Prayers and Meditations — §383

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 383 of 858.

Source (Arabic)

سُبْحَانَكَ يا إِلهِي ما أَعْظَمَ قُدْرَتَكَ وَسُلْطَانَكَ وَما أَكْبَرَ قُوَّتَكَ وَاقْتِدارَكَ، أَظْهَرْتَ مَنْ يَنْطِقُ بِاسْمِكَ بَيْنَ سَمائِكَ وَأَرْضِكَ وَأَمَرْتَهُ بِالنِّدآءِ بَيْنَ خَلْقِكَ، فَلَمَّا نَطَقَ بِكَلِمَةٍ أَعْرَضَ عَنْهُ العُلَمآءُ مِن

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Lauded be Thy name, O Lord my God! How great is Thy might and Thy sovereignty; how vast Thy strength and Thy dominion! Thou hast called into being Him Who speaketh in Thy name before all who are in Thy heaven and on Thy earth, and hast bidden Him cry out amongst Thy creatures.

Translation Notes

سُبْحَانَكَ

s-b-ḥ → “Lauded”

literal: glorified; the All-Praised; exalted

يا

y-ʾ

literal: O; or

إِلهِي

ʾ-l-h → “O Lord my God”

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

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

أَعْظَمَ

ʿ-ẓ-m → “Most Great”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

وَسُلْطَانَكَ

s-l-ṭ → “and Thy sovereignty”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

أَكْبَرَ

k-b-r → “grandeur” Distinctive

literal: liver; soul; essence

قُوَّتَكَ

q-w-y

literal: strength; power; might

وَاقْتِدارَكَ،

q-d-r → “power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

أَظْهَرْتَ

ẓ-h-r → “Thou hast called into being” Distinctive

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

مَنْ

m-n → “Him Who” Distinctive

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

يَنْطِقُ

n-ṭ-q → “speaketh”

literal: to speak; to utter; to pronounce; to articulate

بِاسْمِكَ

s-m-w → “in Thy name”

literal: to name, to nominate, to designate, to appoint; name; noun; to name, to appoint, to designate

بَيْنَ

b-y-n → “before all who are in” Distinctive

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

وَأَرْضِكَ

ʾ-r-ḍ → “and on Thy earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

وَأَمَرْتَهُ

ʾ-m-r → “and hast bidden Him”

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

بِالنِّدآءِ

n-d-y → “cry out” Distinctive

literal: call; voice; cry; summons; to call; to proclaim; to cry out; to summon

خَلْقِكَ،

kh-l-q → “Thy creatures”

literal: character; moral traits; disposition; conduct

فَلَمَّا

l-m-m

literal: when; as soon as; thereupon

بِكَلِمَةٍ

k-l-m

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

أَعْرَضَ

ʿ-r-ḍ

literal: to turn away; to avert; to abstain; heedless

عَنْهُ

ʿ-n

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

العُلَمآءُ

ʿ-l-m

literal: world; universe; the worlds

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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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16 ¶

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291 ¶

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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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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 ¶

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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 ¶