Kitáb-i-Íqán — §166

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 166 of 291.

Source (Persian)

باری، در هر حال اکسير کامل مادّه نحاسی را در آنی به مقام ذهبی می رساند و منازل هفتاد ساله را به آنی طيّ نمايد. آيا آن ذهب را بعد می توان گفت که نحاس است و يا به عالم ذهبی نرسيده و حال آنکه محک در ميان است و صفات ذهبی را از نحا سی معيّن و واضح می نمايد.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Be that as it may, the real elixir will, in one instant, cause the substance of copper to attain the state of gold, and will traverse the seventy-year stages in a single moment. Could this gold be called copper? Could it be claimed that it hath not attained the state of gold, whilst the touch-stone is at hand to assay it and distinguish it from copper?

Translation Notes

باری،

b-r-y → “Briefly”

literal: well; cistern; pit

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

هر

h-r

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

حال

ḥ-w-l → “state” Distinctive

literal: state; condition; circumstance

اکسير

إكسير (non-Arabic) → “real elixir”

literal: breaking; ravening; destructive

کامل

k-m-l

literal: desire; appetite; lust; will; heap; hill; mound

مادّه

m-d-d → “substance”

literal: period; ink; extended

نحاسی

n-ḥ-s → “copper”

literal: copper; brass; base metal

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

آنی

ʾ-n-n → “that” Distinctive

literal: I, verily; behold I

به

b-h → “to”

literal: by it; by him; with it

مقام

q-w-m → “attain the state” Distinctive

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

ذهبی

dh-h-b → “gold”

literal: religion; creed; doctrine; belief; sect

می

m-y-y → “will be made”

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

رساند

r-s-n

literal: to reach; to convey; to cause to arrive; to deliver

منازل

n-z-l → “sent down” Distinctive

literal: to descend, to be revealed

هفتاد

h-f-t → “seventh” Distinctive

literal: lion; wild beast

ساله

s-n-h → “seventy-year”

literal: year; annual; old

طيّ

ṭ-y-y → “traverse”

literal: traverse; folding

نمايد.

n-m-ʾ → “may”

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

آيا

ʾ-y-y → “signs”

literal: does; is it that (interrogative particle); sign; verse; O! (vocative particle); him; them (object pronoun)

آن

ʾ-n → “this” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

بعد

b-ʿ-d

literal: after; behind; distance

توان

t-w-n

literal: to be able, can; power, strength

گفت

g-f-t

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

که

k-h → “that it hath”

literal: that; who; who, that

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

يا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

عالم

ʿ-l-m

literal: world; universe; the worlds

نرسيده

r-s-d → “reached”

literal: not reached; failed to attain; did not arrive

محک

m-ḥ-k → “Touchstone”

literal: touchstone; touchstone, test

ميان

m-y-n → “midst”

literal: between; among; amid; in the midst of

صفات

w-ṣ-f

literal: attribute; quality; characteristic

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

معيّن

ʿ-y-n → “eyes” Distinctive

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence

واضح

w-ḍ-ḥ

literal: clear; evident; manifest; obvious

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 ¶