The Hidden Words — §95

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 95 of 160.

Source (Arabic)

(٢٠) ﴿ ای مردگان فراش غفلت ﴾ قرنها گذشت و عمر گرانمايه را بانتها رسانده‌ايد و نَفَس پاکی از شما بساحت قدس ما نيامد * در ابحر شرک مستغرقيد و کلمه توحيد بر زبان ميرانيد * مبغوض مرا محبوب خود دانسته‌ايد و دشمن مرا دوست خود گرفته‌ايد و در ارض من بکمال خرمی و سرور مشی مينمائيد و غافل از آنکه زمين من از تو بيزار است و اشيای ارض از تو در گريز * اگر فی الجمله بصر بگشائی صد هزار حزن را از اين سرور خوشتر دانی و فنا را از اين حيات نيکوتر شمری *

Shoghi Effendi Translation

(20) O YE THAT ARE LYING AS DEAD ON THE COUCH OF HEEDLESSNESS! Ages have passed and your precious lives are well-nigh ended, yet not a single breath of purity hath reached Our court of holiness from you. Though immersed in the ocean of misbelief, yet with your lips ye profess the one true faith of God. Him whom I abhor ye have loved, and of My foe ye have made a friend. Notwithstanding, ye walk on My earth complacent and self-satisfied, heedless that My earth is weary of you and everything within it shunneth you. Were ye but to open your eyes, ye would, in truth, prefer a myriad griefs unto this joy, and would count death itself better than this life.

Translation Notes

ای

ʾ-y-y → “signs” Distinctive

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

مردگان

m-r-d → “LYING AS DEAD”

literal: death; dead; to die

فراش

f-r-sh → “bed”

literal: to raise; to spread; to erect

غفلت

gh-f-l → “HEEDLESSNESS”

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

قرنها

q-r-n → “Ages”

literal: conjunction; union; coupling; association

گذشت

g-dh-r → “have passed”

literal: to leave; to pass; to abandon

عمر

ʿ-m-r → “lives” Distinctive

literal: life; age; duration; by the life of (oath)

گرانمايه

g-r-n → “precious”

literal: boiling, ebullition, agitation, turmoil; unable to determine - non-standard or dialectal form

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

بانتها

n-h-y → “well-nigh ended”

literal: end; limit; terminus

رسانده‌ايد

r-s-n

literal: to send; dispatch; transmission

نَفَس

n-f-s → “breath” Distinctive

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

پاکی

p-ʾ-k → “cleanse” Distinctive

literal: pure; clean; sanctified; holy

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

شما

sh-m-ʾ → “you”

literal: you (plural); your

بساحت

s-w-ḥ → “court”

literal: court; plaza; courtyard; open space; domain; presence

قدس

q-d-s → “holiness”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

نيامد

ʾ-m-d → “hope” Distinctive

literal: to not come; to not arrive; reaching; arrival; attainment; to bring, to produce; to present

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

ابحر

b-ḥ-r → “ocean”

literal: sea; ocean

شرک

sh-r-k → “infidels” Distinctive

literal: partner; associate; sharer; companion

مستغرقيد

gh-r-q → “drowned” Distinctive

literal: to drown; drowned

کلمه

k-l-m → “words”

literal: word; utterance; speech

توحيد

w-ḥ-d → “one true” Distinctive

literal: Divine unity; monotheism; belief in the oneness of God

بر

b-r-r → “ON”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

زبان

z-b-n → “tongue”

literal: tongue; language

ميرانيد

r-ʾ-n → “profess”

literal: to show, to display, to manifest, to exhibit; to manifest; to display; to show

مبغوض

b-gh-ḍ → “hate” Distinctive

literal: hatred; enmity; animosity

مرا

m-n → “I” Distinctive

literal: me; to me (Persian object pronoun); man; person; woman; wife

محبوب

ḥ-b-b → “loved”

literal: love; affection

خود

kh-w-d

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

دانسته‌ايد

d-ʾ-n → “considered” Distinctive

literal: fancy; supposition; vain imagination; idle conjecture

دشمن

d-sh-m-n → “enemy”

literal: enemy; adversary; foe

دوست

d-w-s-t → “friend”

literal: friend; beloved; to befriend

گرفته‌ايد

g-r-f → “hath quaffed” Distinctive

literal: take; taken; to take

ارض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

بکمال

k-m-l → “perfect”

literal: perfection; completeness; fully; with full; in complete; to complete, perfect, fulfill

خرمی

kh-r-m → “revive” Distinctive

literal: verdant; fresh; flourishing

سرور

s-r-r → “mysteries” Distinctive

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

مشی

m-sh-y → “walk”

literal: way; manner; gait; to walk; to go; to proceed

مينمائيد

n-m-ʾ

literal: do; show; make

آنکه

ʾ-n → “that”

literal: that; indeed; that, to

زمين

z-m-n → “earth”

literal: time; age; era; period

تو

t-w-w → “thou”

literal: you

بيزار

b-z-r → “greatness” Distinctive

literal: free from, disgusted with, weary of, averse to

است

b-w-d → “is”

literal: to be; are (third person plural present copula)

اشيای

sh-y-ʾ → “everything” Distinctive

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

گريز

g-r-z → “question” Distinctive

literal: escape; fleeing

اگر

ʾ-g-r → “were they”

literal: although; even if; though; notwithstanding

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

الجمله

j-m-l → “Beauty” Distinctive

literal: beauty; comeliness

بصر

b-ṣ-r → “eyes”

literal: sight; insight; discernment; spiritual perception

بگشائی

g-sh-ʾ → “Redeemer” Distinctive

literal: to open; to unfold; to reveal

صد

ṣ-d

literal: hundred

هزار

h-z-r → “myriad”

literal: thousand

حزن

ḥ-z-n → “griefs”

literal: sorrow; grief; sadness; anguish

اين

ʾ-y-n → “this”

literal: this; these

خوشتر

kh-w-sh

literal: pleasant; pleasant, sweet; own

فنا

f-n-y → “shall perish” Distinctive

literal: to annihilate; to disappear; annihilation

حيات

ḥ-y-y → “life”

literal: life; vitality; living

نيکوتر

n-y-k → “better”

literal: better

شمری

sh-m-r → “regard” Distinctive

literal: to count; to regard; to esteem; to consider

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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

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

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

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

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 ¶

Prayers and Meditations

Bahá’u’lláh

Published in 1938, this companion volume to Gleanings contains 184 prayers and meditations selected by Shoghi Effendi from Bahá’u’lláh’s devotional writings revealed across successive exiles from Baghdad to ‘Akká. Shoghi Effendi described it as a volume whose perusal would deepen the spirit of devotion and faith.

858 ¶

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

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

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 ¶

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 ¶