Gleanings — §72

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 72 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

بگو ای عباد امروز روز ديگر است لسان ديگر بايد تا قابل ثنای مقصود عالم شود و عمل ديگر بايد تا مقبول درگاه گردد جميع عالم طالب اين يوم بودند که شايد موفّق شوند بآنچه لايق و سزاوار است طوبی از برای نفسی که امورات د

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Say: O men! This is a matchless Day. Matchless must, likewise, be the tongue that celebrateth the praise of the Desire of all nations, and matchless the deed that aspireth to be acceptable in His sight. The whole human race hath longed for this Day, that perchance it may fulfill that which well beseemeth its station, and is worthy of its destiny. Blessed is the man whom the affairs of the world have failed to deter from recognizing Him Who is the Lord of all things.

Translation Notes

بگو

g-w-y → “Say”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

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

عباد

ʿ-b-d → “men”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

امروز

r-w-z → “This”

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

ديگر

d-g-r

literal: home; place; land; abode

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

لسان

l-s-n → “tongue”

literal: tongue; language

بايد

b-y-d → “must”

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

تا

t-y-y → “that”

literal: so that/until

قابل

q-b-l → “before” Distinctive

literal: slayer; killer; murderer

ثنای

th-n-y

literal: praise; commendation; eulogy

مقصود

q-ṣ-d → “Desire”

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

عالم

ʿ-l-m → “of all nations” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

شود

sh-w-d

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

عمل

ʿ-m-l → “matchless the deed” Distinctive

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

درگاه

d-r-g → “Threshold”

literal: threshold; court; presence

گردد

g-r-d

literal: become; to become; make

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “whole human race” Distinctive

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

طالب

ṭ-l-b → “theme” Distinctive

literal: seeker, one who seeks; those who seek

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

يوم

y-w-m → “Day”

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

که

k-h → “that”

literal: that; who; who, that

شايد

sh-y-d → “perchance”

literal: perhaps, perchance, haply, maybe, possibly; to become; to be; to happen; to occur

موفّق

w-f-q → “aid” Distinctive

literal: horizon; sphere; realm; quarter

بآنچه

b-ch-h → “that which well beseemeth”

literal: building, structure, edifice; to build, construct; structure, edifice

لايق

l-y-q → “worthy”

literal: worthy, befitting, appropriate, suitable

سزاوار

s-z-w → “beseemeth”

literal: worthy; fitting; deserving; appropriate; suitable

طوبی

ṭ-w-b → “Blessed is”

literal: happiness; blessedness; felicity

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

برای

b-r-y

literal: to see; to perceive; to look; to see, to observe, to behold; to view; vision; dream; sight; ل is prefix; verb تری (you see) is from ر-ا-ي

نفسی

n-f-s → “man whom” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

امورات

ʾ-m-r → “affairs” Distinctive

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

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 ¶