Kitáb-i-Íqán — §18
Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 18 of 291.
Source (Persian)
و در کشف اين اسرار بعضی از عبارات انبياء، به بدائع نغمات حجازی در الواح مسطوره قبل که برای يکی از احباب نوشته شده بود مذکور گشت و حال هم به تغنّيات خوش عراقی نظر به خواهش آن جناب در اين اوراق مجدّداً ذکر می نمائيم که شايد تشنگان صحراهای بعد را به بحر قرب دلالت نمايد و گمگشتگان بيابان های هجر و فراق را به خيام قرب و وصال رساند، تا غمام ضلالت مرتفع شود و آفتاب جهانتاب هدايت از افق جان طالع گردد. وَ عَلی اللّهِ اَتَّکِلُ و به اَستَعينُ لَعَلَّ يَجری مِن هَذا القَلَم ما يَحيی به اَفئِدَةُ النّاسِ لِيَقُومَنَّ الکُلُّ عَن مَراقِد غَفلَتِهِم وَ يَسمَعَنَّ اطوارَ وَرَقاتِ الفردوسِ مِن شَجَرٍ کانَ فی الرَّوضَةِ الاَحَديَّة مِن اَيدِی القُدرَةِ بإِذنِ اللّهِ مَغْرُوساً.
Shoghi Effendi Translation
In unfolding these mysteries, We have, in Our former Tablets which were addressed to a friend in the melodious language of Hijáz, cited a few of the verses revealed unto the Prophets of old. And now, responding to your request, We again shall cite, in these pages, those same verses, uttered this time in the wondrous accents of ‘Iráq, that haply the sore athirst in the wilds of remoteness may attain unto the ocean of the divine presence, and they that languish in the wastes of separation be led unto the home of eternal reunion. Thus the mists of error may be dispelled, and the all-resplendent light of divine guidance dawn forth above the horizon of human hearts. In God We put Our trust, and to Him We cry for help, that haply there may flow from this pen that which shall quicken the souls of men, that they may all arise from their beds of heedlessness and hearken unto the rustling of the leaves of Paradise, from the tree which the hand of divine power hath, by the permission of God, planted in the Ridván of the All-Glorious.
