Prayers and Meditations — §701

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 701 of 858.

Source (Arabic)

إِلهِي إِلهِي كَيْفَ أَخْتارُ النَّوْمَ وَعُيُوْنُ مُشْتاقِيْكَ ساهِرَةٌ فِي فِراقِكَ، وَكَيْفَ أَسْتَريحُ عَلَى الفِراشِ وَأَفْئِدَةُ عاشِقِيكَ مُضْطَرِبَةٌ مِنْ هَجْرِكَ، أَيْ رَبِّ

Shoghi Effendi Translation

How can I choose to sleep, O God, my God, when the eyes of them that long for Thee are wakeful because of their separation from Thee; and how can I lie down to rest whilst the souls of Thy lovers are sore vexed in their remoteness from Thy presence?

Translation Notes

إِلهِي

ʾ-l-h → “O God”

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

كَيْفَ

k-y-f → “How”

literal: how; in what manner

أَخْتارُ

kh-y-r → “choose”

literal: to seal; to conclude; to end; seal

النَّوْمَ

n-w-m → “to sleep”

literal: to sleep; to slumber

وَعُيُوْنُ

ʿ-y-n → “eyes”

literal: eye; fountain; spring; essence; to appoint; to designate; to specify; to determine

مُشْتاقِيْكَ

sh-w-q → “them that long for Thee” Distinctive

literal: longing; yearning; desirous

ساهِرَةٌ

s-h-r → “Plain”

literal: wakeful; sleepless; vigilant

فِي

f-y

literal: in; in-it; in it

فِراقِكَ،

f-r-q → “their separation from Thee”

literal: faction; sect; group; company

أَسْتَريحُ

r-w-ḥ → “lie down to rest”

literal: rest; ease; comfort; tranquility

عَلَى

ʿ-l-w

literal: highest; most high; supreme

الفِراشِ

f-r-sh → “bed”

literal: to raise; to spread; to erect

وَأَفْئِدَةُ

f-ʾ-d → “souls”

literal: heart, innermost soul, mind; heart; inner consciousness; mind; one who benefits; advantageous

عاشِقِيكَ

ʿ-sh-q → “lovers”

literal: love, passion, ardor

مُضْطَرِبَةٌ

ḍ-r-b → “tremble”

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

مِنْ

m-n

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

هَجْرِكَ،

h-j-r → “their remoteness from Thy presence”

literal: to emigrate, migrate, forsake; migration, emigration

أَيْ

ʾ-y-y

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

رَبِّ

r-b-b

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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Fire Tablet

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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 ¶