Gleanings — §75

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 75 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

والنّبأ العظيم قد أتى الرّحمن بسلطان مبين ووضع الميزان وحشر من على الأرض أجمعين قد نفخ في الصّور إذًا سُكِّرَت الأبصار واضطرب من في السّموات والأرضين إلّا من أخذته نفحات الآيات وانقطع عن العالمين هذا يوم فيه تحدّث

Shoghi Effendi Translation

By Him Who is the Great Announcement! The All-Merciful is come invested with undoubted sovereignty. The Balance hath been appointed, and all them that dwell on earth have been gathered together. The Trumpet hath been blown, and lo, all eyes have stared up with terror, and the hearts of all who are in the heavens and on the earth have trembled, except them whom the breath of the verses of God hath quickened, and who have detached themselves from all things.

Translation Notes

والنّبأ

n-b-ʾ → “Prophets” Distinctive

literal: prophet; messenger

العظيم

ʿ-ẓ-m

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

قد

q-d → “is”

literal: verily; indeed; certainly (particle of emphasis)

أتى

ʾ-t-y → “come”

literal: to come; to arrive; to bring; to go; coming; arrival; the one coming; to give; Revelation; came; gave; brought

الرّحمن

r-ḥ-m → “The All-Merciful”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

بسلطان

s-l-ṭ → “sovereignty”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

مبين

b-y-n → “undoubted”

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

ووضع

w-ḍ-ʿ → “low” Distinctive

literal: lawgiver; one who establishes; founder

الميزان

w-z-n → “standard”

literal: weight; measure; to weigh

وحشر

ḥ-sh-r → ““resurrection,””

literal: to gather, assemble, congregate; resurrection, Day of Judgment

من

m-n → “all them that” Distinctive

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

على

ʿ-l-w → “on” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

الأرض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

أجمعين

j-m-ʿ

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

نفخ

n-f-kh → “breathe”

literal: to blow; to breathe; to inflate; to sound (a trumpet)

في

f-y → “in”

literal: alas; woe; oh

الصّور

ṣ-w-r → “The Trumpet”

literal: to imagine; to conceive; to suppose

إذًا

ʾ-dh-n

literal: when; if; whenever; then suddenly

سُكِّرَت

s-k-r → “inebriated” Distinctive

literal: to become drunk; intoxication; inebriation

الأبصار

b-ṣ-r

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

واضطرب

ḍ-r-b → “have trembled”

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

السّموات

s-m-w → “the heavens”

literal: heaven; sky

إلّا

ʾ-kh-r → “end”

literal: except; but; if not; lo; now; at this time; save; only; unless

أخذته

ʾ-kh-dh → “seized” Distinctive

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

نفحات

n-f-ḥ → “breath” Distinctive

literal: breeze; fragrance; whiff; breath; emanation

الآيات

ʾ-y-y → “verses”

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

وانقطع

q-ṭ-ʿ → “have detached themselves”

literal: to be severed; to be cut off; to detach oneself; to abstain

عن

ʿ-n → “from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

العالمين

ʿ-l-m → “all things” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

هذا

h-dh-ʾ

literal: this; that

يوم

y-w-m

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

تحدّث

ḥ-d-th

literal: tradition; traditions; tradition, hadith

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 ¶