Gleanings — §712

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 712 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

برخیزند مثل اریاح باش در امر فالق الأصباح چنانچه مشاهده مینمائی که اریاح نظر بمأموریّت خود بر خراب و معمور مرور مینماید نه از معمور مسرور و نه از خراب محزون و نظر بمأموریّت خود داشته و دارد احبّاء حقّ هم باید ناظر باصل امر باشند و بتبلیغ آن مشغول شوند للّه بگویند و بشنوند هر نفسی اقبال نمود آن حسنه باو راجع و هر نفسی که اعراض نمود جزای آن باو واصل و در حین خروج نیّر آفاق از

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Be unrestrained as the wind, while carrying the Message of Him Who hath caused the Dawn of Divine Guidance to break. Consider, how the wind, faithful to that which God hath ordained, bloweth upon all the regions of the earth, be they inhabited or desolate. Neither the sight of desolation, nor the evidences of prosperity, can either pain or please it. It bloweth in every direction, as bidden by its Creator. So should be every one that claimeth to be a lover of the one true God. It behooveth him to fix his gaze upon the fundamentals of His Faith, and to labor diligently for its propagation. Wholly for the sake of God he should proclaim His Message, and with that same spirit accept whatever response his words may evoke in his hearer. He who shall accept and believe, shall receive his reward; and he who shall turn away, shall receive none other than his own punishment.

Translation Notes

برخیزند

kh-y-z → “arisen”

literal: to rise; to stand up; to arise; to rebel

مثل

m-th-l → “Consider”

literal: like; example; parable; similitude

اریاح

r-w-ḥ → “wind”

literal: rest; ease; comfort; tranquility

باش

b-w-d

literal: be, exist; do not be (in negative imperative)

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

امر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

فالق

f-l-q

literal: opposite; facing; in front of; towards

الأصباح

ṣ-b-ḥ → “the Dawn”

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

چنانچه

ch-n-n → “likewise” Distinctive

literal: thus; in such manner; as

مشاهده

sh-h-d

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

مینمائی

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

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

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

نظر

n-ẓ-r → “sight”

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

بمأموریّت

ʾ-m-r

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

خود

kh-w-d

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

بر

b-r-r → “bloweth upon”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

خراب

kh-r-b → “or desolate”

literal: ruin; desolation

معمور

ʿ-m-r → “By My life” Distinctive

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

مرور

m-r-r

literal: to pass; to pass by; to go

نه

n-h-y

literal: end; ended; utmost

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

مسرور

s-r-r → “mysteries” Distinctive

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

محزون

ḥ-z-n → “sorrow” Distinctive

literal: sorrow; grief; sadness; anguish; to grieve; to sorrow; to be sad

داشته

d-sh-t

literal: to have; to possess; to hold

دارد

d-ʾ-r

literal: to have; to hold; to possess; to maintain

احبّاء

ḥ-b-b → “lover” Distinctive

literal: love; affection

حقّ

ḥ-q-q → “one true God”

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

هم

h-m-m

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

باید

b-y-d → “So should be”

literal: by hand; with hands; eternal; perpetual; everlasting

باصل

ʾ-ṣ-l → “essence”

literal: principles; origin, essence; origin

بتبلیغ

b-l-gh → “teach”

literal: to reach; to attain; to deliver; to proclaim

آن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

مشغول

sh-gh-l

literal: to occupy; to engage; to busy; occupation

شوند

sh-w-d

literal: become; to become; became

للّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

بگویند

g-w-y → “I say” Distinctive

literal: say; to say; as-if

بشنوند

sh-n-w

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

هر

h-r

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

نفسی

n-f-s → “every one” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

اقبال

q-b-l → “shall accept” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

حسنه

ḥ-s-n → “most excellent” Distinctive

literal: goodness; beauty; excellence; good deed

باو

ʾ-w-w → “Him”

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

راجع

r-j-ʿ

literal: return; reference; place of return; resort

اعراض

ʿ-r-ḍ → “shall turn away”

literal: to turn away; to avert; to abstain; heedless

جزای

j-z-y

literal: poll tax; tribute; recompense; reward; requital

واصل

w-ṣ-l

literal: reunion; union; meeting; connection

حین

ḥ-y-n

literal: time; moment; while; season

خروج

kh-r-j

literal: bringing out, taking out, expulsion, extraction

نیّر

n-w-r

literal: fires; blazes; luminary; celestial body; light-giver

آفاق

ʾ-f-q

literal: horizons; regions; quarters; skylines

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 ¶