Gleanings — §724

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 724 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

بر کل لازمست در احوال این مظلوم تفکّر نمایند از اوّل امر تا حین مابین احبّا و اعدا ظاهر بوده و هستیم و در احیانی که از کلّ جهات بلایا و رزایا احاطه نموده بود اهل ارض را بکمال اقتدار بافق اعلی دعوت نمودیم قلم اعلی دوست نداشته و ندارد در این مقام مصائب خود را ذکر نماید چه که البتّه مقرّبین و موحّدین و مخلصین را احزان اخذ کند انّه لهو النّاطق السّامع العلیم در اکثر ایّام بین ایادی اعدا بودیم و حال مابین حیّات ساکنیم

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Let every man observe and meditate on the conduct of this wronged One. We have, ever since the dawn of this Revelation until the present time, refused either to hide Ourself from Our enemies, or to withdraw from the companionship of Our friends. Though encompassed with a myriad griefs and afflictions, We have, with mighty confidence, summoned the peoples of the earth to the Dayspring of Glory. The Pen of the Most High is disinclined to recount, in this connection, the woes it hath suffered. To reveal them would, no doubt, plunge into sorrow the favored among the faithful, they that truly uphold the unity of God and are wholly devoted to His Cause. He, verily, speaketh the truth, and is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. Our life hath, for the most part, been spent in the midst of Our enemies. Witness how We are, at present, living in a nest of serpents.

Translation Notes

بر

b-r-r

literal: on; on, upon; upon

کل

k-l-l → “every”

literal: for us; to us

لازمست

l-z-m → “necessary” Distinctive

literal: necessary, incumbent, obligatory, essential

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

این

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “wronged One”

literal: wrongedness, oppression, meekness; state of being wronged or oppressed

تفکّر

f-k-r

literal: thoughts; ideas; fancies; opinions; to think; to reflect; to contemplate

نمایند

n-m-ʾ → “hath” Distinctive

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

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

اوّل

ʾ-w-l

literal: first; beginning; at first; the first; former; possessors of; those who have; masters of

امر

ʾ-m-r → “this Revelation”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

تا

t-y-y → “so that”

literal: so that/until

حین

ḥ-y-n

literal: time; moment; while; season

احبّا

ḥ-b-b → “Our friends” Distinctive

literal: love; affection

اعدا

ʿ-d-w → “Our enemies”

literal: when; if; whenever; at that time

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

بوده

b-w-d → “is”

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

هستیم

h-s-t → “are”

literal: to be; to exist

احیانی

ḥ-y-y → “life” Distinctive

literal: time; moment; while; season

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

جهات

j-h-t

literal: direction; aspect; side; regard

بلایا

b-l-w → “griefs and afflictions”

literal: affliction; trial; calamity; trial, tribulation, affliction, calamity; yes; indeed; verily

رزایا

r-z-y

literal: calamity; calamities; calamity, misfortune

احاطه

ḥ-w-ṭ

literal: to encompass, surround, envelop, embrace

نموده

n-m-ود → “hath”

literal: do; to do; do/make

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “peoples”

literal: people; inhabitants; family; kin; worthy; deserving; my family; my people; my kin

ارض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بکمال

k-m-l → “perfect”

literal: perfection; completeness; fully; with full; in complete; to complete, perfect, fulfill

اقتدار

q-d-r → “with mighty confidence”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

بافق

ʾ-f-q → “Dayspring” Distinctive

literal: horizon; sphere; realm; quarter

اعلی

ʿ-l-w → “of Glory” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

دعوت

d-ʿ-w → “summoned”

literal: call; invitation; claim

قلم

q-l-m → “Pen”

literal: pen; writing instrument

دوست

d-w-s-t

literal: friend; beloved; to befriend

نداشته

d-ʾ-sh-t → “have no”

literal: to have; to possess; to hold

ندارد

d-ʾ-r

literal: below; lower than; beneath

مقام

q-w-m → “connection”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

مصائب

ṣ-w-b → “trials” Distinctive

literal: calamity; misfortune; disaster; affliction

خود

kh-w-d

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

ذکر

dh-k-r

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

چه

ch-h

literal: what; what/for; whatsoever, that which

البتّه

b-t-t → “no doubt”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

مقرّبین

q-r-b → “favored among”

literal: stability; firmness; establishment

موحّدین

w-ḥ-d → “faithful”

literal: Divine unity; monotheism; belief in the oneness of God

مخلصین

kh-l-ṣ → “wholly devoted”

literal: sincere; devoted; pure one

احزان

ḥ-z-n → “plunge into sorrow”

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

اخذ

ʾ-kh-dh → “arrested”

literal: to take; to seize; to affect; to grasp

کند

k-r-d → “conduct” Distinctive

literal: to do; to make; to act; to dig, excavate; slow

انّه

ʾ-n-n → “He, verily”

literal: I, verily; behold I

لهو

h-w

literal: to distract; to divert; to amuse

النّاطق

n-ṭ-q → “speaketh the truth” Distinctive

literal: to speak; to utter; to pronounce; to articulate

السّامع

s-m-ʿ → “the All-Hearing”

literal: heard, hearkened to, acceptable, worthy of attention

العلیم

ʿ-l-m → “the All-Knowing”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

اکثر

k-th-r → “for the most part”

literal: majority; multitude; abundance; multiplicity

ایّام

y-w-m

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

بین

b-y-n → “utterance” Distinctive

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident; in; among; between; at this moment

ایادی

y-d-y

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

حال

ḥ-w-l → “now”

literal: states; conditions; circumstances; situations; affairs

ساکنیم

s-k-n → “inmates” Distinctive

literal: stillness, rest, quietude, tranquility

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 ¶