Prayers and Meditations — §656

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 656 of 858.

Source (Arabic)

بِأَمْرِكَ تُبَدَّلُ الذِّلَّةُ بِالعِزَّةِ وَالضَّعْفُ بِالقُوَّةِ وَالعَجْزُ بِالاقْتِدارِ وَالاضْطِرابُ بِالاطْمِئْنانِ وَالرَّيْبُ بِالإِيْقانِ، لا إِلهَ إِلاَّ

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Thou art He Who changeth through His bidding abasement into glory, and weakness into strength, and powerlessness into might, and fear into calm, and doubt into certainty. No God is there but Thee, the Mighty, the Beneficent.

Translation Notes

بِأَمْرِكَ

ʾ-m-r → “His bidding” Distinctive

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

تُبَدَّلُ

b-d-l → “changeth” Distinctive

literal: in place of; instead of; to change; to alter (preposition or verb stem)

الذِّلَّةُ

dh-l-l → “abasement”

literal: abasement; humiliation; lowliness; to be abased

بِالعِزَّةِ

ʿ-z-z → “glory”

literal: glory; might; honor; dignity; power; majesty

وَالضَّعْفُ

ḍ-ʿ-f → “weakness”

literal: weak; feeble; imperfect

بِالقُوَّةِ

q-w-y → “strength”

literal: power; strength; force

وَالعَجْزُ

ʿ-j-z → “powerlessness”

literal: to be unable; to fail; to be exhausted; impotence; أعجاز (roots of trees/extremities) is Pattern II plural, distinct from ‘inability’ forms

بِالاقْتِدارِ

q-d-r → “might”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

وَالاضْطِرابُ

ḍ-r-b → “tremble” Distinctive

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

بِالاطْمِئْنانِ

ṭ-m-n → “confidence”

literal: to be at peace; to be reassured; to settle down

وَالرَّيْبُ

r-y-b → “doubt”

literal: doubt, suspicion, uncertainty; doubt; suspicion

بِالإِيْقانِ،

y-q-n → “certainty”

literal: certainty; certitude; conviction; faith

لا

l-ʾ → “No”

literal: no; not; negation particle

إِلهَ

ʾ-l-h → “God”

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

إِلاَّ

ʾ-kh-r → “end”

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

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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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

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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 ¶

Kitáb-i-’Ahd

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16 ¶

Kitáb-i-Íqán

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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

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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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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

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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 ¶

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 ¶