Kitáb-i-Íqán — §83

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 83 of 291.

Source (Persian)

سبحان اللّه، با وجود اينکه از قبل اين امورات را به تلويحات عجيبه و اشارات غريبه خبر دادهاند تا جميع ناس اطّلاع يابند و در آن روز خود را از بحر البحور فيوضات محروم نسازند مع ذلک امر چنين واقع می شود که مشهود است. و اين مضمونات در قرآن هم نازل شده چنانچه می فرمايد: "هَل يَنظُرُونَ إلّا اَن يأتِيَهُمُ اللّهُ فِی ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الغَمامِ." و علمای ظاهر بعضی اين آيه را از علائم قيامت موهوم که خود تعقّل نمودهاند گرفتهاند و مضمون آن اين است: آيا انتظار می کشند مگر اينکه بيايد آنها را خدا در سايه ای از ابر؟ و حال آنکه اين مضمون در اکثر کتب سماوی مذکور است و در همه اماکن در ذکر علامات ظهور بعد ذکر فرمودهاند چنانچه از قبل ذکر شد.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Gracious God! Notwithstanding the warning which, in marvelously symbolic language and subtle allusions, hath been uttered in days past, and which was intended to awaken the peoples of the world and to prevent them from being deprived of their share of the billowing ocean of God’s grace, yet such things as have already been witnessed have come to pass! Reference to these things hath also been made in the Qur’án, as witnessed by this verse: “What can such expect but that God should come down to them overshadowed with clouds?” A number of the divines, who hold firmly to the letter of the Word of God, have come to regard this verse as one of the signs of that expected resurrection which is born of their idle fancy. This, notwithstanding the fact that similar references have been made in most of the heavenly Books, and have been recorded in all the passages connected with the signs of the coming Manifestation.

Translation Notes

سبحان

s-b-ḥ → “Gracious”

literal: glorified; the All-Praised; exalted

اللّه،

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

با

b-ʾ-ʾ → “have clung”

literal: to; with; by

وجود

w-j-d → “the” Distinctive

literal: to find; to discover; to obtain

اينکه

ʾ-y-n → “this Chapter” Distinctive

literal: that, the fact that, this (demonstrative particle)

از

ʾ-z → “of”

literal: from

قبل

q-b-l → “in” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

امورات

ʾ-m-r → “Cause” Distinctive

literal: command; matter; affair; Cause (of God)

را

r-ʾ-ʾ → “language”

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

به

b-h

literal: by it; by him; with it

تلويحات

l-w-ḥ

literal: tablet; panel; divine decree; revelation

عجيبه

ʿ-j-b

literal: wonder; amazement; marvelous; strange

اشارات

sh-y-r → “subtle allusions”

literal: explanation; commentary; to explain; to open

غريبه

gh-r-b

literal: west; sunset; place of setting

خبر

kh-b-r

literal: all-knowing; aware; well-informed; omniscient

دادهاند

d-ʾ-d → “of equity” Distinctive

literal: give; grant; bestow; award

تا

t-y-y → “so that”

literal: so that/until

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “all”

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

ناس

n-ʾ-s → “peoples”

literal: companionship; fellowship; familiarity; to keep company

اطّلاع

ṭ-l-ʿ → “Dayspring” Distinctive

literal: rising; appearance; countenance; manifestation

يابند

y-ʾ-b

literal: find; to find; finds

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

اَن

ʾ-n → “that”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

روز

r-w-z

literal: day; today; that-day

خود

kh-w-d → “their”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

بحر

b-ḥ-r → “ocean”

literal: sea; ocean

فيوضات

f-y-ḍ → “grace” Distinctive

literal: flood; abundance; overflow; emanation; grace

محروم

ḥ-r-m → “deprived”

literal: sanctity, inviolability, dignity, honor, respect

نسازند

s-ʾ-z → “illuminate” Distinctive

literal: well-being, happiness, prosperity, tranquility, ease, comfort

مع

m-ʿ → “yet”

literal: with; together with; alongside

ذلک

dh-l-k → “yet” Distinctive

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

چنين

ch-n-n → “likewise” Distinctive

literal: such; thus; in this manner; like this

واقع

w-q-ʿ → “come to pass”

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

می

m-y-y

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

شود

sh-w-d

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

که

k-h → “as” Distinctive

literal: that; who; who, that

مشهود

sh-h-d → “witnessed” Distinctive

literal: witnessed; observed; seen; evident; manifest

است.

b-w-d

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

مضمونات

ḍ-m-n → “purport”

literal: content; substance; to contain; to imply

قرآن

q-r-ʾ → “read”

literal: conjunction; union; coupling; association

هم

h-m-m → “endeavor” Distinctive

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

نازل

n-z-l → “been” Distinctive

literal: to descend, to be revealed

شده

sh-d → “made” Distinctive

literal: to become; to be

فرمايد:

f-r-m

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

يَنظُرُونَ

n-ẓ-r → “Consider” Distinctive

literal: sight; view; spectacle; appearance

إلّا

ʾ-kh-r → “but” Distinctive

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

يأتِيَهُمُ

ʾ-t-y → “given unto” Distinctive

literal: sign, wonder, verse (of Quran)

فِی

f-y → “to”

literal: in; in-it; in it

ظُلَلٍ

ẓ-l-l → “overshadowed”

literal: to take shelter; to dwell in shadow

مِنَ

m-n → “with” Distinctive

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

الغَمامِ."

gh-m-m → “clouds?””

literal: clouds; cloud; cloud, clouds

علمای

ʿ-l-m → “divines”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

ظاهر

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest; to display; to reveal; ظهور here means ‘backs’ (plural of ظهر), different semantic use than manifestation

بعضی

b-ʿ-ḍ → “some”

literal: part; some; portion

آيه

ʾ-y-y → “verse”

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

قيامت

q-w-m → “resurrection”

literal: rising; standing; uprising; resurrection

موهوم

w-h-m → “idle fancy” Distinctive

literal: to imagine, suppose; fancy, idle imagination

تعقّل

ʿ-q-l

literal: intellect; minds; understand

نمودهاند

n-m-w → “have”

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

گرفتهاند

g-r-f → “hath quaffed” Distinctive

literal: take; taken; to take

کشند

k-sh

literal: to draw; to pull; to drag; to extend

مگر

m-g-r

literal: matter; affair; thing

بيايد

ʾ-m-d

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

آنها

null → ““death””

literal: that, it; to be; indeed

خدا

kh-d-ʾ → “God”

literal: God; the Divine

سايه

s-y-h

literal: shadow, shelter, shade, protection

ای

ʾ-y-y

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

ابر؟

ʾ-b-r

literal: expression; phrase; utterance; statement; passage; wording

حال

ḥ-w-l → “This, notwithstanding” Distinctive

literal: state; condition; circumstance

اکثر

k-th-r → “most of”

literal: majority; multitude; abundance; multiplicity

کتب

k-t-b → “heavenly Books”

literal: book; scripture; writing

سماوی

s-m-w

literal: heaven; sky

مذکور

dh-k-r → “have been made” Distinctive

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

همه

h-m-h → “all the passages”

literal: all; every/all

اماکن

m-k-n

literal: establishment; confirmation; empowerment; firm settlement; place; possibility; being (negated as ‘non-being’)

ذکر

dh-k-r → “recorded” Distinctive

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

بعد

b-ʿ-d

literal: after; behind; distance

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 ¶