Skip to main content

Kitáb-i-Íqán — §270

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 270 of 291.

Source (Persian)

و از جمله کلمات مدلّه بر شرع جديد و امر بديع فقرات دعای ندبه است که می فرمايد: "اَيْنَ المُدَّخَرُ لِتَجديدِ الفَرائِضِ و السُّنَنِ و اَيْنَ المُتخَيَّرُ لإعادَةِ المِلَّةِ وَالشَّريعَةِ." و در زيارت می فرمايد: "اَلسَّلامُ عَلَی الحَقِّ الجَديدِ". "سُئِلَ اَبو عَبدِ اللّهِ عَن سيرَةِ المَهديّ کَيفَ سيرَتُه قال يَصنَعُ ما صَنَعَ رَسُول اللّهِ وَ يَهدِمُ ما کانَ قَبْلَهُ کَما هَدَمَ رَسُولُ اللّهِ اَمْرَ الجاهليَّة. "

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Among the utterances that foreshadow a new Law and a new Revelation are the passages in the “Prayer of Nudbih”: “Where is He Who is preserved to renew the ordinances and laws? Where is He Who hath the authority to transform the Faith and the followers thereof?” He hath, likewise, revealed in the Zíyárat: “Peace be upon the Truth made new.” Abú-‘Abdi’lláh, questioned concerning the character of the Mihdí, answered saying: “He will perform that which Muhammad, the Messenger of God, hath performed, and will demolish whatever hath been before Him even as the Messenger of God hath demolished the ways of those that preceded Him.”

Translation Notes

از

literal: from

جمله

literal: beauty; totality; beautiful

کلمات

literal: words; utterances; locutions; word; utterance; speech; sayings; verses

مدلّه
d-l-l “proof” Distinctive

literal: to argue; to demonstrate; proof

بر

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

شرع

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

جديد

literal: new, novel, renewed; novelty, innovation

امر

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

بديع

literal: to create; most wondrous; excel

فقرات

literal: poor; needy; the poor one; pauper

دعای
d-ʿ-w “summoned” Distinctive

literal: call, invocation, summons; to call, invite, summon

ندبه

literal: lamentation; wailing; mourning

است

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

که

literal: that; who; who, that

می

literal: present continuous marker; continuous-marker

فرمايد:
f-r-m “He” Distinctive

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

"اَيْنَ
ʾ-y-n “this Chapter” Distinctive

literal: this; these

المُدَّخَرُ

literal: preserved

الفَرائِضِ
f-r-ḍ “hast bidden” Distinctive

literal: opportunity; chance

السُّنَنِ
s-n-n “years” Distinctive

literal: arrow; pointed weapon; spear-point; edge

المُتخَيَّرُ
kh-y-r “good” Distinctive

literal: good; better; choose

لإعادَةِ
ʿ-w-d “habits” Distinctive

literal: tool; instrument; means

المِلَّةِ

literal: nation; people; religion; community

در

literal: in; in, at; radiant

زيارت
z-w-r “visit” Distinctive

literal: because; since; for; inasmuch as

"اَلسَّلامُ

literal: peace; submission; greeted

عَلَی
ʿ-l-w “upon” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

الحَقِّ

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

"سُئِلَ
s-ʾ-l “questioned” Distinctive

literal: ask; ask/request; ask/beseech

اَبو

literal: father; to father; Abú Dharr (companion of Prophet Muhammad)

عَبدِ

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

اللّهِ

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

عَن

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

سيرَةِ
s-y-r “journeying” Distinctive

literal: captive; prisoner; captivity; to journey; to move; course

المَهديّ

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

کَيفَ

literal: how; in what manner

قال
q-w-l “answered saying” Distinctive

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

يَصنَعُ
ṣ-n-ʿ “handiwork” Distinctive

literal: fashioning; making; creation; artifice

ما

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

رَسُول

literal: to send; dispatch; transmission

يَهدِمُ

literal: to demolish, destroy, tear down

کانَ

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

قَبْلَهُ

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

کَما
k-m “loss” Distinctive

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

الجاهليَّة.
j-h-l “foolish” Distinctive

literal: ignorant; foolish; the ignorant ones

Source: Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 ¶