Kitáb-i-Íqán — §199

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 199 of 291.

Source (Persian)

باری، در کلمات شموس حقيقت بايد تفکّر نمود و اگر ادراک نشد بايد از واقفين مخازن علم سؤال شود تا بيان فرمايند و رفع اشکال نمايند نه آنکه به عقل ناقص خود کلمات قدسيّه را تفسير نمايند و چون مطابق نفس و هوای خود نيابند بنای ردّ و اعتراض گذارند. چنانچه اليوم علماء و فقهای عصر که بر مسند علم و فضل نشستهاند و جهل را علم نام گذاشتهاند و ظلم را عدل ناميدهاند اگر مجعولات خاطر خود را از شمس حقيقی سؤال نمايند و جواب موافق آنچه فهميده و يا از کتاب مثل خود ادراک نمودهاند نشنوند البتّه نفی علم از آن معدن و منبع علم نمايند. چنانچه در هر زمانی اين واقع شد.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Those words uttered by the Luminaries of Truth must needs be pondered, and should their significance be not grasped, enlightenment should be sought from the Trustees of the depositories of Knowledge, that these may expound their meaning, and unravel their mystery. For it behooveth no man to interpret the holy words according to his own imperfect understanding, nor, having found them to be contrary to his inclination and desires, to reject and repudiate their truth. For such, today, is the manner of the divines and doctors of the age, who occupy the seats of knowledge and learning, and who have named ignorance knowledge, and called oppression justice. Were these to ask the Light of Truth concerning those images which their idle fancy hath carved, and were they to find His answer inconsistent with their own conceptions and their own understanding of the Book, they would assuredly denounce Him Who is the Mine and Wellhead of all Knowledge as the very negation of understanding. Such things have happened in every age.

Translation Notes

باری،

b-r-y → “such” Distinctive

literal: well; cistern; pit

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

کلمات

k-l-m → “words uttered”

literal: words; utterances; locutions

شموس

sh-m-s → “Luminaries”

literal: sun; daystar; manifestation of divine light

حقيقت

ḥ-q-q → “Truth”

literal: truth; right; that which is true or just

بايد

b-y-d → “must needs”

literal: by hand; with hands; eternal; perpetual; everlasting

تفکّر

f-k-r → “pondered”

literal: thoughts; ideas; fancies; opinions; to think; to reflect; to contemplate

نمود

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

literal: to become; to be

اگر

ʾ-g-r → “were they”

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

ادراک

d-r-k → “grasped” Distinctive

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

نشد

sh-d → “not”

literal: to become; to be

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

واقفين

w-q-f → “hesitated” Distinctive

literal: to stop; to halt; to pause; to hesitate

مخازن

kh-z-n → “treasury” Distinctive

literal: to store, to treasure; storehouse, depository, treasury

علم

ʿ-l-m → “Knowledge”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

سؤال

s-ʾ-l → “sought”

literal: question; problem; issue; matter; asking; petition; request

شود

sh-w-d → “be”

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

تا

t-y-y → “so that”

literal: so that/until

بيان

b-y-n → “utterance”

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident

فرمايند

f-r-m → “saith” Distinctive

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

رفع

r-f-ʿ → “raised”

literal: to be raised, elevated, exalted, lifted up

اشکال

sh-k-l → “difficult” Distinctive

literal: formation; constitution; establishment; composition; to form; to establish

نه

n-h-y

literal: end; ended; utmost

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

عقل

ʿ-q-l → “understanding”

literal: intellect; wise persons; to understand

ناقص

n-q-ṣ → “imperfect”

literal: deficiency; lack; diminution

خود

kh-w-d → “own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

قدسيّه

q-d-s → “holy”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

تفسير

f-s-r → “interpret”

literal: interpretation; inquiry; commentary

چون

ch-w-n → “As”

literal: since; when; as

مطابق

ṭ-b-q

literal: layer; stratum; to fold; to accord

نفس

n-f-s → “inclination” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

هوای

h-w-y → “desires”

literal: desire; vain desire; inclination; passion; whim; realm; region

نيابند

y-ʾ-b → “find” Distinctive

literal: to find; to obtain; to discover; to reach

بنای

b-n-y

literal: building, structure, edifice; to build, construct; structure, edifice

ردّ

r-d-d → “reject”

literal: rejected; repudiated

اعتراض

ʿ-r-ḍ → “repudiate” Distinctive

literal: objection, protest, denial; cavil

گذارند.

g-dh-r → “renounced” Distinctive

literal: to place, leave; to set

چنانچه

ch-n-n → “For” Distinctive

literal: thus; in such manner; as

اليوم

y-w-m → “today”

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

فقهای

f-q-h → “doctors”

literal: to understand; to comprehend; insight; jurisprudence

عصر

ʿ-ṣ-r → “age”

literal: age; era; century; period of time

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

بر

b-r-r

literal: on; on, upon; upon

مسند

s-n-d → “Mainstay” Distinctive

literal: mainstay; support; prop; document

فضل

f-ḍ-l → “grace”

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

نشستهاند

n-sh-s → “find no” Distinctive

literal: to sit; to be seated

جهل

j-h-l → “ignorance”

literal: ignorant; foolish; the ignorant ones

نام

n-ʾ-m → “named”

literal: to sleep; to slumber

ظلم

ẓ-l-m → “oppression”

literal: wrongedness, oppression, meekness; state of being wronged or oppressed

عدل

ʿ-d-l → “justice”

literal: justice; equity

مجعولات

j-ʿ-l → “make” Distinctive

literal: to make; to cause; to render; to appoint

خاطر

kh-ṭ-r → “momentous” Distinctive

literal: danger; peril; risk; to cross the mind

جواب

j-w-b → “answer”

literal: answer, reply, response

موافق

w-f-q → “aid” Distinctive

literal: accord, agreement, harmony; to agree, accord with

فهميده

f-h-m → “understanding” Distinctive

literal: understanding; understand; understood

يا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

کتاب

k-t-b → “Book”

literal: book; scripture; writing

مثل

m-th-l

literal: like; example; parable; similitude

نمودهاند

n-m-w → “have”

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

نشنوند

sh-n-w → “heard” Distinctive

literal: to hear; listens

البتّه

b-t-t → “assuredly”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

نفی

n-f-y → “denial”

literal: is not; not to be; does not exist; negation, denial, banishment; to negate, deny, banish; contradiction; opposition; contrariety

آن

ʾ-n → “to”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

معدن

ʿ-d-n → “Mine”

literal: mine; source; origin; repository

منبع

n-b-ʿ → “Source”

literal: to not be; non-existence; there is not

هر

h-r → “every”

literal: whatever; all that; whatever thing

زمانی

z-m-n → “age”

literal: time; age; era; period

اين

ʾ-y-n

literal: this; these

واقع

w-q-ʿ → “occurred”

literal: to fall, to occur, to happen; incident, event

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

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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

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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

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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

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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 ¶