Gleanings — §683

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 683 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ای بندگان بمبدأ خود رجوع نمائيد و از غفلت نفس و هوی بر آمده قصد سينای روح در اين طور مقدّس از ستر و ظهور نمائيد کلمه مبارکه جامعه اوّليه را تبديل منمائيد و از مقرّ عزّ تقديس و قدس تجريد منحرف مداريد بگو ای عبادِ غافل اگر چه بدايع رحمتم جميع ممالک غيب و شهود را احاطه نموده و ظهورات جود و فضلم بر تمام ذرّات ممکنات سبقت گرفته ولکن سياط عذابم بسی شديد است و ظهور قهرم بغايت عظيم نصايح مشفقه‌ام را بگوش مقدّس از کبر و هوی بشنويد و بچشم سِرّ و سَر در بديع امرم ملاحظه نمائيد …

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Retrace your steps, O My servants, and incline your hearts to Him Who is the Source of your creation. Deliver yourselves from your evil and corrupt affections, and hasten to embrace the light of the undying Fire that gloweth on the Sinai of this mysterious and transcendent Revelation. Corrupt not the holy, the all-embracing, and primal Word of God, and seek not to profane its sanctity or to debase its exalted character. O heedless ones! Though the wonders of My mercy have encompassed all created things, both visible and invisible, and though the revelations of My grace and bounty have permeated every atom of the universe, yet the rod with which I can chastise the wicked is grievous, and the fierceness of Mine anger against them terrible. With ears that are sanctified from vainglory and worldly desires hearken unto the counsels which I, in My merciful kindness, have revealed unto you, and with your inner and outer eyes contemplate the evidences of My marvelous Revelation.…

Translation Notes

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

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

بندگان

b-n-d → “servants”

literal: servants; bondsmen; slaves

بمبدأ

b-d-ʾ → “Source”

literal: beginning; primacy; originality; origin; principle; starting point; commencement; start; inception; creation

خود

kh-w-d → “their own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

رجوع

r-j-ʿ → “return”

literal: return; reference; place of return; resort

نمائيد

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

literal: to show, to display, to manifest, to exhibit; to manifest; to display; to show

از

ʾ-z → “from your”

literal: from

غفلت

gh-f-l → “heedless”

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

نفس

n-f-s → “yourselves” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

هوی

h-w-y → “desire”

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

بر

b-r-r

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

آمده

ʾ-m-d

literal: to come; to go; to arrive; came

قصد

q-ṣ-d → “purpose” Distinctive

literal: intention; purpose; aim; goal; to seek; to direct oneself

سينای

s-y-n → ““sin”

literal: tooth; years; future; breast; chest; bosom

روح

r-w-ḥ → “spirit”

literal: to go; to depart; to rest; spirit; soul

در

d-r-r → “on”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

طور

ṭ-w-r → “rustling” Distinctive

literal: states; conditions; stages; modes; phases; manner

ستر

s-t-r

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

ظهور

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

کلمه

k-l-m → “Word”

literal: word; utterance; speech

مبارکه

b-r-k → “holy”

literal: blessed; auspicious; fruitful; blest; blessed word

جامعه

j-m-ʿ → “all-embracing”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

اوّليه

ʾ-w-l → “primal”

literal: guardian; protector; friend; ally; lord; helper; first; primary; original

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

تبديل

b-d-l → “change”

literal: in place of; instead of; to change; to alter (preposition or verb stem)

مقرّ

q-r-r

literal: matter; affair; thing

عزّ

ʿ-z-z → “exalted character” Distinctive

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

تقديس

q-d-s → “sanctity”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

تجريد

j-r-d

literal: neck; throat

منحرف

ḥ-r-f

literal: letter; character; edge

مداريد

d-ʾ-r

literal: cycle; dispensation; age; turn; round

بگو

g-w-y

literal: say; to say; as-if

عبادِ

ʿ-b-d

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

اگر

ʾ-g-r → “were they”

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

چه

ch-h

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

بدايع

b-d-ʿ → “wonders”

literal: to create; most wondrous; excel

رحمتم

r-ḥ-m → “mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

ممالک

m-l-k

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty; possessions; property; ownership

غيب

gh-y-b → “invisible”

literal: the unseen; the invisible; the hidden; the unknowable; stranger; foreign; alien; separated

شهود

sh-h-d → “visible”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

احاطه

ḥ-w-ṭ → “encompassed”

literal: to encompass, surround, envelop, embrace

نموده

n-m-ود → “hath”

literal: do; to do; do/make

جود

j-w-d → “grace and bounty”

literal: generosity; bounty; liberality

فضلم

f-ḍ-l

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

تمام

t-m-m

literal: most complete; to complete; perfect; fullness

ذرّات

dh-r-r → “atom”

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

ممکنات

m-k-n → “created things”

literal: establishment; confirmation; empowerment; firm settlement; place; possibility; being (negated as ‘non-being’)

سبقت

s-b-q → “hath surpassed”

literal: to precede; to surpass; to excel

گرفته

g-r-f

literal: captive, afflicted, troubled, caught; affliction, trouble

ولکن

l-k-n → “yet” Distinctive

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

سياط

s-w-ṭ → “rod”

literal: whips; whip, rod

عذابم

ʿ-dh-b → “chastise”

literal: torment, punishment, chastisement

بسی

b-s-y

literal: many; much; very

شديد

sh-d-d → “grievous”

literal: strong; severe; intense; violent

است

b-w-d → “is”

literal: to be; are (third person plural present copula)

قهرم

q-h-r → “anger”

literal: to overpower; to vanquish; wrath; might; force; compulsion; overwhelming

بغايت

gh-y-y → “Supreme End”

literal: purpose; aim; goal; end; ultimate

عظيم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “Most Great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

نصايح

n-ṣ-ḥ → “counsels”

literal: counsel; advice; admonition

مشفقه‌ام

sh-f-q → “kindliness” Distinctive

literal: compassion; compassionate; tenderness

بگوش

g-w-sh → “ears”

literal: ear; to hear, listen

کبر

k-b-r → “pride”

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

بشنويد

sh-n-w → “hearken”

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

بچشم

ch-sh-m → “eyes”

literal: eye; vision; sight

سِرّ

s-r-r → “inner” Distinctive

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

امرم

ʾ-m-r → “Revelation.…”

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

ملاحظه

l-ḥ-ẓ → “Consider”

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

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 ¶