Prayers and Meditations — §527

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 527 of 858.

Source (Arabic)

بِهِ قُلُوبُهُمْ فِي مَمْلَكَتِكَ لِئَلا يَمْنَعَهُمْ شَيْءٌ عَنْ ذِكْرِكَ وَثَنائِكَ، يَخْرُجُونَ مِنْ أَماكِنِهِمْ بِاسْمِكَ وَيَدْعُونَ الكُلَّ إِلَيْكَ، أَيْ رَبِّ طَهِّرْ وُجُوهَهُمْ عَنِ التَّوَجُّهِ إِلى غَيْرِكَ وَآذانَهُمْ عَنْ إِصْغآءِ كَلِماتِ الَّذِيْنَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْ جَمالِكَ وَكَفَرُوا بِآياتِكَ، إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ المُقْتَدِرُ

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Assist Thou Thy servants, O my God, to help Thy Cause, and give them to drink what will quicken their hearts in Thy realm, lest anything hinder them from remembering Thee and from extolling Thy virtues, that they may quit their homes in Thy name, and summon all the multitudes unto Thee. Guard their faces, O my God, from turning to any one save Thee, and their ears from hearkening unto the sayings of all such as have turned away from Thy beauty and repudiated Thy signs.

Translation Notes

بِهِ

b-h → “as”

literal: by it; by him; with it

قُلُوبُهُمْ

q-l-b → “their hearts”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

فِي

f-y → “in Thy”

literal: in; in-it; in it

مَمْلَكَتِكَ

m-l-k → “realm”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty

لِئَلا

l-y-l → “night”

literal: night; darkness

يَمْنَعَهُمْ

m-n-ʿ → “anything hinder”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

شَيْءٌ

sh-y-ʾ → “things”

literal: thing; something; to will; to wish; to desire; to open; to unfold; to reveal

عَنْ

ʿ-n → “from remembering Thee and from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

ذِكْرِكَ

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

وَثَنائِكَ،

th-n-y → “extolling Thy virtues”

literal: praise; commendation; eulogy; glorification; praise, commendation, eulogy

يَخْرُجُونَ

kh-r-j → “banished” Distinctive

literal: bringing out, taking out, expulsion, extraction

مِنْ

m-n → “their homes” Distinctive

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

أَماكِنِهِمْ

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

بِاسْمِكَ

s-m-w → “in Thy name”

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

وَيَدْعُونَ

d-ʿ-w → “summon”

literal: call, invocation, summons; to call, invite, summon

الكُلَّ

k-l-l → “all the multitudes”

literal: for us; to us

إِلَيْكَ،

ʾ-l-y → “towards” Distinctive

literal: one; a single

أَيْ

ʾ-y-y → “signs” Distinctive

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

رَبِّ

r-b-b → “my God” Distinctive

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

طَهِّرْ

ṭ-h-r → “pure” Distinctive

literal: to purify; to cleanse

وُجُوهَهُمْ

w-j-h → “their faces”

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

غَيْرِكَ

gh-y-r → “any one save Thee”

literal: without; besides; other than; except; other; different

وَآذانَهُمْ

ʾ-dh-n → “their ears”

literal: ear; permission; leave; to permit; to allow; to listen

إِصْغآءِ

ṣ-gh-w → “hearkening”

literal: to listen, hear; to give ear

كَلِماتِ

k-l-m → “words”

literal: words; utterances; locutions

الَّذِيْنَ

l-dh-y → “all such as” Distinctive

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

أَعْرَضُوا

ʿ-r-ḍ → “have turned away” Distinctive

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

جَمالِكَ

j-m-l → “Thy beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

وَكَفَرُوا

k-f-r → “repudiated”

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

بِآياتِكَ،

ʾ-y-y → “Thy signs”

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

إِنَّكَ

literal: that; those; he; she; it

أَنْتَ

ʾ-n-t → “Thou”

literal: you (masculine singular)

المُقْتَدِرُ

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

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 ¶