Gleanings — §686

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 686 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ای عباد لئالی صدف بحر صمدانی را از کنز علم و حکمت ربّانی بقوّه يزدانی و قدرت روحانی بيرون آوردم و حوريّات غرف ستر و حجاب را در مظاهر اين کلمات محکمات محشور نمودم و ختم اناء مسک احديّه را بيد القدرة مفتوح نمودم و روائح قدس مکنونه آنرا بر جميع ممکنات مبذول داشتم حال مع جميع اين فيوضات منيعه محيطه و اين عنايات مُشرقه لميعه اگر خود را منع نمائيد ملامت آن بر انفس شما راجع بوده و خواهد بود …

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O My servants! Through the might of God and His power, and out of the treasury of His knowledge and wisdom, I have brought forth and revealed unto you the pearls that lay concealed in the depths of His everlasting ocean. I have summoned the Maids of Heaven to emerge from behind the veil of concealment, and have clothed them with these words of Mine — words of consummate power and wisdom. I have, moreover, with the hand of divine power, unsealed the choice wine of My Revelation, and have wafted its holy, its hidden, and musk-laden fragrance upon all created things. Who else but yourselves is to be blamed if ye choose to remain unendowed with so great an outpouring of God’s transcendent and all-encompassing grace, with so bright a revelation of His resplendent mercy?…

Translation Notes

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

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

عباد

ʿ-b-d → “servants”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

لئالی

l-ʾ-l → “pearls”

literal: night; darkness

صدف

ṣ-d-f → “shells”

literal: shell; oyster shell

بحر

b-ḥ-r → “ocean”

literal: sea; ocean

صمدانی

ṣ-m-d → “everlasting”

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

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

کنز

k-n-z → “treasury”

literal: treasure; treasure-trove; hidden store; treasury

علم

ʿ-l-m → “knowledge”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

حکمت

ḥ-k-m → “wisdom”

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom

ربّانی

r-b-b → “His” Distinctive

literal: education; upbringing; training; cultivation

بقوّه

q-w-y → “Through the might” Distinctive

literal: strength; power; might; piety; fear of God; godliness

يزدانی

y-z-d → “Divine”

literal: God, the Almighty (Persian term); divine; of God; Godly

قدرت

q-d-r → “power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

روحانی

r-w-ḥ

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

بيرون

b-r-n → “showers” Distinctive

literal: outside; out; forth

آوردم

ʾ-w-r → “been entirely denied” Distinctive

literal: bring; to bring; brought

حوريّات

ḥ-w-r → “Maids of Heaven”

literal: maiden of paradise; houri

غرف

gh-r-f

literal: chamber; room; elevated chamber

ستر

s-t-r → “veil”

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

حجاب

ḥ-j-b → “concealment” Distinctive

literal: to veil oneself, to be veiled

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

مظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

کلمات

k-l-m → “words”

literal: words; utterances; locutions

محشور

ḥ-sh-r → ““resurrection,”” Distinctive

literal: to gather, assemble, congregate; resurrection, Day of Judgment

نمودم

n-m-w → “have”

literal: to show, display, exhibit; to grow, develop

ختم

kh-t-m → “unsealed”

literal: to seal; to conclude; to end; seal

اناء

ʾ-n-w

literal: vessel; container

مسک

m-s-k → “musk-laden fragrance”

literal: hold fast; clinging; cling

احديّه

ʾ-ḥ-d → “of God”

literal: oneness; uniqueness; absolute unity; singularity of God

بيد

y-d-y → “hand”

literal: it is necessary; it behooves; one must

مفتوح

f-t-ḥ

literal: opening; opening up; conquests; revelations; disclosure

قدس

q-d-s → “holy”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

مکنونه

k-n-n → “hidden”

literal: to do; to make; to perform

آنرا

n-w-r → “its” Distinctive

literal: light; lights; luminous

بر

b-r-r → “upon”

literal: outside; out; forth

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

ممکنات

m-k-n → “created things”

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

مبذول

b-dh-l → “confer”

literal: to give; to bestow; to expend

داشتم

d-ʾ-sh-t → “have”

literal: to have; to possess; to hold

حال

ḥ-w-l

literal: state; condition; circumstance

مع

m-ʿ

literal: with; together with; alongside

فيوضات

f-y-ḍ → “grace” Distinctive

literal: flood; abundance; overflow; emanation; grace

منيعه

m-n-ʿ → “transcendent”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

محيطه

ḥ-w-ṭ → “all-encompassing”

literal: to surround, encompass, encircle, beset

عنايات

ʿ-n-y → “grace”

literal: to concern; to mean; to turn away from; bounty; loving-kindness; grace; divine care; attention; meaning; significance; inner sense

مُشرقه

sh-r-q → “resplendent” Distinctive

literal: radiance; splendor; dawn; illumination

لميعه

l-m-ʿ → “luminous” Distinctive

literal: shining; radiant; gleaming

اگر

ʾ-g-r → “were they”

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

خود

kh-w-d → “their own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

نمائيد

n-m-ʾ

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

ملامت

l-w-m → “blamed”

literal: blame; blamer; blaming

آن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

انفس

n-f-s → “yourselves” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; souls

شما

sh-m-ʾ

literal: you (plural); your

راجع

r-j-ʿ → “is to be” Distinctive

literal: return; reference; place of return; resort

بوده

b-w-d

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

خواهد

kh-w-h

literal: will; to wish; to want

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 ¶