Kitáb-i-Íqán — §3

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 3 of 291.

Source (Persian)

ناظر به ايّام قبل شويد که چقدر مردم از اعالی و ادانی هميشه منتظر ظهورات احديّه در هياکل قدسيّه بودهاند به قسمی که در جميع اوقات و اوان مترصّد و منتظر بودند ودعاها و تضرّع ها می نمودند که شايد نسيم رحمت الهيّه به وزيدن آيد و جمال موعود از سرادق غيب به عرصه ظهورقدم گذارد. و چون ابواب عنايت مفتوح می گرديد و غمام مکرمت مرتفع و شمس غيب از افق قدرت ظاهر می شد جميع تکذيب می نمودند و از لقاء او که عين لقاءاللّه است احترازمی جستند چنانچه تفصيل آن در جميع کتب سماويّه مذکور ومسطور است.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Consider the past. How many, both high and low, have, at all times, yearningly awaited the advent of the Manifestations of God in the sanctified persons of His chosen Ones. How often have they expected His coming, how frequently have they prayed that the breeze of divine mercy might blow, and the promised Beauty step forth from behind the veil of concealment, and be made manifest to all the world. And whensoever the portals of grace did open, and the clouds of divine bounty did rain upon mankind, and the light of the Unseen did shine above the horizon of celestial might, they all denied Him, and turned away from His face—the face of God Himself. Refer ye, to verify this truth, to that which hath been recorded in every sacred Book.

Translation Notes

ناظر

n-ẓ-r → “Consider” Distinctive

literal: neck; slaves; those held in bonds

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

ايّام

y-w-m → “past” Distinctive

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

قبل

q-b-l

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

شويد

sh-w-d

literal: to become; to be

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

چقدر

ch-q-d → “How all-encompassing”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

مردم

m-r-d → “people”

literal: rebellion; mutiny; revolt

از

ʾ-z → “from behind”

literal: from

اعالی

ʿ-l-w → “high”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

ادانی

d-n-w → “low”

literal: to know; to understand

هميشه

h-m-sh → “continually”

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

ظهورات

ẓ-h-r → “Manifestations”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

احديّه

ʾ-ḥ-d → “of God”

literal: oneness; uniqueness; absolute unity; singularity of God

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

هياکل

h-y-k-l → “form” Distinctive

literal: temple; structure; form; body

قدسيّه

q-d-s

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

بودهاند

b-w-d → “have”

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

قسمی

q-s-m

literal: oath; division; kind; type

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

اوقات

w-q-t → “time”

literal: time; occasion; moment; period

اوان

ʾ-w-n → “frequently”

literal: periods; moments/times

مترصّد

r-ṣ-d

literal: to watch; to observe; to lie in wait

ودعاها

d-ʿ-w → “prayed”

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

تضرّع

ḍ-r-ʿ

literal: supplication; entreaty; humble prayer

ها

w-j-h

literal: He; He is

می

m-y-y → “will be made”

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

نمودند

n-m-ود → “hath” Distinctive

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

شايد

sh-y-d

literal: perhaps, perchance, haply, maybe, possibly; to become; to be; to happen; to occur

نسيم

n-s-m → “breeze”

literal: breeze; gentle wind; fragrance

رحمت

r-ḥ-m → “mercy”

literal: merciful, compassionate; pertaining to divine mercy

الهيّه

ʾ-l-h → “divine”

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

وزيدن

w-z-y-d → “blow”

literal: to blow; to waft; to breathe

آيد

ʾ-y-d → “aid” Distinctive

literal: come; support; may aid

جمال

j-m-l → “Beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

موعود

w-ʿ-d → “promised”

literal: promised; the Promised One

سرادق

s-r-d-q → “veil”

literal: pavilion; tabernacle; canopy; tent

غيب

gh-y-b → “invisible”

literal: the unseen; the invisible; the hidden; the unknowable; stranger; foreign; alien; separated

عرصه

ʿ-r-ṣ

literal: arena; field; space; open place

ظهورقدم

ẓ-h-ر / ق-d-m → “step forth”

literal: appearance/step

گذارد.

g-dh-r

literal: pass; place; passed

چون

ch-w-n → “As”

literal: since; when; as

ابواب

b-w-b → “portals”

literal: door; gate; chapter; way; manner

عنايت

ʿ-n-y → “grace”

literal: to concern; to mean; to turn away from; bounty; loving-kindness; grace; divine care; attention; meaning; significance; inner sense

مفتوح

f-t-ḥ → “open”

literal: opening; opening up; conquests; revelations; disclosure

گرديد

g-r-d → “become” Distinctive

literal: Persian verb گردیدن (to become/turn), not from Arabic ك-ر-د

غمام

gh-m-m → “clouds”

literal: cloud; clouds

مکرمت

k-r-m → “bounty”

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

مرتفع

r-f-ʿ → “raised”

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

شمس

sh-m-s → “light” Distinctive

literal: sun; daystar; manifestation of divine light

افق

ʾ-f-q → “horizon”

literal: horizon; sphere; realm; quarter

قدرت

q-d-r → “might” Distinctive

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

شد

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

تکذيب

k-dh-b → “falsehood”

literal: denial; belying; falsification; rejection

لقاء

l-q-y → “Presence”

literal: opposite; facing; in front of; towards

او

h-w-w → “His”

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

عين

ʿ-y-n

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence; to appoint; to designate; to specify; to determine

لقاءاللّه

l-q-y → “presence”

literal: opposite; facing; in front of; towards

احترازمی

ḥ-r-z → “repudiated” Distinctive

literal: to guard; to be cautious; to beware

جستند

j-s-t

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

چنانچه

ch-n-n → “likewise” Distinctive

literal: thus; in such manner; as

تفصيل

f-ṣ-l

literal: detail; distinction; differentiation; to detail; to separate

آن

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

کتب

k-t-b → “Book”

literal: book; scripture; writing

سماويّه

s-m-w → “sacred”

literal: heaven; sky

مذکور

dh-k-r → “been recorded”

literal: remembrance; mention; memory; invocation; reminders; commemorations

ومسطور

s-ṭ-r → “been recorded”

literal: written; inscribed; recorded

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 ¶