The Hidden Words — §98

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 98 of 160.

Source (Arabic)

(٢٣) ﴿ ای اهل ديار عشق ﴾ شمع باقی را ارياح فانی احاطه نموده و جمال غلام روحانی در غبار تيره ظلمانی مستور مانده * سلطان سلاطين عشق در دست رعايای ظلم مظلوم و حمامه قدسی در دست جغدان گرفتار * جميع اهل سرادق ابهی و ملأ اعلی نوحه و ندبه مينمايند و شما در کمال راحت در ارض غفلت اقامت نموده‌ايد و خود را هم از دوستان خالص محسوب داشته‌ايد * فباطل ما أنتم تظنّون *

Shoghi Effendi Translation

(23) O DWELLERS IN THE CITY OF LOVE! Mortal blasts have beset the everlasting candle, and the beauty of the celestial Youth is veiled in the darkness of dust. The chief of the monarchs of love is wronged by the people of tyranny and the dove of holiness lies prisoned in the talons of owls. The dwellers in the pavilion of glory and the celestial concourse bewail and lament, while ye repose in the realm of negligence, and esteem yourselves as of the true friends. How vain are your imaginings!

Translation Notes

ای

ʾ-y-y → “O”

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

اهل

ʾ-h-l → “people”

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

ديار

d-w-r → “far” Distinctive

literal: land; region; place; abode; dwelling

عشق

ʿ-sh-q → “LOVE”

literal: love, passion, ardor

شمع

sh-m-ʿ → “candle”

literal: candle, lamp, light

باقی

b-q-y → “everlasting”

literal: remaining; everlasting; eternal; immortal; permanence; duration; continuance

را

r-ʾ-ʾ

literal: object marker; object-marker; to

ارياح

r-w-ḥ → “spirit” Distinctive

literal: to throw; to cast; Aramaic/Persian proper name reference; to throw, cast, shoot; to pelt; to shoot

فانی

f-n-y → “Mortal” Distinctive

literal: annihilation; perishing; extinction; cessation; the threshold

احاطه

ḥ-w-ṭ → “encompassed”

literal: to encompass, surround, envelop, embrace

نموده

n-m-ود

literal: to show, display, exhibit; to grow, develop

جمال

j-m-l → “beauty”

literal: beauty; comeliness

غلام

gh-l-m → “Youth”

literal: youth; boy; servant; the Youth (Bahá’u’lláh)

در

d-r-r → “in”

literal: in; in, at; radiant

غبار

gh-b-r → “dust”

literal: dust; particles

تيره

t-y-r → “obscured”

literal: arrow; dark; gloomy

ظلمانی

ẓ-l-m → “darkness”

literal: wrongedness, oppression, meekness; state of being wronged or oppressed

مستور

s-t-r → “veiled” Distinctive

literal: to veil; to conceal; to cover; veil; covering

مانده

m-ʾ-n

literal: to remain; to stay; to be left

سلطان

s-l-ṭ → “sovereignty”

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

دست

d-s-t → “hand”

literal: hand; control, power, authority

رعايای

r-ʿ-y → “subjects” Distinctive

literal: to guard, watch over, regard, heed, respect, maintain; care; protection; guardianship; watchfulness

حمامه

ḥ-m-m → “Doves”

literal: dove; doves; arrived/decreed

قدسی

q-d-s → “holiness”

literal: holy, sacred, sanctified

جغدان

j-gh-d → “owls”

literal: owl; demon; evil creature

گرفتار

g-r-f-t-ʾ-r → “oppressed”

literal: captive, afflicted, troubled, caught; affliction, trouble

جميع

j-m-ʿ → “The” Distinctive

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

سرادق

s-r-d-q → “pavilion” Distinctive

literal: pavilion; tabernacle; canopy; tent

ابهی

b-h-w → “glory” Distinctive

literal: splendor; glory; magnificence; Bahá (Proper Name in Bahá’í texts)

ملأ

m-l-ʾ → “concourse”

literal: assembly; multitude; chiefs; to fill; people of rank; fullness, assembly

اعلی

ʿ-l-w → “exalted”

literal: highest; most high; supreme

نوحه

n-w-ḥ → “bewail” Distinctive

literal: to wail; to lament; lamentation

ندبه

n-d-b → “lament”

literal: lamentation; wailing; mourning

مينمايند

n-m-ʾ → “may” Distinctive

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

شما

sh-m-ʾ → “ye”

literal: you (plural); your

کمال

k-m-l

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

ارض

ʾ-r-ḍ → “earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

غفلت

gh-f-l → “negligence”

literal: heedlessness; negligence; inattention

اقامت

q-y-m → “station” Distinctive

literal: station; Self-Subsisting; make steadfast

خود

kh-w-d → “their own”

literal: self; himself; herself; itself; own

هم

h-m-m

literal: them (pronoun + object marker)

از

ʾ-z → “OF”

literal: from

دوستان

d-w-s-t → “friends”

literal: friend; beloved

خالص

kh-l-ṣ → “true” Distinctive

literal: sincere; devoted; pure one

محسوب

ḥ-s-b → “accounted”

literal: according to; in accordance with; as regards

داشته‌ايد

d-ʾ-sh-t

literal: have; had; to have

فباطل

b-ṭ-l → “vain”

literal: falsehood, false; vain, null

ما

m-ʾ

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

أنتم

n-t-m

literal: you

تظنّون

ẓ-n-n → “imaginings” Distinctive

literal: fancy; supposition; vain imagination; idle conjecture

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 ¶