Gleanings — §694

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 694 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

قل من حدودي يمرّ عرف قميصي وبها تنصب أعلام النّصر على القنن والأتلال قد تكلّم لسان قدرتي في جبروت عظمتي مخاطبا لبريّتي أن اعملوا حدودي حُبًّا لجمالي طوبى لحبيب وجد عرف المحبوب من هذه الكلمة الّتي فاحت منها نفحات الفضل على شأن لا توصف بالأذكار لعمري من شرب رحيق الإنصاف من أيادي الألطاف إنّه يطوف حول أوامري المشرقة من أفق الإبداع

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Say: From My laws the sweet smelling savor of My garment can be smelled, and by their aid the standards of victory will be planted upon the highest peaks. The Tongue of My power hath, from the heaven of My omnipotent glory, addressed to My creation these words: “Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty.” Happy is the lover that hath inhaled the divine fragrance of his Best-Beloved from these words, laden with the perfume of a grace which no tongue can describe. By My life! He who hath drunk the choice wine of fairness from the hands of My bountiful favor, will circle around My commandments that shine above the Dayspring of My creation.

Translation Notes

قل

q-w-l → “Say”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

من

m-n → “From”

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

حدودي

ḥ-d-d → “limitations”

literal: iron; sharp, keen, acute

يمرّ

m-r-r → “At one time” Distinctive

literal: matter; affair; thing

عرف

ʿ-r-f → “fragrance”

literal: to confess; to acknowledge; to recognize

قميصي

q-m-ṣ → “garment”

literal: garment; shirt; tunic

وبها

b-y-ʾ → “by their aid”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

تنصب

n-ṣ-b → “portion” Distinctive

literal: share; portion; lot; fate

أعلام

ʿ-l-m → “standards”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

النّصر

n-ṣ-r → “victory”

literal: aid, help, succor, victory, support

على

ʿ-l-w → “upon” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

القنن

q-n-n → “laws” Distinctive

literal: law; canon; principle

والأتلال

t-l-l

literal: hills; mounds; elevations

قد

q-d → “We have been”

literal: verily; indeed; certainly (particle of emphasis)

تكلّم

k-l-m → “words” Distinctive

literal: words; utterances; locutions; word; utterance; speech; sayings; verses

لسان

l-s-n

literal: tongue; language

قدرتي

q-d-r → “power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

في

f-y → “from” Distinctive

literal: in; in-it; in it

جبروت

j-b-r → “heaven of My omnipotent glory” Distinctive

literal: compelled; forced; constrained

عظمتي

ʿ-ẓ-m

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

مخاطبا

kh-ṭ-b → “addressed”

literal: discourse; address; speech; utterance; the divine word

لبريّتي

b-r-y → “Briefly” Distinctive

literal: high; exalted; upper; to adorn; to arrange; to prepare; banners; standards

أن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

اعملوا

ʿ-m-l → “deeds” Distinctive

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

حُبًّا

ḥ-b-b → “for the love”

literal: love; affection

لجمالي

j-m-l → “beauty.””

literal: beauty; comeliness

طوبى

ṭ-w-b → “Happy”

literal: happiness; blessedness; felicity

وجد

w-j-d → “hath”

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

هذه

h-dh-ʾ → “this”

literal: this; this (masculine); this (feminine)

الّتي

ʾ-l-l

literal: who; which/that; which

فاحت

f-w-ḥ → “breaths” Distinctive

literal: to spread, waft (fragrance); to be diffused

نفحات

n-f-ḥ

literal: breeze; fragrance; whiff; breath; emanation

الفضل

f-ḍ-l → “grace”

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

شأن

sh-ʾ-n → “in such wise”

literal: affair; concern; matter; aspect; quality; state; affairs; matters; conditions; circumstances; affair, matter, station, rank, dignity; station; rank; importance; matter, affair, concern, dignity, rank

لا

l-ʾ → “no”

literal: no; not; negation particle

توصف

w-ṣ-f → “describe”

literal: to describe, characterize; description

بالأذكار

dh-k-r → “mention” Distinctive

literal: remembrance; mention; memory; invocation; reminders; commemorations

لعمري

ʿ-m-r → “By My life”

literal: life; age; duration; by the life of (oath)

شرب

sh-r-b → “drunk”

literal: to drink; to imbibe

رحيق

r-ḥ-q → “choice wine”

literal: wine; pure drink; choice beverage (metaphorical for divine knowledge and love)

الإنصاف

n-ṣ-f → “fairness”

literal: justice; fairness; equity

أيادي

y-d-y → “hands”

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

الألطاف

l-ṭ-f → “bountiful favor” Distinctive

literal: kindness; grace; gentleness; benevolence

إنّه

ʾ-n-n → “He”

literal: I, verily; behold I

يطوف

ṭ-w-f → “circle”

literal: flood, deluge, tempest

حول

ḥ-w-l → “around”

literal: states; conditions; circumstances; situations; affairs

أوامري

ʾ-m-r → “commandments”

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

المشرقة

sh-r-q → “shine” Distinctive

literal: radiance; splendor; dawn; illumination

أفق

ʾ-f-q → “Dayspring” Distinctive

literal: horizon; sphere; realm; quarter

الإبداع

b-d-ʿ → “creation”

literal: to create; most wondrous; excel

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 ¶