Skip to main content

Prayers and Meditations — §487

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 487 of 858.

Source (Arabic)

يا إِلهِي تَرَى بِأَنَّ السُّكرَ أَخَذَ عِبادَكَ الَّذِينَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْ جَمَالِكَ وَاعْتَرَضُوا عَلَى ما نُزِّلَ عَنْ يَمِينِ عَرْشِ عَظَمَتِكَ، قَدْ أَتَيْتُ يا إِلهِي عَلَى ظُلَلِ المَعَانِي وَالبَيَانِ، إِذًا اضْطَرَبَتْ أَهْلُ الأَكْوانِ وَتَزَلْزَلَتْ أَرْكانُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِبُرْهانِكَ، يا مَنْ فِي قَبْضَتِكَ مَنْ فِي الإِمْكانِ، أَنْتَ الَّذِيْ يا إِلهِي نادَي

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Thou beholdest, O my God, how bewildered in their drunkenness are Thy servants who have turned back from Thy beauty and caviled at what hath been sent down from the right hand of the throne of Thy majesty. Thou didst come, O my God, in the clouds of Thy spirit and Thine utterance, and lo, the entire creation shook and trembled, and the limbs of them who repudiated Thy testimonies were made to quiver, O Thou in Whose grasp is the lordship of all things!

Translation Notes

يا
y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

إِلهِي
ʾ-l-h → “my God”

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

تَرَى
r-ʾ-y → “beholdest”

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

بِأَنَّ
ʾ-n-n → “that”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

السُّكرَ
s-k-r → “drunkenness”

literal: to become drunk; intoxication; inebriation

أَخَذَ
ʾ-kh-dh → “arrested”

literal: to take; to seize; to affect; to grasp

عِبادَكَ
ʿ-b-d → “Thy servants”

literal: servant; slave; worshipper

الَّذِينَ
l-dh-y → “which” Distinctive

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

أَعْرَضُوا
ʿ-r-ḍ → “have turned back” Distinctive

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

عَنْ
ʿ-n → “from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

جَمَالِكَ
j-m-l → “Thy beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

عَلَى
ʿ-l-w → “at” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

ما
m-ʾ → “that”

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

نُزِّلَ
n-z-l → “hath been sent down”

literal: to descend, to be revealed

يَمِينِ
y-m-n → “right hand”

literal: right hand; oath; right side

عَرْشِ
ʿ-r-sh → “throne”

literal: of the Throne; companion of the Throne

عَظَمَتِكَ،
ʿ-ẓ-m → “Thy majesty”

literal: greatest; supreme; mightiest

قَدْ
q-d

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

أَتَيْتُ
ʾ-t-y → “didst come” Distinctive

literal: come; to come; bring

ظُلَلِ
ẓ-l-l → “clouds”

literal: to take shelter; to dwell in shadow

المَعَانِي
ʿ-n-y → “spirit” Distinctive

literal: to concern; to mean; to turn away from

وَالبَيَانِ،
b-y-n → “utterance”

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

إِذًا
ʾ-dh-n → “ears”

literal: when; if; whenever; then suddenly

اضْطَرَبَتْ
ḍ-r-b → “shook and trembled” Distinctive

literal: to be troubled, shaken, agitated; to tremble

أَهْلُ
ʾ-h-l → “people”

literal: people; inhabitants; family; kin; worthy; deserving; my family; my people; my kin

الأَكْوانِ
k-w-n → “creation”

literal: be; was; to be

وَتَزَلْزَلَتْ
z-l-z-l

literal: to shake; to quake; to be shaken; to be moved

أَرْكانُ
r-k-n → “foundations”

literal: pillar; cornerstone; support; fundamental element; limb; member

كَفَرُوا
k-f-r → “repudiated”

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

بِبُرْهانِكَ،
b-r-h-n → “testimonies”

literal: proof, evidence, demonstration, argument

مَنْ
m-n → “from”

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

فِي
f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

قَبْضَتِكَ
q-b-ḍ → “grasp”

literal: grasp; grip; control; seize

الإِمْكانِ،
m-k-n → “the lordship of all things” Distinctive

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

أَنْتَ
ʾ-n-t

literal: you (masculine singular)

نادَي
n-d-w

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

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 ¶