Gleanings — §70

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 70 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

ولا بنعيم الآخرة تاللّه الحقّ لن يعادل بشعر منه كلّ من في السّموات والأرض إيّاكم يا قوم لا تبدّلوه بما عندكم من الدّرهم والدّينار فاجعلوا حبّه بضاعة لأرواحكم في يوم الّذي لن ينفعكم شيء ويضطرب الأركان ويقشعرّ جُلود النّاس وتشخص فيه الأبصار قل يا قوم خافوا عن اللّه ولا تستكبروا عند ظهوره خرّوا بوجوهكم سجّدًا للّه ثمّ اذكروه في آناءِ اللّيل وأطراف النّهار

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Arise, O wayfarer in the path of the Love of God, and aid thou His Cause. Say: Barter not away this Youth, O people, for the vanities of this world or the delights of heaven. By the righteousness of the one true God! One hair of Him excelleth all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth. Beware, O men, lest ye be tempted to part with Him in exchange for the gold and silver ye possess. Let His love be a storehouse of treasure for your souls, on the Day when naught else but Him shall profit you, the Day when every pillar shall tremble, when the very skins of men shall creep, when all eyes shall stare up with terror. Say: O people! Fear ye God, and turn not away disdainfully from His Revelation. Fall prostrate on your faces before God, and celebrate His praise in the daytime and in the night season.

Translation Notes

ولا

w-l-y → “Lord” Distinctive

literal: friend; lord; guardian

بنعيم

n-ʿ-m → “delights” Distinctive

literal: bliss; bounty; grace; comfort; felicity

الآخرة

ʾ-kh-r → “next”

literal: the hereafter, the next life, the world to come; last, latter; the next life, the hereafter; delay; postponement

تاللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

الحقّ

ḥ-q-q → “God”

literal: truth; right; that which is true or just

لن

l-n

literal: will not (negation of future)

يعادل

ʿ-d-l → “One hair of Him excelleth”

literal: justice; just; equal

بشعر

sh-ʿ-r

literal: hair

منه

m-n

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

كلّ

k-l-l

literal: for us; to us

في

f-y

literal: alas; woe; oh

السّموات

s-m-w → “heavens”

literal: heaven; sky

والأرض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

إيّاكم

w-q-y → “Fear” Distinctive

literal: beware; take heed; woe to you

يا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

قوم

q-w-m → “O people”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

تبدّلوه

b-d-l → “Barter”

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

بما

m-ʾ

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

عندكم

ʿ-n-d → “ye possess”

literal: vessel; container; circumstance; adroitness

الدّرهم

d-r-h → “the vanities of this world”

literal: dirham; a monetary unit; money

والدّينار

d-n-r

literal: dinar; a monetary unit; money

فاجعلوا

j-ʿ-l → “make” Distinctive

literal: to make; to cause; to render; to appoint

حبّه

ḥ-b-b → “Love”

literal: love; affection

بضاعة

b-ḍ-ʿ → “remnant” Distinctive

literal: sale; to sell; to swear allegiance; to pledge; to make covenant

لأرواحكم

r-w-ḥ → “for your souls”

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

يوم

y-w-m → “on the Day”

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

الّذي

l-dh-y → “which”

literal: who; which; that which; the one who

ينفعكم

n-f-ʿ → “shall profit you”

literal: benefits; profits; advantages

شيء

sh-y-ʾ → “naught else but Him” Distinctive

literal: thing; something; to will; to wish; to desire; to open; to unfold; to reveal

ويضطرب

ḍ-r-b → “shall tremble”

literal: to be disturbed; to tremble; to be troubled; to be shaken

الأركان

r-k-n → “the foundations”

literal: pillar; cornerstone; support; fundamental element; limb; member

ويقشعرّ

q-sh-ʿ-r → “to creep”

literal: shudder

جُلود

j-l-d → “volumes” Distinctive

literal: volume; skin; skins

النّاس

n-ʾ-s → “of men”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

وتشخص

sh-kh-ṣ → “man” Distinctive

literal: person, individual, self; movement, stirring

الأبصار

b-ṣ-r → “all eyes”

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

قل

q-w-l → “Say”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

خافوا

kh-w-f → “Fear ye”

literal: will; to wish; to want

عن

ʿ-n

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

تستكبروا

k-b-r

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

ظهوره

ẓ-h-r → “His Revelation”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

خرّوا

kh-r-r → “murmur” Distinctive

literal: fall down; murmur; murmuring

بوجوهكم

w-j-h → “on your faces”

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

سجّدًا

s-j-d → “worship” Distinctive

literal: mosque; place of prostration

ثمّ

th-m-m → “and” Distinctive

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

اذكروه

dh-k-r → “celebrate His praise”

literal: mention; remembrance; mentioned

آناءِ

ʾ-n-w

literal: vessel; container

اللّيل

l-y-l → “in the night season”

literal: night; darkness

وأطراف

ṭ-r-f → “eyes” Distinctive

literal: extremity; end; edge; outskirt; periphery

النّهار

n-h-r → “streams” Distinctive

literal: river; to flow

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 ¶