Prayers and Meditations — §362

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 362 of 858.

Source (Arabic)

ْواحِ أَمْرِكَ وَصَحائِفِ حُكْمِكَ، فَأَنْزِلْ عَلَيْهِمْ ما يُقَدِّسُهُمْ عَمَّا يَكرَهُهُ رِضائُكَ لِيَكُونُوا خالِصًا لِوَجْهِكَ وَمُنْقَطِعًا عَنْ دُونِكَ، فَأَنْزِلْ عَلَيْنَا يا إِلهِي ما يَنْبَغِي لِفَضْلِكَ وَيَلِيقُ لِجُودِكَ، ثُمَّ اجْعَلْ يا

Shoghi Effendi Translation

These are Thy servants, O my Lord, who have entered with Thee in this, the Most Great Prison, who have kept the Fast within its walls according to what Thou hadst commanded them in the Tablets of Thy decree and the Books of Thy behest. Send down, therefore, upon them what will thoroughly purge them of all that Thou abhorrest, that they may be wholly devoted to Thee, and may detach themselves entirely from all except Thyself.

Translation Notes

ْواحِ

l-w-ḥ → “Tablets” Distinctive

literal: tablet; tablets; allusion

أَمْرِكَ

ʾ-m-r → “Thy decree” Distinctive

literal: command; cause; matter; affair; Cause (of God); to command; to order

وَصَحائِفِ

ṣ-ḥ-f → “Books”

literal: page; tablet; scroll; book

حُكْمِكَ،

ḥ-k-m → “Thy behest”

literal: government; rule; governance; wisdom; firm; solid; strengthened

فَأَنْزِلْ

n-z-l → “Send down”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

عَلَيْهِمْ

ʿ-l-y → “upon them”

literal: exalted; highest; supreme; most high; upon you; on; over; Ali (name); upon

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

يُقَدِّسُهُمْ

q-d-s → “holy” Distinctive

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

عَمَّا

ʿ-n → “from”

literal: with them; in their company

يَكرَهُهُ

k-r-h → “Thou abhorrest”

literal: denial; rejection; repudiation

رِضائُكَ

r-ḍ-y

literal: good-pleasure, consent, satisfaction; satisfaction; pleasure; approval; contentment

لِيَكُونُوا

k-w-n → “that they may be”

literal: be; was; to be

خالِصًا

kh-l-ṣ → “wholly”

literal: sincere; devoted; pure one

لِوَجْهِكَ

w-j-h → “to Thee” Distinctive

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

وَمُنْقَطِعًا

q-ṭ-ʿ → “may detach themselves” Distinctive

literal: to be severed; to be cut off; to detach oneself; to abstain

دُونِكَ،

d-w-n → “all except Thyself” Distinctive

literal: below; lower than; beneath

يا

y-ʾ → “O ye”

literal: O; or

إِلهِي

ʾ-l-h

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

يَنْبَغِي

n-b-gh

literal: it is proper; it is fitting; it is necessary; it behooves

لِفَضْلِكَ

f-ḍ-l

literal: grace; bounty; generosity; excellence

وَيَلِيقُ

l-y-q

literal: worthy, befitting, appropriate, suitable

لِجُودِكَ،

j-w-d

literal: generosity; bounty; liberality

ثُمَّ

th-m-m

literal: then; thereafter; next; moreover

اجْعَلْ

j-ʿ-l

literal: group; company; tribe; sort; kind

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.

268 ¶

Fire Tablet

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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 ¶

Kitáb-i-Íqán

Bahá’u’lláh

The principal doctrinal work of the Faith, revealed in Baghdad within the space of two days and two nights in response to questions from the Báb’s maternal uncle. Shoghi Effendi described it as occupying a position unequalled by any work except the Kitáb-i-Aqdas — a model of Persian prose, at once original, chaste, vigorous, and remarkably lucid.

291 ¶

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

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 ¶