Skip to main content

Gleanings — §681

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 681 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ای بندگان بنيان مصر ايقان حضرت سبحان را بنقر وهم و ظنون منهدم مکنيد چه که ظنّ لم يزل مغنی نبوده و لايزال نفسی را بصراط مستقيم هادی نگشته ای عباد يد قدرت مبسوطه ممدودهٔٔ مرتفعه سلطنتم را مغلول فرض گرفته‌ايد و رحمت مُنزله مسبوقه غير مقطوعه‌ام را مقطوع داشته‌ايد و سحاب مرتفعه متعاليه جود و کرمم را ممنوع و غير مهطول فرض ن

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O My servants! Were ye to discover the hidden, the shoreless oceans of My incorruptible wealth, ye would, of a certainty, esteem as nothing the world, nay, the entire creation. Let the flame of search burn with such fierceness within your hearts as to enable you to attain your supreme and most exalted goal — the station at which ye can draw nigh unto, and be united with, your Best-Beloved.…

Translation Notes

ای
ʾ-y-y → “O”

literal: O; vocative particle; oh (vocative particle)

بندگان
b-n-d → “servants”

literal: servants; bondsmen; slaves

بنيان
b-n-y

literal: building, structure, edifice; to build, construct; structure, edifice

مصر
m-ṣ-r

literal: matter; affair; thing

ايقان
y-q-n → “of a certainty” Distinctive

literal: certitude; conviction; certainty; faith

حضرت
ḥ-ḍ-r

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

سبحان
s-b-ḥ

literal: glorified; the All-Praised; exalted; dawn; daybreak; morning

را
r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بنقر
n-q-ḍ

literal: trumpet; bell; a loud sound

وهم
w-h-m

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

ظنون
ẓ-n-n

literal: fancy; supposition; vain imagination; idle conjecture

منهدم
h-d-m

literal: to place; to lay down; to set; to submit

مکنيد
k-n

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

چه
ch-h

literal: what; what/for; whatsoever, that which

که
k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

لم
l-y-s

literal: to reproach; blame; censure

يزل
z-w-l

literal: to pass away; to vanish; to disappear; to cease

مغنی
gh-n-y → “wealth”

literal: rich; wealth; independent

نبوده
b-w-d → “Were” Distinctive

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

نفسی
n-f-s

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

بصراط
ṣ-r-ṭ

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

مستقيم
q-w-m → “station” Distinctive

literal: rising; standing; resurrection; uprising; establishment

هادی
h-d-y

literal: guidance; to guide; direction; leading rightly; this; this one

نگشته
g-sh-t

literal: to become; to turn; to be

عباد
ʿ-b-d

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

يد
y-d-y

literal: hand; power; strength; (plural) hands; agents; helpers; to assist, to support, to aid, to strengthen

قدرت
q-d-r

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

مبسوطه
b-s-ṭ

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

ممدودهٔٔ
m-d-d

literal: extended; outstretched; sustained

مرتفعه
r-f-ʿ → “exalted” Distinctive

literal: to be raised, elevated, exalted, lifted up

سلطنتم
s-l-ṭ

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

مغلول
gh-l-l

literal: one who envies; envious; malicious

فرض
f-r-ḍ

literal: obligatory; incumbent; imposed; prescribed; fixed

گرفته‌ايد
g-r-f

literal: take; taken; to take

رحمت
r-ḥ-m

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

مُنزله
n-z-l

literal: to descend, to be revealed

مسبوقه
s-b-q

literal: to precede; to surpass; to excel

غير
gh-y-r

literal: without; besides; other than; except; other; different

مقطوعه‌ام
q-ṭ-ʿ

literal: to be severed; to be cut off; to detach oneself; to abstain

داشته‌ايد
d-ʾ-sh-t

literal: have; had; to have

سحاب
s-ḥ-b

literal: cloud; clouds

متعاليه
ʿ-l-w

literal: highest; most high; supreme

جود
j-w-d

literal: generosity; bounty; liberality

کرمم
k-r-m

literal: Carmel (Mount Carmel); vineyard, fruitful field; honor; generosity; nobility

ممنوع
m-n-ʿ

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

مهطول
h-ṭ-l

literal: pouring; pour down; raining

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 ¶