Prayers and Meditations — §13

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 13 of 858.

Source (Arabic)

سُبْحانَكَ يا إِلهِي تَرانِي تَحْتَ أَيْدِيْ الظَّالِمِينَ، كُلَّما أَتَوَجَّهُ إِلَى اليَمِينِ أَسْمَعُ ضَجِيجَ أَحِبَّائِكَ الَّذِينَ جَعَلَهُمُ المُشْرِكُونَ أُسارَى بِما آمَنُوا بِكَ وَبِآياتِكَ وَأَقْبَلُوا إِلى أُفُقِ فَضْلِكَ وَعِنايَتِكَ، وَإِذا أَلْتَفِتُ إِلى اليَسارِ أَسْمَعُ نِداءَ الفُجَّارِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِكَ وَبِآياتِكَ، وَكانُوا مُصِرِّينَ فِيْ إِطْفآءِ سِراجِ أَحَدِيَّتِكَ الَّذِيْ أَضاءَ بِنُورِ ذاتِكَ بَيْنَ سَمائِكَ وَأَرْضِكَ، أَيْ رَبِّ قَدْ ذابَتْ قُلُوبُ أ

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Lauded be Thy name, O my God! Thou beholdest me in the clutches of my oppressors. Every time I turn to my right, I hear the voice of the lamentation of them that are dear to Thee, whom the infidels have made captives for having believed in Thee and in Thy signs, and for having set their faces towards the horizon of Thy grace and of Thy loving-kindness. And when I turn to my left, I hear the clamor of the wicked doers who have disbelieved in Thee and in Thy signs, and persistently striven to put out the light of Thy lamp which sheddeth the radiance of Thine own Self over all that are in Thy heaven and all that are on Thy earth.

Translation Notes

سُبْحانَكَ

s-b-ḥ → “Lauded”

literal: glorified; the All-Praised; exalted; dawn; daybreak; morning

يا

y-ʾ

literal: O; vocative particle; oh (vocative particle)

إِلهِي

ʾ-l-h → “O my God”

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

تَرانِي

r-ʾ-y → “Thou beholdest me”

literal: to see; to perceive; to look; to see, to observe, to behold; to view; vision; dream; sight; ل is prefix; verb تری (you see) is from ر-ا-ي

تَحْتَ

t-ḥ-t → “beneath”

literal: under; under, beneath; beneath

أَيْدِيْ

y-d-y

literal: hand; power; action; possession

الظَّالِمِينَ،

ẓ-l-m → “oppressors”

literal: wrongedness, oppression, meekness; state of being wronged or oppressed

كُلَّما

k-l-l → “Every time”

literal: words; utterances; locutions; word; utterance; speech; sayings; verses

أَتَوَجَّهُ

w-j-h → “I turn”

literal: face; attention; turning

إِلَى

ʾ-l-y → “towards”

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

اليَمِينِ

y-m-n → “to my right”

literal: right hand; oath; right side

أَسْمَعُ

s-m-ʿ → “I hear”

literal: heard, hearkened to, acceptable, worthy of attention

ضَجِيجَ

ḍ-j-j → “voice of the lamentation” Distinctive

literal: clamor; outcry; noise; tumult

أَحِبَّائِكَ

ḥ-b-b → “of them” Distinctive

literal: love; affection

الَّذِينَ

l-dh-y → “that are dear to”

literal: those who; the ones who (relative pronoun)

جَعَلَهُمُ

j-ʿ-l → “have made”

literal: to make; to cause; to render; to appoint

المُشْرِكُونَ

sh-r-k → “the infidels”

literal: partner; associate; sharer; companion

أُسارَى

ʾ-s-r → “from his chains” Distinctive

literal: captive; captives; captive/prisoner

بِما

m-ʾ → “that” Distinctive

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

آمَنُوا

ʾ-m-n → “believed”

literal: to believe; to have faith; to be secure; trust; trustworthiness; covenant; deposit; believer, faithful

وَبِآياتِكَ

ʾ-y-y → “and in Thy signs”

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

وَأَقْبَلُوا

q-b-l → “set their faces” Distinctive

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

أُفُقِ

ʾ-f-q

literal: horizon; sphere; realm; quarter

فَضْلِكَ

f-ḍ-l → “of Thy grace”

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

وَعِنايَتِكَ،

ʿ-n-y → “and of Thy loving-kindness”

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

وَإِذا

ʾ-dh-n → “ears”

literal: when; if; whenever; then suddenly

أَلْتَفِتُ

l-f-t → “I turn”

literal: to turn; to attend; to heed

اليَسارِ

y-s-r

literal: to go; to walk; left

نِداءَ

n-d-y → “voice”

literal: call; voice; proclamation; forty; forty years

الفُجَّارِ

f-j-r → “wicked doers”

literal: dawn; dayspring; to break (of dawn)

كَفَرُوا

k-f-r → “disbelieved”

literal: to disbelieve, reject; unbelief, ingratitude; to deny, to disbelieve, to reject

وَكانُوا

k-w-n

literal: to do; to make; to perform; to be; was

مُصِرِّينَ

ṣ-r-r → “voice” Distinctive

literal: creaking; insistence; persists

فِيْ

f-y

literal: in; in-it; in it

إِطْفآءِ

ṭ-f-ʾ → “to put out”

literal: to extinguish, put out, quench; to be extinguished; to perish; to go out

سِراجِ

s-r-j → “light of Thy lamp”

literal: lamp; light; illuminator

أَحَدِيَّتِكَ

ʾ-ḥ-d

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

أَضاءَ

ḍ-w-ʾ → “shineth” Distinctive

literal: to shine; to be illuminated; to light up

بِنُورِ

n-w-r → “radiance” Distinctive

literal: light; illumination

ذاتِكَ

dh-w-t → “Thine own Self” Distinctive

literal: essence; self; being

بَيْنَ

b-y-n → “utterance” Distinctive

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

سَمائِكَ

s-m-w → “Thy heaven”

literal: name; heaven; names

وَأَرْضِكَ،

ʾ-r-ḍ → “on Thy earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

أَيْ

ʾ-y-y

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

رَبِّ

r-b-b

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

قَدْ

q-d

literal: verily; indeed; certainly (particle of emphasis)

ذابَتْ

dh-w-b

literal: to melt; to waste away

قُلُوبُ

q-l-b

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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160 ¶

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59 ¶