Will and Testament — §32

Persian source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 32 of 59.

Source (Persian)

ربّ و رجائی و مغیثی و منائی و مجیری و معینی و ملاذی ترانی غریقاً فی بحار المصائب القاصمة للظّهور و الرّزایا المضیّقة للصّدور و البلایا المشتّتة للشّمل و المحن و الآلام المفرّقة للجمع و احاطتنی الشّدائد من جمیع الجهات و احدقت بی المخاطر من کلّ الأطراف خائضاً فی غمار الطّامّة الکبری واقعاً فی بئر لا قرار لها مضطهداً من الأعدآء و محترقاً فی نیران البغضآء من ذوی القربی الّذین اخذت منهم العهد الوثیق و المیثاق الغلیظ ان یتوجّهوا بالقلوب الی هذا المظلوم و یدفعوا عنّی کلّ جهول و ظلوم و یرجعوا ما اختلفوا فی الکتاب الی هذا الفرید الوحید حتّی یظهر لهم الصّواب و یندفع الشّبهات و تنتشر الآیات البیّنات

Shoghi Effendi Translation

O my Lord, my heart’s Desire, Thou Whom I ever invoke, Thou Who art my Aider and my Shelter, my Helper and my Refuge! Thou seest me submerged in an ocean of calamities that overwhelm the soul, of afflictions that oppress the heart, of woes that disperse Thy gathering, of ills and pains that scatter Thy flock. Sore trials have compassed me round and perils have from all sides beset me. Thou seest me immersed in a sea of unsurpassed tribulations, sunk into a fathomless abyss, afflicted by mine enemies and consumed with the flame of their hate, enkindled by my kinsmen with whom Thou didst make Thy strong Covenant and Thy firm Testament, wherein Thou biddest them turn their hearts to this wronged one, to keep away from me the foolish, the unjust, and refer unto this lonely one all that about which they differ in Thy Holy Book, so that the Truth may be revealed unto them, their doubts may be dispelled and Thy manifest Signs be spread abroad.

Translation Notes

ربّ

r-b-b → “Lord”

literal: by, with, through (preposition)

رجائی

r-j-w → “heart’s Desire” Distinctive

literal: hope; expectation

مغیثی

gh-w-th → “asked His help” Distinctive

literal: helper; aid; succorer

منائی

m-n-y → “\‘Wish ye, then” Distinctive

literal: call; voice; proclamation; forty; forty years

مجیری

j-w-r → “precincts of Thy court” Distinctive

literal: trade; commerce; business; to flow; to run; to be in effect; flowing

معینی

ʿ-w-n

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

ملاذی

l-w-dh → “Refuge”

literal: refuge; shelter; asylum

ترانی

r-ʾ-y → “seest me”

literal: to see; to perceive; to look; to see, to observe, to behold; to view; vision; dream; sight; ل is prefix; verb تری (you see) is from ر-ا-ي

غریقاً

gh-r-q → “drowned” Distinctive

literal: to drown; drowned

فی

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

بحار

b-ḥ-r → “ocean”

literal: sea; ocean

المصائب

ṣ-w-b → “trials” Distinctive

literal: calamity; misfortune; disaster; affliction

القاصمة

q-ṣ-m → “overwhelm”

literal: breaking; overwhelming; crushing

للظّهور

ẓ-h-r → “Revelation”

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest

الرّزایا

r-z-y → “the trials”

literal: calamity; disaster; affliction; misfortune; mystery; secret; hidden thing

المضیّقة

ḍ-y-q → ““oppression””

literal: constricting; narrowing; tightening

للصّدور

ṣ-d-r → “heart” Distinctive

literal: to issue, emanate, proceed; issued, emanating

البلایا

b-l-w → “woes” Distinctive

literal: affliction; trial; calamity; trial, tribulation, affliction, calamity; yes; indeed; verily

المشتّتة

sh-t-t → “make a breach” Distinctive

literal: dispersion; scattering; division

للشّمل

sh-m-l → “gathering”

literal: to comprehend; to include; whole; all

المحن

m-ḥ-n → “trials” Distinctive

literal: trial, tribulation, ordeal, testing

الآلام

ʾ-l-m

literal: pain, ache, suffering, agony; painful; grievous; excruciating torment

المفرّقة

f-r-q → “scatter”

literal: faction; sect; group; company

للجمع

j-m-ʿ → “all” Distinctive

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

احاطتنی

ḥ-w-ṭ → “compassed me round” Distinctive

literal: to surround, encompass, encircle, beset

الشّدائد

sh-d-d → “tribulations”

literal: strong; severe; intense; violent

من

m-n → “from”

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

الجهات

j-h-h → “sides”

literal: direction; aspect; side; regard

احدقت

ḥ-d-q → “unto the garden” Distinctive

literal: garden; gardens; garden, paradise

بی

b-y

literal: without; is; to

المخاطر

kh-ṭ-r → “momentous” Distinctive

literal: danger; mind; momentous

کلّ

k-l-l → “all”

literal: for us; to us

الأطراف

ṭ-r-f

literal: extremity; end; edge; outskirt; periphery

خائضاً

kh-w-ḍ → “cavilings!”” Distinctive

literal: wading; plunging; caviling

غمار

gh-m-r → “depths” Distinctive

literal: depths; flood; depth

الطّامّة

ṭ-m-m → “Catastrophe”

literal: ocean; the calamity; depths

الکبری

k-b-r → “grandeur” Distinctive

literal: great; grand; mighty; large; greatness; majesty; sovereignty; arrogance

واقعاً

w-q-ʿ → “occurred”

literal: to fall, to occur, to happen; incident, event

بئر

b-ʾ-r → “pit”

literal: concerning; in the matter of

لا

l-ʾ

literal: no; not; negation particle

قرار

q-r-r → “acknowledged” Distinctive

literal: stability; firmness; establishment

لها

l-h-w

literal: to it; towards it; unto it

مضطهداً

ḍ-h-d → “afflicted”

literal: persecuted

الأعدآء

ʿ-d-w → “enemies”

literal: when; if; whenever; at that time

محترقاً

ḥ-r-q → “consumed”

literal: to burn; to be consumed by fire; burning

نیران

n-y-r → “flame”

literal: fires; blazes; luminary; celestial body; light-giver

البغضآء

b-gh-ḍ → “hate”

literal: hatred; enmity; animosity

ذوی

dh-w-y → “and”

literal: possessor of; one having; those having

القربی

q-r-b

literal: place of sacrifice; altar

الّذین

l-dh-y → “which” Distinctive

literal: those who; the ones who (relative pronoun)

اخذت

ʾ-kh-dh → “laid hold”

literal: to take; to seize; to affect; to grasp

العهد

ʿ-h-d → “Covenant”

literal: covenant; testament; promise; command

الوثیق

w-th-q → “Covenant” Distinctive

literal: covenant; testament; bond

الغلیظ

gh-l-ẓ → “thick”

literal: thick; coarse; gross; heavy; grievous; harsh

ان

ʾ-n → “to”

literal: that; those; he; she; it

یتوجّهوا

w-j-h → “turn”

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

بالقلوب

q-l-b → “hearts”

literal: heart; to turn; to overturn

الی

ʾ-l-y → “to”

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

هذا

h-dh-ʾ → “this”

literal: this; that

المظلوم

ẓ-l-m → “wronged one”

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

یدفعوا

d-f-ʿ → “repel” Distinctive

literal: to push; to repel; to ward off; to avert; to impel

عنّی

ʿ-n → “from me”

literal: to concern; to mean; to turn away from; bounty; loving-kindness; grace; divine care; attention; meaning; significance; inner sense

جهول

j-h-l → “foolish”

literal: ignorant; foolish; the ignorant ones

یرجعوا

r-j-ʿ → “refer”

literal: return; reference; place of return; resort

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

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

اختلفوا

kh-l-f → “differ”

literal: opposing; contrary; conflicting

الکتاب

k-t-b → “Book”

literal: book; scripture; writing

الفرید

f-r-d → “lonely”

literal: unique; singular; incomparable

الوحید

w-ḥ-d → “one”

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

حتّی

ḥ-t-y → “so” Distinctive

literal: to be necessary, inevitable; determined

لهم

l-h-m → “inspiration” Distinctive

literal: inspiration; divine inspiration; revelation

الشّبهات

sh-b-h → “doubts”

literal: doubt; uncertainty; suspicion; resemblance; semblance

تنتشر

n-sh-r → “spread”

literal: to scatter; to spread; to unfold; to disseminate

الآیات

ʾ-y-y → “Signs”

literal: verse; sign; miracle; proof; sign, verse, miracle, token, indication; ayah; he; him; it

البیّنات

b-y-n → “manifest” Distinctive

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident; in; among; between; at this moment

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

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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

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 ¶