Kitáb-i-Íqán — §4

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 4 of 291.

Source (Persian)

حال قدری تأمّل نمائيد که سبب اعتراض ناس بعد از طلب و آمال ايشان چه بود. و به قسمی هم اعتراض می نمودند که زبان و بيان و تقرير و تحرير همه از ذکر آن عاجز و قاصر است. و احدی از مظاهر قدسيّه و مطالع احديّه ظاهر نشد مگر آنکه به اعتراض و انکار و احتجاج ناس مبتلاگشت. چنانچه می فرمايد: "يا حَسرَةً عَلَی العِبادِ ما يأتيهِمْ مِن رَسُولٍ إلّا کَانُوا بِهِ يَستَهزِؤونَ." و در مقام ديگر می فرمايد: "وَ هَمَّتْ کلُّ اُمّةٍ بِرَسولِهِم لِيَأخُذوهُ وَ جادَلُوا بِالباطل لِيُدحِضوا بِهِ الحَقّ."

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Ponder for a moment, and reflect upon that which hath been the cause of such denial on the part of those who have searched with such earnestness and longing. Their attack hath been more fierce than tongue or pen can describe. Not one single Manifestation of Holiness hath appeared but He was afflicted by the denials, the repudiation, and the vehement opposition of the people around Him. Thus it hath been revealed: “O the misery of men! No Messenger cometh unto them but they laugh Him to scorn.” Again He saith: “Each nation hath plotted darkly against their Messenger to lay violent hold on Him, and disputed with vain words to invalidate the truth.”

Translation Notes

حال

ḥ-w-l → “now”

literal: state; condition; circumstance

قدری

q-d-r → “power” Distinctive

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

تأمّل

ʾ-m-l → “hope” Distinctive

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

نمائيد

n-m-ʾ → “reflect” Distinctive

literal: to show, to display, to manifest, to exhibit; to manifest; to display; to show

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

سبب

s-b-b → “cause”

literal: cause; reason; means; instrument

اعتراض

ʿ-r-ḍ → “denial”

literal: objection, protest, denial; cavil

ناس

n-ʾ-s → “men”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

بعد

b-ʿ-d

literal: after; behind; distance

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

طلب

ṭ-l-b → “searched”

literal: seeker, one who seeks; those who seek

آمال

ʾ-m-l → “desire” Distinctive

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

ايشان

ʾ-y-sh → “Prophets”

literal: that; it (object pronoun with suffix)

چه

ch-h

literal: what; what/for; whatsoever, that which

بود.

b-w-d

literal: to be; to exist; to have been

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

قسمی

q-s-m → “. Their” Distinctive

literal: oath; division; kind; type

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

زبان

z-b-n → “tongue”

literal: tongue; language

بيان

b-y-n → “utterance”

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident; in; among; between; at this moment

تقرير

q-r-r

literal: abode; place; established

تحرير

ḥ-r-r

literal: movement; motion; trembling

همه

h-m-h

literal: all; every/all

ذکر

dh-k-r → “describe” Distinctive

literal: remembrance; mention; memory

عاجز

ʿ-j-z

literal: to be unable; to fail; to be exhausted; impotence

قاصر

q-ṣ-r

literal: shortcoming; negligence; falling short; to be deficient

احدی

ʾ-ḥ-d → “one”

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

مظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Manifestation”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

قدسيّه

q-d-s → “Holiness”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

مطالع

ṭ-l-ʿ

literal: rising; appearance; countenance; manifestation

نشد

sh-d → “appeared” Distinctive

literal: to become; to occur; to happen; to be

مگر

m-g-r → “but” Distinctive

literal: matter; affair; thing

آنکه

ʾ-n → “to” Distinctive

literal: that; those; he; she; it

انکار

n-k-r → “denied”

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

احتجاج

ḥ-j-j → “testimony” Distinctive

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

مبتلاگشت.

b-l-w → “afflicted”

literal: tribulation; affliction; trial

چنانچه

ch-n-n → “Thus”

literal: thus; in such manner; as

فرمايد:

f-r-m → “hath been revealed”

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

حَسرَةً

ḥ-s-r → “regret” Distinctive

literal: regret; regret/grief; regret, misery

عَلَی

ʿ-l-w

literal: highest; most high; supreme

العِبادِ

ʿ-b-d → “men”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

ما

m-ʾ

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

يأتيهِمْ

ʾ-t-y → “given unto” Distinctive

literal: sign, wonder, verse (of Quran)

مِن

m-n

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

رَسُولٍ

r-s-l → “Messenger”

literal: to send; dispatch; transmission

إلّا

ʾ-kh-r → “end”

literal: except; but; if not; lo; now; at this time; save; only; unless

کَانُوا

k-w-n → “was” Distinctive

literal: be; was; to be

يَستَهزِؤونَ."

h-z-ʾ → “mock” Distinctive

literal: to mock, to ridicule; to mock, to scorn; mockery

در

d-r-r

literal: in; in, at; radiant

مقام

q-w-m

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

ديگر

d-g-r → “Again” Distinctive

literal: home; place; land; abode

"وَ

w-w-w

literal: and; quotation mark

هَمَّتْ

h-m-m → “endeavor”

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

کلُّ

k-l-l → ““Each” Distinctive

literal: for us; to us

اُمّةٍ

ʾ-m-m → “before” Distinctive

literal: mother

لِيَأخُذوهُ

ʾ-kh-dh → “to lay violent hold”

literal: take; take/seize; seize

جادَلُوا

j-d-l → “disputed”

literal: to argue; to dispute; to contend; argument

بِالباطل

b-ṭ-l → “vain words”

literal: falsehood, false; vain, null

لِيُدحِضوا

d-ḥ-ḍ → “outcast” Distinctive

literal: refuted/cast-down; refuted/condemned; refuted/cast off

الحَقّ."

ḥ-q-q → “truth.””

literal: truth; true; right

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 ¶