Kitáb-i-Íqán — §239

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 239 of 291.

Source (Persian)

بشنويد ندای قدس الهی و نوای خوش صمدانی را که چگونه در تلويح، انذار فرموده مکذّبين آيات را و بيزاری جسته منکرين کلمات قدسيّه را. و بُعد ناس را ملاحظه فرمائيد از کوثر قرب و اعراض و استکبار آن محرومان را بر آن جمال قدس. با اينکه آن جوهر لطف و کرم، هياکل عدم را به عرصه قِدَم هدايت می فرمود و آن فقيران حقيقی را به شريعه قدسيّه غنا دلالت می نمود مع ذلک بعضی می گفتند اين مردی است افترا کننده بر پروردگار عالميان و بعضی می گفتند اين منع کننده است ناس را از شريعه دين و ايمان و برخی نسبت جنون می دادند و امثال ذلک.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Give ear unto God’s holy Voice, and heed thou His sweet and immortal melody. Behold how He hath solemnly warned them that have repudiated the verses of God, and hath disowned them that have denied His holy words. Consider how far the people have strayed from the Kawthar of the divine Presence, and how grievous hath been the faithlessness and arrogance of the spiritually destitute in the face of that sanctified Beauty. Although that Essence of lovingkindness and bounty caused those evanescent beings to step into the realm of immortality, and guided those destitute souls to the sacred river of wealth, yet some denounced Him as “a calumniator of God, the Lord of all creatures,” others accused Him of being “the one that withholdeth the people from the path of faith and true belief,” and still others declared Him to be “a lunatic” and the like.

Translation Notes

بشنويد

sh-n-w → “Give ear”

literal: most ugly; most abominable; most heinous

ندای

n-d-y → “Voice”

literal: call; voice; cry; summons; to call; to proclaim; to cry out; to summon

قدس

q-d-s → “holy”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

الهی

ʾ-l-h → “God’s”

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

نوای

n-w-y → “melody”

literal: melody, song, voice, sound; vessel, container; utensil

خوش

kh-w-sh → “sweet”

literal: self; own; personal

صمدانی

ṣ-m-d → “immortal” Distinctive

literal: eternal, self-sufficient, divine, the Eternal

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

چگونه

ch-g-n → “how”

literal: how; in what manner

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

تلويح،

l-w-ḥ → “Tablet” Distinctive

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

انذار

n-dh-r → “warned”

literal: to leave; to allow; to permit

فرموده

f-r-m → “He hath” Distinctive

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

مکذّبين

k-dh-b → “falsehood” Distinctive

literal: denial; belying; falsification; rejection; liar; lying; false

آيات

ʾ-y-y → “verses”

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

بيزاری

b-r-ʾ → “Thy people” Distinctive

literal: after; behind; distance

جسته

j-s-t

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

منکرين

n-k-r → “denied”

literal: denial; rejection; repudiation; wrong; evil; to deny; to reject

کلمات

k-l-m → “holy words”

literal: words; utterances; locutions

بُعد

b-ʿ-d → “after”

literal: after; behind; distance

ناس

n-ʾ-s → “people”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

ملاحظه

l-ḥ-ẓ → “Consider”

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

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

کوثر

k-w-th-r → “Kawthar”

literal: abundance; river of paradise; the Kawthar

قرب

q-r-b → “Presence”

literal: place of sacrifice; altar

اعراض

ʿ-r-ḍ → “faithlessness” Distinctive

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

استکبار

k-b-r → “arrogance” Distinctive

literal: great; grand; mighty; large

آن

ʾ-n → “that”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

محرومان

ḥ-r-m → “spiritually destitute”

literal: sanctity, inviolability, dignity, honor, respect

بر

b-r-r → “righteous” Distinctive

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

جمال

j-m-l → “Beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

با

b-ʾ-ʾ → “have clung”

literal: to; with; by

اينکه

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter” Distinctive

literal: that, the fact that, this (demonstrative particle)

جوهر

j-w-h-r → “Essence”

literal: jewel; essence; gem; substance

لطف

l-ṭ-f → “loving-kindness” Distinctive

literal: kindness; grace; gentleness; benevolence

کرم،

k-r-m → “bounty”

literal: Carmel (Mount Carmel); vineyard, fruitful field; honor; generosity; nobility

هياکل

h-y-k-l → “beings”

literal: temple; body; edifice; structure

عدم

ʿ-d-m → “evanescent”

literal: nonexistent; void; nullified

به

b-h → “to the” Distinctive

literal: by it; by him; with it

عرصه

ʿ-r-ṣ → “realm”

literal: arena; field; space; open place

قِدَم

q-d-m → “Ancient of Days”

literal: ancientness; antiquity; foot; to come forward

هدايت

h-d-y → “guided”

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

می

m-y-y

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

فقيران

f-q-r → “destitute”

literal: poor; needy; the poor one; pauper

حقيقی

ḥ-q-q → “truth”

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

شريعه

sh-r-ʿ → “river”

literal: law; legislation; religious law; canon; ordinance

غنا

gh-n-y → “wealth”

literal: to be independent of; to be in no need of; to dispense with; rich; wealthy; needless

دلالت

d-l-l

literal: to argue; to demonstrate; proof

نمود

n-m-ʾ → “hath”

literal: to become; to be

مع

m-ʿ → “yet”

literal: with; together with; alongside

ذلک

dh-l-k

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

بعضی

b-ʿ-ḍ → “some”

literal: part; some; portion

گفتند

g-f-t → “said” Distinctive

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

مردی

m-r-d

literal: rebellion; mutiny; revolt

است

b-w-d

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

افترا

f-r-y → “calumnies” Distinctive

literal: slander; calumny; fabrication; false accusation

کننده

k-r-d → “hath” Distinctive

literal: to do; to make; to perform

پروردگار

r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: Lord; Sustainer; Provider; Creator

عالميان

ʿ-l-m → “all creatures,”” Distinctive

literal: world; universe; the worlds

منع

m-n-ʿ → “withholdeth”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

دين

d-y-n → “faith”

literal: religion; faith; creed; belief

ايمان

ʾ-m-n → “belief,””

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

برخی

b-r-kh → “others”

literal: to rise; to stand up; to arise; to rebel

نسبت

n-s-b → “relationship”

literal: relation; relationship; connection; attribution; proportion

جنون

j-n-n → “lunatic””

literal: garden; paradise; heaven

دادند

d-ʾ-d

literal: to give; to grant; to issue

امثال

m-th-l → “like”

literal: like; example; parable; similitude

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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59 ¶