Kitáb-i-Íqán — §53

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 53 of 291.

Source (Persian)

و از جميع اين کلمات مرموزه و اشارات ملغزه که از مصادر امريّه ظاهر می شود مقصود امتحان عباد است چنانچه مذکور شد تا معلوم شود اراضی قلوب جيّده منيره از اراضی جرزه فانيه. و هميشه اين از سنّت الهی در ميان عباد بوده چنانچه در کتب مسطور است.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Know verily that the purpose underlying all these symbolic terms and abstruse allusions, which emanate from the Revealers of God’s holy Cause, hath been to test and prove the peoples of the world; that thereby the earth of the pure and illuminated hearts may be known from the perishable and barren soil. From time immemorial such hath been the way of God amidst His creatures, and to this testify the records of the sacred books.

Translation Notes

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter”

literal: this; these

کلمات

k-l-m → “terms” Distinctive

literal: words; utterances; locutions

مرموزه

r-m-z → “mysteries” Distinctive

literal: symbolic; hidden; mysterious

اشارات

sh-y-r → “allusions”

literal: explanation; commentary; to explain; to open

ملغزه

l-gh-z → “falter” Distinctive

literal: slip; stumble; error

که

k-h → “which”

literal: that; who; who, that

مصادر

ṣ-d-r → “breasts” Distinctive

literal: breast; source; chest

امريّه

ʾ-m-r → “of God’s holy Cause”

literal: command; cause; matter; affair

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

می

m-y-y

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

شود

sh-w-d → “may be”

literal: to come; to go; to arrive; came

مقصود

q-ṣ-d → “purpose”

literal: intention; purpose; aim; goal; to seek; to direct oneself

امتحان

m-ḥ-n → “to test and prove”

literal: trial; tribulation; affliction; test

عباد

ʿ-b-d → “peoples of the world”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

است

b-w-d → “hath been”

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

چنانچه

ch-n-n → “likewise” Distinctive

literal: thus; in such manner; as

مذکور

dh-k-r

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

شد

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

تا

t-y-y → “so that”

literal: so that/until

معلوم

ʿ-l-m → “known”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

اراضی

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

قلوب

q-l-b → “hearts”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

جيّده

j-w-d → “pure”

literal: good; pure; excellent

منيره

n-w-r → “illuminated” Distinctive

literal: from me; mine; by me

جرزه

j-r-z → “barren soil”

literal: barren, arid, ruined; devastation

فانيه.

f-n-y → “perishable” Distinctive

literal: annihilation; perishing; extinction; cessation; the threshold

هميشه

h-m-sh → “continually”

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

سنّت

s-n-n → “years” Distinctive

literal: year; years; spear

الهی

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

ميان

m-y-n → “amidst”

literal: between; among; amid; in the midst of

کتب

k-t-b → “books”

literal: book; scripture; writing

مسطور

s-ṭ-r → “records”

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 ¶