Kitáb-i-Íqán — §120

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 120 of 291.

Source (Persian)

و ديگر آنکه ملاحظه فرمائيد به تنزيل همين يک آيه منزله از سماء مشيّت چگونه حساب خلايق کشيده شد که هرکس اقرار نمود و اقبال جست حسنات او بر سيّئات زيادتی نمود و جميع خطايای او معفوّ شد و مغفور آمد. کَذلِکَ يُصدَقُ فی شأنِهِ باَنّهُ سَريعُ الحسابِ، وَ کذلِک يُبَدِّلُ اللّهُ السَّيِّئاتِ بالحَسَناتِ لَو اَنتُم فی آفاقِ العلمِ و انقُسِ الحِکمةِ تَتَفَرَّسُونَ. و همچنين هر کس از جام حبّ نصيب برداشت از بحر فيوضات سرمديّه و غمام رحمت ابديّه، حيات باقيه ابديّه ايمانيّه يافت و هر نفسی که قبول ننمود به موت دائمی مبتلا شد. و مقصود از موت و حيات که در کتب مذکور است موت و حيات ايمانی است. و از عدم ادراک اين معنی است که عامّه ناس در هر ظهور اعتراض نمودند و به شمس هدايت مهتدی نشدند و جمال ازلی را مقتدی نگشتند.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Consider how with this one verse which hath descended from the heaven of the Will of God, the world and all that is therein have been brought to a reckoning with Him. Whosoever acknowledged His truth and turned unto Him, his good works outweighed his misdeeds, and all his sins were remitted and forgiven. Thereby is the truth of these words concerning Him made manifest: “Swift is He in reckoning.” Thus God turneth iniquity into righteousness, were ye to explore the realms of divine knowledge, and fathom the mysteries of His wisdom. In like manner, whosoever partook of the cup of love, obtained his portion of the ocean of eternal grace and of the showers of everlasting mercy, and entered into the life of faith—the heavenly and everlasting life. But he that turned away from that cup was condemned to eternal death. By the terms “life” and “death,” spoken of in the scriptures, is intended the life of faith and the death of unbelief. The generality of the people, owing to their failure to grasp the meaning of these words, rejected and despised the person of the Manifestation, deprived themselves of the light of His divine guidance, and refused to follow the example of that immortal Beauty.

Translation Notes

ديگر

d-g-r

literal: home; place; land; abode

آنکه

ʾ-n → “to” Distinctive

literal: I, verily; behold I

ملاحظه

l-ḥ-ẓ → “Consider”

literal: assembly; multitude; chiefs; to fill; people of rank; fullness, assembly

فرمائيد

f-r-m → “Consider”

literal: to say; to decree; to ordain; to command

به

b-h → “with” Distinctive

literal: by it; by him; with it

تنزيل

n-z-l → “descended”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

همين

h-m-n → “this”

literal: the same; that very

يک

y-k → “one”

literal: one; a single

آيه

ʾ-y-y → “verse”

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

سماء

s-m-w → “the”

literal: heaven; sky

مشيّت

sh-y-ʾ → “things” Distinctive

literal: way; manner; gait; to walk; to go; to proceed

چگونه

ch-g-n → “how”

literal: how; in what manner

حساب

ḥ-s-b → “accounted” Distinctive

literal: according to; in accordance with; as regards

خلايق

kh-l-q → “all” Distinctive

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

کشيده

k-sh-d → “been brought”

literal: to draw; to pull; to drag; to extend

شد.

sh-d → “was condemned”

literal: to become; to be

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

هرکس

h-r → “every” Distinctive

literal: whoever; anyone

اقرار

q-r-r → “acknowledged”

literal: stability; firmness; establishment

نمود

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

literal: to become; to be

اقبال

q-b-l → “turned” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

جست

j-s-t

literal: to seek; to cling; to grasp; to strive

حسنات

ḥ-s-n → “good works”

literal: goodness; beauty; excellence; good deed

او

h-w-w → “his”

literal: he; it (third person pronoun); refuge; shelter; dwelling place; abode; lamentation, cry, woe; melody, song

بر

b-r-r

literal: on; on, upon; upon

سيّئات

s-w-ʾ → “misdeeds”

literal: evil deed; sin; transgression; evil deed, wickedness, wrong action

زيادتی

z-y-d → “increase” Distinctive

literal: increase; excess; more; additional; to increase; to grow; to be added

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

خطايای

kh-ṭ-ʾ → “sins”

literal: error; mistake; fault; transgression; sin

معفوّ

ʿ-f-w → “Thy forgiveness” Distinctive

literal: to pardon; to efface; to forgive

مغفور

gh-f-r → “forgiven”

literal: to forgive; forgiveness

آمد.

ʾ-m-d → “came”

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

کَذلِکَ

dh-l-k → “Thus”

literal: thus; likewise; also

يُصدَقُ

ṣ-d-q → “truth” Distinctive

literal: to confirm; to verify; to acknowledge; to testify to truth

فی

f-y

literal: in; in-it; in it

شأنِهِ

sh-ʾ-n → “station”

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

سَريعُ

s-r-ʿ → “hastened” Distinctive

literal: hasten; hastened; hasten/hurry

يُبَدِّلُ

b-d-l → “turneth”

literal: change; transformation; exchange

اللّهُ

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

لَو

l-w → “If”

literal: if; would that; O that

اَنتُم

n-t-m

literal: you

آفاقِ

ʾ-f-q → “horizon” Distinctive

literal: horizons; regions; quarters; skylines

العلمِ

ʿ-l-m → “knowledge”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

انقُسِ

q-d-s

literal: holiness; holy; sanctified

الحِکمةِ

ḥ-k-m → “wisdom”

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom; firm; solid; strengthened

تَتَفَرَّسُونَ.

f-r-s → “send”

literal: send; Persian; contemplate

همچنين

ch-n-n → “In like manner”

literal: always; ever; forever; at all times; constantly

کس

k-s → “Him”

literal: someone; person; person, one

جام

j-ʾ-m → “cup”

literal: cup; chalice; garment

حبّ

ḥ-b-b → “love”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

نصيب

n-ṣ-b → “portion”

literal: share; portion; lot; fate

برداشت

b-r-d → “brother” Distinctive

literal: to take; to lift; to remove; to break (of a seal)

بحر

b-ḥ-r → “ocean”

literal: sea; ocean

فيوضات

f-y-ḍ → “grace” Distinctive

literal: flood; abundance; overflow; emanation; grace; overflowing; emanating; surplus

سرمديّه

s-r-m-d → “eternal”

literal: eternal; everlasting; perpetual; unending

غمام

gh-m-m → “clouds”

literal: cloud; clouds

رحمت

r-ḥ-m → “mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

ابديّه،

ʾ-b-d → “never” Distinctive

literal: eternity; perpetuity; eternal; ابدیّه means ‘eternal’ from root أ-ب-د (eternity), not ب-د-ل (to change/exchange)

حيات

ḥ-y-y → “life”

literal: life; vitality; living

باقيه

b-q-y

literal: remaining; everlasting; eternal; immortal; permanence; duration; continuance

ايمانيّه

ʾ-m-n → “faith—the”

literal: to believe; to have faith; to be secure; trust; trustworthiness; covenant; deposit; believer, faithful

يافت

y-f-t → “have kept both” Distinctive

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

نفسی

n-f-s → “that” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

موت

m-w-t → “death”

literal: death; dead; to die

دائمی

d-w-m → “as long as” Distinctive

literal: continuance; continuance/duration; everlasting

مبتلا

b-l-w → “tribulations” Distinctive

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

مقصود

q-ṣ-d → “intended” Distinctive

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

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

کتب

k-t-b → “scriptures”

literal: book; scripture; writing

مذکور

dh-k-r → “is” Distinctive

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

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

عدم

ʿ-d-m → “nothingness”

literal: nonexistent; void; nullified

ادراک

d-r-k → “grasp” Distinctive

literal: to overtake; to catch; to reach; to attain; to perceive; to comprehend

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

معنی

ʿ-n-y → “meaning”

literal: meaning; sense; significance

عامّه

ʿ-m-m → “all” Distinctive

literal: with her/it; associated with her/it

ناس

n-ʾ-s → “people”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

ظهور

ẓ-h-r → “Manifestation”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

اعتراض

ʿ-r-ḍ → “rejected” Distinctive

literal: objection, protest, denial; cavil

نمودند

n-m-ود → “hath” Distinctive

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

شمس

sh-m-s → “light” Distinctive

literal: sun; daystar; manifestation of divine light

هدايت

h-d-y → “guidance”

literal: guidance; to guide; direction; leading rightly; this; this one

جمال

j-m-l → “Beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

ازلی

ʾ-z-l → “eternal”

literal: eternity; pre-eternity; without beginning; eternal; everlasting; from eternity

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

مقتدی

q-d-y → “refused to follow the example”

literal: follower

نگشتند.

g-sh-t → “have been”

literal: to become; to happen; to come to pass

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 ¶

Gleanings

Bahá’u’lláh

A compilation of 166 selections from Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablets, spanning the Baghdad, Adrianople, and ‘Akká periods (1853–1892). George Townshend assisted with English refinement. Shoghi Effendi wrote that it gives the friends a splendid opportunity to acquire knowledge and understanding of the Faith.

729 ¶

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 ¶

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 ¶