogance

علیه

ʿ-l-y → “over them” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

لأنّ

ʾ-n → “for” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

سلطان

s-l-ṭ → “King”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

العزّ

ʿ-z-z → “Glory”

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

یمرّ

m-r-r → “At one time” Distinctive

literal: matter; affair; thing

في

f-y

literal: in; in-it; in it

هذا

h-dh-ʾ

literal: this; that

الأیّام

y-w-m

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

ولا

w-l-y

literal: friend; lord; guardian

کیف

k-y-f

literal: how; in what manner

ذلک

dh-l-k

literal: that; thus; by-that

أحد

ʾ-ḥ-d → “none”

literal: Divine unity; monotheism; belief in the oneness of God

إلّا

ʾ-kh-r → “end”

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

کان

k-w-n

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

مشیّته

sh-y-ʾ → “their wishes and desires” Distinctive

literal: way; manner; gait; to walk; to go; to proceed

ربّکم

r-b-b → “your Lord”

literal: Lord; Master; Sustainer; Cherisher

الحکیم.

ḥ-k-m → “the All-Wise”

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

أن

ʾ-n → “O”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

یا

y-ʾ → “O ye”

literal: O; or

ملأ

m-l-ʾ → “Concourse”

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

الأغنیآء

gh-n-y → “rich ones”

literal: to be independent of; to be in no need of; to dispense with; rich; wealthy; needless

رأیتم

r-ʾ-y

literal: see; to see; see/behold

فقیر

f-q-r → “poor”

literal: poor; needy; the poor one; pauper

ذي

dh-w-y → “and” Distinctive

literal: possessor; possessor of; possessor/owner

مَتْرَبَة

t-r-b → “in the dust”

literal: dust; dust, earth; dust/earth

تفرّوا

f-r-r

literal: flee; flight; refuge

عنه

ʿ-n → “from the face”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

ثمّ

th-m-m

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

اقعدوا

q-ʿ-d → “seat” Distinctive

literal: seat; rule; rules

معه

m-ʿ → “notwithstanding”

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

واستفسروا

f-s-r → “interpreted” Distinctive

literal: interpretation; inquiry; commentary

رشحات

r-sh-ḥ → “sprinkling” Distinctive

literal: emanations; outpourings; effusions

أبحر

b-ḥ-r

literal: sea; ocean

القضآء

q-ḍ-y → “Decree”

literal: requirement; exigency; what demands or calls for; to require; to necessitate; to demand

تالله

ʾ-l-h → “By the righteousness of God”

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

تلک

t-l-k

literal: those; that; those (feminine)

الحالة

ḥ-w-l

literal: states; conditions; circumstances; situations; affairs

یشهدنّکم

sh-h-d → “witness” Distinctive

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

أهل

ʾ-h-l → “men” Distinctive

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

الأعلی

ʿ-l-w → “on high”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

ویصلّینّ

ṣ-l-y → “may the blessings” Distinctive

literal: blessed; prayed; bless

ویستغفرنّ

gh-f-r

literal: forgiving; forgiveness; forgive

لکم

l-k-m → “for you”

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

ویذکرنّکم

dh-k-r → “will be extolling your names”

literal: mention; remembrance; mentioned

ویمجّدنّکم

m-j-d → “glory” Distinctive

literal: glory; to glorify; glory, majesty

بألسن

l-s-n

literal: tongue; language

مقدّس

q-d-s

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

طاهر

ṭ-h-r

literal: to purify; to cleanse

فصیح

f-ṣ-ḥ

literal: eloquent; most eloquent; eloquent-ones

طوبی

ṭ-w-b → “Blessed”

literal: happiness; blessedness; felicity

لعالم

ʿ-l-m → “learned” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

لن

l-n

literal: will not (negation of future)

یفتخر

f-kh-r → “pride”

literal: glory; boasting; pride

دونه

d-w-n

literal: below; lower than; beneath

حبّذا

ḥ-b-b → “love” Distinctive

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

لمحسن

ḥ-s-n → “most excellent” Distinctive

literal: goodness; beauty; excellence; good deed

یستهزء

h-z-ʾ → “mock”

literal: to mock; to ridicule; mockery

بمن

m-n-y

literal: through whom; remain; from

عصی

ʿ-ṣ-y → “sinful”

literal: disobedience; disobey; disobedient

ویستر

s-t-r → “conceal”

literal: to veil; to conceal; to cover; veil; covering

ما

m-ʾ

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

جریراته...

j-r-r → “mighty sins” Distinctive

literal: sin; transgression; crime; that which is drawn or dragged

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 ¶