Kitáb-i-Íqán — §260

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 260 of 291.

Source (Persian)

و همچنين در تفسير هاء تمنّای شهادت خود را نمودهاند : "کَاَنّی سَمِعْتُ مُنادِياً يُنادِی فی سِرّی إفْدِ اَحَبَّ الاَشياء إلَيکَ فی سَبيلِ اللّه کَما فَدَی الْحُسَينُ عَلَيهِ السّلامُ فی سَبيلی وَ لَولا کُنتُ ناظِراً بِذلِکَ السِّرِّ الواقع فَوَالَّذی نَفسِی بِيَدِه لَوِ اجْتَمَعُوا مُلوکُ الاَرضِ لَن يَقدِرُوا اَن يَأخُذُوا مِنّی حرفاً فَکَيْفَ العَبيدُ الَّذينَ لَيس لَهُم شأنٌ بِذلِکَ و إنَّهُم مَطرُودون"، إلی ان قال "لِيَعلَمَ الکُلُّ مقامَ صَبری و رِضائی و فِدائی فی سَبيلِ اللّهِ."

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Likewise, in His interpretation of the letter “Há,” He craved martyrdom, saying: “Methinks I heard a Voice calling in my inmost being: ‘Do thou sacrifice the thing which Thou lovest most in the path of God, even as Husayn, peace be upon him, hath offered up his life for My sake.’ And were I not regardful of this inevitable mystery, by Him, Who hath my being between His hands even if all the kings of the earth were to be leagued together they would be powerless to take from me a single letter, how much less can these servants who are worthy of no attention, and who verily are of the outcast… That all may know the degree of My patience, My resignation, and self-sacrifice in the path of God.”

Translation Notes

همچنين

ch-n-n → “Likewise”

literal: always; ever; forever; at all times; constantly

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

تفسير

f-s-r → “interpretation”

literal: interpretation; inquiry; commentary

هاء

b-h-w → “All-Glorious” Distinctive

literal: every; each; any; whoever; form; figure; state; condition; prepared, ready, suitable

تمنّای

m-n-y → “through Him Whom God” Distinctive

literal: from me; mine; by me; sustenance; benefaction; refuge

شهادت

sh-h-d → “martyrdom”

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

خود

kh-w-d → “His” Distinctive

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

نمودهاند

n-m-w → “hath” Distinctive

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

"کَاَنّی

k-ʾ-n → ““Methinks”

literal: as if

سَمِعْتُ

s-m-ʿ → “heard”

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

مُنادِياً

n-d-y → “Voice” Distinctive

literal: call; voice; proclamation; forty; forty years

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

سِرّی

s-r-r → “mysteries” Distinctive

literal: secrets; mysteries; hidden things; mysteries of divine knowledge; Syriac; pertaining to Syria

إفْدِ

f-d-y → “sacrifice” Distinctive

literal: to sacrifice; to ransom; to redeem

اَحَبَّ

ḥ-b-b → “lovest most”

literal: love; beloved; beloved ones

الاَشياء

sh-y-ʾ → “the thing” Distinctive

literal: thing; something; to will; to wish; to desire; to open; to unfold; to reveal

إلَيکَ

ʾ-l-y

literal: one; a single

سَبيلِ

s-b-l → “path”

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

کَما

k-m → “loss” Distinctive

literal: as; like; how much; lane; street; quarter; abode

الْحُسَينُ

ḥ-s-n → “most excellent”

literal: best; Husayn; beautiful

عَلَيهِ

ʿ-l-y → “be upon”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

السّلامُ

s-l-m → “peace”

literal: resignation; submission; surrender; submissiveness

لَولا

w-l-y → “Lord” Distinctive

literal: were it not for; if not for; save for

کُنتُ

k-w-n → “were” Distinctive

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

ناظِراً

n-ẓ-r → “regardful” Distinctive

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

بِذلِکَ

dh-l-k → “this”

literal: that; this; it; by that

الواقع

w-q-ʿ → “occurred” Distinctive

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

فَوَالَّذی

ʾ-l-h → “God” Distinctive

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

نَفسِی

n-f-s → “my being” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

بِيَدِه

y-d-y → “between His hands”

literal: hand; power; control

لَوِ

l-w → “If”

literal: if; would that; O that

اجْتَمَعُوا

j-m-ʿ → “leagued together” Distinctive

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

مُلوکُ

m-l-k → “kings”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty; possessions; property; ownership

الاَرضِ

ʾ-r-ḍ → “the earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

لَن

l-n

literal: will not (negation of future)

يَقدِرُوا

q-d-r → “would be powerless”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

ان

ʾ-n → “That”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

يَأخُذُوا

ʾ-kh-dh → “seized” Distinctive

literal: take; seize; taking

مِنّی

m-n → “from me”

literal: from me; mine; by me; sustenance; benefaction; refuge

حرفاً

ḥ-r-f → “single letter”

literal: letter; character; edge

فَکَيْفَ

k-y-f → “how much less”

literal: how; in what manner

العَبيدُ

ʿ-b-d → “servants”

literal: servants; servant; servant/slave

الَّذينَ

l-dh-y → “which” Distinctive

literal: those who; the ones who (relative pronoun)

لَيس

l-y-s → “no”

literal: is not; to be not

لَهُم

l-h-m

literal: inspiration; divine inspiration; revelation

شأنٌ

sh-ʾ-n → “in such wise”

literal: affair; concern; matter; aspect; quality; state; affairs; matters; conditions; circumstances; affair, matter, station, rank, dignity; station; rank; importance; matter, affair, concern, dignity, rank

إنَّهُم

ʾ-n-n → “of the outcast…”

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

مَطرُودون"،

ṭ-r-d

literal: expel; drive away; expelled

قال

q-w-l

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

"لِيَعلَمَ

ʿ-l-m → “know”

literal: world; knowledge; worlds

الکُلُّ

k-l-l → “all may”

literal: for us; to us

مقامَ

q-w-m → “people” Distinctive

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

صَبری

ṣ-б-r → “My patience”

literal: patience; forbearance; endurance; to be patient

رِضائی

r-ḍ-y → “Thy pleasure” Distinctive

literal: pleasure; pleasure/satisfaction; pleasure, satisfaction

فِدائی

f-d-y → “self-sacrifice”

literal: to sacrifice; to ransom; to redeem

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 ¶