Kitáb-i-Íqán — §95

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 95 of 291.

Source (Persian)

و در موضع ديگر می فرمايد: "فَوَيلٌ لِلَّذينَ يَکتُبُونَ الکتَابَ بِاَيديهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَذا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللّهِ لِيشْتَرُوا بِهِ ثَمَناً قَليلاً. " الی آخر الآيه. و اين آيه در شأن علمای يهود و بزرگان ايشان نازل شد که آن علماء به واسطه استرضای خاطر اغنياء و استجلاب زخارف دنيا و اظهار غلّ و کفر، الواحی چند بر ردّ حضرت نوشتند و به دلائلی چند مستدلّ شدند که ذکر آنها جائز نه، و نسبت دادند ادلّه های خود را که از اسفار تورات مستفاد گشته.

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Again in another instance, He saith: “Woe unto those who, with their own hands, transcribe the Book corruptly, and then say: ‘This is from God,’ that they may sell it for some mean price.” This verse was revealed with reference to the divines and leaders of the Jewish Faith. These divines, in order to please the rich, acquire worldly emoluments, and give vent to their envy and misbelief, wrote a number of treatises, refuting the claims of Muhammad, supporting their arguments with such evidences as it would be improper to mention, and claimed that these arguments were derived from the text of the Pentateuch.

Translation Notes

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

موضع

w-ḍ-ʿ → “low” Distinctive

literal: lawgiver; one who establishes; founder

ديگر

d-g-r → “another”

literal: home; place; land; abode

می

m-y-y → “will be made”

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

فرمايد:

f-r-m → “saith”

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

"فَوَيلٌ

w-y-l → ““Woe”

literal: woe; woe, destruction; woe, calamity

لِلَّذينَ

l-dh-y → “which” Distinctive

literal: for those who; to those who (preposition + definite relative pronoun)

يَکتُبُونَ

k-t-b → “Book” Distinctive

literal: to acquire, earn, gain; to bring upon (oneself)

بِاَيديهِمْ

y-d-y → “with their own hands”

literal: hand; power; strength; (plural) hands; agents; helpers; to assist, to support, to aid, to strengthen

ثُمَّ

th-m-m → “then”

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

يَقُولُونَ

q-w-l → “say”

literal: speech; utterance; saying; word

هَذا

h-dh-ʾ → “‘This”

literal: this; that

مِنْ

m-n → “from”

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

عِنْدِ

ʿ-n-d → “God,’”

literal: obstinacy; opposition; enmity

اللّهِ

ʾ-l-h → “God,’”

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

لِيشْتَرُوا

sh-r-y → “that they may sell”

literal: to buy; to purchase; purchaser; buyer

بِهِ

b-h → “it” Distinctive

literal: by it; by him; with it

ثَمَناً

th-m-n → “eight” Distinctive

literal: eight; price; value

قَليلاً.

q-l-l → “less” Distinctive

literal: little; few; scanty; small in quantity

الی

ʾ-l-y

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

آخر

ʾ-kh-r

literal: the hereafter, the next life, the world to come; last, latter; the next life, the hereafter; delay; postponement

الآيه.

ʾ-y-y → “signs” Distinctive

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

اين

ʾ-y-n → “This”

literal: this; these

آيه

ʾ-y-y

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

شأن

sh-ʾ-n → “in such wise”

literal: affair; concern; matter; aspect; quality; state; affairs; matters; conditions; circumstances; affair, matter, station, rank, dignity; station; rank; importance; matter, affair, concern, dignity, rank

علمای

ʿ-l-m → “divines”

literal: world; universe; the worlds

يهود

y-h-d → “Jews”

literal: Jews; Jew; Judea

بزرگان

b-z-r-g → “great” Distinctive

literal: great; large; important; grandeur

ايشان

ʾ-y-sh

literal: that; it (object pronoun with suffix)

نازل

n-z-l → “revealed”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

شد

sh-d → “was”

literal: to become; to be

که

k-h

literal: that; who; who, that

آن

ʾ-n → “These”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

واسطه

w-s-ṭ

literal: mediator; intermediary; means; to mediate

استرضای

r-ḍ-y

literal: pleasure; pleasure/satisfaction; pleasure, satisfaction

خاطر

kh-ṭ-r

literal: danger; peril; risk; to cross the mind

اغنياء

gh-n-y → “rich”

literal: rich; wealth; riches

استجلاب

j-l-b → “acquire worldly emoluments”

literal: attracting

زخارف

z-kh-r-f

literal: ornament; adornment; decoration; falsehood

دنيا

d-n-w

literal: this world; earthly life; temporal realm; lowest; base; mean; of little account; to know; to be acquainted with

اظهار

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

غلّ

gh-l-l → “envy”

literal: one who envies; envious; malicious

کفر،

k-f-r → “misbelief”

literal: to disbelieve, reject; unbelief, ingratitude

الواحی

l-w-ḥ

literal: revelation; inspiration; divine communication

چند

ch-n-d → “while” Distinctive

literal: some; several; a few; how many

بر

b-r-r → “righteous” Distinctive

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

ردّ

r-d-d → “refuting”

literal: rejected; repudiated

حضرت

ḥ-ḍ-r → “Muhammad”

literal: presence; majesty; His/Your Excellency

نوشتند

n-w-sh-t-n → “wrote”

literal: write

دلائلی

d-l-l → “proof” Distinctive

literal: to argue; to demonstrate; proof

ذکر

dh-k-r → “mention”

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

آنها

null

literal: that, it; to be; indeed

جائز

j-w-z → “transgressed” Distinctive

literal: permissible; allowed; possible; fair; lawful

نه،

n-h-y

literal: end; ended; utmost

نسبت

n-s-b → “relationship”

literal: relation; relationship; connection; attribution; proportion

دادند

d-ʾ-d

literal: to give; to grant; to issue

خود

kh-w-d

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

از

ʾ-z

literal: from

اسفار

s-f-r → “Embassy”

literal: ambassador; embassy; ambassador, minister

تورات

t-w-r → “second”

literal: Torah, Pentateuch, the Book of Moses

مستفاد

f-y-d → “idle talk” Distinctive

literal: benefit, profit, advantage; usefulness; bounty; effusion; grace

گشته.

g-sh-t → “were”

literal: become; became; to become

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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.

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Gleanings

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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 ¶

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 ¶