Will and Testament — §11

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 11 of 59.

Source (Persian)

باری ای احبّآء اللّه مرکز نقض میرزا محمّد علی بسبب این انحرافات لاتحصی بنصّ قاطع الهی ساقط گشت و از شجرۀ مبارکه منفصل شد و ما ظلمناهم ولکن کانوا انفسهم یظلمون

Shoghi Effendi Translation

In short, O ye beloved of the Lord! The Centre of Sedition, Mírzá Muḥammad-‘Alí, in accordance with the decisive words of God and by reason of his boundless transgression, hath grievously fallen and been cut off from the Holy Tree. Verily, we wronged them not, but they have wronged themselves!

Translation Notes

باری

b-r-y → “In short” Distinctive

literal: well; cistern; pit

ای

ʾ-y-y → “signs” Distinctive

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

احبّآء

ḥ-b-b → “beloved”

literal: love; affection

اللّه

ʾ-l-h → “of the Lord” Distinctive

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

مرکز

r-k-z → “Centre”

literal: center; focal point; axis

نقض

n-q-ḍ → “of Sedition”

literal: breaker; violator; one who breaks (covenant); covenant-breaker

محمّد

ḥ-m-d → “thanks”

literal: praise; Muhammad; praised

علی

ʿ-l-w

literal: highest; most high; supreme

بسبب

s-b-b → “by reason” Distinctive

literal: cause; reason; means; instrument

این

ʾ-y-n

literal: this; these

انحرافات

ḥ-r-f → “transgression”

literal: letter; character; edge

لاتحصی

ḥ-ṣ-y → “reckon” Distinctive

literal: unnumbered, innumerable, countless, beyond count

بنصّ

n-ṣ-ṣ → “explicit text”

literal: explicit text; clear statement

قاطع

q-ṭ-ʿ → “detachment” Distinctive

literal: to be severed; to be cut off; to detach oneself; to abstain

ساقط

s-q-ṭ → “hath grievously fallen”

literal: dropping; omitting; falsifying; interpolating

گشت

g-sh-t

literal: to become; to turn; to be

از

ʾ-z → “from”

literal: from

شجرۀ

sh-j-r → “Tree”

literal: tree; trees

مبارکه

b-r-k → “Holy”

literal: blessed; auspicious; fruitful

منفصل

f-ṣ-l → “separated” Distinctive

literal: detail; distinction; differentiation; to detail; to separate

شد

sh-d

literal: to become; to be

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

ظلمناهم

ẓ-l-m → “wronged them”

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

ولکن

l-k-n → “but”

literal: but; however; yet; nevertheless

کانوا

k-w-n → “be” Distinctive

literal: be; was; to be

انفسهم

n-f-s → “themselves”

literal: self; soul; psyche; person; essence

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

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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

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

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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

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

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 ¶