Gleanings — §77

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 77 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

الرّحمن أَلَا إنّهم من الفآئزين قد رجّت الأرض ومرّت الجبال ونرى الملئكة مردفين أخذ السّكر أكثر العباد نرى في وجوههم آثار القهر كذلك حشرنا المجرمين يهرعون إلى الطّاغوت قل لا عاصِم اليوم من أمر اللّه هذا يوم عظيم نريهم الّذين أضلّاهم ينظرون إليهما ولا يشعرون قد سكرت أبصارهم وهم قوم عمون حجّتهم مفتريات أنفسهم وإنّها داحضة عند اللّه المهيمن القيّوم قد نزغ الشّيطان في صدورهم وهم اليوم في عذاب غير مردود يسرعون إلى

Shoghi Effendi Translation

The earth hath been shaken, and the mountains have passed away, and the angels have appeared, rank on rank, before Us. Most of the people are bewildered in their drunkenness and wear on their faces the evidences of anger. Thus have We gathered together the workers of iniquity. We see them rushing on towards their idol. Say: None shall be secure this Day from the decree of God. This indeed is a grievous Day. We point out to them those that led them astray. They see them, and yet recognize them not. Their eyes are drunken; they are indeed a blind people. Their proofs are the calumnies they uttered; condemned are their calumnies by God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. The Evil One hath stirred up mischief in their hearts, and they are afflicted with a torment that none can avert. They hasten to the wicked, bearing the register of the workers of iniquity. Such are their doings.

Translation Notes

الرّحمن

r-ḥ-m

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

أَلَا

ʾ-kh-r

literal: end; hereafter; other

إنّهم

ʾ-n-n

literal: that; indeed; verily

من

m-n → “from”

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

الفآئزين

f-w-z

literal: to attain; to gain; to succeed; to win

قد

q-d → “We have been”

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

رجّت

r-j-j

literal: shake

الأرض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “The earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

ومرّت

m-r-r → “have passed away”

literal: to pass; to pass by; to go

الجبال

j-b-l → “the mountains”

literal: mountain; nature, constitution; to create, to form

ونرى

r-ʾ-y → “Thou seest”

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

الملئكة

m-l-k → “the angels”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty; possessions; property; ownership

مردفين

r-d-f → “rank on rank”

literal: to push; to repel; to ward off; to avert; to impel

أخذ

ʾ-kh-dh → “arrested”

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

السّكر

s-k-r → “in their drunkenness”

literal: to become drunk; intoxication; inebriation

أكثر

k-th-r → “Most of”

literal: majority; multitude; abundance; multiplicity

العباد

ʿ-b-d → “the people”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

في

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

وجوههم

w-j-h → “faces”

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

آثار

ʾ-th-r → “signs”

literal: effect; trace; influence; imprint; sign; mark; vestige

القهر

q-h-r → “anger” Distinctive

literal: to overpower; to vanquish; wrath; might; force; compulsion; overwhelming

كذلك

dh-l-k → “Thus”

literal: thus; likewise; also

حشرنا

ḥ-sh-r → ““resurrection,”” Distinctive

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

المجرمين

j-r-m → “crime” Distinctive

literal: crime; sin; boldness

يهرعون

h-r-ʿ → “rushing on”

literal: to run hastily; to rush toward

إلى

ʾ-l-y → “towards”

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

الطّاغوت

ṭ-gh-w → “their idol”

literal: the letter Ṭá; refers to Ṭihrán (also spelled Ṭehran)

قل

q-w-l → “Say”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

عاصِم

ʿ-ṣ-m → “protection”

literal: immaculate; protected; infallible

اليوم

y-w-m → “this Day”

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

أمر

ʾ-m-r → “Cause”

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

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

هذا

h-dh-ʾ → “This indeed is”

literal: this; that

عظيم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “grievous” Distinctive

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

الّذين

l-dh-y → “those that”

literal: those who; the ones who (relative pronoun)

أضلّاهم

ḍ-l-l → “led them astray”

literal: error; error/misguidance; error, misguidance

ينظرون

n-ẓ-r → “Consider” Distinctive

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

ولا

w-l-y → “yet” Distinctive

literal: friend; lord; guardian

يشعرون

sh-ʿ-r → “consciousness” Distinctive

literal: hair

أبصارهم

b-ṣ-r → “Their eyes”

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

وهم

w-h-m → “vain imaginings”

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

قوم

q-w-m → “blind people”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

عمون

ʿ-m-y

literal: with them; in their company

حجّتهم

ḥ-j-j → “Their proofs”

literal: path, way; clear path

مفتريات

f-r-y → “calumnies”

literal: slander; calumny; fabrication; false accusation

أنفسهم

n-f-s → “they uttered” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

وإنّها

ʾ-n-n

literal: that; indeed; verily

داحضة

d-ḥ-ḍ → “outcast” Distinctive

literal: refuted/cast-down; refuted/condemned; refuted/cast off

عند

ʿ-n-d → “by” Distinctive

literal: obstinacy; opposition; enmity

المهيمن

h-m-n → “the Help in Peril”

literal: the Protector; the Overseer; the Guardian; inspiration; revelation; intuition

نزغ

n-z-gh → “stirred up mischief”

literal: incite/stir

الشّيطان

sh-ṭ-n → “The Evil One”

literal: Satan; devil; evil one; accursed one

صدورهم

ṣ-d-r → “their hearts”

literal: to issue, emanate, proceed; issued, emanating

عذاب

ʿ-dh-b → “torment”

literal: torment, punishment, chastisement

غير

gh-y-r → “other”

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

مردود

r-d-d

literal: rejected; repudiated

يسرعون

s-r-ʿ → “They hasten”

literal: hasten; hastened; hasten/hurry

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 ¶