Kitáb-i-Íqán — §229

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 229 of 291.

Source (Persian)

و در جای ديگر می فرمايد: "وَيْلٌ لِکُلِّ اَفّاکٍ اَثيْمٍ يَسْمَعُ آياتِ اللّهِ تُتْلَی عَلَيْهِ ثُمَّ يُصِرُّ مُسْتَکبِراً کَانْ لَمْ يَسمَعْهَا فَبَشِّرْهُ بِعَذابٍ اَليمٍ." يعنی وای بر افک کننده گنهکار که می شنود آيات نازله از سماء مشيّت الهيّه را که خوانده می شود بر او، پس استکبار می نمايد که گويا نشنيده آن را، پس بشارت ده او را به عذابی دردناک. اشارات همين آيه کلّ من فی السّموات و الارض را کفايت می کند لَو کانَ النّاسُ فی آياتِ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَفَرّسُونَ.چنانچه اليوم می شنويد که اگر از آيات الهيّه قرائت شود احدی اعتنا ندارد که گويا پست ترين امرها نزدشان آيات الهيّه است و حال آنکه اعظم از آيات امری نبوده و نخواهد بود. بگو به ايشان: ای بی خبران، می گوئيد آنچه را قبل، پدران شما گفتند. اگر ايشان ثمری از شجره اعراض خود ديدند شما هم خواهيد ديد. و عنقريب با آبای خود در نار مقرّ خواهيد يافت. فالنّار مَثْواهُمْ فَبِئْسَ مَثْوَی الظّالِمينَ.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

In another passage He saith: “Woe to every lying sinner, who heareth the verses of God recited to him, and then, as though he heard them not, persisteth in proud disdain! Apprise him of a painful punishment.” The implications of this verse, alone, suffice all that is in heaven and on earth, were the people to ponder the verses of their Lord. For thou hearest how in this day the people disdainfully ignore the divinely-revealed verses, as though they were the meanest of all things. And yet, nothing greater than these verses hath ever appeared, nor will ever be made manifest in the world! Say unto them: “O heedless people! Ye repeat what your fathers, in a bygone age, have said. Whatever fruits they have gathered from the tree of their faithlessness, the same shall ye gather also. Ere long shall ye be gathered unto your fathers, and with them shall ye dwell in hellish fire. An ill abode! the abode of the people of tyranny.”

Translation Notes

در

d-r-r → “In”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

جای

j-y-ʾ → “came”

literal: to come; to arrive; to happen

ديگر

d-g-r → “another”

literal: home; place; land; abode

می

m-y-y → “will be made”

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

فرمايد:

f-r-m → “saith”

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

"وَيْلٌ

w-y-l → “woe betide” Distinctive

literal: woe

لِکُلِّ

k-l-l → “to every”

literal: for each; for every; to each

اَفّاکٍ

ʾ-f-k → “shed” Distinctive

literal: to cast, throw, scatter, shed; falsehood; calumny; slander; to turn away; to devise; false; fabricated; invented

اَثيْمٍ

ʾ-th-m → “sinner”

literal: sinful; sinner

يَسْمَعُ

s-m-ʿ → “heareth”

literal: heard, hearkened to, acceptable, worthy of attention

آياتِ

ʾ-y-y → “verses”

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

اللّهِ

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

تُتْلَی

t-l-w → “recited”

literal: to recite; to read; to follow

عَلَيْهِ

ʿ-l-y → “to him” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

ثُمَّ

th-m-m → “then”

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

يُصِرُّ

ṣ-r-r → “persisteth”

literal: creaking; insistence; persists

مُسْتَکبِراً

k-b-r → “pride” Distinctive

literal: great; grand; mighty; large; greatness; majesty; sovereignty; arrogance

کَانْ

k-w-n → “as though” Distinctive

literal: to do; to make; to perform; to be; was

لَمْ

l-y-s → “not”

literal: to reproach; blame; censure

فَبَشِّرْهُ

b-sh-r → “announce” Distinctive

literal: human; mankind; human nature

بِعَذابٍ

ʿ-dh-b → “painful punishment.””

literal: torment, punishment, chastisement

اَليمٍ."

ʾ-l-m

literal: painful; hope; hoping

يعنی

ʿ-n-y

literal: that is; meaning; i.e.

بر

b-r-r

literal: on; on, upon; upon

کننده

k-r-d

literal: to do; to make; to perform

گنهکار

g-n-h

literal: sins; sinner; sin

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

نازله

n-z-l

literal: to descend, to be revealed

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

سماء

s-m-w → “heaven”

literal: heaven; sky

مشيّت

sh-y-ʾ

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

را

r-ʾ-ʾ → “the”

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

خوانده

kh-w-ʾ-n

literal: to read; unread; illiterate

شود

sh-w-d

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

او

h-w-w → “is”

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

پس

p-s

literal: then; then, therefore; therefore

استکبار

k-b-r

literal: great; grand; mighty; large; greatness; majesty; sovereignty; arrogance

نمايد

n-m-ʾ

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

گويا

g-w-y → “I say” Distinctive

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

ده

d-ʾ-d → “of equity” Distinctive

literal: میدهند is Persian verb from دادن (to give), not Arabic د-و-ن

به

b-h → “of” Distinctive

literal: by it; by him; with it

دردناک.

d-r-d-n-ʾ-k

literal: painful

اشارات

sh-y-r → “allusions”

literal: explanation; commentary; to explain; to open

همين

h-m-n → “Help in Peril” Distinctive

literal: the same; that very

من

m-n → “that” Distinctive

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

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

الارض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

کفايت

k-f-y → “suffice”

literal: to be content; to suffice; to be satisfied; to be satisfied with

لَو

l-w → “If”

literal: if; would that; O that

النّاسُ

n-ʾ-s → “people”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

رَبِّهِمْ

r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: divine; of God; lordly

يَتَفَرّسُونَ.چنانچه

f-r-s → “send” Distinctive

literal: send; Persian; contemplate

اليوم

y-w-m → “day”

literal: day; age; period; era

شنويد

sh-n-w → “hearest” Distinctive

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

اگر

ʾ-g-r

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

قرائت

q-r-ʾ → “read”

literal: Qur’an; recitation; to read, recite; to read; to recite

احدی

ʾ-ḥ-d

literal: oneness; unity; absolute unicity; singleness of divine essence

ندارد

d-ʾ-r

literal: below; lower than; beneath

پست

p-s-t → “failure” Distinctive

literal: to descend, to be revealed

ترين

t-r-y → “of all”

literal: superlative_suffix; dark

امرها

ʾ-m-r → “things”

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

نزدشان

n-z-d → “unto”

literal: near; beside; with; in the presence of

است

b-w-d → “is”

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

حال

ḥ-w-l → “now”

literal: state; condition; circumstance

آنکه

ʾ-n → “to” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

اعظم

ʿ-ẓ-m → “than” Distinctive

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

امری

ʾ-m-r

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

نخواهد

kh-w-h → “will”

literal: will; to wish; to want

ايشان:

ʾ-y-sh → “Prophets”

literal: that; it (object pronoun with suffix)

ای

ʾ-y-y → “signs” Distinctive

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

بی

b-y → “heedless”

literal: without; is; to

خبران،

kh-b-r → “All-Informed” Distinctive

literal: all-knowing; aware; well-informed; omniscient

گوئيد

g-w-y → “Methinks” Distinctive

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

قبل،

q-b-l → “before”

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

پدران

p-d-r → “fathers”

literal: father; paternal

شما

sh-m-ʾ → “your”

literal: you (plural); your

گفتند.

g-f-t → “said” Distinctive

literal: say; to say; said

ثمری

th-m-r → “fruits”

literal: fruit; the fruit

شجره

sh-j-r → “tree”

literal: tree

اعراض

ʿ-r-ḍ → “faithlessness” Distinctive

literal: to turn away; to avert; to abstain; heedless

خود

kh-w-d → “their”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

ديدند

d-y-d → “seen” Distinctive

literal: Persian verb دیدن (to see), not Arabic د-ي-د

هم

h-m-m → “endeavor” Distinctive

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

عنقريب

q-r-b

literal: soon; shortly; ere long

با

b-ʾ-ʾ → “have clung”

literal: to; with; by

آبای

ʾ-b-w → “Father”

literal: father; ancestry; forefathers

نار

n-ʾ-r → “fire”

literal: light; illumination

مقرّ

q-r-r → “acknowledged” Distinctive

literal: matter; affair; thing

يافت.

y-f-t → “have kept both” Distinctive

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

فالنّار

n-ʾ-r

literal: light; illumination

فَبِئْسَ

b-ʾ-s

literal: wretched; adversity; harm

مَثْوَی

th-w-y → “shall be the abode”

literal: abode; abode/dwelling

الظّالِمينَ.

ẓ-l-m → “of the people of tyranny.”” Distinctive

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

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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

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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

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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

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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 ¶