Gleanings — §725

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 725 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

این اراضی مقدّسه در جمیع کتب الهی موصوف و مذکور و اکثر انبیا و مرسلین از این اراضی ظاهر شده‌اند اینست آن بیدائی که جمیع رسل به لبّیک اللّهمّ لبّیک ناطق بودند و وعدهٴ ظهور الله در این اراضی بوده اینست وادی قضا و ارض بیضا و بقعهٴ نورا در کتب قبل جمیع آنچه الیوم ظاهر مذکور است ولکن اهل آن در جمیع کتب الهی غیر مقبول بشأنی که در بعضی از مقامات باولاد افاعی ذکر شده‌اند و حال این مظلوم ما بین اولاد افاعی بأعلی النّدآء ندا مینماید و کل را بغایة قصوی و ذروهٴ علیا و أُفق أعلی می خواند طوبی لمن سمع ما نطق به اللّسان فی ملکوت البیان و ویل لکلّ غافل بعید...

Shoghi Effendi Translation

This Holy Land hath been mentioned and extolled in all the sacred Scriptures. In it have appeared the Prophets of God and His chosen Ones. This is the wilderness in which all the Messengers of God have wandered, from which their cry, “Here am I, here am I, O my God” was raised. This is the promised Land in which He Who is the Revelation of God was destined to be made manifest. This is the Vale of God’s unsearchable decree, the snow-white Spot, the Land of unfading splendor. Whatever hath come to pass in this Day hath been foretold in the Scriptures of old. These same Scriptures, however, unanimously condemn the people that inhabit this land. They have, at one time, been stigmatized as the “generation of vipers.” Behold how this wronged One is now, whilst surrounded by a “generation of vipers,” calling aloud and summoning all men to Him Who is the world’s Ultimate Desire, the Summit and Dayspring of Glory. Happy is the man that hath hearkened to the voice of Him Who is the Lord of the Kingdom of Utterance, and woe betide the heedless, they that have strayed far from His truth.

Translation Notes

این

ʾ-y-n → “This”

literal: this; these

اراضی

ʾ-r-ḍ → “Land”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

مقدّسه

q-d-s → “Holy”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

جمیع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

کتب

k-t-b → “sacred Scriptures”

literal: book; scripture; writing

الهی

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

موصوف

w-ṣ-f → “attributes” Distinctive

literal: to describe, characterize; description

مذکور

dh-k-r → “mentioned”

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

اکثر

k-th-r

literal: majority; multitude; abundance; multiplicity

انبیا

n-b-ʾ → “Prophets”

literal: prophet; prophets

مرسلین

r-s-l → “Messengers”

literal: to send; dispatch; transmission

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “appeared”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

شده‌اند

sh-d → “was” Distinctive

literal: become; turned into; has become; to become; to be

اینست

h-s-t → “This”

literal: is; be; are

آن

ʾ-n → “is” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

بیدائی

b-d-w → “lest” Distinctive

literal: valley

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

لبّیک

l-b-y → “Here am I”

literal: at your service; here am I; here I am (response)

ناطق

n-ṭ-q

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

بودند

b-w-d → “have wandered” Distinctive

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

وعدهٴ

w-ʿ-d → “promised”

literal: promised; the Promised One

وادی

w-d-y → “Vale”

literal: valley

قضا

q-ḍ-y → “decree”

literal: requirement; exigency; what demands or calls for; to require; to necessitate; to demand

بیضا

b-y-ḍ → “snow-white”

literal: white; pure; bright; radiant; clear

بقعهٴ

b-q-ʿ

literal: place; spot; ground; locality

نورا

n-w-r → “unfading splendor” Distinctive

literal: light; illumination

قبل

q-b-l → “old”

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

الیوم

y-w-m → “Day”

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

ولکن

l-k-n → “however”

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “people”

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

غیر

gh-y-r → “other”

literal: without; besides; other than; except; other; different

بشأنی

sh-ʾ-n

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

بعضی

b-ʿ-ḍ

literal: part; some; portion

مقامات

q-w-m

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

باولاد

w-l-d

literal: to give birth; to be born; child, offspring

افاعی

ʾ-f-ʿ → “vipers.””

literal: serpent; viper

ذکر

dh-k-r → “mention”

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

حال

ḥ-w-l → “Behold how” Distinctive

literal: state; condition; circumstance

مظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “wronged One”

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

ما

m-ʾ

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

بین

b-y-n → “utterance” Distinctive

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident

بأعلی

ʿ-l-w → “aloud” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

النّدآء

n-d-y → “cry” Distinctive

literal: call; voice; cry; summons

ندا

n-d-w → “calling”

literal: call; caller; call, voice

مینماید

n-m-ʾ → “hath” Distinctive

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

کل

k-l-l → “all men”

literal: for us; to us

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بغایة

gh-w-y → “Desire”

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

قصوی

q-ṣ-w → “Supreme” Distinctive

literal: utmost; furthest extent; supreme

ذروهٴ

dh-r-w → “Summit”

literal: peak; apex; pinnacle; summit

أُفق

ʾ-f-q → “Dayspring” Distinctive

literal: horizon; sphere; realm; quarter

می

m-y-y

literal: present continuous marker; continuous-marker

خواند

kh-w-n-d → “summoning”

literal: to read; unread; illiterate

طوبی

ṭ-w-b → “Happy”

literal: happiness; blessedness; felicity

لمن

m-n → “from”

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

سمع

s-m-ʿ → “hearkened” Distinctive

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

اللّسان

l-s-n

literal: tongue; language

فی

f-y

literal: in; in-it; in it

ملکوت

m-l-k → “Kingdom”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty

ویل

w-y-l → “woe”

literal: woe; alas; grief

غافل

gh-f-l → “heedless”

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

بعید...

b-ʿ-d → “far”

literal: after; behind; distance

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 ¶