Skip to main content

Gleanings — §99

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 99 of 729.

Source (Arabic)

و اين مظاهر حق را دو مقام مقرّر است يکی مقام صرف تجريد و جوهر تفريد و در اين مقام اگر کلّ را بيک اسم و رسم موسوم و موصوف نمائی بأسی نيست چنانچه ميفرمايد: ﴿لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَينَ أَحَدٍ مِنْ رُسُلِهِ﴾ زيرا که جميع مردم را بتوحيد الهی دعوت ميفرمايند و بکوثر فيض و فضل نامتناهی بشارت ميدهند و کلّ بخلع نبوّت فائزند و برداء مکرمت مفتخر اينست که نقطه فرقان ميفرمايد: "أَمَّا النَّبِيُّونَ فَأَنَا" و همچنين ميفرمايد: "منم آدم اوّل و نوح و مُوسی و عيسی" و همين مضمون را طلعت علوی هم فرموده‌اند و امثال اين بيانات که مشعر بر توحيد آن مواقع تجريد است از مجاری بيانات ازليّه و مخازن لئالی علميّه ظاهر شده و در کتب مذکور گشته و اين طلعات مواقع حکم و مطالع امرند و امر مقدّس از حجبات کثرت و عوارضات تعدّد است اينست که ميفرمايد: ﴿وَمَا أمْرُنَا إِلَّا وَاحِدَةٌ﴾ و چون امر واحد شد البتّه مظاهر امر هم واحدند و همچنين ائمّه دين و سراجهای يقين فرمودند: "أوّلنا محمّد وآخرنا محمّد وأوسطنا محمّد"

Shoghi Effendi Translation

These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is the station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this respect, if thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same attributes, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He hath revealed: “No distinction do We make between any of His Messengers.” For they, one and all, summon the people of the earth to acknowledge the unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawṯhar of an infinite grace and bounty. They are all invested with the robe of prophethood, and are honored with the mantle of glory. Thus hath Muḥammad, the Point of the Qur’án, revealed: “I am all the Prophets.” Likewise, He saith: “I am the first Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus.” Similar statements have been made by Imám ‘Alí. Sayings such as these, which indicate the essential unity of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the Channels of God’s immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of Divine knowledge, and have been recorded in the Scriptures. These Countenances are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the Daysprings of His Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils of plurality and the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: “Our Cause is but One.” Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents thereof also must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the Imáms of the Muḥammadan Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: “Muḥammad is our first, Muḥammad is our last, Muḥammad our all.”

Translation Notes

مقرّر
mqrrr q-r-r

literal: established

SE rendered مظاهر (mẓáhr), حق (ḥq), دو (dú), مقام (mqám), مقرّر (mqrrr), يکی (ykí), مقام (mqám), صرف (ṣrf), تجريد (tjríd), جوهر (júhr) as “Manifestations, God, twofold, station, One, pure, abstraction, essential”

رسم
rsm rsídn

literal: reach; to reach; arrive

SE rendered مقام (mqám), بيک (bík), اسم (ism), رسم (rsm), موسوم (músúm), موصوف (múṣúf), نمائی (nmáʾí) as “respect, all, one, name, ascribe, and”

every 25% renown 25% art 13% attribute 13% cause 13% endearments 13%
بأسی
bʾasí b-ʾ-s

literal: wretched; adversity; harm

SE rendered اسم (ism), رسم (rsm), موسوم (músúm), موصوف (múṣúf), نمائی (nmáʾí), بأسی (bʾasí), نيست (níst), چنانچه (chnánchh), ميفرمايد (mífrmáyd) as “one, name, ascribe, and, Even, revealed”

wretched 21% ills 14% troubles 14% misery 7% harm 7% trials 7% how 7% ill 7% adversity 7% violence 7%
ميدهند
mídhnd dádn

literal: give; to give; given

SE rendered فيض (fíḍ), فضل (fḍl), نامتناهی (námtnáhí), بشارت (bshárt), ميدهند (mídhnd), بخلع (bkhlʿ), نبوّت (nbúbt), فائزند (fáʾznd) as “grace, bounty, infinite, unto, all, with, prophethood”

still 33% proclaim 33% impute 33%
فَأَنَا
faʾaná ʾ-n-y

literal: now

SE rendered النَّبِيُّونَ (an-nabíbún), فَأَنَا (faʾaná), همچنين (hmchnín), ميفرمايد (mífrmáyd), منم (mnm), آدم (ádm) as ““I, Likewise, saith, Adam”

now 33% continually 33% still 33%
مذکور
mdhkúr dh-k-r

literal: mention; mentioned

SE rendered علميّه (ʿlmímh), ظاهر (ẓáhr), کتب (ktb), مذکور (mdhkúr), گشته (gshth), طلعات (ṭlʿát), مواقع (múáqʿ), حکم (ḥkm) as “knowledge, recorded, Scriptures, been, Countenances, recipients, Command”

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf cover

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 cover

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 ¶

Kitáb-i-'Ahd cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 cover

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 ¶

Will and Testament cover

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 ¶